We finish Sunday’s Gameweek 9 Scout Notes by summarising the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from two more matches: West Ham United v Manchester United and Crystal Palace v Tottenham Hotspur.
- READ MORE: Gabriel hurt, goals for Saka, Salah + Palmer
- READ MORE: Triple Captain woe despite Haaland’s season-best xG
- READ MORE: McNeil injury latest + why Rogers was subbed early
- READ MORE: Wood injury update after forward’s latest brace
The numbers and graphics you see in this article come from our Premium Members Area. Here, you can access Opta player and team data from every single Premier League fixture.
IS £4.0M FABIANSKI WEST HAM’S NUMBER ONE?
Owned by 17.1% of FPL managers because they believed he had a slightly better chance of starts than the other £4.0m goalkeepers, Lukasz Fabianski did indeed get the nod here, replacing Alphonse Areola (£4.4m) after last week’s own goal.
He survived Man United’s early onslaught and made a brilliant save from Casemiro’s (£4.8m) header before the Brazillian eventually equalised later on.
Then again, such a high number of chances conceded highlights the leakiness of West Ham’s defence. This restricts the appeal of starting Fabianski over any other shotstopper, even though they face Everton, Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers in their next five outings.
Probably another week or two’s worth of evidence will be required in any event, to ensure that the veteran Pole has indeed ousted Areola for the foreseeable future.
“Lukasz Fabianski always is ready. Today we think that it’s the right decision to put him in. He is always ready, an incredible competitive keeper, and he did very well.
“It doesn’t mean that we don’t trust in Alphonse. Alphonse has all our trust, our confidence, but today we were thinking that was better to put Lucas in. Fortunately, he did very well and we won.” – Julen Lopetegui on his goalkeepers
“I’m not going to answer you!” – Julen Lopetegui on whether Lukasz Fabianski will start in Gameweek 10
TEN HAG SACKED AFTER BOWEN WINNER
West Ham’s promising upcoming encounters are perhaps more about Jarrod Bowen (£7.4m) consideration.
Man United dismissed Erik ten Hag earlier today, after substitutes Crysencio Summerville (£5.7m) and Danny Ings (£5.0m) combined to punish all those missed early chances. His counterpart Julen Lopetegui made three half-time changes to stem the tide, one of which removed usual penalty-taker Lucas Paqueta (£5.9m).
So when a hugely debatable spot-kick was not only given but – incredibly – upheld, it was Bowen who calmly won the game in stoppage time.
Now on three goals and three assists, such attractive upcoming fixtures make him a great option for those managers wanting to replace a mid-priced midfielder like Luis Diaz (£7.9m) or the injured Diogo Jota (£7.3m).
UNLUCKY FERNANDES
Man United haven’t yet scored in the opening 35 minutes of a Premier League match this season but they should’ve had at least three on Sunday.
Despite last season’s best chance creator and second-best provider of big chances being far down the lists this time, Bruno Fernandes (£8.2m) did set up a few at London Stadium and was unlucky to blank once more. He’s not scored past West Ham during 13 meetings.
A second-minute pass to Alejandro Garnacho (£6.2m) ended with a shot against the crossbar, outdone shortly after by an extraordinary Diogo Dalot (£5.1m) miss. Racing onto Fernandes’ ball, the onside full-back took it past Fabianski but somehow avoided the open net.
Above: Dalot’s open goal miss, where Fabianski (#1) is far outside the box
As for attempts, he’s joint-sixth overall with 28 of them – the only player with 16 or more to remain goalless. With underlying stats like this, surely – surely – his attacking returns will arrive during the Red Devils’ superb imminent fixture run. A new manager bounce on its way?
To conclude this match, popular defender Noussair Mazraoui (£4.6m) went off late with a knock to his knee.
EZE FINALLY DELIVERS
Similarly to Fernandes, it’s been two months of avoiding returns for Eberechi Eze (£6.7m). His 37 shots rank third-highest but he entered Gameweek 9 with just one goal and no assists for a winless Crystal Palace.
However, his clever penalty area flick set up Jean-Phillipe Mateta (£7.3m) for the sole goal against Spurs, taking Oliver Glasner’s side out of the relegation zone.
It prevented a clean sheet for owners of Pedro Porro (£5.5m), Cristian Romero (£5.1m) and Micky van de Ven (£4.7m). The latter went on to fortuitously avoid a red card for his last-man foul on Mateta.
Eze could’ve had more too, as his second-half strike was deemed offside and a possible penalty shout led nowhere. He’s certainly worth keeping for next week’s Wolverhampton Wanderers trip.
MORE SOLANKE ANONYMITY
Dean Henderson (£4.4m) made a big save from James Maddison’s (£7.6m) low shot and successfully kept a clean sheet. It meant that – following blanks in Spurs’ 4-1 win over West Ham – it was another joyless afternoon for highly selected Dominic Solanke (£7.7m) and Brennan Johnson (£6.7m).
The latter hit the post and received a yellow card, whereas big summer signing Solanke’s latest three matches have deeply concerning numbers attached. Two shots, none on target, no big chances and 0.13 expected goals (xG).
Above: Spurs players’ expected data between Gameweeks 7 and 9
Do managers keep him for Ipswich Town in Gameweek 11, or ditch such poor form? With Nicolas Jackson (£7.9m) and Kai Havertz (£8.2m) about to enter some good fixtures and several budget forwards doing the business, there’s a case mounting against him.
SON UPDATE
As Ange Postecoglou indicated in his pre-match press conference, Son Heung-min (£9.9m) wasn’t named in their squad.
On Sunday, he spoke about it a couple of times.
“It’s not really a hamstring injury, but he was out for a while and wasn’t feeling right after the last game, so we’re just being conservative with him. All things being well, he should be all right for next week.” – Ange Postecoglou
“He seems to be progressing well so, hopefully, he’ll be available for one of the games.” – Ange Postecoglou
His bold move to instead start 17-year-old Mikey Moore (£4.5m) didn’t pay off, not that the youngster was alone in having an off-day.
