We continue to rattle through the Gameweek 18 Scout Notes, with another deadline just two days away.
This time, Brentford 4-1 Bournemouth.
- READ MORE: FPL notes: Timber + Calafiori injury latest, Gabriel returns
- READ MORE: FPL notes: Cash ban, Cucurella injury + Palmer fumes
- READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 18: Saturday’s goals, assists, bonus + ‘DefCon’ points
- READ MORE: FPL notes: Dorgu ‘out of position’ + £3.8m Heaven praise
SCHADE HAT-TRICK
Kevin Schade (£7.0m) doubled his season’s goal tally in one fell swoop on Saturday. A left-footed finish from Igor Thiago‘s (£7.0m) through-ball, a right-footed poke from Yehor Yarmoliuk‘s (£5.0m) low cross and a close-range header from substitute Mikkel Damsgaard‘s (£5.8m) delivery. The perfect treble.
Schade has always been a hot-and-cold kind of player. Zero goals in the first dozen Gameweeks in 2024/25, then a hat-trick in Gameweek 13. Eight successive blanks before four goals in three matches at the back-end of last season.
Even his underlying numbers are Jekyll and Hyde. Zero or one shots in 11 appearances this season, three or more efforts in six starts. Never just two attempts!
Going forward, it’s a mixed bag of fixtures. A home match against Tottenham Hotspur (for all their good away form) won’t hold any fears, but Everton, Sunderland and Chelsea all rank in the top six for clean sheets.
ONE ASSIST FOR THIAGO – BUT NOT TWO
Thiago didn’t exactly “punish sellers” with one assist but neither was he outdone by flavour of the week Hugo Ekitike (£9.1m), so there was some moral victory there.
Plenty of the Brazilian striker’s owners were miffed that he didn’t get a second assist.
For Bournemouth’s second goal, Thiago’s deflected shot was saved by Djorde Petrovic (£4.5m) before Bafode Diakite (£4.4m) walloped the ball in off his own ‘keeper.
Why no assist? The key line is the bottom one below: the own-goal wasn’t scored directly following his blocked shot. Had Diakite thumped the ball into his own net, rather than cannoned it off Petrovic, Thiago would be sitting here on two returns, not one.
Last week’s hauler, the ‘out of position’ Keane Lewis-Potter (£4.8m), was again in the front three. No return for him this time, nor did Opta record him having a single shot.
However, his horror, empty-net miss that was flagged for offside in the 85th minute would have counted after VAR review, had it gone in. More promise for the Fantasy defender, then, despite the blank.
WHY VAN DEN BERG MISSED OUT
Sepp van den Berg (£4.5m) was an unexpected absentee for the Bees on Saturday.
Keith Andrews confirmed before kick-off that he had merely missed out with a knock, although we didn’t get an update on his availability likelihood in Gameweek 19.
CHERRIES CONTINUE TO LEAK GOALS
Schade’s hat-trick carries the ‘Bournemouth at home’ caveat. No team has conceded more goals on the road than the Cherries (27). And no club has a higher expected goals conceded total (xGC, 20.93), either.
Above: Teams with the best xGC totals at home (left) and the worst xGC tallies away (right)
Why the disparity between home and away? A quick look at who the Cherries have played on their own turf and on their travels gives a pretty good clue:
It could get worse before there’s some redressing of balance, with Chelsea away to come next.
The worry is that Bournemouth are haemorrhaging goals from all avenues. The set-piece woes have been well documented but the Cherries looked so vulnerable to counter-attacks and balls in behind their high line on Saturday.
Diakite’s slow start (to put it kindly) to life on the south coast isn’t helping. He was even hooked at half-time in west London, with Lewis Cook (£4.9m) moving to centre-back.
Budget FPL forward Junior Kroupi (£4.6m), given a start up top at the expense of Evanilson (£7.0m), was another to make way at the interval.
SEMENYO’S LAST DANCE?
It looks increasingly likely that Antoine Semenyo (£7.7m) is on his way out of Bournemouth in January.
There was no sign of him downing tools on Saturday, looking fired up from the off with a run and shot in the first minute.
And he was to grab the Cherries’ consolation, flicking in Alex Jimenez‘s (£4.5m) effort.
That was a third successive goal for Semenyo, his 13th return of the season, and a strike that keeps him top of the FPL midfielders’ points table.
The question is: was this his last/penultimate appearance in a Bournemouth shirt? Iraola may get at least one more game out of him, against one of his suitors, Chelsea, on December 30. Reports suggest Manchester City are in pole position for his signature and the winger wants a move to be sorted quickly. The Cherries are keen for him to remain a bit longer, however, so he may get to see out Gameweeks 19-21.
“It’s something that I cannot control. I definitely have a clear thinking that I don’t want to lose Antoine, this is so clear, and he’s a massive player for us. Even in games like today, probably he was not playing at his best, he’s always a threat. He gives us goals, assists, numbers, and he’s also, for the changing room, a very good character.
“If it happens, we’ll have to still continue competing. We have no other choice.” – Andoni Iraola on Antoine Semenyo’s future
