Brighton and Hove Albion 1-2 Southampton
- Goals: Pascal Gross (£5.8m) | Jannik Vestergaard (£4.8m), Danny Ings (£8.3m)
- Assists: Danny Welbeck (£5.5m) | James Ward-Prowse (£6.2m), Kyle Walker-Peters (£4.6m)
- Bonus: Ings x3, Gross x2, Vestergaard x1
Southampton’s Fantasy Premier League assets continue to offer value in the budget and mid-price brackets, while the return from injury of Danny Ings (£8.3m) further swells an already competitive Fantasy forward pool.
Second-half substitute Ings bagged the winner from the spot in the Monday night match at the Amex, while Jannik Vestergaard (£4.8m) and James Ward-Prowse (£6.2m) continued their rich veins of form with attacking returns in the Saints’ 2-1 win over Brighton and Hove Albion.
FIXTURES AND FIT INGS
Ings was initially among the substitutes as Ralph Hasenhuttl named an unchanged starting XI but replaced Moussa Djenepo (£5.4m) at half-time, with Theo Walcott‘s (£5.8m) ‘out of position’ stint as a central striker coming to an end.
Speaking ahead of kick-off, Hasenhuttl explained his decision not to go with Ings from the start and suggested the striker wouldn’t have completed 90 minutes had he made the line-up:
Definitely [could get minutes], yes. Could also be a possibility from the beginning but I don’t like to start with players when I know I have to sub them, it limits me in the options I have.
He can always jump in and help us, it’s always good when you have players like him and Reddy on the bench.
The good news for those FPL managers looking to pounce on Ings ahead of his appealing Gameweek 12 fixture against Sheffield United is that he looked as sharp as ever, pressing from the front in his usual aggressive manner and creating a ‘big chance’ for fellow substitute Nathan Redmond (£6.4m) with some ball-juggling work in the Brighton box.
Having failed to trouble Mathew Ryan (£4.4m) with a header on the hour-mark, Ings’ big moment came from 12 yards in the final ten minutes after Kyle Walker-Peters (£4.6m) had been felled inside – or possibly outside – the Brighton area.
Ings hasn’t gone more than one Premier League appearance without an FPL attacking return since we emerged from lockdown in June and next up for Southampton is the only side who have yet to keep a clean sheet in 2020/21.
The schedule actually isn’t too bad until the end of the year, with strugglers Sheffield United and Fulham and an out-of-sorts Arsenal to come in the next four Gameweeks.
CORNER BOYS
No FPL asset has registered more goals and assists combined than Ward-Prowse over the last six Gameweeks.
The Southampton dead-ball specialist registered his seventh attacking return in half a dozen appearances on Monday, with his 45th-minute corner nodded in by Vestergaard.
Only one of those returns came from open play and, as one of Saints’ two deeper-lying midfielders, Ward-Prowse is heavily reliant on corners and free-kicks for attacking contributions.
The historically low conversion rate of free-kicks and corners means that Ward-Prowse’s rate of returns will slow down soon but when you can strike a ball as well as the budget Beckham, there’ll still be a slow drip-feed of assists and goals throughout the rest of the campaign.
The towering Vestergaard is a good target to aim at, too, and he notched his third goal of the season (from just five attempts) on Monday evening.
The Saints centre-half now sits joint-third in the FPL defenders’ points table with just Ben Chilwell (£6.2m) and Kurt Zouma (£5.6m) ahead of him.
The big Dane said after full-time:
I’ve been in good positions from set pieces around the box. They’ve all been different. One was a free kick from the side, the other was from a second phase and this one was a corner. It’s hard to say [how many I’ll get this year], I’m just happy that we as a team have become a threat on set pieces in general.
We’ve scored some goals and they count just as much as the pretty ones played out from the back. So it’s a big value to the team. It was a very good goal; it was a brilliant cross. I was quite alone so since it left his [Ward-Prowse’s] foot I knew it was coming to me.
I managed to guide it into the far corner which was a nice feeling. I think I’m confident enough to think every time I’m up there, whether it’s Prowsey or someone else putting the cross in, if the ball comes in my area I can beat my man.
But with Prowsey putting them as precisely as he does, every time really, obviously raises the chance but we’ve still got to finish them.
GROSS PROFITS
A cult FPL favourite from the 2017/18 season has been quietly impressing over the last five Gameweeks.
Pascal Gross (£5.8m) has now strung together five successive 90-minute run-outs for Potter’s side and in only one of those appearances has he blanked.
Being a nominated penalty-taker is always a boost to your Fantasy appeal and for the second week running, Gross scored from the spot.
Neal Maupay (£6.2m), who was only a substitute on Monday after passing a late fitness test, was off the field of play in both instances but given that the Frenchman has missed two of his last four penalty-kicks, Gross may now have the upper hand.
YVES NO SAINT
Two of the most-owned bargain-bin midfielders in FPL picked up their fourth bookings of the season on Monday.
Yves Bissouma (£4.5m) and Oriel Romeu (£4.5m) are now one yellow card away from a one-match ban, with both players now having to negotiate their respective clubs’ next eight fixtures before the threshold rises to 10 cautions.
Tariq Lamptey (£4.8m) returned from his own one-match ban and produced one of his quieter displays this season, with Saints getting to grips with the teenager after a bright start.
Opposite wing-back Solly March (£5.0m) had almost three times as many touches in the final third as Lamptey, which could be a recurring theme as opposition defences seek to nullify the youngster’s attacking threat.
Southampton XI (4-2-2-2): McCarthy; Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Vestergaard, Bertrand; Romeu, Ward-Prowse; Armstrong, Djenepo (Ings, h-t); Walcott (Redmond, 69), Adams.
Brighton XI (3-4-2-1): Ryan; Veltman, Dunk, Webster; Lamptey, White (Jahanbakhsh, 82), Bissouma, March; Gross, Welbeck (Trossard, 82); Connolly (Maupay, 64).
