We round up the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) notes from Thursday night’s Gameweek 15 matches of Everton v Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United.
The numbers and graphics you see in this article are taken from our Premium Members Area. Here, you can access Opta player and team data from every single Premier League fixture.
- READ MORE: FPL Notes – Mbeumo out for “weeks” with injury
- READ MORE: FPL Notes – Tomiyasu injury update, Arteta on Jesus + in-form Hwang
- READ MORE: Wednesday’s goals, assists, bonus points + stats
LATE NEWCASTLE COLLAPSE
A couple of late defensive errors from Kieran Trippier (£7.0m) cost Newcastle a clean sheet at Goodison Park. It was close to being a superb start for those who quickly bought goalkeeper Martin Dubravka (£4.0m) after Nick Pope’s (£5.5m) long-term shoulder injury.
Although Trippier avoided a fifth yellow card that would’ve brought a suspension, his sloppiness caused Dwight McNeil (£5.4m) to rob him of the ball and put Everton ahead in the 79th minute. Soon after, another howler, this time ending with McNeil assisting Abdoulaye Doucoure’s (£5.5m) smart finish. Within the blink of an eye, substitute Beto (£5.7m) rounded off an embarrassing collapse for Eddie Howe’s side.
Some early Dubravka saves almost made his transfers look brilliant but, instead, he, Trippier, Fabian Schar (£5.3m), Tino Livramento (£4.3m) and Jamaal Lascelles (£4.2m) all lost their returns. It’s now one away win from 10 Premier League and Champions League outings for the Magpies. They’re a completely different side when compared to being at St James’ Park. An ongoing injury crisis is forcing unchanged line-ups from Howe and the players, visibly, are absolutely exhausted. But they play again in under 72 hours.
IS LASCELLES HURT?
Adding to the injury and rotation woes of Bryan Mbeumo (£7.1m), Matty Cash (£4.9m) and Kostas Tsimikas (£4.9m) owners is a potential knock suffered by Lascelles at the end.
“I don’t think it is a serious one, it looks like a dead leg.” – Eddie Howe
He’s been a bargain defender in the absence of Sven Botman (£4.5m) but this late limping, combined with the Dutchman’s seemingly imminent return, could bring his FPL time to an end. Now, it’s just about finding enough free transfers to put out these emerging fires!
AREOLA WRIST INJURY
For a while, those Dubravka buyers must’ve felt they’d pulled off a masterstroke. Alphonse Areola (£4.3m) has been frustrating, keeping just one clean sheet as West Ham allowed the third-most opposition shots (243).
He was a surprise absence from the Hammers’ 2-1 win at Spurs, failing a late fitness test on a wrist injury. FPL managers with both Areola and out-of-favour Matt Turner (£4.0m) in goal may have an extra problem that quickly needs solving. We await news from David Moyes in Friday’s press conference.
ANOTHER PORRO ASSIST
Those intending to use a Gameweek 16 to replace the likes of Cash, Tsimikas, Lascelles or Joachim Andersen (£5.1m) are probably inching even closer to Spurs’ right-back Pedro Porro (£5.3m) if they don’t have him already.
At a time when so few defenders are proving to be reliable at keeping clean sheets, Porro is an attacking menace when in open play and on set pieces. His corner set up a goal for the returning Cristian Romero (£4.9m), meaning he’s on five assists for the campaign. In this match alone, the Spaniard created five chances and had five for himself, allowing him to overtake Cash and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.0m) as the defender with the most shots (23). However, only one of these is labelled as a ‘big chance’ and a lowly three were on target.
Porro’s booking and conceding of two goals combined with two bonus points, ensuring he finished with five in total. He’ll be hot property for Spurs’ meetings with Nottingham Forest (a), Everton (h), Brighton and Hove Albion (a) and Bournemouth (h).
BOWEN V GORDON
On Thursday, Brentford head coach Thomas Frank ruled out Mbeumo for “weeks”. The instinctive replacements amongst the FPL community seem to be Cole Palmer (£5.3m), Anthony Gordon (£6.0m) and Jarrod Bowen (£7.6m) – we got to see two of these participate here.
Gordon shook off a slight knock to face his former club, taking three shots in ten minutes after the break. The first was wayward from far out, the third saw him finish poorly after being set up by Alexander Isak (£7.6m) but the one in between was a golden chance. He stole the ball off James Tarkowski (£4.4m) after a short pass from Jordan Pickford (£4.4m). Clean through, Gordon’s weak shot was straight at the England international.
Whilst he’s very much about home games, Bowen is the opposite. After failing to net in any of last season’s travels, the West Ham attacker has a goal from each of his seven away matches of 2023/24. He’s the third Premier League player to ever score in seven successive trips, alongside Sergio Aguero and Robin van Persie. Sunday’s visit to Fulham gives Bowen a big chance to chase the latter’s streak of nine.
Then again, perhaps team-mate James Ward-Prowse (£6.1m) is the answer. His winner here came from a short Destiny Udogie (£4.8m) backpass, ending with Ward-Prowse hitting the post but tapping the rebound into an empty net.
SON INJURY DOUBT
Captainers of Son Heung-min (£9.6m) must’ve been feeling confident after Wednesday night’s Mohamed Salah (£13.1m) and Erling Haaland (£14.0m) inactivity. Yet the Spurs attacker was very quiet here, failing to trouble Areola’s standby Lukasz Fabianski (£4.2m) with his one shot.
It’s the fourth blank from five league games for Son, with Ange Postecoglou’s side gathering one point throughout them all. To make things worse, Son’s post-match interview – not to mention the anguished expression on the bench after his 88th-minute withdrawal – suggests he could be a doubt for the weekend. A yellow flag is already beside his name.
“I hope [I’m OK]. I had a big kick on my back… I didn’t have time to assess it. We’ll see.” – Son Heung-min
“I don’t know, not sure.” – Ange Postcoglou, post-match, when asked about Son’s injury status
Sunday afternoon brings these two defeated outfits together in north London. Both inside the top seven but also a clash between a team winless in five and another who can’t win away. Not quite an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, then.
