Our write-ups of the Gameweek 10 action begin with the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from Saturday’s fixtures.
The numbers you see in this article are from our Premium Members area, where you can access Opta player and team data for every single Premier League fixture.
KANE’S “KNOCK”
Harry Kane (£11.4m) kept up his 7.0 points-per-match average with the only goal of the match at the Amex, which extended his run without a blank to eight fixtures.
There was a bit of a concern for the England international towards the end of the game, with medical treatment for a kick to his foot immediately followed by a substitution.
There was no word on any potential issue from Antonio Conte after the match but Kane himself didn’t seem overly concerned:
“It’s just a knock, I think. He’s obviously gone full power for the shot there and I’ve just managed to get in front of him. A sore one but they are definitely worth it when you win the game for sure.
“I’m feeling good, a lot of games coming thick and fast. We’ve got the Champions League again in midweek, we’ve just got to recover well and the whole squad’s got to be ready to play and just keep battling out the games.” – Harry Kane
ROTATION BITES
There was an entire team’s worth of changes across Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur’s two starting XIs today, with Graham Potter and Conte making seven and four alterations to their line-ups respectively.
Reece James (£6.1m), Raheem Sterling (£10.0m), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£9.0m) and Ivan Perisic (£5.6m) were among the key Fantasy names who warmed the bench on Saturday.
We knew that rotation would bite in this busy period, and Conte’s handful of changes weren’t exactly unexpected given that he named the same XI in both of Spurs’ previous matches over the last week.
Minute management has reduced Perisic to just six points over his last five appearances, while his average time played this season is 45.8 minutes.
“In this moment we have just started to play many games every three days. At this moment we have two players up front injured, Kulusevski and Moura. We know that on Wednesday we will have another important game, to try to go through to the Champions League. We have to try to find the best solution.” – Antonio Conte
Potter was a bit more of an unknown quantity going into this period: he has tinkered heavily with Brighton line-ups in the past but was more settled with his selections in his final year on the south coast.
Juggling two matches a week as well as trying to keep a deeper squad happy may see the Potter of old return, however, and only Kepa Arrizabalaga (£4.4m) and Mason Mount (£7.6m) have started all three matches since the international break.
“It’s a credit to the players because there’s a good group here. I don’t think we can succeed with just 11 players. I don’t think it’s right just to keep 11 going until they fall down and get injured or whatever and then we play the next ones, as I don’t think that’s good for the group dynamic.
“At the same time, I’m conscious that if we lose the game today people would have been asking me why I didn’t play Aubameyang. That’s just how it is. But as long as the reason’s there, as long as I understand in my head why we’ve taken the decision, somebody’s got to take it.
“Today it’s worked out well and that’s credit to the players because the group’s really together and pushing for each other and it’s important that everybody knows we can’t do it with just 11.
“You have to take every situation on its own. If you’re playing three games in a week in the Premier League, Champions League and then Premier League again, you’ve got to make a decision around fresh players, players who are determined and desperate to play. There’s that aspect and we’ve got a good group here.
“We’ve got a big squad with lots of competition and you need the competition, people fighting for each other, supporting each other. Wanting to play but ready to help and I think you saw that today. Kai scored, Christian scored, Armando scored, so that’s pleasing.” – Graham Potter
Mount assisted two of Chelsea’s strikes – almost doubling his season’s points tally in the process – as three of Potter’s seven recalled players got on the scoresheet.
FODEN THE TOP-SCORING MIDFIELDER
Four of the five highest-scoring FPL players of this season come from Manchester City, all of whom delivered points against Southampton.
Kevin De Bruyne (£12.4m) and Erling Haaland (£12.2m) ticked over with six points apiece – Haaland has now reached 15 league goals in nine starts, a tally beaten by just five players in the whole of 2021/22 – but it was Joao Cancelo (£7.2m) and Phil Foden (£8.2m) who really shone, each claiming two attacking returns.
While Pep Guardiola has repeatedly demonstrated over the years that he has different game-plans for different opponents, a medium-term injury to Kyle Walker (£5.0m) could really unleash Cancelo over the next few matches no matter which flank he plays on.
The City boss hasn’t yet entrusted Sergio Gomez (£4.5m) with a league start so it could be Manuel Akanji (£5.0m) or Nathan Ake (£5.0m) playing as a hybrid full-back/third centre-half for most of the approaching games, as happened on Saturday with Akanji ostensibly used on the right.
With effectively three centre-halves behind him, Cancelo was given more attacking freedom to get forward (see the average position map below) and ended up registering 10 penalty box touches, the most he has ever recorded in a Premier League game.
Foden meanwhile kept up his ever-present starter record; while he may have been substituted before the hour mark for the third time this season, it only underscores the fact that Guardiola sees him as one of the key players he must preserve.
Foden went on a similar unbroken run of league starts in the second half of 2021/22 (11 in all) before being rested around the Champions League quarter-finals and semi-finals but that is less of a concern in the next few weeks with City all but qualified for the last 16 and able to rotate for what could soon be dead rubbers.
The England international is now top among all FPL midfielders for non-penalty xG in 2022/23.
BRUNO BRACE
It’s nine goals in two matches for Newcastle United, who followed up their hammering of 10-man Fulham with a 5-1 thrashing of Brentford on Saturday.
Kieran Trippier (£5.5m) has now avoided a blank in his last seven home matches, averaging 6.9 points per game in that time, while Callum Wilson (£7.2m) made it 30 attacking returns in 42 starts for the Magpies.
Miguel Almiron‘s (£5.1m) purple patch continued with a late goal, too, and he has now matched his best-ever season’s goal tally after just nine matches of 2022/23. There’s understandable scepticism about whether his streak can continue but the confidence is flowing and he is now an eye-catching fourth among FPL midfielders for expected goal involvement (xGI) this season:
Bruno Guimaraes (£5.6m) opened his account for the season with a brace against the Bees, meanwhile. Four price falls mean that he is now available for an attractive Fantasy fee but it should be stressed that he was again employed as a ‘number six’ on Saturday, with his goals coming from a set play and a 25-yard drive. He’s had just one shot in the box (the header he scored from a well-worked corner today) and three penalty area touches all season, so his goal threat is still limited.
“He (Trippier) just had a bit of fatigue I think today. He’s come back from England duty where he didn’t play, and that two weeks can sometimes just knock a player’s normal routine and schedule. Touch wood, there’s no injury with him, but we’re just trying to look after him really and get him through these games.
“I think the beauty of Bruno is that he won’t let the team down – when he gets to the point where he’s finished and done, he’s obviously building up his fitness levels after his injury, then he takes responsibility and lets me know. I was able to withdraw him.” – Eddie Howe on why he subbed off Kieran Trippier and Bruno Guimaraes
The time to consider Guimaraes may be when Jonjo Shelvey (£4.8m) is back to resume his place as the deepest central midfielder, which is not too far away. We’ll then see the Brazilian schemer unleashed to play in the number eight role that he excelled in and scored five goals from last season.
Two sub-£4.5m midfielders again got starts for Eddie Howe’s troops and one of them, Jacob Murphy (£4.3m), was on the scoresheet. They’ve got the shirts for now but longer term, they are likely to make way for the soon-to-be-fit-again Shelvey and Allan Saint-Maximin (£6.4m).
MADDISON ON FOUR YELLOWS
James Maddison (£8.2m) has joined the likes of Gabriel Jesus (£8.0m) and Anthony Gordon (£5.5m) on the precipice of a one-match ban.
Maddison collected his fourth booking of the season in Leicester’s 2-1 defeat at Bournemouth, meaning that he now has to get through the Foxes’ next 10 fixtures without being cautioned in order to avoid a one-game suspension.
We’ll have more details on that in Monday’s Suspension Tightrope article.
BUDGET FORWARDS DELIVER
In that match on the south coast, two budget forwards played a part in the three goals scored. Patson Daka (£5.7m) put Leicester into an early lead before Dominic Solanke (£5.7m) claimed two assists as Bournemouth came from behind to win and rise to eighth in the Premier League table.
These are two very different characters. Daka offers more of goal threat than Solanke but his minutes are less assured, with Jamie Vardy (£9.2m), for example, getting the nod instead in Gameweek 9. Solanke, meanwhile, is someone you can rely on for appearance points (which might be useful in Gameweek 12, for instance) but his underlying stats remain poor. Only three forwards have a worse minutes-per-xG average (809.7) than the Bournemouth striker this season:
Philip Billing (£5.3m) made it three goals in his last four matches but those strikes have come from just five shots; he’s not going to continue scoring with 60% of his efforts going forward.
