FPL Gameweek 16 round-up: Sunday review, injury news and the things we learned

Our Scoreboard series rounds up the key goings-on from Sunday’s Gameweek 16 fixtures, from injury news to stats analysis.

With the swift turnaround between Fantasy Premier League (FPL) deadlines, the Scoreboard articles will take the place of the usual Scout Notes throughout December.

The graphics below are taken from LiveFPL, Ragabolly’s excellent and ever-expanding website, and our own Premium Members Area.

GOALS, ASSISTS, BONUS

INJURIES AND BANS 

Jonny Evans (£5.4m) went down holding his hamstring after just a few minutes of action on Sunday, and was quickly replaced, with Wilfred Ndidi (£4.8m) dropping in at centre-back.

“Not good. We think it’s his hamstring but we’ll get more on that tomorrow. It’s such a shame because he’s such a fantastic player.” – Brendan Rodgers on Jonny Evans

The setback is another worry for Leicester City’s injury and illness-hit squad, which is already missing key defenders Wesley Fofana (£4.3m), Jannik Vestergaard (£4.7m) and James Justin (£4.9m), plus Ayoze Perez (£5.7m), Ademola Lookman (£6.0m) and Kelechi Iheanacho (£6.9m) further forward.

Elsewhere, Maxwel Cornet (£6.1m) missed Gameweek 16 with a thigh problem, which Sean Dyche touched on in his post-match interview:

“We will wait and see over the next few days, he is settling well.”

Dyche also gave an update on Connor Roberts (£4.5m), who missed today’s squad due to illness:

“Unfortunately, Connor has got a really bad bug that eventually turned into an infection, so he’s had to go into hospital to make sure that’s clear. He’s feeling a bit better now, but he’s got to stay in over the weekend to make sure this bug clears.”

As for West Ham United, David Moyes has suggested Aaron Cresswell (£5.4m) – who has missed the last three games with an ongoing back problem – could return soon when quizzed on his availability ahead of Wednesday’s tie at Arsenal:

“I am hoping so, we are short and having to get through the best we can.”

At Everton, Rafa Benitez was without influential midfielder Allan (£4.5m) through injury, while Richarlison (£7.4m) was substituted off just before the hour mark, which he went onto explain after the match:

“Allan was working so hard at the end of the game a few days ago with a problem, he couldn’t be here. 

Richarlison has a problem with his calf. We knew and were trying to protect him at half-time. He wanted to try to carry on. Without Dominic Calvert-Lewin we cannot take this risk (of Richarlison aggravating his problem). We put a player who was fresh on. He knew, we knew he wasn’t fully fit. It wasn’t helping with the arms (Richarlison looking annoyed). I said we could change him at half-time and nothing would happen. He wasn’t doing too much in the second half.”

On the suspension front, Abdoulaye Doucoure (£5.4m) and Javier Manquillo (£4.0m) are now just one caution away from a ban, having picked up their fourth yellow cards of the season in Gameweek 16.

Aside from that, it was a fairly quiet afternoon, though Demarai Gray (£5.6m), Allan Saint-Maximin (£6.8m), Caglar Soyuncu (£4.9m) and Ben Mee (£4.9m) did all move onto three bookings.

GAMEWEEK 16 TAKEAWAYS

ADVANCED GALLAGHER SHINES IN NEW-LOOK PALACE MIDFIELD

Conor Gallagher (£6.1m) moved up to third in the midfielder standings on Sunday, with his brace of goals taking him to six for the season. In a thoroughly deserved win, the Chelsea loanee was easily the best player on the pitch, with Cheikhou Kouyate (£4.5m) and Will Hughes (£4.7m) offering him a platform to thrive in the final-third. As a result, he was deployed in a more advanced role, which was key to his performance.

Conor Gallagher’s average position by Gameweek

AWAY WOES CONTINUE AT NEWCASTLE

Following Sunday’s heavy defeat at the King Power Stadium, Newcastle United have now taken just three points from a possible 24 on their travels this season. They are still yet to win, while goals have been in short supply, too, with just five across their eight away games.

And that lack of attacking threat is impacting Callum Wilson (£7.5m), who looked isolated today, and as a result, managed just 10 touches in the final-third. It’s also worth noting the disparity in his home/away numbers, with his goal attempts (2.97/1.13), shots in the box (2.52/0.94) and big chances (0.89/0.38) per 90 minutes all taking a dip on the road.

TIELEMANS AND MADDISON DELIVER AS LEICESTER GET BACK TO WINNING WAYS

With Jamie Vardy (£10.7m) benched once again, Leicester turned to Youri Tielemans (£6.4m) and James Maddison (£6.7m) for inspiration on Sunday, with the pair stepping up and delivering monster 16-point FPL hauls.

For Maddison, the playmaker has now produced double-digit returns in three of his last four appearances, courtesy of three goals and four assists, though the fixtures up until the end of the year – Tottenham Hotspur (h), Everton (a), Manchester City (a) and Liverpool (h) – is probably enough to put off any potential buyers.

Today’s 4-0 win also signalled Leicester’s first clean sheet since Gameweek 1, with a much-improved defensive display restricting their opponents to just 0.67 expected goals (xG).

“When you’re in Europe you come up against teams who have a whole week to prepare. We got back on Thursday night, to sleep at 4am then back here again so it’s tough to bounce back on tired legs, especially with a Covid-hit squad. That’s what it’s about. The most pleasing thing after getting an assist, a goal and a penalty is the clean sheet. We’ve talked about that a lot. To look at the scoreboard at the end and see a nil next to the opponent is a good feeling.” – James Maddison

“It’s important to share (the goals) about. Jamie is an amazing player for us and he understands where he’s at. He’ll be fit and ready and fresh for Thursday.” – Brendan Rodgers on Jamie Vardy

ANTONIO WITHOUT A GOAL SINCE GAMEWEEK 9

After today’s blank, Michail Antonio (£7.9m) has now failed to find the back of the net in any of his last seven Premier League appearances. During that time, he has managed just one assist, though owners will find it hard to move him on, given West Ham United’s forthcoming schedule, which from Gameweek 17 is about as good as it gets, with matches against Norwich City (h), Southampton (h) and Watford (a) before the end of the year.

“I don’t think we can just rely on him to score all our goals. He scored so many at the start of the season. Yeah, it’s dried up a bit but every striker goes through that patch, he’s still massively key for our team and the way that we play, but the goals need to start coming from other players as well including myself.” – David Moyes on Michail Antonio

COVID CASES REPORTED AT MAN UTD AND VILLA

It is being reported that a small number of Covid-19 cases impacted both Manchester United and Aston Villa’s respective training sessions on Sunday. According to The Athletic, the United squad that travelled to Norwich City for yesterday’s win had all tested negative. However, there has since been some positive lateral flow tests in camp, with those involved sent home from training today and will now have PCR rests. At Villa, one first-team player has tested positive, with training set to go ahead as planned tomorrow. Man Utd are due to take on Brentford on Tuesday, while Villa travel to Norwich the day after in Gameweek 17.

STAT WATCH – GAMEWEEK 16

Conor Gallagher’s seven goal attempts in Gameweek 16 was more than any other player on show, with his 0.6 non-penalty xG total only beaten by Diogo Jota (£8.0m), Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.4m) and Salomon Rondon (£6.0m) this weekend.

The attacking midfielder also features here, with his three created chances carrying an expected assists (xA) value of 0.44.

West Ham duo Jarrod Bowen (£6.5m) and Nikola Vlasic (£5.7m) also appear from Sunday’s games, plus Gallagher’s team-mate Jordan Ayew (£5.8m).