FPL notes: Eze + Bowen injury updates, Soucek’s goal threat

We’ve got injury updates on Eberechi Eze (£6.2m) and Gameweek 13 absentee Jarrod Bowen (£7.7m) in our latest Fantasy Premier League (FPL) review.

The other talking points from Luton Town v Crystal Palace and Burnley v West Ham United are covered in this Scout Notes article.

• READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 13: Saturday’s goals, assists, bonus points + stats
• READ MORE: FPL notes: Alisson injury update + why Doku got maximum bonus

BOWEN AND EZE INJURY LATEST

Bowen wasn’t part of the West Ham matchday squad for their last-gasp win at Turf Moor, having failed to recover from the knee injury he picked up while representing England.

One of the most popular replacements for the winger in FPL, Crystal Palace’s Eze, lasted only 49 minutes of the Eagles’ 2-1 defeat to Luton Town.

There were positive-sounding noises, if nothing conclusive, about both players after full-time.

“Jarrod is, I hope, not too bad. He just wasn’t ready to play, we couldn’t get him ready for the game.” – David Moyes

“We don’t know quite how serious Eze’s is at this moment in time but we were particularly frustrated because it was so unnecessary. Basically, what seemed to me, and maybe a lot of people watching the game, to be such an obvious free-kick, and then the player to land on him and restrain him like he did.” – Roy Hodgson

Eze himself said while walking out of Kenilworth Road that he expected to be “alright”.

However, the Daily Mail were reporting on Monday evening that Eze could be out for 3-4 weeks – a timeline yet to be confirmed by the Eagles.

Palace also lost Cheick Doucoure (£5.0m) to what manager Roy Hodgson thinks is a “serious” ankle injury, although Michael Olise (£5.8m) was fit enough to make his first start of 2023/24.

OLISE IMPRESSES – BUT PALACE’S FIXTURES ABOUT TO TURN

Olise briefly drew Palace level with a Goal of the Month contender at Kenilworth Road and he was in eye-catching form down the right flank, supplying three key passes and five shots. He should have had an assist before and after his own strike, teeing up excellent chances for Odsonne Edouard (£5.5m) and Jefferson Lerma (£4.7m).

He also stands to benefit from any absence for Eze, should it materialise, in terms of set-piece responsibilities.

The problem for both Palace attackers and defenders is that their fixtures are about to get very tricky indeed: they face only one team ranked below 11th in the next two months.

Given that they’ve just lost to Everton and Luton, conceding five goals in the process, the omens aren’t good for the festive period.

HOME COMFORTS

Luton’s medium-term fixtures aren’t much better, although there are trips to relegation rivals Bournemouth and Sheffield United to come over Christmas.

And they do at least have budget-and-bench-friendly options at the rear, such as Saturday’s goalscorer Teden Mengi (£3.9m). The fit-again Amari’i Bell (£3.9m) effectively replaced the absent Issa Kabore (£4.0m) in the side, although it was Alfie Doughty (£4.4m) who switched flanks to cover for his concussed team-mate. The potentially good news for Kabore’s owners in FPL is that Doughty really didn’t look at home on his unfavoured wing.

Unfortunately, when we might need our budget bench fodder options, in Gameweek 18, Luton face Newcastle United.

The Hatters’ main role in FPL over the coming week may be that of party-poopers, with Arsenal, Manchester City, Newcastle, Chelsea and Brighton and Hove Albion all to come at home.

Rob Edwards’ side has yet to keep a clean sheet in 2023/24 but they’ve only conceded eight goals in six home matches, a far cry from fellow new boys Burnley and Sheffield United.

Playing against the 10 men of Spurs obviously helped, while the likes of Burnley, West Ham, Palace and Wolves aren’t exactly formidable foes.

We’ll see how they fare in the below metrics after this tricky run is over:

SOUCEK AND KUDUS STEP UP

Danny Ings (£5.6m) was little help to West Ham in the absence of the injured Bowen and Michail Antonio (£5.8m), so it was left to others to plug the goalscoring gap.

In truth, a goal didn’t really look like coming for 86 minutes of this contest. The Hammers’ over-reliance on Bowen will be a worry if he’s out for a while.

Mohammed Kudus (£6.6m) showed his quality when it counted, at least. A peripheral, touchline-hugging figure for much of the contest, he produced two superb whipped crosses to turn the game on its head: the first deflected in by Dara O’Shea (£4.4m), the second converted by Tomas Soucek (£4.9m).

He’s now played a part in 62% of the goals that West Ham have scored when he’s been on the pitch; that’s one of the highest goal involvement figures among Premier League midfield regulars.

Soucek, meanwhile, is evoking memories of his excellent 2020/21 campaign. He now has four goals in his last six league starts.

That’s a run that stretches back to Gameweek 7 – and he’s producing some eye-catching underlying numbers in that time:

Above: FPL midfielders sorted by shots in the box over the last seven Gameweeks

BURNLEY UNLUCKY – BUT TOOTHLESS

This was another match without a clean sheet for Alphonse Areola (£4.3m). A clumsy foul by Kudus and a Jay Rodriguez (£5.3m) penalty put paid to what would have been a rare shut-out; if there was any encouragement to take for Areola owners, it’s that Burnley have posted the lowest non-penalty xG of Gameweek 13 so far (0.47).

But no-one could have argued that the Clarets weren’t the better team, and this loss was another hard-luck story for Vincent Kompany.

The performances have actually been quite decent over the last three Gameweeks, a period in which Kompany has named the exact same line-up. That includes budget defenders Jordan Beyer (£4.0m) and Charlie Taylor (£4.0m). Finally, there’s some consistency in selection after the early-season trial and error.

Lyle Foster‘s (£5.0m) absence is being keenly felt, however, with neither Rodriguez nor Zeki Amdouni (£5.3m) looking likely to provide the goal contributions that Foster was chipping in with.

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