West Ham United 1 Sheffield United 1
Goals: Robert Snodgrass (£5.2m) | Lys Mousset (£4.9m)
Assists: Andriy Yarmolenko (£6.0m) | Enda Stevens (£5.0m)
Bonus Points: Yarmolenko x3 Mousset x2 Snodgrass x2
A second goal in as many matches from Lys Mousset (£4.9m) kept Sheffield United’s unbeaten away record intact in a tight encounter with West Ham.
The Blades have been miserly on the road this season – only Chelsea have scored more than one goal against Chris Wilder’s men on their travels – and Saturday’s match was no exception.
Goalkeeper Dean Henderson (£4.6m) had to make just three saves, although Robert Snodgrass (£5.2m) did hit the post and Andriy Yarmolenko (£6.0m) was inches wide with a late effort that would have won it for the Hammers.
The return of Snodgrass, making only his second start of the season, was the key piece of team news for the home side and the Scot was influential throughout.
He opened the scoring just before half-time courtesy of a rare defensive lapse by the visitors. Enda Stevens (£5.0m) failed to deal with a punt downfield by West Ham keeper Roberto (£4.4m), allowing Yarmolenko to provide the assist.
The Ukraine international was even busier than his fellow midfielder, topping the charts for both goal attempts and chances created – excellent news for his 5.8% ownership in Fantasy Premier League (FPL).
Not that this figure grew prior to the Gameweek as a net 27,431 managers sold him, depriving themselves of an eight-point haul that included the maximum bonus award.
Form and fixtures should keep further sales to a minimum in the short term, with the Hammers entertaining Newcastle United and then travelling to Burnley next.
After that, however, interest in the team’s key assets is likely to wane. West Ham will have home matches with Spurs and Arsenal and trips to Chelsea and Wolves between Gameweeks 13 and 16 and they’ll be without a fixture at all in Gameweek 18 as Liverpool will be taking part in the FIFA Club World Cup.
The midfield has been a strong suit of the Hammers this season, which is not necessarily a good thing for Fantasy managers.
With plenty of attacking talent at his disposal, manager Manuel Pellegrini can shuffle his pack without compromising on quality or threat. This week, Manuel Lanzini (£6.4m) and Pablo Fornals (£6.1m) had to make do with cameos from the bench, with Felipe Anderson (£6.9m) surviving the cull to join Snodgrass and Yarmolenko in the starting line-up.
Pellegrini also rang the changes at the back, preferring the veteran Pablo Zabaleta (£4.3m) to the previously ever-present Ryan Fredericks (£4.5m) and replacing Angelo Ogbonna (£4.5m) with Fabian Balbuena (£4.3m) at centre-half.
That bid to keep a clean sheet for the first time since a run of three shut-outs came to an end in Gameweek 6 didn’t work out, but the manager was keen to praise his returning players.
“I think the three of them played very well, Pablo and Fabian in their defending and Robert scored the goal and worked a lot during the whole game, so I am happy for the three of them. Robert scored the goal and he is a player who gives a bit of bite to our team. We need to be more clinical to decide the game, though, so we lost two more important points at home.” – Manuel Pellegrini
Further up the pitch, clinical was not the word for lone striker Sebastien Haller (£7.4m). He had a game to forget, creating two chances but managing no attempts on goal whatsoever.
That was alarming news for his 4.9% ownership and he’s now managed only one goal and an assist from his last six starts.
Part of Saturday’s tale of woe was down to the visitors’ defensive excellence. Only Liverpool have conceded fewer goals than the Blades’ eight, and they’re just one clean sheet off Manchester City’s league-leading figure of five.
Wing-back Stevens made up for his error by setting up Mousset’s equaliser and he’s now just four points behind the side’s top-scoring player in FPL, the misclassified midfielder John Lundstram (£4.6m), who has 47.
The 34.5%-owned Fantasy darling had a quiet day by his deliciously affordable standards, blanking for only the second time in five Gameweeks. But Lundstram, at that price and in that position, remains a keeper – probably for the season.
In fact, all of the Blades players are arguably fixture-proof based on their away record and Gameweek 9’s fine home win over Arsenal.
That could be just as well as they’ll be taking on Spurs and Manchester United in Gameweeks 12 and 13, although the rest of their schedule remains attractive up until the end of December.
Mousset, however, might not be getting much of a boost to his 0.6% ownership despite his fine form, not if manager Chris Wilder’s post-match comments are anything to go by, at least.
The former Bournemouth man may have goals in each of his last two outings, but Mousset has started just one match since Gameweek 4.
“We have got to get him up to speed and we have got to work on his condition. After scoring the winner against Arsenal he should have been a shoo-in to start today, but we felt he needed a couple more days to recover, so kept him on the bench. He has shown us his talent in glimpses, but he can certainly be a threat in this division.” Chris Wilder
It’s Burney at home next for United, potentially the sort of tight affair that Mousset can have an impact on from the bench if he doesn’t add to his one and only start of the season, which came against the Gunners.
For all their defensive excellence, the Blades continue to underwhelm in the goalscoring department. They’ve managed only nine from ten games so far, a record eclipsed by just three other teams.
At the London Stadium, Callum Robinson (£5.3m) had the best chance to improve on that tally, only to botch a header with the goal at his mercy, while David McGoldrick‘s (£5.4m) canny flick did at least force a decent save from Roberto.
But until they can find a consistent starting scorer – we’re all looking at you, Lys – Lundstram and his fellow defenders remain the best bets for decent returns.
West Ham United XI (4-1-4-1): Roberto; Cresswell, Diop, Balbuena, Zabaleta; Rice; Anderson (Lanzini 66′), Snodgrass (Ajeti 86′), Noble (Fornals 78′), Yarmolenko; Haller.
Sheffield United XI (3-5-2): D Henderson; O’Connell, Egan, Basham; Stevens, Fleck, Norwood (Mousset 63′), Lundstram, Baldock; Robinson (Sharp 54′), McGoldrick (Bešić 81′).
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