Burnley 0-4 Leeds
- Goals: Mateusz Klich (£5.2m), Jack Harrison (£5.5m), Rodrigo x2 (£5.7m)
- Assists: Raphinha (£5.5m), Ezgjan Alioski (£4.3m), Harrison x2
- Bonus points: Rodrigo x3, Harrison x2, Luke Ayling x1 (£4.4m), Illan Meslier x1 (£4.7m)
PAT ON THE BACK
Patrick Bamford (£6.5m) managed just one point as Leeds scored four goals in their Saturday-lunchtime demolition of Burnley.
The mid-priced forward earned a net increase of 310,556 owners for Blank Gameweek 36 but his 41.7% backing will already have concerns ahead of the final two matches of the season.
Bamford endured a largely peripheral outing at Turf Moor, marked out of the game by James Tarkowski (£5.3m) and Ben Mee (£4.7m) and forced to drop into deeper positions to get a sniff of the ball.
That difficult dynamic only lasted 57 minutes for Bamford who was replaced by Rodrigo in a substitution that will have his owners a little nervous ahead of Gameweeks 37 and 38.
Rodrigo has now produced three goals from the bench across his last two Premier League appearances, offering lively running that Bamford was unable to supply on Saturday afternoon.
Still, Marcelo Bielsa gave no indication in his post-match press conference that Rodrigo would definitely replace Bamford against Southampton on Tuesday. The two have played together before, with Bamford up-front and Rodrigo acting as a number eight in central midfield making late runs into the box.
“Rodrigo is a player like the one you defined: at a very high level. One of the strikers for the Spanish national team and that team is a powerhouse. Like I said before, he takes a while to get to his full performance. When he finally finds his form, he unbalances others.” – Marcelo Bielsa
JACK AND THE BEANSTALK
Meanwhile, Jack Harrison (£5.5m) continues to make a mockery of his ownership levels as he recorded 17 points against Burnley on Saturday.
Scoring and assisting both of Rodrigo’s goals, the Manchester City loanee’s third double-digit haul of the campaign made him the fifth-highest scoring FPL midfielder this season, overtaking Ilkay Gündogan (£5.6m).
Bruno Fernandes (£11.4m), Son Heung-min (£9.7m), Mohamed Salah (£12.8m) and Marcus Rashford (£9.6m) are the only assets in that position with more points than Harrison this season, whose 27.3 points per million spent is the best of any midfielder in 2020/21.
Despite those impressive figures, just 3.6% of Fantasy managers own Harrison at the time of writing.
“For Leeds, it’s very important to count on a player like Harrison. He has a big growth throughout the campaign.” – Marcelo Bielsa
Still, the 6.7%-owned Raphinha (£5.5m) did enough to remain in the conversation for investing in Leeds’ remaining appealing fixtures against Southampton (away) and West Bromwich Albion (home).
WHITE AS A (CLEAN) SHEET
Leeds collected their 11th clean sheet of the campaign against Burnley on Saturday, which helped cement Illan Meslier‘s (£4.7m) place as the second-highest scoring goalkeeper of the season.
His total of 155 points is more than the top-scoring shot-stopper in two of the last six seasons, Lukasz Fabianski (£5.0m) managing 151 in 2014/15 while Tom Heaton (£4.5m) scored 149 in 2016/17.
With Southampton and West Brom up next, further defensive returns hardly seem out of the question for Leeds.
Over their last six matches, their goals-conceded total of five is beaten only by Everton (four), Chelsea (three) and Arsenal (three) and they are only the second Premier League team since Gameweek 27 to see Chris Wood (£6.5m) register a blank.
“I agree particularly in the first half we had a great defensive performance. Even though we conceded a few chances in the second half, which we didn’t in the first, I link that to the fact we attacked with more insistence. Resolution of the central part of the back three was important. Also the contribution of our goalkeeper.” – Marcelo Bielsa
While Stuart Dallas (£5.4m) remains the headline FPL defender at Leeds with his 164 points (more than any other in his position across the entire division) and ongoing midfield role, Ezgjan Alioski (£4.3m) is still worth keeping a close eye on.
His assist and clean sheet helped him to nine points against Burnley and took him over the 100-point barrier for the campaingn.
The North Macedonian international has provided an assist in three of his last six outings ensuring he remains the second-best for value among Leeds defenders this season behind only Dallas (30.4) with his total of 23.5 points per million spent.
Burnley XI: Peacock-Farrell; C Taylor, Mee, Tarkowski, Lowton; McNeil (Gudmundsson 70′), Westwood, Cork, Brownhill; Wood (A Barnes 65′), Vydra (Rodriguez 65′).
Leeds United XI: Meslier; Alioski, Struijk, Llorente, Ayling; K Phillips; Harrison, Dallas, Klich (Roberts 76′), Raphinha (Poveda-Ocampo 81′); Bamford (Rodrigo 57′).
BLANK GAMEWEEK 36 SO FAR…
Danny Ings (£8.4m) followed in Patrick Bamford‘s (£6.5m) footsteps as Southampton beat Fulham 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.
He came off 57 minutes into the encounter having avoided any involvement for his 7.3% ownership.
His replacement Nathan Tella (£4.3m) stole the Fantasy show with his goal and assist as well as a pair of bonus points.
The FPL midfielder has traditionally operated as a centre-forward when on the pitch for Southampton and, if he can earn some more minutes between now and the end of the season, could be a shrewd differential with Leeds (away) and West Ham (away) Saints’ last two opponents.
Che Adams (£5.7m) has shown decent short-term form too, adding his ninth goal of the campaign against Fulham and claiming maximum bonus.
Over his last two matches, he has two goals, one assist, five bonus and a total of 20 points (10 per game).
Bonus points:
- 3 – Che Adams
- 2 – Nathan Tella
- 1 – James Ward-Prowse
3 years, 4 months ago
Scary not owning Kane & DCL
Hopefully Son & Richarlison outscore them