West Ham options continue to combine form and fixtures

West Ham attacking assets are still offering great value after their latest win.

We are finishing our round-up of Gameweek 17 by looking at three more matches.

That includes the Hammers win at Fulham, Watford’s 3-2 victory over Cardiff and Newcastle’s away-day success at Huddersfield.

Fulham 0-2 West Ham United

Goals: Robert Snodgrass (£5.4m), Michail Antonio (£6.8m)

Assists: Felipe Anderson (£7.4m), Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez (£6.4m)

West Ham’s attacking assets continue to offer great value as their run of form and fixtures goes on. Fulham were the latest team to suffer defeat at the hands of the Hammers, who have now won four on the spin. All three of the players who have received Fantasy attention in recent weeks picked up points at Craven Cottage on Saturday evening and should remain on the radars of those who don’t have West Ham coverage. They host a Watford side with just one clean sheet on the road this season in Gameweek 18.

Felipe Anderson (£7.3m) finally looks like the Payet replacement West Ham have been crying out for since the Frenchman returned to his home country. Once again, he was both a goal threat and creative hub for the Hammers and his owners might even be disappointed he managed nothing more than an assist against Fulham. With Marko Arnautovic (£6.9m) out injured he is slowly assuming the talisman role in his absence, involved in three of West Han’s last eight Premier League goals (37.5%).

“For Felipe it was important for him to know the Premier League and in every game he is learning a bit more. He must continue improving because he is a top player, in the last four games he has been decisive and I hope that he will continue.” – Manuel Pellegrini

Robert Snodgrass (£5.4m) continues to be the most creative asset for West Ham, that fact alone enough to consider including him in our squads. However, he now has two goals in his last two matches after firing the Hammers into a first-half lead against Fulham.

“He scored a beautiful goal, he gives me a lot of trust in him and what he can do.” – Manuel Pellegrini

Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez (£6.4m) still looks like the most assured of a start out of West Ham’s strikers, and he continues to register points, getting an assist on Saturday. The only thing that might count against him over the Christmas period is the phased return of Andy Carroll (£5.4m), who replaced him. It seems quite likely that the Englishman will start ahead of him at least once between now and the new year.

Also presenting himself as an alternative option among West Ham options was Michail Antonio (£6.8m), who was actually deployed alongside Chicharito in a 4-4-2 system. The midfielder scored the second goal of the game, although he was given virtually all the time in the world to stick it away. It was also Antonio’s only effort of the match so he may need to show some more consistency before being able to compete with Anderson, Snodgrass and Chicharito Fantasy-wise.

Lukasz Fabianski (£4.6m) owners were finally delighted to see him get a clean sheet in a favourable fixture. As usual, he added to his round score by making four saves and accruing two bonus for a nine-point haul. However, it might say more about Fulham’s attack than West Ham’s defence. The Hammers have seriously struggled to keep sides out this season, but they went up against a Cottagers outfit now with the lowest goal conversion rate in the league over the last four Gameweeks. That worrying stat has caused some managers to lose patience with Aleksandar Mitrovic (£6.8m) for the second time in 2018/19. However, that’s not for want of trying, with Fulham joint-sixth for shots on target in that time period, level even with Tottenham. The Cottagers also finished Saturday’s encounter with a higher expected goals tally than the visitors.

Mark Noble (£4.9m) was substituted with a bit of a limp in the second half but Manuel Pellegrini played down any injury fears in his post-match press conference.

“No, it was because of his yellow card, I think it was a risk for him to continue when Fulham was trying to plat more attacking. At that moment I thought it was right to change him for Obiang and I think Pedro did really well.” – Manuel Pellegrini

The manner in which Fulham conceded both goals is further proof that Claudio Ranieri has plenty of work to do at the back. It was simply too easy for West Ham to find the net, which bodes well for attacking players of Newcastle, Wolves, Huddersfield and Arsenal, their next four opponents. Ranieri went with the same back-four that shipped four goals against Manchester United, but changed it at half-time. He replaced centre-back Tim Ream (£4.2m) with right-back Cyrus Christie (£4.2m) tucking Denis Odoi (£4.4m) back into the middle with Alfie Mawson (£4.8m).

The frustrating thing for those holding attacking Fulham assets is that for all their offensive work, the defensive problems are holding the team back as a whole. The Cottagers were on top of the match for the first 15 minutes and should have gone ahead themselves, but their confidence was knocked as soon as Snodgrass scored, and the game felt over as a contest when Antonio doubled West Ham’s lead in the 29th minute.

“I’m disappointed with the goals conceded but also when we miss a chance. We shoot at goal 16 times, 16 times and then we must be more effective. They create two counters and score, we create more but we didn’t score. I can say nothing today because they tried to do their best.” – Claudio Ranieri

Fulham XI (4-2-3-1): Rico; Bryan, Ream (Christie 45′), Mawson, Odoi; Seri (Johansen 61′), Chambers; Schürrle (Kebano 77′), Kamara, Cairney; Mitrović.

West Ham XI (4-4-2): Fabianski; Masuaku, Diop, Balbuena, Zabaleta; F Anderson, Rice, Noble (Obiang 62′), Snodgrass; Chicharito (Carroll 73′), Antonio (Diangana 85′).

Watford 3-2 Cardiff City

Goals: Gerard Deulofeu (£5.4m), Jose Holebas (£4.7m), Domingos Quina (£4.4m) | Junior Hoilett (£5.0m), Bobby Reid (£5.2m)

Assists: Abdoulaye Doucouré (£5.9m), Deulofeu, Ken Sema (£4.6m) | Victor Camarasa (£4.6m)

Cardiff City proved themselves once again as potential whipping boys in away fixtures as they were beaten 3-2 by Watford. The Bluebirds have now averaged 2.25 goals conceded per away match in 2018/19, with only Burnley and Fulham worse in that department. Their next two trips are to Crystal Palace and Leicester City, boosting the strength of the assets on offer at those two clubs.

After going four Gameweeks without an attacking return, Gerard Deulofeu (£5.4m) finally got his first double-figure haul of the season. Coming back into the starting XI for the first time since Gameweek 14, he managed a goal and an assist operating as a centre-forward next to Troy Deeney (£5.8m). However, trusting that he will keep his place over Christmas will be difficult to do given that he has largely swapped in and out of the side in recent weeks. Isaac Success (£4.6m) was the player to miss out this time around, his second benching in five Gameweeks.

“(Deulofeu) has the quality we have seen. He scored an amazing goal. He can play in different positions and play well in all of them. I thought it was good game for him [to start] because we needed to overcome tight markers and we needed that mobility, to play with one touch and move. He is good at doing that.” – Javi Gracia

Owners of Roberto Pereyra (£6.2m) can consider themselves very unlucky not to have pulled in attacking returns. He had more shots on target than any other player at Vicarage Road, but was unable to convert any of them. With West Ham, Newcastle and Bournemouth three of Watford’s next four opponents, there is probably some value in holding Pereyra.

Midfielder Domingos Quina (£4.4m) has now started the last two matches in a row and scored his first Premier League goal against Cardiff. He is one worth tracking the minutes of going forward.

“We have a young player who is showing his level. I don’t know many things about his past but he’s with us and I know what he is able to do. I know his present his good and his future is much better. He’s helping the team as we have Capoue suspended and Cleverley is coming back.” – Javi Gracia

Such are Watford’s defensive frailties that they became the first team to concede two goals to Cardiff City at home this season. Coming into Gameweek 17, the Bluebirds had found the net just three times on their travels in 2018/19, the worst in the league. They nearly doubled that tally against the Hornets and could have easily levelled things up in the closing stages in which they gave a spirited performance. That fact probably counts against options such as Jose Holebas (£4.7m), even though he did score in the win. It was his first attacking return since Gameweek 12, with no clean sheet recorded in that time.

Victor Camarasa (£4.6m) rewarded his patient owners with his first attacking return since Gameweek 9. The Spaniard has been playing on the right of attacking midfield of late, but finally set up another goal after returning to his more natural role in the middle.

Watford XI (4-4-2): Foster; Holebas, Cathcart, Kabasele, Femenia; Pereyra, Quina, Doucouré, Sema (Success 77′); Deeney (Okaka 81′), Deulofeu (Cleverley 87′).

Cardiff City XI (4-1-4-1): Etheridge; Bennett (Peltier 59′), Bamba, Morrison, Ecuele Manga; Gunnarsson (Reid 78′); Murphy (Mendez-Laing 45′), Arter, Camarasa, Hoilett; Paterson.

Huddersfield Town 0-1 Newcastle United

Goals: Salomón Rondón (£5.8m)

Assists: Javier Manquillo (£4.3m)

Salomón Rondón (£5.8m) has truly established himself in the conversation over budget forwards after registering his third attacking return in a row. It was his goal that secured all three points for Newcastle at Huddersfield on Saturday afternoon, and since Gameweek 15 he has averaged seven points per game. No Premier League player has had more shots than him in the last four Gameweeks, which is why he will be highly fancied when Fulham come to St James’ Park in Gameweek 18. However, it is worth noting that it’s Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea in three of the next four after that.

Javier Manquillo (£4.3m) got the assist for Rondón’s latest goal but he is unlikely to become any sort of Fantasy asset long-term. His recent appearances have been deputising either for Paul Dummett (£4.4m) or DeAndre Yedlin (£4.5m). It was the later who was missing at Huddersfield as he served a one-match suspension. With both first-choice full-backs available for Gameweek 18, Manquillo should be the one to drop out.

Rafael Benitez opted for a 3-5-1-1 formation once again, which incidentally matched up with the system used by Huddersfield boss David Wagner.

Christopher Schindler (£4.4m) and other Huddersfield defensive options had proved popular in the transfer market in the build-up to Gameweek 17, but new owners were not rewarded. They can probably feel a little unlucky as the Terriers actually had a higher expected goals score for the match than Newcastle. This encounter had been targetted as the most likely 0-0 of the weekend, and it nearly came to pass with both teams registering expected goals scores of below one.

Huddersfield defenders were also signed with a Gameweek 18 hosting of Southampton in mind, although the Saints already look a different prospect under new manager Ralph Hasenhüttl. However, the Gameweek 20 and 21 meetings with Fulham and Burnley could still provide defensive returns.

Huddersfield Town XI (3-5-1-1): Lössl; Kongolo (Sobhi 60′), Schindler, Zanka; Löwe (Durm 59′), Billing, Hogg (Mbenza 77′), Bacuna, Hadergjonaj; Pritchard; Depoitre.

Newcastle United XI (3-5-1-1): Dubravka; Clark, Lascelles, Schär; Kenedy (Dummett 89′), Atsu, Ki (Hayden 72′), Diamé, Manquillo; Pérez; Rondón (Ritchie 81′).

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