Saturday’s two 3pm kick-offs weren’t the sexiest on paper but they produced seven goals, a 15-point haul from a defender and plenty of defensive contribution (DefCon) points.
Unpicking Everton 2-0 Fulham and West Ham United 3-2 Burnley, here are our latest Gameweek 11 Scout Notes.
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- READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 11: Saturday’s goals, assists, bonus + ‘DefCon’ points
WHY O’BRIEN + KING WERE SUBS
Both managers made one change apiece at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
David Moyes, a little surprisingly, brought in Tim Iroegbunam (£4.9m) for Jake O’Brien (£4.9m). That alteration saw James Garner (£5.0m) move to right-back.
Garner still ended up as the top shot-taker in this match – although three of his four efforts were direct free-kicks!
Moyes explained his thinking after full-time.
“We weren’t needing a huge change – but I could have made huge changes. I thought that Jimmy would give me a little bit more quality at times on the ball from the position. It meant I was going to lack in height in some ways, which was a concern to me at set pieces, that we could we could be short. As it was, we scored the goal today from one. We defended one. The clean sheet was great.
“I just felt that Jimmy going to right-back might have just helped us make us play just that little bit better.” – David Moyes on starting James Garner at right-back
As for Fulham, their one change affected their most-owned player, Josh King (£4.5m), who made way for Sasa Lukic (£5.0m).
Marco Silva wasn’t asked specifically about his decision to bench King but the Fulham boss hinted at the reasoning after the game: physicality. It would make sense, as King’s previous benching was against a robust Newcastle United side.
“The physicality of the game – in some moments, he knows how to handle it. In other moments, off the ball, of course, it creates more difficulty for him. But, of course, he is a player that has been very good all the season so far. Nothing new this afternoon.” – Marco Silva on Josh King
The good news for his owners is that his introduction sparked Fulham into some semblance of life, if not a comeback. Lukic is also banned in Gameweek 12.
KEANE v TARKOWSKI
Everton were deserved winners here, running out top on shots (14 v 8) and xG (see below). They even saw three goals chalked off for offside.
There was no joy for the man of the moment, Iliman Ndiaye (£6.6m), this time. Echoing what we wrote after his goal on Monday, he’s going to have to continually outperform poor underlying numbers to sustain his output: he’s had zero or one shots in eight of his 11 starts in 2025/26. Saturday was one of those.
And when you’ve got two misfiring strikers on the end of your chances created, don’t expect too many assists. Ndiaye carved out an excellent opportunity for Thierno Barry (£5.7m) against Fulham, which was predictably spurned. Barry was at least a bit better here, and was one of those who were denied by an offside flag.
Overtaking Ndiaye to become Everton’s top FPL points scorer was Michael Keane (£4.5m).
The centre-back, maligned for much of his Toffees career but excellent this season, nodded in Everton’s second to supplement his clean sheet points.
“Michael Keane’s been brilliant. A great professional. You’re not coming away from games questioning Michael Keane very often. If anything, you’re coming away praising him.” – David Moyes
Keane trails the more expensive James Tarkowski (£5.4m) for defensive contributions (not by much – 9.73 v 10.36 per 90 minutes) but has outshot his centre-back partner 9-2 this season. Tarkowski did, we should point out, hit the bar before Everton’s opener and had a goal wiped out for offside.
FULHAM IN FREEFALL
Fulham’s win over Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend carried the big disclaimer that it was against a rock-bottom club that had a man sent off.
Sure enough, the Cottagers were awful on Saturday.
That Gameweek 10 victory is their only positive result in the last six Gameweeks. It’s also only Wolves who they are ahead of in the form table:
Above: The bottom five of the six-match Premier League form table, via SoccerStats
There have been some tricky opponents in that time (eg Arsenal) but the fact that they were bossed by a mediocre Everton side is the biggest worry.
“Disappointing result for us, but more than the result, very disappointing performance. We got what we deserved from the game, definitely.” – Marco Silva
There were some positives from an FPL perspective, such as the entire back four banking DefCon points. Joachim Andersen (£4.5m) has 14 of those now in 2025/26.
But otherwise, a trip to Fulham in Gameweek 12 is now looking like a favourable match for in-form Sunderland assets.
The striker situation is certainly a reason to play Nordi Mukiele (£4.2m) et al if you own them. Rodrigo Muniz (£5.4m) came off injured after himself being brought on as a substitute, while Raul Jimenez (£6.2m) is carrying a niggling issue. Silva said after the game that the Mexican hadn’t trained properly in “15 days”.
“Bad news probably for us when a player comes in, and after 10, 15 minutes, we have to take him off. It’s not a good sign.
“He felt something again in the same leg, in the same area of the hamstring. Of course, it looks not good news for us. Let’s see the next few hours, days to analyse him. Was 50/50 felt something/was precaution.” – Marco Silva on Rodrigo Muniz
PAQUETA BAN + £4.4M POTTS INJURY UPDATE
A win for West Ham came at a cost, with Lucas Paqueta (£5.9m) picking up his fifth booking of the season. He’ll miss Gameweek 12.
Meanwhile, FPL’s cheapest starting midfielder at present, Freddie Potts (£4.4m), came off injured on the hour mark.
It doesn’t sound like a serious issue, however.
“He has a dead leg. I think [he will be okay]. I think it was very painful now but with ice he will recover.” – Nuno Espirito Santo on Freddie Potts
Potts banked DefCon points and was on corners here before hobbling out of the action.
MANAGERS DEFEND BOWEN + DUBRAVKA
The most-owned players of West Ham and Burnley had poor games by their high standards.
Jarrod Bowen (£7.7m) is rarely not at the races for West Ham, but that was the case on Saturday. His goalless run now extends to five games, and the frustration was furthered by Kyle Walker-Peters (£4.3m) stealing a Bowen tap-in by a milisecond:
Meanwhile, FPL’s most-owned goalkeeper, Martin Dubravka (£4.0m), had a difficult afternoon and was partly culpable for West Ham goals number two and three. They weren’t huge errors, but parries he could perhaps he could have done better with.
Both managers leapt to the defence of their players.
“It doesn’t matter. Jarrod gave us give us so much. Doesn’t matter. He’s going to score.” – Nuno Espirito Santo on Jarrod Bowen
“He’s done exceptionally well and Martin’s the last one I’d be sitting here criticising really. He’s pulled us out of some big moments, got us the three points against Wolves.
“And there wasn’t blatant mistakes, but I think Martin would be the first [to admit]. His standards are so high and he’s such a top, top keeper that maybe would he have wanted to have done a little better. That wasn’t the case. So, one of those days.” – Scott Parker on Martin Dubravka
NOT A GOOD ADVERT FOR EITHER TEAM?
A second successive win for West Ham boosts confidence but this wasn’t exactly convincing. Over 80% of what looked like a healthy xG total came from their three goals, all efforts that were helped by deflections or weak parries falling into the paths of goalscorers Callum Wilson (£5.8m), Tomas Soucek (£5.7m) and Walker-Peters. They didn’t create another big chance apart from that.
Crysencio Summerville (£5.5m) was perhaps the pick of their attackers again, while Soucek ended the game up front!
As for Burnley, Zian Flemming (£5.3m) now has three goals in as many league starts after Saturday’s headed opener.
Josh Cullen (£5.0m), who grabbed an injury-time consolation in east London, is now just a point behind Mohamed Salah (£14.2m) in FPL – although both of his goals in 2025/26 have come from his only two shots in the box.
Florentino (£5.0m) and Maxime Esteve (£4.0m) are now into double figures for defensive contribution points, while the even-cheaper Axel Tuanzebe (£3.9m) has delivered DefCon in three of his five starts.
