Scout Notes

Owners of Everton and Palace assets at ‘form versus fixtures’ crossroads

Everton 3-1 Crystal Palace

  • Goals: Bernard (£6.4m), Richarlison (£8.1m), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.1m) | Christian Benteke (£5.7m)
  • Assists: Theo Walcott (£6.2m), Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison | Wilfried Zaha (£6.8m)
  • Bonus: Richarlison x3, Calvert-Lewin x2, Benteke, Bernard x1

Everton and Crystal Palace are heading in opposite directions on the Season Ticker, with the Toffees rock-bottom over the next four Gameweeks and Roy Hodgson’s side loitering somewhere near the top.

On current form, however, the tables are turned.

The blue half of Merseyside have lost only once (to Manchester City) since Carlo Ancelotti first took charge on Boxing Day and now sit seventh in the Premier League following Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Eagles.

Palace are plummeting south, meanwhile, and have won only one of their last 11 league games.

For a side supposedly built on a solid defence, they are in dire shape.

No other Premier League is on a barren run as long as Palace’s in terms of clean sheets, with Vicente Guaita (£5.0m) without a shut-out to his name in two months.

Given their well-documented struggle for goals at the other end of the pitch, the question has to be asked as to just what they have to offer Fantasy managers despite the upcoming favourable run of games (Newcastle and Watford at home, Brighton and Bournemouth away).

Martin Kelly (£4.3m), Palace’s most-owned Fantasy Premier League asset by some distance, had lost his place at right-back even before he picked up the calf injury that ruled him out of Gameweek 26, while the Eagles’ defence may have been further weakened on Saturday by the loss of James Tomkins (£5.0m) to injury.

Roy Hodgson said of his centre-half after full-time:

He’ll have to have a scan. He’s definitely got a hamstring problem, there’s no doubt about that, and unfortunately, they normally take weeks rather than days. I’m not expecting good news but we won’t know until the scan how bad the news is. Of course, it’s a shame to lose him.

The defenders that do remain hardly covered themselves in glory on Merseyside although Palace were in this match for long periods, despite what the scoreline suggests.

The Goodison Park faithful were getting tetchy midway through the game as the visitors got on top, with the mood not helped when Christian Benteke (£5.7m) fired the Eagles level shortly after the break.

The Belgian striker is far from clinical in front of goal and his levelling strike should have been easily stopped by Jordan Pickford (£5.3m) but Benteke built on a promising comeback game against Sheffield United with another busy display on Saturday, turning Patrick van Aanholt‘s (£5.5m) corner onto the bar on 56 minutes, forcing Pickford into an excellent point-blank save soon after, and firing wide when well-placed late on.

Benteke’s return to the first-team fold has come at the expense of Jordan Ayew‘s (£5.0m) goal threat, with the Ghanaian striker farmed out to the right flank, although it’ll be interesting to see which front three Hodgson opts for once Andros Townsend (£5.6m) is fully back up to speed.

Van Aanholt had himself struck the upright early in the game and, reflecting on the game, Hodgson said:

I thought we played well for large parts of the game. Not right at the start or the late stage. For 20/25 minutes in the first half, there was not much going on at all for either side, although they’d scored. At the end of that half, the last 20 minutes of that half, we started to play much better, pass the ball better and started to look like we might score a goal.

At half-time, I encouraged the players to do what they’d been doing maybe even a bit more for the start of the second half. When we got the equaliser, I thought it was a fair result, a fair reflection on how we played. The second goal, when we were pushing ourselves, came from a poor pass which was intercepted and all of a sudden you’ve got Richarlison, who’s obviously in very good form at the moment, making that incredible run scoring that fantastic goal.

That puts us on the back foot but we had two very good chances to equalise and the goalkeeper had to make a wonder save. The third goal was when we made a lot of changes in the hope of pulling out an equaliser right at the end and that seals the game. It was a 2-1 defeat more than a 3-1 defeat. But it’s a defeat which hurts us badly because i didn’t think that the performance necessarily merited it.

Everton weren’t great, it has to be said, but then Fantasy assets don’t have to be, so long as they are regularly racking up the points.

In Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.1m) and Richarlison (£8.1m), Everton possess two in-form players in attack who are thriving under Ancelotti.

Calvert-Lewin’s flick set Richarlison on his way to restore the Toffees’ lead at 2-1 before the mid-price FPL forward got on the scoresheet himself late on, tapping in when the Brazilian’s header had looped against the bar.

Their double-digit hauls could have been even greater had Calvert-Lewin converted a close-range rebound in stoppage time when Guaita had pushed Richarlison’s drive into his path.

Ancelotti said of the Brazil international after full-time:

We have to thank Richarlison because he scored a fantastic goal on the counter-attack. That was the key point and, after, our control of the game was good. It was an outstanding counter-attack, he is a fantastic player, really young and really important for us. It was an outstanding goal.

Richarlison can also play on the left but we don’t have to give him a lot of defensive work. He has to be fresh when we have the ball, he can play right and left, but without thinking too much about defensive work.

Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin are averaging a very healthy 6.83 and 5.88 points per match respectively under Ancelotti and their owners will perhaps be in a quandary, with Everton facing an off-putting run of fixtures that includes seven of the top ten in Gameweeks 27-35.

Are any of those opponents – bar Liverpool – infallible, though? The Gunners, Manchester United and Chelsea, who Everton face next, are certainly not the watertight forces of yesteryear.

The same could be said of Everton’s clean sheet prospects in Gameweeks 27 and 28, with Mikel Arteta’s side hardly racking up the goals of late and the Red Devils struggling without the talismanic Marcus Rashford (£8.9m).

The Toffees’ slightly ropey performance at the back on Saturday might convince owners of Everton defensive assets to sell, however, with only a Pickford wonder save and the woodwork coming between the Eagles and more goals at Goodison.

It’s now just one clean sheet in seven for Everton, too, despite the likes of Palace, Watford, West Ham and Newcastle (twice) providing favourable opposition in that time.

Added to this is rotation risk.

Two of Everton’s most-popular defenders among active FPL teams, Mason Holgate (£4.5m) and Djibril Sidibe (£5.3m), began this one on the bench, with both emerging as substitutes. Sidibe was in fact thrown on early enough to be eligible for clean sheet points, only for Palace and Pickford to ruin that prospect.

Ancelotti had previously made noises about rotating his centre-halves and, when asked about his latest team selection, said:

We need more of everything. More quality, more intensity, more pressure, more concentration. It’s not easy to pick the line-up but I want everyone to be involved and the players accept my decisions.

The Toffees’ head coach added that Theo Walcott (£6.2m), who crossed for Bernard (£6.4m) to volley in Everton’s superb opener, will have a scan on an apparently minor knee injury that forced the winger off after just 25 minutes on Saturday.

Everton XI (4-4-2): Pickford; Coleman, Keane, Mina, Digne; Walcott (Sidibe 26′), Schneiderlin, Sigurdsson (Holgate 86′), Bernard (Davies 65′); Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin.

Crystal Palace XI (4-5-1): Guiata; Ward (Kouyate 79′), Tomkins (Dann 61′), Cahill, van Aanholt; Ayew, McArthur, Milivojevic, McCarthy (Meyer 68′), Zaha; Benteke.

Members Analysis

1,102 Comments Post a Comment
  1. Sun Jihai
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Was so close to playing my WC but glad I saved it. Scope for a Man City triple GW if not re-arranged for this week!

    1. FOO FIGHTER
      • 4 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Problem with that is Pep rotaion especially with CL and cups coming up...

    2. Ron_Swanson
      • 13 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Shouldn’t need a WC for that!

      1. Make United Great Again
        • 11 Years
        4 years, 1 month ago

        Exactly! For most that’s just 2 more Man City players

    3. HashAttack
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      this makes it two triples ... assuming they will blank 28, 31 and 34

  2. Team Cruel
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    My guess is they play it on Wednesday 19th and the game remains in this GW. Enough time to arrange policing. Both teams have 2.5 weeks off between games.

    1. FPL Pillars
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      All just a guesses into we were from Crenlin

      1. FPL Pillars
        • 7 Years
        4 years, 1 month ago

        We hear *

    2. thegaffer82
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Are there not CL games on this day?

      I don't think the PL can put games on at the same time without permission from UEFA

    3. squits
      • 14 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Champions league mate. Doubt UEFA will let them. They don't usually

  3. Firminooooo
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Will still be on -1 after todays matches, no Sheffield U. What a nightmare, Holgate, Ryan, KdB, Aguero(C). Would delete my team if I were not top 500.

    1. thegaffer82
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Felt genuine empathy with you there (also have the same players) until I saw the last sentence.

      Mate, youre miles ahead of me. So I'll cry no tears for your 'predicament' 😉

    2. tisza
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      🙂

  4. Champions League Varane
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Even if there was to be a DGW/TGW we would be lucky if Kun was to start even one of them!

    And a DGW/TGW wouldn’t be soon either?

    1. FOO FIGHTER
      • 4 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Yup, Pep will make you rage transfer Kun out...

  5. Hitmonlee
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Really hope City moves to next GW now. I had Aguero C but Salah is my Vice with Doucoure sat as first bench

    1. FOO FIGHTER
      • 4 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Sounds good

  6. Bouncebackability
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 14 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    The potential of Kun today is lost now. How often would he have a break or that length after a game? If City have a double bed likely only play one and a city captain in a double with European game’s back is potentially more of a trap than an advantage

    1. HashAttack
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Really annoying - thought Aguero was as safe as you could get this week (Pep wise) but didn't anticipate the weather ... or how namby-pamby the country has become

  7. FOO FIGHTER
    • 4 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    The only City asset I would be comfotable capping in a double or triple GW is KDB.

    1. Bouncebackability
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      And everybody has him

  8. Matjes_taet
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    There goes my BB-Chip - blowing in the wind.

  9. FOO FIGHTER
    • 4 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Henderson McCarthy
    VVD TAA Dunk Stephens Lacelles
    Salah KDB Perez Son Cantwell
    Auba Jimenez Ayew

    1ft and some cash available

    Was going to take hits to remove Ayew Cantwell and Dunk but with all the crazy sh*te happening with fixtures at this point I am just going to hold tight and have a look see what happens with rearranged fixtures.

  10. Pukki Party
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    ManUtd playing away next weekend could be good for playing already next weekend, right?

    1. squits
      • 14 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      No. City players will have already organised their breaks and if they have to play it would mean no break at all.

      1. HashAttack
        • 7 Years
        4 years, 1 month ago

        The disjointed winter break does'n looks so smart now, actually it never did in the first place .. teams playing this w/e could have had a week off already

  11. ⭐ Bemba_Da ⭐
    • 13 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    big battle for 4th place with leicester then real madrid a few days later, man city fixture list about to get even busier

    1. FOO FIGHTER
      • 4 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Yeah, not a good time to actually own City assets with Pep playing ping pong with an exact clone of himself at the other end.

  12. FOO FIGHTER
    • 4 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Which chips do you still have in tact?

    BB and FH here.

    1. HashAttack
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      all 4 - FH, WC, TC, BB

  13. FOO FIGHTER
    • 4 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Any news on whats happening with the SHU match?

    1. Drexl Spivey
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      All been warned to wear their puffa jackets.

      1. TRIPOS TOPPER
        • 6 Years
        4 years, 1 month ago

        Stone Island for preference

    2. HashAttack
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      all of 37 miles away from Manchester ... completely different climate?

  14. fplking14
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    I don't see why the game can't be played tomorrow as the winter break will only be cut by a day plus the storm major affects are just today.

    1. FOO FIGHTER
      • 4 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Not enough time to rearange the fixture that quick I guess.

    2. ⭐ Bemba_Da ⭐
      • 13 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      city probably organised their winter break already, flights booked etc

      1. fplking14
        • 9 Years
        4 years, 1 month ago

        Their millionaires surely they can afford to one day of inconvenience and cost to play the game they love lol.

        1. ⭐ Bemba_Da ⭐
          • 13 Years
          4 years, 1 month ago

          that is true but could be a situation like klopp. He puts a weakened team as protest

      2. squits
        • 14 Years
        4 years, 1 month ago

        Yep. This would play havoc with the winter break schedules

    3. George Sillett
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      A. Supporters.
      B Policing arrangements.
      C. Away fans.

      Many more reasons too

      Far more involved than just switching the day.

      1. fplking14
        • 9 Years
        4 years, 1 month ago

        Unfortunately your right, I capped Aguero and vice capped KDB.

    4. benbro
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      How do billion pound football clubs and the FA not have a plan B up front?

      It’s so amateur and basic

      1. benbro
        • 5 Years
        4 years, 1 month ago

        (By up front I mean at the start of the season / month rather than at the top of the pitch)

  15. FOO FIGHTER
    • 4 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Is KDB even going to be guaranteed start in the EPL now. Pep probably wants to win the Mickey Mouse cup again as well as the CL to have something to fall back on.

    EPL is dead in the water for Pep so one can only imagine rotation hell hole from here on in.

    I have gone no City this season and may consider it again to avoid frustration of benchings and no shows.

    1. benbro
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      I’ve tripled up

      Brought Aguero and Mahrez (for a hit) in to add to KDB.

      Aguero Captain (Salah VC)

      Could be a very expensive passing of wind.

      But I’m Wild carding next week anyway and now Lundstram in 1st sub position gives me some comfort.

  16. NABIL - FPL otai
    • 11 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Kdb kun and bought mahrez for a hit.

    🙂

    1. benbro
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Same.

      Captained Aguero?

  17. Udo
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    On FPL the match has been put into TBC status! Wait and see I guess.

  18. Top Lad Dakes.
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Hayden goal would be nice now!

  19. KingKanu
    • 4 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    So what’s the summary on Everton plans? Is Holgate still a bargain - or now a benchwarming zero value?

  20. benbro
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Is the fixture ticker more Brocken than normal this season?

    Watford, Bournemouth and Newcastle will surely turn Palace over without too much difficulty.

    The derby game with Brighton could be 3-3, 3-0 or 0-0.

    But the ticker seems to suggest these are good fixtures for The Eagles.