Eight FPL returns in seven starts for Bowen and hope for Antonio despite blanks

Following our round-ups of Saturday and Sunday’s Fantasy Premier League (FPL) action, our Scout Notes cover all the Gameweek 11 matches in more depth.

All stats and graphics in this article are taken from our Premium Members Area, where there is still a seven-day free trial available.

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WEST HAM UNITED 3-2 LIVERPOOL

• Goals: Pablo Fornals (£6.0m), Kurt Zouma (£5.4m) | Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.7m), Divock Origi (£4.9m)
• Assists: Fornals, Jarrod Bowen (£6.3m) x2 | Mohamed Salah (£13.0m), Alexander-Arnold
• Own goals: Alisson (£6.0m)
• Bonus: Alexander-Arnold x3, Fornals x2, Bowen x1

IN-FORM HAMMERS

West Ham United ended Liverpool’s 25-game unbeaten run on Sunday, with an excellent 3-2 victory that ensures they head into the international break ahead of Jurgen Klopp’s side in third place.

Notably, across 2021, the Hammers have been the third-best Premier League team, with only champions Manchester City and Chelsea bagging more points. During that time, they have scored 62 goals in 33 games, a total only Pep Guardiola’s side can eclipse.

That suggests that keeping faith with Michail Antonio (£8.2m) a while longer could be a wise move, despite four blanks in his last five appearances, and a tougher immediate schedule:

In fact, the Jamaican international has now scored just two goals in his last seven league games. However, there isn’t a lot wrong with his underlying numbers over that period, despite an obvious dip in attacking returns.

Forwards ranked by xGI Gameweeks 4-11

The lack of alternatives in his category is another reason to hold. 

Over the weekend, amongst all forwards, only Teemu Pukki (£5.8m), Adam Armstrong (£5.9m), Matej Vydra (£5.2m) and Divock Origi (£4.9m) found the back of the net, with the likes of Ivan Toney (£6.7m), Jamie Vardy (£10.8m) and Harry Kane (£12.2m) extending their run of blanks to five/three/three matches respectively.

IS BOWEN THE BEST FPL MIDFIELDER UNDER £6.5M?

After his brace of assists in Gameweek 11, Jarrod Bowen (£6.3m) has now produced at least one attacking return in six of his last seven appearances. 

During that time, only Mohamed Salah (£13.0m) can boast a higher expected goal involvement (xGI) total amongst all players, yet the winger is still only owned by just 1.8% of FPL managers.

The mid-price midfielder category is certainly stacked with options right now, with the likes of Conor Gallagher (£5.8m) and Emile Smith Rowe (£5.8m) also vying for our attention, but Bowen could be the best of the lot, with his share of set-pieces – and how good West Ham are at them – also worth factoring in.

Jarrod Bowen v Conor Gallagher v Emile Smith Rowe key attacking stats comparison 2021/22, via our Premium Members Area

“We spend a lot of time on set-pieces. The gaffer, Kev [Nolan], Nev [Paul Nevin], [Stuart] Pearcey, Bill [McKinlay], all the coaching staff… we put so much detail into our set-pieces and I think we’ve scored a lot of goals off of them. It’s not a fluke, the amount we’ve scored. Some games can be decided on set-pieces and we’ve had two goals from them – I’m not sure if the first one is an own-goal, or whatever happened, but it went in – and with Kurt Zouma’s first West Ham goal as well, I’m delighted for him.” – Jarrod Bowen

Elsewhere, budget defender Ben Johnson (£4.0m) was once again selected at right-back ahead of Vladimir Coufal (£4.8m), who had to settle for a place on the bench. The youngster had another excellent game, which suggests the Czech international may have to wait for his chance to prove himself once more.

DOUBLE-DIGITS FOR ALEXANDER-ARNOLD

Despite conceding three goals, Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.7m) still managed his fourth double-digit return of the campaign, courtesy of a first-half free-kick and assist for Origi’s consolation.

The England international now ranks second amongst all defenders for FPL points, despite missing two games through illness and injury respectively, 

Mohamed Salah, meanwhile, racked up his fifth consecutive assist, though he has now failed to score in his last three matches in all competitions, while Diogo Jota (£7.5m) struggled to make an impact in the absence of Roberto Firmino (£8.9m), and was replaced by Origi when Liverpool needed a goal.

“So, yeah, first half completely in control of the game, anyway 1-0 down because of a set-piece. We scored the equaliser – a wonderful goal – and were really in control and in charge of the game. Obviously West Ham play really good stuff this season but today it was a bit more like the old West Ham – sitting deep, going for set-pieces and counter-attacks. In the first half we didn’t let that happen apart from one, I think, set-piece, if I’m 100 per cent right, at least where they scored the goal. Then second half we lost balls in general, we lost more balls than in the first half. They scored from a counter-attack and from a set-piece; the second one was exceptionally well taken and a great, fantastic finish from Zouma. But that all shouldn’t have happened because we should have controlled the game still in the second half. For whatever reason, it looked for me a little bit like we lost patience, it was like we didn’t have enough clear-cut chances so we wanted to change the wrong things. Actually, our passing changed too early, we had to do that higher up the pitch, then you are better protected. Then we were in the situations where we lost the balls. That’s it, pretty much” – Jurgen Klopp

West Ham XI: Fabianski, Johnson, Zouma, Ogbonna (Dawson 22), Cresswell, Soucek, Rice, Bowen (Coufal 84), Fornals, Benrahma (Masuaku 86), Antonio

Liverpool XI: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho (Minamino 80), Henderson, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Thiago 68), Salah, Mane, Jota (Origi 76)