A fiery match at Stamford Bridge on Monday evening saw four goals shared between Chelsea and Burnley.
We look at the key Fantasy talking points from the tenth fixture of Double Gameweek 35 and bring you the latest updates on fresh injuries to two budget Chelsea midfielders.
Chelsea 2-2 Burnley
- Goals: N’Golo Kante (£5.0m), Gonzalo Higuain (£9.1m) | Jeff Hendrick (£5.2m), Ashley Barnes (£5.6m)
- Assists: Eden Hazard (£10.9m), Cesar Azpilicueta (£6.4m) | Chris Wood (£6.3m)
Callum Hudson-Odoi‘s (£4.2m) season is over after the budget FPL midfielder limped from the field at Stamford Bridge on Monday evening with what was later diagnosed as a ruptured Achilles tendon.
Speaking after the game, Chelsea assistant manager Gianfranco Zola gave this update on the young England winger:
I think it’s a serious injury, on his Achilles tendon. I cannot tell you the full extent of his injury. I think he will have to have an examination but it’s not looking good.
Not long afterwards, the player himself confirmed on social media that he will play no further part in 2018/19:
There was more positive news on N’Golo Kante (£5.0m) from Zola, however.
The French midfielder had been withdrawn at the interval with a rib problem but Zola said after full-time:
N’Golo was taken down and he fell on the foot of a player, so he just had a contusion in his ribs. He couldn’t breathe properly, that’s why he came off. He will be alright.
Kante had been on the scoresheet in a frenetic first half, scoring the second of four goals that flew in over the course of 12 minutes.
In doing so, Kante became the season’s highest-scoring budget FPL midfielder priced at £5.0m or below.
Eden Hazard (£10.9m) teed the former Leicester City midfielder up for that strike and, while not quite reaching the heights of his performance against West Ham United in Gameweek 33, still showed flashes of brilliance throughout this encounter.
Having been deployed as a “false nine” at Anfield in Gameweek 34, Hazard was back on the left flank against the Clarets and looked dangerous in the early exchanges.
The Belgian stung the palms of Tom Heaton (£4.8m) in the first minute before setting Gonzalo Higuain (£9.1m) up for an excellent chance with a beautifully weighted chipped through ball, going on to register twice as many key passes as anyone on show.
Hazard has also had more penalty box touches and touches in the final third than any other Premier League player in Gameweek 35 so far.
Higuain also started positively, producing a superb near-post finish from a narrow angle to briefly put Chelsea ahead at 2-1 and going close to doubling his tally with a rasping strike from distance.
The impressive Ben Mee (£4.6m) had to be alert to hook Higuain’s goalbound effort off the line following that aforementioned Hazard pass.
Both Hazard and Higuain’s influence waned in the second half, however, with Burnley producing a backs-to-the-wall display following their ambitious approach before the interval.
Mee was the pick of the Clarets’ backline, producing more clearances, blocks and interceptions (CBIs) than any other defender in Gameweek 35 to date.
Dyche said of his centre-half:
I thought he was excellent. The one where he clears it off the line in the first half, that’s because he does that in training. He doesn’t give anything up.
He is another marker of the mentality of the side and it takes a strong mentality to come to places like this because these are top-class groups of players.
Even Matthew Lowton (£4.6m) stood up to the task of man-marking Hazard as the game wore on, winning four of his five tackles.
Jeff Hendrick (£5.2m), who opened the scoring with a superb volley from the edge of the box following a half-cleared corner, also drew praise from his manager after full-time.
Dyche said:
It was a great finish. Jeff has worked so hard. People have questioned him at times but they do forget that we use him all over the place. We use him right side, in the middle, he has played a number 10. He is so honest, he does a great job for us. It was nice to see him pop up with a good goal and one that he will certainly remember. He has not got too many but I think there is goals in him actually and it was a good strike that’s for sure.
Eden Hazard, what a player. So we felt Jeff was right to play there because he doubles up and he has more of a defensive instinct and he has been doing well.
And the amount of times he [Hendrick] doubled up to help Lowts out and I thought Lowts had a top game because it was very difficult. Eden Hazard is a top, top, top player.
While Burnley’s ambition mostly evaporated after the interval (Sean Dyche’s side registered just one shot in the second half), they deserve credit for going toe-to-toe with Chelsea before the break.
Ashley Barnes (£5.6m) scored Burnley’s second goal from a set play after latching onto Chris Wood‘s (£6.3m) header, with the New Zealand international now having registered more attacking returns than any other FPL forward (six – three goals, three assists) in the last four Gameweeks.
Wood had a great chance to add to that haul after the break but couldn’t sort his feet out when clean through on goal.
Dyche once again resisted the urge to drop one of his front two, saying:
We didn’t want to mess around with the side too much. We wanted to come here with two strikers which we have done since Christmas everywhere we have gone and we have got some rewards from that. It is a big risk with the players of this quality in their midfield so I am really pleased.
Whether Dyche persists with that mindset when Manchester City visit Turf Moor on Saturday remains to be seen but we will surely see Hendrick doubling up on whoever plays on City’s left flank – possibly Raheem Sterling (£11.6m) – in Lancashire.
This was a rare off day for Chelsea’s defence in front of their own fans, with the injured Antonio Rudiger (£5.9m) arguably missed at centre-half and, dare we say it, perhaps even the absence of Marcos Alonso‘s (£6.3m) presence when defending set plays also keenly felt.
The Blues had kept four shut-outs in their previous five home matches in the league and this was the first occasion since Gameweek 9 that they had conceded more than one goal in a Premier League fixture at Stamford Bridge.
While a 15th clean sheet of the season eluded Cesar Azpilicueta (£6.4m), the Chelsea right-back was once again noticeably prominent at the other end of the pitch.
Azpilicueta teed up Higuain for Chelsea’s second goal and the Spain international had more touches in the final third than all players on show bar Hazard.
No FPL defender has had more penalty box touches in Gameweek 35 so far.
Both of Azpilicueta’s shots came from inside the Burnley area, with Heaton called into action on each occasion.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (£5.2m) was handed his fourth straight league start in central midfield and was one of Chelsea’s better performers, registering an eye-catching four shots and 13 penalty box touches.
Phil Bardsley (£4.2m) missed out again with a gashed leg, with Dyche providing an update in his post-match presser:
He was back on the grass and running so he has got a chance of being back in the squad [next weekend].
Chelsea XI (4-3-3): Arrizabalaga; Azpilicueta, Christensen, Luiz, Emerson; Kante (Kovacic 46′), Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek; Hudson-Odoi (Pedro 41′), Higuain (Giroud 77′), Hazard.
Burnley XI (4-4-2): Heaton; Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor; Hendrick, Westwood, Cork, McNeil; Barnes, Wood.
5 years, 1 day agoAny update on Lloris?