Saïss back in the goals as Wolves’ defensive problems persist at Brighton

Brighton 3-3 Wolves

• Goals: Aaron Connolly (£5.2m), Neal Maupay (£6.1m), Lewis Dunk (£4.8m) | Romain Saïss (£5.1m), Rúben Neves (£5.2m)
• Own goals: Dan Burn (£4.3m)
• Assists: Leandro Trossard x2 (£5.7m) | Nélson Semedo (£5.4m), Adama Traoré (£6.1m)
• Bonus points: Trossard x3, Neves x2, Dunk x1, Maupay x1

DO AS THE ROMAINS DO

Romain Saïss‘ (£5.1m) Fantasy Premier League comeback got even better in Gameweek 17 as he scored his third goal of the season in a 3-3 draw with Brighton.

Willy Boly‘s (£5.4m) most recent injury has helped the Moroccan international reclaim his place in the Wolves side regardless of whether Nuno Espirito Santo deploys a back-three or back-four.

Saïss has now started each of the last six Premier League matches, adding goals in two of the last three.

However, prospective suitors for Saïss might be put off by Wolves’ recent defensive problems. 

They have now conceded in each of their last 10 Premier League games, their longest run without a clean sheet in the top flight under Nuno. That run comes after they secured four shut-outs in the opening seven Gameweeks this season.

It is clear that chopping and changing between a back-three and back-four has not helped matters, Max Kilman (£4.1m) owners suffering especially from the lack of consistency with just two 90-minute outings since Gameweek 11.

But, on top of missing Boly, Wolves have also felt the adverse effects of losing the screening abilities of Leander Dendoncker (£4.7m) in central midfield, the Belgian absent from the last four matches with a knock.

Against Brighton, their four-man back-line was reliant on Rúben Neves (£5.2m) and João Moutinho (£5.2m) protecting the defensive third through possession rather than their off-the-ball offerings – something hard to do against a Brighton side with such a heavy focus on moving the ball about themselves.

But Wolves now have 10 days between Premier League matches, which could allow Dendoncker and Boly some time to get back to full fitness and boost their clean sheet potential ready for appealing matches against Everton (home) and West Bromwich Albion (home).

SEA-YA-GULLS

By contrast, the fixtures for Brighton are quite menacing indeed.

They are one of only 12 teams with a Blank Gameweek 18 fixture but considering it is at Manchester City, interest in their assets is likely to be low indeed – especially with Spurs (home) and Liverpool (away) coming up in Gameweeks 21 and 22. 

 Nevertheless, Leandro Trossard (£5.7m) was a standout player for the Seagulls in their 3-3 draw with Wolves, producing two assists and securing maximum bonus for an 11-point haul.

The Belgian is by no means in a purple patch in terms of converting his displays into points, those two assists his first attacking returns since Gameweek 4.

However, the underlying numbers have been mildly encouraging for him over the last four matches, his total of 11 key passes the eighth-best among all midfielders over their last four matches.

Meanwhile, Neal Maupay (£6.1m) is in a strong position to reclaim the centre-forward berth at Brighton.

Danny Welbeck (£5.5m) missed out on a starting place for the second match in a row due to a knee injury and Aaron Connolly (£5.2m) came at half-time with a knock.

“We had a game on Sunday and one on Tuesday, one day in between the matches. Neal’s had a big workload.” – Graham Potter

“We’re missing Danny Welbeck who still hasn’t recovered from a setback against West Ham.” – Graham Potter

That allowed Maupay to move forward from his central attacking-midfield role back into the striker position against Wolves, enabling him to win a quickfire penalty at the start of the second period.

Also with two goals in his last three for Brighton is Lewis Dunk (£4.8m). However, his colleague Adam Webster (£4.4m) can consider himself unfortunate not to have also found the net or registered a Fantasy assist.

He struck the crossbar with a second-half header before substitute Andi Zeqiri (£5.0m) skied the rebound.

Webster has actually registered more shots in the box than Dunk over the last four matches and is arguably more benchable for the upcoming tough fixtures Brighton face.

Brighton and Hove Albion XI (3-4-2-1): R Sanchez; Burn (Lallana 69′), Dunk, Webster; March, Bissouma (Pröpper 46′), White, Veltman; Maupay, Trossard; Connolly (Zeqiri 46′).

Wolverhampton Wanderers XI (4-2-3-1): Patrício; Aït-Nouri, Saïss, Coady, Semedo; Neves, Moutinho; Neto, Vitinha (Kilman 64′), A Traoré; F Silva (Otasowie 87′).

Lessons learned from FPL Gameweek 17

• Everton 0-1 West Ham United
• Manchester United 2-1 Aston Villa
• Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Leeds United
• Crystal Palace 2-0 Sheffield United
• Brighton and Hove Albion 3-3 Wolverhampton Wanderers
• West Bromwich Albion 0-4 Arsenal
• Burnley P-P Fulham
• Newcastle United 1-2 Leicester City
• Chelsea 1-3 Manchester City
• Southampton 1-0 Liverpool