In a game that was goalless until the 71st minute, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur drew 2-2 at St James’ Park, with Bruno Guimaraes (£6.7m) breaking the deadlock, before centre-back Cristian Romero (£5.0m) equalised twice.
Here are a few Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from the Gameweek 14 clash.
NEWCASTLE CAN’T BE TRUSTED
On the verge of a seventh win in eight matches against Spurs in all competitions, the Magpies once again let a lead slip. They’ve already conceded in stoppage time on five occasions.
In fact, they’ve scored the opening goal in 10 successive matches across the Premier League, Champions League and EFL Cup, yet only three of the latest seven ended in victory.
No team has lost more league points from leading positions (11). Just as worrying is that they’ve gained none after initially falling behind.
Sure enough, they were the superior team here in terms of attempts (19 v 8), shots on target (6 v 2) and expected goals (xG, 2.03 v 0.56). But have no more than a draw to show for it.
Above: The expected goals (xG) race chart, from StatsBomb
SUB BRUNO SCORES
So, FPL managers need to be aware of investing in Newcastle. They’re without a clean sheet in seven matches, and attackers’ minutes are being carefully handled during this intense period.
Leader Bruno Guimaraes for example. Picked out as a good replacement for the unavailable duo of Ismaila Sarr (£6.6m) and Moises Caicedo (£5.9m), he was bought by over 217,000 managers, but began on Tuesday night’s bench.
To the relief of new owners, Guimaraes replaced Sandro Tonali (£5.4m) at half-time. How minor the Italian’s issue is, we need to wait and see.
“He took a knock in the first half. I don’t quite know the extent of the injury, or what type of injury it is, but he couldn’t continue.” – Eddie Howe on Sandro Tonali
45 minutes was still enough time for Guimaraes to register an attacking return. He’s delivered at least one in four consecutive home league matches: three goals, three assists and three double-digit hauls.
PREDICTING HOWE’S XI
At the time, it felt like a traumatic summer for Newcastle fans. But what’s becoming clear is that Eddie Howe finally has some squad depth to manage.
Harvey Barnes (£6.4m), Jacob Murphy (£6.1m), Anthony Elanga (£6.6m) and Anthony Gordon (£7.2m) usually compete for two wide spots. As seen, Tonali and Guimaraes are taking turns to rest. Plus, the imminent, much-needed Yoane Wissa (£7.3m) introduction will start affecting Nick Woltemade‘s (£7.4m) minutes.
The German assisted Newcastle’s opener and should start against Burnley, but predicting the five around him is less straightforward. Especially with Bayer Leverkusen and the derby versus Sunderland on the horizon.
That’s why FPL managers interested in penalty-taking Gordon might want to stay away. Additionally, this spot kick was his first Fantasy return since late January, back in Gameweek 23 of last season. In between, he’s blanked 21 times.
REST FOR VAN DE VEN
As for Spurs, Micky van der Ven (£4.8m) and Joao Palhinha (£5.5m) were unused substitutes. They’ll be hosting Brentford on Saturday afternoon.
“I really liked the character and the mentality in the team, what they showed after three tough games. To go here, the fourth game in 10 days, the third away game, very difficult place, go down two times and come back, it shows everything about the willingness and the mentality in the team.” – Thomas Frank
Romero came back from suspension to score a header and an overhead kick, securing 17 points.
The latter was particularly soft to concede, from Aaron Ramsdale‘s (£4.8m) point of view. Regardless of Nick Pope‘s (£5.1m) injury, supporters were already calling for a switch between the sticks because of the latter’s string of high-profile errors.
However, his replacement should have saved Romero’s slow-motion acrobatic effort. He’s better than Pope at ball distribution, but let in both shots on target, ending with zero saves.
