The big talking points from three more Gameweek 25 matches are covered as we continue with our weekend Scout Notes.
Newcastle United v Bournemouth, Fulham v Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest v West Ham United are the focus here.
GORDON ON PENS… BUT MAYBE JUST FOR ONE WEEK
With Alexander Isak (£7.5m) and Callum Wilson (£7.8m) sidelined, Anthony Gordon (£6.1m) not only led the line for Newcastle on Saturday (at least initially) but deputised on penalties, too.
His stint as Newcastle spot-kick taker may only last one match, however, with Isak close to a return.
“You’re going to miss someone of Alex’s qualities. He was close but not close enough, same as Joe Willock.
“Fingers crossed in the not-too-distant future they can play an important part for us.” – Eddie Howe, via the Northern Echo
Gordon had his chances beyond that as a number nine, heading one excellent opportunity wide from close range – that’s a Kieran Trippier (£6.9m) assist on another day – and almost scoring when charging down a Murara Neto (£4.6m) clearance.
There were also a couple of trademark shots from the left of the ‘D’ but there was a sense that Howe wasn’t too happy with the makeshift setup, later trying Harvey Barnes (£6.2m) and substitute Jacob Murphy (£4.8m) in a central role.
“We were searching in the game to try and get a better balance to the team. We looked at different players in different positions to see if the match-ups would work better. It wasn’t ideal.” – Eddie Howe
A GLIMMER FOR LASCELLES?
Jamaal Lascelles (£4.0m) will no doubt still be rotting on some Fantasy benches but it’s worth keeping an ear on Eddie Howe’s press conference later this week, as the budget defender may have a ticket back into the starting XI.
Fabian Schar (£5.3m) suffered a wrist injury in the dying stages of Saturday’s draw with Bournemouth, with assessment to follow.
“The ball hit his arm and I think he twisted his wrist. Fingers crossed it’s not too serious, we could certainly do without another injury to the arm.” – Eddie Howe
Whether you’d even want a Newcastle defender, aside from Trippier and his creativity, is another question.
This was another match in which the Magpies were all at sea at the rear.
More favourable fixtures, the return to fitness of last season’s back four, fewer midweek distractions: none of it has yet to make a difference, with eight goals shipped to the might of Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest and Luton Town in the last three Gameweeks.
Dan Burn (£4.4m) is getting a lot of stick for his displays but Sven Botman (£4.5m) is far from at his best, too, while Martin Dubravka (£4.2m) doesn’t have the same presence as Nick Pope (£5.3m) in goal.
On this evidence, Arsenal could score five or six yet again next weekend.
SOLANKE + WATKINS HAUL AFTER MASS SALES
While the ‘punishers sellers’ line is one of the more odious cliches in content creator land, there was certainly a fair bit of haunting of former owners going on this Saturday.
Ollie Watkins (£8.7m) and Dominic Solanke (£6.9m) were both jettisoned by over 700,000 managers in the lead-up to Saturday’s deadline, making way for the doublers elsewhere.
They responded with double-digit hauls, the two highest scores among forwards in Gameweek 25 so far.
Solanke had wasted two glorious openings before Dubravka’s slip allowed him an empty net, while he later claimed the assist for Antoine Semenyo‘s (£4.5m) lashed second goal.
With rotation commonplace in the attacking midfield positions at Bournemouth, Solanke – who is third only to Messrs Salah and Haaland in the Golden Boot race – feels like the only real ‘essential’ for the Cherries’ Double Gameweek 28.
As for Watkins, his brace of finishes were those of a man who looks confident in front of goal. He’d even found the net before his double, only to be flagged for offside.
Given their 90-minute-man statuses and favourable fixture runs ahead, these two are holds if you’ve got them and on the shopping list if you don’t.
PAU RETURNS
Might the return of Pau Torres (£4.6m) signal the return of clean sheets for Aston Villa?
His first start of the calendar year came at Craven Cottage on Saturday, with his class on and off the ball immediately noticeable.
It’s still not an ideal situation for injury-hit Villa right now, with Clement Lenglet (£4.5m) not a right-sided centre-half and John McGinn (£5.5m) not really a Kamara-type holding midfielder.
The return of Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) and Diego Carlos (£4.4m) in a few weeks is keenly awaited.
But this was a very solid away display from the Villans, who were cruising until one sloppy moment on the hour allowed the hosts a route back into the game.
Matty Cash (£4.6m) was tasked with more of a hybrid role at right-back/centre-half, allowing Alex Moreno (£5.1m) more attacking freedom. Neither player is nailed, mind, with Lucas Digne (£4.6m) back fit and Konsa not too far away.
“In our structure, we are building, sometimes we are playing in the build-up with four or sometimes three with different players. But it is the same tactical game plan, trying to create and build our structure stronger.
“Today, Cash was sharing both. Sometimes as well he tried to use his potential going forward. But more or less trying to keep our good balance with Leon Bailey going wide.” – Unai Emery
GOOD NEWS FOR MAN UTD + BRIGHTON ATTACKERS?
Joao Palhinha (£5.0m) became the first Premier League player to reach 10 yellow cards for the season on Saturday.
The defensive midfielder will now be banned for Gameweeks 26 and 27.
Fulham are perfectly capable of conceding even with Palhinha in the side but in the six league games without him in the starting line-up, they have lost five times and conceded a total of 18 goals. His influence can’t be underestimated.
The attacks of Manchester United and Brighton and Hove Albion, who the Cottagers face next, won’t be disappointed at his unavailability.
Antonee Robinson (£4.4m) can at least compensate for any loss of clean sheets with attacking returns. He drew level with Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.5m) for assists (five) on Saturday and now sits seventh among defenders for chances created and expected assists (xA) this season.
Rodrigo Muniz (£4.4m) was the beneficiary of Robinson’s latest assist, prodding in Fulham’s only goal of the game. That was one of a whopping eight shots he had against the Villans.
It’s four goals in three for Muniz, now, but there is a sense that any semblance of loss of form will allow Armando Broja (£4.9m) the chance to get the game-time he must have expected when making the loan move from Chelsea.
Broja was ill for this one and missed out.
ANOTHER HAMMER BLOW
Now is the time we should be looking at West Ham United players, with some decent fixtures coming up and a Gameweek 29 match guaranteed.
But the Hammers are doing their best to put us off.
Just three goals have arrived in their last six games. Two of those were against lowly Sheffield United.
Above: West Ham are ranked 19th for xG over their last six matches
Another drab display was served up against Nottingham Forest, with just 0.5 xG registered against a side that had been on the division’s joint-longest clean sheet drought.
“We’re obviously lacking a bit of balance in the team, but even if we were playing really well, coming to Nottingham Forest and losing isn’t a sin.” – David Moyes
Moyes can’t bemoan injuries for much longer, as there is only Lucas Paqueta (£6.0m) left to come back. As good as he is, it’s asking a lot for him to single-handedly solve the goal drought.
Michail Antonio (£5.7m) returned for this game, with Jarrod Bowen (£7.8m) moving back out to the right.
As for Forest, they continue to score goals under Nuno: that’s 15 in eight, with no blanks.
Taiwo Awoniyi (£6.3m), on target here, might struggle to crack the Solanke/Watkins/Haaland template.
But Anthony Elanga (£5.1m) and Calllum Hudson-Odoi (£4.8m) are nicely priced as a budget fifth midfielder in a 3-4-3.
Elanga now has an eye-catching 12 attacking returns from just 17 starts and a few sub appearances following his assist against the Hammers.
Hudson-Odoi has three goals on the spin, albeit while hugely overachieving on the xG front.
If their Gameweek 29 fixture against Luton goes ahead, they might pick up a bit of interest for that decimated round of games at least.
10 months, 16 days agoWho’s best mid that plays next week and 29 ?