We continue our analysis of the Gameweek 29 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) action in our Scout Notes series.
Here, we focus on Sunday’s two games: Newcastle United v Manchester United and West Ham United v Southampton.
Any numbers you see in this article are taken from our Premium Members Area, where you can access Opta player and team data from every single Premier League fixture.
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- READ MORE: Saturday’s goals, assists, bonus points + statistics
Marcus Rashford (£7.3m) returned from injury to start against Newcastle but was largely anonymous, as he failed to register a single shot on goal for only the third time this season.
In an attempt to get more joy, he later swapped wings with Antony (£7.3m) but cut a frustrated figure having largely been kept quiet by the impressive Kieran Trippier (£6.1m) and Dan Burn (4.5m).
Captained by 53.77% of the top 10k managers, he did at least last 90 minutes, with Wednesday’s home meeting with Brentford still to come in Double Gameweek 29.
“I think our attacking game was not good enough. I don’t want to be focused on one person, it was about team performance. We didn’t break them down. In the first half we had a trap on the right side with Antony and Diogo [Dalot] but on the left we had almost nothing. That is the conclusion of the game. Today we didn’t create many chances and when we were there, we weren’t determined enough to score a goal. That’s the truth. The best chance was maybe for the equaliser for Martial, the deflected shot. But we didn’t create enough.” – Erik ten Hag
Bruno Fernandes (£9.6m), meanwhile, misplaced quite a few of his passes and like Rashford, failed to register a shot.
He also dropped much deeper in the first half, with Scott McTominay (£4.9m) surprisingly United’s most advanced midfielder, in a role reminiscent of the one he performs so well for Scotland.
That did change after the break, with the Scot playing behind Fernandes and Marcel Sabitzer (£4.7m), although it failed to ignite the Portuguese, who struggled to influence the game throughout.
Above: Bruno Fernandes’ touch heatmap v Newcastle United in Double Gameweek 29
Casemiro (£4.9m) was a big loss and will be sidelined for the next two matches after being sent off in the goalless draw with Southampton last month, a huge blow given how poor they were at Newcastle.
In fact, they have now lost four of their eight Premier League games without the Brazilian, compared to three of 19 when he has played.
Elsewhere, Anthony Martial (£6.3m) made his return from injury as a second-half substitute, replacing the ineffective Wout Weghorst (£5.6m), who touched the ball just 10 times in 62 minutes, while Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.3m) missed out through illness.
Joe Willock (£4.7m) opened the scoring for Newcastle midway through the second half, before substitute Callum Wilson (£6.9m) sealed the win with a header from Trippier’s free-kick.
It was an excellent team performance by Newcastle, who racked up a whopping 22 shots and six big chances. Having fallen off the pace in February and March, they have now recorded three straight Premier League wins, with only Liverpool getting the better of Eddie Howe’s troops on home turf in 2022/23.
“We’ve had moments since the World Cup where we haven’t scored the goals we maybe should have. The first half was another example of that, where we were frustrated not to lead. We needed patience and felt if we performed the same way in the second half the goal would come, and it did.” – Eddie Howe
As for Trippier, he claimed maximum bonus for the seventh time this season and needs just 34 more points to become only the fifth FPL defender to record 200 or more points in a season. He’ll surely hit that target, too, having created four chances and whipped in 11 crosses on Sunday.
Wilson, meanwhile, responded to being dropped with a goal, having replaced Alexander Isak (£6.7m) on 79 minutes.
“As a striker all you can do is respond. A few weeks out of the team. All you can do is take the opportunity when it comes around. Nobody likes to be on the bench. When you get called on, it’s the perfect way to respond.” – Callum Wilson
West Ham gave their survival hopes a boost with a deserved 1-0 win over relegation rivals Southampton, a result which moves them up to 14th.
Nayef Aguerd’s (£4.8m) first-half header from a Thilo Kehrer (£4.3m) free-kick was the difference, with the best of the other chances falling to Lucas Paqueta (£5.9m), Said Benrahma (£5.5m) and Jarrod Bowen (£8.0m), who hit the bar and created some decent opportunities for his colleagues.
“I thought Lucas Paqueta grew into the game as it went on, and Jarrod [Bowen] was very good in the second half especially. We couldn’t get him enough of the ball in the first half as we didn’t really seem to come out down the right-hand side very often.” – David Moyes
The goalscorer, Aguerd, has been restricted to just 10 starts this season but has been presented with four big chances, more than any other FPL defender bar Fabian Schar (£5.0m), Ivan Perisic (£5.4m) and Virgil van Dijk (£6.5m).
“Set-pieces are our weapon. We work very hard on them in training – it was a great delivery, and I was there to [head home].” – Nayef Aguerd
Defensively, West Ham have been a bit unfortunate not to record more clean sheets this season, something we discussed in a members’ piece last week. After today’s shutout, they have still only kept six, but rank as high as fourth for minutes per expected goal conceded (xGC), only behind Manchester City, Newcastle United and Arsenal. Five of those aforementioned clean sheets have arrived at the London Stadium, where they are on a six-match unbeaten run in all competitions.
Elsewhere, Lukasz Fabianski (£4.9m) returned in goal, replacing Alphonse Areola (£4.3m), who had started the last two league games in his absence.
“It was a big decision between Lukasz [Fabianski] and Alphonse [Areola] because Alphonse has done really well but we felt Lukasz hasn’t done that much wrong. He got a nasty injury which has had a chance to heal. He feels fine.” – David Moyes on Lukasz Fabianski
Attention now turns to the next two league fixtures, with Newcastle set to visit the London Stadium on Wednesday, in the second part of their Double Gameweek 29, before a trip to Craven Cottage to face Fulham on Sunday.
Southampton were largely restricted to hopeful efforts, as their nine shots carried an expected goals (xG) value of just 0.30, the second-lowest tally of the weekend behind Leicester City.
Substitute Paul Onuachu’s (£5.5m) header hit the bar from a James Ward-Prowse (£6.3m) cross, but aside from that, they were largely ineffective, with Fabianski mostly making routine saves.
However, scoring goals has been a problem for a while now, which has continued under Ruben Selles. Across his seven league matches in charge, they have failed to find the net on four occasions, a period that has seen them create just six big chances.
With games against Manchester City and Arsenal in the next three, it doesn’t get any easier, with the Saints rooted to the bottom of the table, four points from safety.
RODGERS AND POTTER SACKED
Away from the on-pitch action, two Premier League managers lost their jobs on Sunday.
Leicester City sacked Brendan Rodgers after the club slipped into the relegation zone, while Chelsea announced tonight that Graham Potter had left the club after just six months in charge.
At the King Power Stadium, first-team coaches Adam Sadler and Mike Stowell will take temporary charge. Over at Stamford Bridge, that duty will fall to Bruno Salter.
“The achievements of the team under Brendan’s management speak for themselves – we’ve experienced some of our finest footballing moments under his guidance and will always be grateful to him and his staff for the heights they helped us to reach on the pitch.
However, performances and results during the current season have been below our shared expectations. It had been our belief that continuity and stability would be key to correcting our course, particularly given our previous achievements under Brendan’s management. Regrettably, the desired improvement has not been forthcoming and, with 10 games of the season remaining, the Board is compelled to take alternative action to protect our Premier League status.
The task ahead of us in our final 10 games is clear. We now need to come together – fans, players and staff – and show the poise, quality and fight to secure our position as a Premier League club.” – Leicester City Chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha
“On behalf of everyone at the club, we want to thank Graham sincerely for his contribution to Chelsea. We have the highest degree of respect for Graham as a coach and as a person. He has always conducted himself with professionalism and integrity and we are all disappointed in this outcome.
Along with our incredible fans, we will all be getting behind Bruno and the team as we focus on the rest of the season. We have 10 Premier League games remaining and a Champions League quarter final ahead. We will put every effort and commitment into every one of those games so that we can end the season on a high.” – Chelsea owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali
Further reaction will follow on Fantasy Football Scout in the coming days.
1 year, 1 month agostrongly considering benching my 3 utd players shaw,bruno,rashford gw30 ,castagne,BOU,burn bre and mitoma spurs seem to have as much chance of points,utd were rank vs newcastle,thoughts????