Five goals in six starts for Cornet as set-piece problems continue at Palace

We continue our Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Gameweek 12 Scout Notes with analysis of Burnley v Crystal Palace.

For a briefer summary of Saturday’s action, click here, while you can read up on all of the weekend’s games in more detail via the links below.

• READ MORE: How Newcastle, Norwich and Villa fared under their new bosses in Gameweek 12
• READ MORE: Antonio the most-sold FPL player of Gameweek 13 as budget defender Ait-Nouri impresses
• READ MORE: What Klopp said about Jota’s injury – and is Mane being unfairly overlooked in FPL?
• READ MORE: How Spurs’ FPL assets fared against Leeds in Gameweek 12
• READ MORE: Richarlison to miss Gameweek 13 as Cancelo keeps up fine FPL form

BURNLEY 3-3 CRYSTAL PALACE

• Goals: Ben Mee (£4.9m), Chris Wood (£6.7m), Maxwel Cornet (£6.1m) | Christian Benteke (£6.3m) x2, Marc Guehi (£4.5m)
• Assists: Ashley Westwood (£5.3m), James Tarkowski (£4.9m) x2 | Joachim Andersen (£4.5m) x2, Conor Gallagher (£6.0m)
• Bonus: Benteke x3, Andersen x2, Tarkowski x2

CORNET AND WOOD PARTNERSHIP THRIVING

After Saturday’s result at Turf Moor, Burnley have now avoided defeat in their past four games, a run which has included a 3-1 win over Brentford and draw at Chelsea.

Key to that improved form has been the partnership between Maxwel Cornet (£6.1m) and Chris Wood (£6.7m), with both players on the scoresheet again in Gameweek 12, as they were in their previous home fixture. As a result, the Ivorian has now scored five goals in just six starts, though it is worth noting that his +3.96 expected goals (xG) delta is higher than any other player in the division, while he has recorded that goalscoring tally from just 10 shots.

“We enjoy what he is doing, he is getting towards true Premier League fitness I think and he has played football during the international break and he looked alive, especially second half. In the first half he was sitting on the deep laying midfielder and he didn’t need to. We told him to come off that position and go and press which he did in the second half and he has brought energy but he brought quality as well and his finish was a fine strike.” – Sean Dyche on Maxwel Cornet

With Cornet and Wood paired together up front, the Clarets have now scored seven goals in their last three games, which bodes well for their attacking prospects ahead of a reasonably appealing run of fixtures:

Elsewhere, James Tarkowski (£4.9m) and Ashley Westwood (£5.3m) will both miss Burnley’s match against Tottenham Hotspur next week after picking up their fifth bookings of the season.

BENTEKE AT THE DOUBLE

A brace from Christian Benteke (£6.3m) means that he has now scored 11 Premier League goals in 2021, with all four of this season’s arriving in the last five Gameweeks. During that time, he has been benched once, though with Patrick Vieira praising his work rate off the ball, his chances of another start against Aston Villa on Saturday look promising.

“The way we are playing now, we are creating more chances. For me as a striker, it is a pleasure to be up front. The most important thing is to get points. We took one [at Burnley], and hopefully we will get three next weekend.

As the manager said, we are following a process. The last game we lost was against Liverpool, and since then we have been consistent. We can still do better, we just have to take it game by game.

As you can see, it’s going fantastically for the club in a short space of time. The way we are playing is nice to watch. We are creating more chances, and that is good for the team and the club.” – Christian Benteke

SET-PIECE ISSUES AT PALACE

Palace are now unbeaten in seven games, while only Liverpool and Chelsea have lost fewer matches this season, but there are issues at the back which Vieira will look to solve sooner rather than later.

Despite consecutive clean sheets against Manchester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers prior to Gameweek 12, they conceded three at Burnley, with the absence of key midfielder James McArthur (£4.5m) a real blow, though we should point out that two goals came from set-pieces, which has been a problem area all season.

In fact, no team has conceded more goals from set-pieces in 2021/22, or more attempts than their 60, with Sean Dyche targeting that specific weakness at the weekend:

“We know so far they’ve got a poor record, well so far, from set pieces, so we thought we could capitalise as we know we’re strong from that. I think the quality of the ball in, Ben Mee’s header is fantastic, Maxwel’s is a brilliant strike, and Woody nicks one as well, so we’re pleased with that. We looked effective from it all game, there were chances in the second half, and obviously a brilliant finish from Maxwel, so pleased with that side of things.” – Sean Dyche

Elsewhere, Conor Gallagher (£6.0m) put in a lively display, consistently finding space between the lines, and provided his fifth assist of the season, while Cheikh Kouyate (£4.5m) filled in for the injured McArthur, with Luka Milivojevic (£5.4m) alongside him in midfield.

Burnley XI: Pope, Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor, Gudmundsson, Westwood, Brownhill, McNeil, Cornet (Vydra 84), Wood (Rodriguez 79)

C Palace XI: Guaita, Ward, Andersen, Guehi, Mitchell, Milivojevic (Edouard 87), Kouyate, Gallagher (Schlupp 81), Ayew (Olise 58), Zaha, Benteke