Here’s part 2 of Joseph Crilleys fantasy premier league gameweek 1 analysis. Here he looks at another 5 games and gives detailed stats on each player plus an assessment of the key players of interest.
fantasy premier league gameweek 1 analysis – part 2
After each gameweek, I am going to be writing a 2-part article reviewing all the Premier League games from a fantasy perspective. I will be providing some stats and a brief summary on the performances and prospects of a few of the players.
For each game, there will be a stats table containing the following: Goals (G), Assists (A), Shots (S), On Target (OT), Key Passes (KP), Bonus Points (BP) and Fantasy Points (FP). Any statistic highlighted in yellow signifies that the player leads that category for his team. Blue highlight shows the players that registered a fantasy return (goal, assist or clean sheet for DEF) and green shows any player that scored 10+ points. All underlying stats are from whoscored.com.
SOUTHAMPTON 0-0 SWANSEA
If I said that there was a team that took 29 shots this weekend but failed to score and only hit the target twice, I’m sure many people would’ve had Southampton as their first guess.
Fears about Cedric not starting were dismissed as he took his place in a defence that wasn’t really tested. In fact, they didn’t concede a shot on target and their defence still looks a solid place to invest. Bertrand created an impressive 4 chances and could well be worth the extra 0.5mil. Yoshida missed one glorious chance and also took a free-kick at the end which went close.
Ward-Prowse started and, as expected, was responsible for the vast majority of set-pieces. He also had 4 shots and 3 key passes in a decent display but was taken off early which is a slight worry. Tadic and Redmond were both up to their usual tricks of having impressive underlying stats but no end result with the former missing an absolute sitter.
Gabbiadini was selected as the man to lead the line and certainly had his chances. 4 of his shots were in the box and he hit the post but it was another day of frustration for his owners. There is a chance that Austin starts next week but I would be willing to give Gabbiadini one more week if he was in my team.
Swansea managed to pick up a valuable point without their two key men from last season; Sigurdsson and Llorente.
In all honesty, they were lucky to pick up a clean sheet which was mostly due to poor finishing rather than good defending. The highest owned 4.0mil defender Rangel didn’t start for the Swans was the main thing of note.
There was a lack of creativity from the Swansea midfield in the absence of Sigurdsson who appears to be on his way to Everton. Carroll, a favourite of the FPL community, started but we didn’t even get the opportunity to see if he’ll be taking corners.
Abraham had 3 out of his team’s 4 shots and was the player most likely to score for the Swans with a couple of decent chances coming his way. It’s worth noting that it looks like Llorente will be fit for GW3 according to Paul Clement’s comments today.
WEST BROM 1-0 BOURNEMOUTH
This was a classic Tony Pulis result really; 1-0 win with a set piece goal from a big defender.
New signing Hegazi was the man to provide that winner and is the second most transferred in player as seen in FFG’s bandwagon article. However, Pulis has made it clear that he is looking to sign another centre back and McAuley should be fit soon so I would be wary.
There’s not too much to comment on in midfield. Phillips had a couple of opportunities but was taken off early. Brunt got the assist but was positioned at LB.
The star of the show was Rodriguez and he was unfortunate to not be on the scoresheet. It certainly wasn’t through a lack of trying as he had 5 shots of which 4 were in the box. He also created 2 chances after being given the chance to lead the line which was good to see from a fantasy point of view. He was moved out to the RW position when Robson-Kanu came on and was much less effective.
This was a chance for Bournemouth to get off to a good start but they put in a fairly average performance while struggling to contain West Brom’s set pieces.
Interestingly, Ake managed to pick up a bonus point in a 1-0 loss which is, frankly, unheard of. This suggests big potential in the bonus point system, mostly thanks to his passing and tackling ability. Smith was the man to miss out at the back though captain Francis went off injured late on.
Fraser was lively, having the most shots and key passes within the team which continues his form from last season. At 5.5mil, he is definitely one to keep an eye on.
There was no place for Defoe in the starting XI. Afobe started up top but was kept quiet so we may see the veteran start next week. Whoever starts alongside King next week has the chance for goals with a home tie against Watford.
Brighton 0 Man City 2
There was a great atmosphere at the Amex stadium for its first Premier League game and Brighton put in a valiant effort.
They managed to hold off City for 70mins but the quality of opposition eventually opened them up. Dunk was unfortunately on the wrong side of the scoresheet but also posed a decent threat in the opposing penalty area.
New signings Gross and Propper both started with the former taking up the no.10 role and also controlling the set plays. One thing to mention is that last year’s key player, Knockeart, came off the bench to gain some minutes after his return from a pre-season injury.
A slight surprise up front where Hemed started instead of last year’s top scorer Murray. However, this isn’t particularly the game to judge their strikers.
This Man City side do look frighteningly dangerous at times with the firepower that they possess, in particular in the striking positions.
It was a pretty easy game for the defence apart from one slippery moment for Ederson. Danilo started at LWB but with Mendy fit again, there is a chance that he will be replaced in future games. He started the friendly on Tuesday evening which suggests that he may not play the next game at home to Everton.
There were actually only two fantasy midfielders on display from the start with Sane and Sterling on the bench. Silva was very influential as he created 5 chances, registered an assist and recorded the most final 3rd passes of any player this weekend. De Bruyne had no shots in the box and no chances created. Nonetheless, there is no need to panic yet and he did play a beautiful ball through for a goal that was disallowed.
Aguero was the one to score but Jesus was unlucky not to do the same. He missed a couple of easy chances and had 2 goals disallowed, both correctly to be fair. City look capable of blowing teams away and I’m sure someone will be on the wrong side of a thrashing at some point with these two at the forefront.
NEWCASTLE 0-2 TOTTENHAM
It’s fair to say that Newcastle were badly let down by the actions of one player in this game and really hindered their chances of taking anything from this game.
Injuries was the story in defence as both Dummett and Lejeuene have been ruled out for a number of weeks after picking up injuries in this game. This has opened the door for our first playing 4.0mil defender in Mbemba.
Atsu caused a few issues from the LW position and was the biggest threat for Newcastle. It must be said that he was more of a threat thanks to his running and dribbling so I still am waiting to see what his end product is like. Ritchie was kept very quiet throughout; I only really noticed him when he got booked. Shelvey is banned after his stupidity got himself sent off.
There wasn’t much joy to be had out of the Spurs’ rear-guard for Gayle but did have one reasonable chance and looked fit after his hamstring issues.
A decent win for Spurs which was made all that much easier by the Shelvey red card early in the second half.
A clean sheet always looked likely but it was interesting to see youngster Walker-Peters start at 4.5mil though Spurs are still allegedly in the market for a right back. Davies got his goal and it’ll be interesting to see how long he stays in the team after the Rose situation.
Eriksen was brilliant in midfield with 2 assists, though one was rather fortunate. Alli took his goal well and was again taking positions very high up the pitch. It was good to see Son return after breaking his arm on international duty and if he returns to his end of season form, he will be making a mockery of his 8.0mil price tag.
Now I’m sure that there will be many managers worrying about Kane but he was extremely unlucky not to get his August goal. 6 shots was a stat leader for the weekend and he had 2 excellent chances with one of those hitting the post. Considering how poor the Chelsea defence performed on Saturday, I certainly would not be looking to sell him on just yet.
MAN UTD 4-0 WEST HAM
I was extremely impressed with what I saw of this Man Utd performance which Alan Shearer labelled “their best under Mourinho”.
In defence, value options Blind and Jones took their place in the starting line up with the former taking corners and having a good chance from a Valencia cross.
There were some brilliant performances in midfield with Pogba having a big influence on the game from what was certainly a more advanced position. Mata was excellent but there is always the risk of reduced minutes with him which makes it difficult to take a punt. Mkhitaryan created the most chances of anyone this weekend helping himself to 2 assists. Martial came off the bench to get a goal and an assist but I still think it’s unlikely that he’ll be starting next week.
The most captained player of the gameweek delivered for his managers as Lukaku scored a brace on his home debut and it could have been more. Rashford was lively with his runs down the left and registered an assist. He also hit the post and missed another good chance.
This was certainly not West Ham’s finest performance and they’ll be following it up with another two away games.
They were absolutely awful at the back and their defenders are definitely to be avoided for now.
The bright spark in midfield was Arnautovic who was heavily involved in all the good moments for West Ham. He had 2 key passes and 2 shots in box with one of those shots hitting the bar. FFG speaks well of him as a potential Zaha replacement.
Hernandez worked hard on his return to Old Trafford and I’m sure that if he gets the chances, then he will score goals for his side.
That concludes the second part of the GW1 review; the first part with the other games can be found here. I hope you found these articles useful and look forward to them coming out for future gameweeks.
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