Everton 0-1 West Ham
- Goals: Tomáš Souček (£5.2m)
- Assists: Aaron Cresswell (£5.3m)
- Bonus points: Souček x3, Cresswell x2, Angelo Ogbonna x1 (£5.0m)
TOMAS THE TANK
Tomáš Souček (£5.2m) has all but nailed down his place on the Fantasy Premier League radar for Double Gameweek 19.
The West Ham midfielder scored the only goal and took maximum bonus from a Gameweek 17 win over Everton on Friday night – making for an 11-point score.
Ahead of facing Burnley and West Bromwich Albion at home in the Double Gameweek, Souček is now the joint-top goal-scoring FPL midfielder priced at £7.0m or under this season (five).
The Czech Republic international is timing his form just right too. Of his five strikes in 2020/21, four of them have coming in the last seven Gameweeks, helping him produce 6.4 points per game in that time.
“He’s been very important. If he keeps coming up with the goals I’ll be more than happy.” – David Moyes
Naturally, it is Souček’s price that clinches his appeal for anyone considering another Double Gameweek asset – although he does miss Blank Gameweek 18, of course. Costing £5.2m, the West Ham has offered 14.2 points per million spent this season, the best among all midfielders at the time of writing.
OUT OF LUK
With those favourable Double Gameweek fixtures on the horizon, West Ham now have clean sheets in each of their last two matches.
Angelo Ogbonna (£5.0m) was a key factor in the latest shutout, dominating the skies at Goodison Park with his endless stream of headers won against Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£7.9m).
The Italian centre-back is unlikely to draw too much Fantasy interest of his own, mostly on account of his price, Vladimir Coufal (£4.7m) still a steady source of points at right-back. No West Ham defender has registered as many key passes as the Czech Republic international over their last four matches. His places in the team looks a little more assured than before considering David Moyes revealed on Friday that Ryan Fredericks (£4.2m) is now self-isolating.
Aaron Cresswell (£5.2m) provided the assist for Souček’s game-winning goal, taking his total for the season to six, the most among all FPL defenders.
However, it is worth pointing out that five of those have come on the road and both of West Ham’s Double Gameweek fixtures take place at the London Stadium – where two of Coufal’s three assists have come in 2020/21. The right-back also has bonus points in three of his six home appearances.
Meanwhile, Fantasy managers should keep an eye the goalkeeper situation at West Ham, which took an interesting turn on Friday night.
Lukasz Fabianski (£5.1m) pulled up with a thigh injury in the pre-match warm-up, replaced in the starting XI by kindly priced Darren Randolph (£4.4m).
Should the Polish international be out long enough to miss Double Gameweek 19, his understudy could provide excellent value – although there is now just over two weeks until West Ham’s next Premier League fixture. Thankfully there will be updates before, during and after an FA Cup third-round tie with Stockport County.
Michail Antonio (£6.1m) will require a similar level of monitoring after another substitute’s appearance in Gameweek 17. Moyes explained he is still not ready to start matches.
“I’m getting told by the medical team how long I can play him for. I knew the other night I had 15 minutes. I might have a little bit longer tonight if we need him. He’s not ready to start yet. He’s got a history of hamstring injuries, so we’re trying to make sure we don’t lose him for a long period.” – David Moyes
“It was great to get Michail Antonio back tonight for another 30 minutes, too. We’ll keep building him up and there was no reaction in his hamstring which was very good.” – David Moyes
SAME OLD STORY
Gameweek 17 was more of the same for Calvert-Lewin owners, as he went a fifth-straight game without finding the net.
Having produced 7.8 points per match between Gameweeks 1 and 9, the Everton forward is averaging 3.8 since then.
Continually starved of service during that run with James Rodríguez (£7.7m) out of action, Calvert-Lewin was forced to run into the channels and drop deep to try and make things happen for himself against West Ham.
Admirable qualities in a team player but considering Calvert-Lewin has been at his best this season when standing in the six-yard box waiting to convert chances, seeing him occupy deeper and wider positions is, of course, cause for concern.
“The performance was not at the top. Compared to the last game, we had more of the ball but we were not able to manage the ball as we wanted, with speed and with quality in the final third. We didn’t have a lot of opportunities in the game. West Ham defended really well.” – Carlo Ancelotti
However, there may still be crumbs of comfort for his shrinking ownership.
Firstly, Calvert-Lewin has a Blank Gameweek 18 fixture to contest, which he is likely to play alongside Rodríguez, who finally returned from injury against West Ham.
While the Colombian was unable to fashion much in the way of clearcut chances on Friday night, his 26-minute cameo suggests he could be starting in Blank Gameweek 18 later this month.
Nobody has particularly impressed in Rodríguez’s place during his injury lay-off and Alex Iwobi (£5.9m) missed Gameweek 17 anyway.
“A little problem during training. He was a little bit tired. I didn’t want injuries like Michael Keane, who is on the bench. He played a lot of games maybe rest for him could be good.” – Carlo Ancelotti
Everton XI (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Godfrey, Mina, Holgate, Coleman; Doucouré, T Davies; Richarlison, Sigurdsson (Gomes 64′), Bernard (Rodríguez 64′); Calvert-Lewin (Tosun 79′).
West Ham United XI (4-2-3-1): Fabianski; Cresswell, Ogbonna, Dawson, Coufal; Rice, Soucek; Benrahma, Fornals (Lanzini 73′), Bowen (Yarmolenko 73′); Haller (Antonio 59′).
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