We round up the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from West Ham United v Everton in our Scout Notes summary.
The graphics below are taken from LiveFPL, Ragabolly’s excellent and ever-improving website (which now has a new look!), and our own Premium Members Area.
BOWEN RETURNS
Jarrod Bowen (£6.8m) marked his return to West Ham’s starting XI with a fine display on Sunday, as he produced his seventh double-digit haul of the campaign via a goal, assist and maximum bonus.
The winger went into Gameweek 31 flagged with a heel injury that had kept him out of the last four matches, with David Moyes stating prior to kick-off that “… he’s ready but I’m a little bit worried”, suggesting he would’ve ideally liked to give him a longer break.
However, Bowen showed no signs of rustiness during his 70-minute run-out, as he took his goal superbly and was a real livewire, especially in the first-half.
Having won the free-kick for Aaron Cresswell’s (£5.4m) opener, it’s now 14 assists for the winger this season, at least three more than any other player:
“We have a huge game coming up on Thursday night. I would like to say that wasn’t playing in my mind, but it clearly was. I’d like to say all the players have come through OK, Jarrod Bowen included.
We know that Jarrod has goals in him. It was unfortunate the injury he got as we could have found him being part of the England squad. Gareth may look at him again in the summer if he keeps his form up. But for us he does a great job. Hopefully he is rejuvenated after the break and can play even better.” – David Moyes
Michail Antonio (£7.5m), meanwhile, bagged an assist and impressed leading the line, although his goal drought continues: he last scored in Gameweek 21.
As for West Ham, it’s now three consecutive league wins at home, as they move back up to sixth in the table.
However, the forthcoming schedule is mixed and further complicated by their Europa League involvement, which sees them face Lyon in the quarter-finals either side of Gameweek 32.
ANOTHER AWAY LOSS FOR EVERTON AHEAD OF TURF MOOR CLASH
Everton got their Gameweek 31 double-header underway at the London Stadium on Sunday, but missed out on the chance to pull away from the bottom three with another damaging defeat.
As a result, it’s now 12 Premier League away matches without a win, and, of all the 92 clubs in the Premier League and the EFL, the Toffees have the worst away record of the lot – picking up just six points from 14 games on the road. Four of those points came in the first month of the season and they have not won away in the league since a 2-0 win at Brighton and Hove Albion in August.
There are mounting injury and suspension issues ahead of Wednesday’s huge visit to Burnley, too.
Michael Keane (£4.7m) was sent off (Everton have now been given three red cards in their last three games) for two bookable offences and will miss out due to suspension.
Seamus Coleman (£4.9m) and Andre Gomes (£4.9m), meanwhile, missed out through illness and injury respectively, while Donny van de Beek (£5.7m) – who was initially named in the starting XI – will be monitored after picking up a thigh injury during the warm-up.
Frank Lampard also provided an update on several of his other injured players after the match:
“We have to face Burnley without Michael Keane but also we have injuries. Donny (Van der Beek) pulls up in the warm-up today. Allan is suspended. We are stretched. I am less worried about personnel and more worried about the character of the group. What I saw today showed that. Burnley is a huge game no doubt, but there are nine more after that. We have games in hand on other teams but we must stick to the next game. Burnley is absolutely the most important at the minute and we have to show more quality – and there is that in this group – to stay up.”
“Patterson turned his ankle in training yesterday, which is disappointing as he’s in a really good moment after the international break. He would have made his (Premier League) debut today. We need to get it scanned but it might not be a good one. Yerry Mina is 10 days to two weeks away. Donny van de Beek picked up a muscle injury on the side of his quad in the warm-up. We’ll need to see how he is.”
Despite falling to their sixth defeat in eight Premier League matches under Frank Lampard, Everton certainly had their moments in east London.
Richarlison (£7.5m) looked lively, while a switch to a 4-1-4-1/4-3-3 system with Alex Iwobi (£5.8m) dropping into midfield alongside Mason Holgate (£4.2m) and Abdoulaye Doucoure (£5.3m) offered their backline more protection. That meant Anthony Gordon (£4.6m) had to settle for a 12-minute run-out from the bench, with Demarai Gray (£5.5m) preferred on the wing.
“(Alex Iwobi) played really well and I hope people don’t focus too much on the negative, the mistake. I thought his work-rate was brilliant. He’s got attributes to play in different positions and intelligence to take things onboard.” – Frank Lampard on Alex Iwobi
“It is not ideal to lose Donny (van de Beek) in the warm-up but you deal with it and I think we did. The reshuffle was done well in terms of Mason (Holgate) coming in from playing centre-back recently to midfield. The performance was good and we deserved more from the game. A lot of things went against us today, which is how it has been going for us. But there were a lot of positives against a good team. We certainly deserved a point against a good team.” – Frank Lampard
West Ham United XI: Fabianski, Fredericks, Dawson, Zouma, Cresswell, Soucek, Rice, Bowen (Noble 70), Benrahma (Yarmolenko 82), Fornals, Antonio
Everton XI: Pickford, Kenny, Godfrey, Keane, Mykolenko, Holgate, Doucoure, Iwobi, Gray, Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin (Gordon 78)
GET IN-GAME DATA AT LIVE FPL
