We continue our Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Gameweek 9 Scout Notes with analysis of West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur.
For a briefer summary of Saturday’s Premier League action, click here, while you can read up on Arsenal v Aston Villa and Leeds United v Wolverhampton Wanderers via the links below.
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WEST HAM UNITED 1-0 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
- Goals: Michail Antonio (£8.1m)
- Assists: Aaron Cresswell (£5.5m)
- Bonus (projected): Cresswell x3, Lukasz Fabianski (£5.0m) x2, Kurt Zouma (£5.4m) x1, Antonio x1
ANTONIO NETS WINNER
Michail Antonio (£8.1m) netted his sixth Premier League goal of the season on Sunday, and as a result, sits joint-top of the forward standings alongside Jamie Vardy (£10.8m).
The Jamaican international had failed to return in three of his last four appearances, but poked in Aaron Cresswell’s (£5.5m) corner, which moves West Ham up to fourth in the table on 17 points.
“With Michail Antonio we just felt it was better we looked after him on Thursday. It’s something I’ll have to do quite a bit, and sometimes we’ll decide it’s worth playing him and other times it’s not. There’s no injury problems with him but we’ll always try and manage and decide when it’s good for him and when it’s not.” – David Moyes on resting Michail Antonio in midweek
The nature of the goal is also worth noting ahead of Gameweek 10, given that their opponents Aston Villa have had real difficulties defending dead-ball situations in recent weeks, which was again evident at the Emirates Stadium on Friday.
As for Antonio, he now embarks on a tougher run of fixtures (see below), but given today’s performance, owners will surely be content to hold.
Meanwhile, it’s now four games in a row without a goal or assist for Said Benrahma (£6.6m), despite ranking second for goal attempts amongst all midfielders during that time.
However, only five have arrived in the box, and because of that, he sits 21st in his category over the last four Gameweeks for expected goals (xG).
Said Benrahma’s xG shot map Gameweeks 6 to 9
Defensively, David Moyes’ side kept their third clean sheet of the season, with Aaron Cresswell delivering a season-high 12-point haul thanks to his second assist of the campaign.
LACKLUSTRE SPURS
As for Tottenham, there was a real lack of attacking threat on show at the London Stadium, as Harry Kane (£12.1m) and Son Heung-min (£10.2m) could muster just two shots on goal between them.
In fact, during the second half, Spurs did not have a single goal attempt.
Despite showing signs of improvement against Newcastle United and Aston Villa, it’s now just nine Premier League goals in nine games for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side. Only Norwich City, Burnley, Southampton and Leeds United have scored fewer, while the underlying numbers are equally concerning, as they rank 19th for non-penalty xG (see below).
However, the fixtures do at least give them a platform to improve, as they take on some of the divisions worst performing defences in the coming weeks.
Next up is a Manchester United side fresh from a 5-0 defeat against Liverpool, while they also take on Everton – who also shipped five in Gameweek 9 – Leeds United, Burnley, Brentford and Norwich City between Gameweeks 10 and 15.
“We were the better team, honestly. I think we controlled the game, we had chances. We had possession. West Ham are a good team but they only created chances on counter-attacks and set-pieces. We played better, but this is football.
The last pass was there but we need to be more aggressive in our offensive game. We controlled the game. The whole game was under control.
The table is a reference but doesn’t guide us. We have to improve our character as a team, our wish to want to achieve a better team game. We need to work on that.” – Nuno Espirito Santo
West Ham XI: Fabianski, Johnson, Zouma, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Rice, Soucek, Bowen (Dawson 90+1), Benrahma (Lanzini 85), Fornals, Antonio
Spurs XI: Lloris, Royal, Romero, Dier, Reguilon (Gil 84), Skipp, Hojbjerg, Moura (Bergwijn 90+1), Ndombele (Lo Celso 84), Son, Kane
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