The inquest into Saturday’s Gameweek 20 action continues as we run the rule over Crystal Palace v Brentford and Nottingham Forest v Manchester United.
- READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 20: Saturday’s goals, assists, bonus points + stats
- READ MORE: FPL notes: De Bruyne’s return, “cold” Palmer + Nkunku benching
OLISE INJURY LATEST
Michael Olise (£5.8m) is averaging more FPL points per start (7.6) than any other Premier League player this season (a minimum of two starting XI appearances).
Even Erling Haaland (£13.9m) and Mohamed Salah (£13.3m) can’t match that figure.
Olise’s latest haul came in the 3-1 win over Brentford, the winger responsible for two of the Eagles’ strikes.
Racking up six shots in total, the excellent Olise volleyed in Palace’s early equaliser before sealing the victory with a slaloming run and strike for the hosts’ third goal.
Since his return to the starting XI after injury in Gameweek 13, he is ahead of all other FPL midfielders bar Alejandro Garnacho (£4.8m) for goal attempts (25).
Hold fire on any transfer, though, as the in-form winger was visibly struggling with a hamstring injury in the dying embers of the game.
“I can’t really tell you. I spoke to him, he didn’t seem overly concerned. I spoke to the doc, he wasn’t shaking his head suggesting he needs a scan tomorrow and [that] we have to fear the worst. But of course, we don’t know until he gets back into training and we assess it and look at it. I don’t think it was a major snapping of the muscle but unfortuately we’re in that period of football life; playing three games a week, I’m afraid people are going to pick up muscle injuries.” – Roy Hodgson on Michael Olise’s hamstring injury
Eberechi Eze (£6.0m), currently playing second fiddle to Olise in terms of FPL interest, scored Palace’s second goal and should have emerged with a double-digit haul of his own, firing straight at Mark Flekken (£4.5m) from 14 yards.
Jean-Philippe Mateta (£4.9m) continues to impress up top, here producing some fine link-up play and setting up three chances in the process.
TONEY AVAILABLE IN GAMEWEEK 21
Brentford now lose Yoane Wissa (£5.7m) to the Africa Cup of Nations, not that he has impressed much of late.
Indeed, in the two-man strike force that Thomas Frank employed at Selhurst Park, it was Keane Lewis-Potter (£4.7m) who was involved in most of the threatening moments that Brentford had.
Lewis-Potter had given Brentford an early lead, finishing off a fine team goal.
But the Bees do now recover a striker for Gameweek 21, and it’s the main man who returns: Ivan Toney (£7.9m), whose eight-month ban from football ends in mid-January.
Whether he remains in west London amid transfer interest is another thing but Brentford have missed him, losing seven of the last eight league matches.
“No matter if we had everyone available and we had won five in a row, or if we had a few players out and lost a few games, I would always look forward to Ivan coming back.
“He is needed as a character, a leader and a good player.” – Thomas Frank
It’s at the back where the bigger issues lie, with the lack of available full-backs/wing-back an obvious Achilles heel. Thomas Frank even adopted a more conservative 3-5-2 shape for this game, a formation he usually reserves for the Premier League’s elite.
The Bees still actually rank an impressive fourth for fewest expected goals conceded (xGC) over 2023/24, so the last two defeats are a bit of an aberration in a wider context.
BAD PASS TURNER OVERDRIVE
Matt Turner‘s (£3.9m) errant distribution again came under the spotlight in Saturday’s evening kick-off.
The American goalkeeper caused plenty of heart-stopping moments with his kicking, not for the first time this season or indeed for the first time under new boss Nuno Espirito Santo.
And the inevitable happened in the 78th minute, when Alejandro Garnacho (£4.8m) pounced on a loose Turner pass to set up Marcus Rashford (£8.4m).
Turner’s remaining owners in FPL will be nervously awaiting the next Premier League teamsheet to see if Nuno’s patience has been exhausted, but the Forest head coach publicly backed his under-fire goalkeeper in the post-match press conference.
“It’s our responsibility and okay, it’s a mistake, but it’s our mistake because we said that we want to try and play. So, Matt made a mistake but then he kept us in the game, fantastic saves, very good on the crosses. But speaking about the mistake, it’s our responsibility – nothing to say to Matt, nothing to say.” – Nuno Espirito Santo on Matt Turner
Given Forest’s loose purse strings in previous transfer windows, you would not be overly surprised if they recruited another goalkeeper in January, whatever Nuno says above.
Forest’s performance was otherwise solid, if not spectacular, as their revival continues.
A game of few clear-cut chances was settled by similar goals, Nicolas Dominguez (£5.0m) and Morgan Gibbs-White (£5.7m) left in too much space at the edge of the box to stroke home second-half efforts.
That was Gibbs-White’s first non-penalty goal of 2023/24.
Anthony Elanga (£5.0m) claimed the assist for that strike, and he has now reached double figures for attacking returns in 2023/24 – four of which have arrived in Nuno’s first three matches.
…TWO STEPS BACK
“You would not be shocked in the slightest if a rejuvenated Nottingham Forest brought them back down to earth with a bump in Gameweek 20.”
That was our sign-off line in the midweek Scout Notes that followed Manchester United’s comeback win over Aston Villa.
In fairness to Erik ten Hag, he was unable to replicate the successful combination he had used at Old Trafford on Boxing Day – Rasmus Hojlund (£6.8m) up top, Marcus Rashford on the left and Alejandro Garnacho on the right – due to Hojlund’s illness.
In came the woeful Antony (£6.8m), with Rashford and Garnacho moved around the chess board, and out went any attacking cohesion.
“We haven’t played with, in a row, the same team. Today, again, we had to change as we lost Rasmus Hojlund. Every time, we have to swap our team and that doesn’t help support the routines in the team, therefore it’s also explainable as to why you are so inconsistent. We had also nine different partnerships in the back.” – Erik ten Hag
We’re being generous offering mitigation; even factoring in the injuries, the fact that only Burnley and Sheffield United have scored fewer goals than the Red Devils this season is a damning indictment.
