FANTASY PREMIER LEAGUE GW2 REVIEW – PART 1

Fantasy Premier League, Gameweek analysis

  • After each gameweek, I am going to be writing an 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. This is the first part of my GW2 review.

For each game, I will be providing 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) and green shows any player that scored 10+ points. All underlying stats are from whoscored.com.

I’ve also added a new stat this week. In each scoreline, I’ve put the expected goals for each team in brackets which are taken from the excellent Twitter page 11tegen11. BBC Sport provided a very useful piece to help explain this statistic.




 

 

SWANSEA (0.45) 0-4 (3.82) MAN UTD

Swansea actually put in a better performance than the scoreline suggests, fighting well for 80 mins before collapsing late on after a formation change.

They started with 5 at the back and coped fairly well with the opposition attack, certainly better than last week. However once Clement threw on extra attackers and changed to a four-man defence then Swansea started to open up as expected.

New signing Mesa started alongside 4.5mil favourite Carroll who was finally confirmed as being the man to take his team’s corners. I also noticed that Carroll scored highest in the bonus points system for Swansea which could be helpful for when he does register a fantasy return at some point in the campaign.

There was a lack of chances for the strikers though Ayew did hit the bar early on in what was an otherwise mediocre performance. Abrahman worked hard and had some good moments, one being a decent headed opportunity. However, you could feel that Swansea were really missing the presence of Llorente who could be back next week. The re-signing of Bony from Man City was also confirmed today which provides further competition in the forwards department.

It seems that we all need to accept that this is a different United team this season. Gone are the timid 1-1 draws and in place are 4-0 victories with a ruthlessness not seen last season, at least for now.

Mourinho named an unchanged side with value pick Jones putting in another good performance which should keep his place secure for the foreseeable future. Bailly registered his first goal for the club which came from a Blind corner, but it’s probably best not to rely on him for future attacking returns.

There were more FPL points returns in the midfield area as both Pogba and Mkhitaryan recorded multiple fantasy returns. A lot of managers will be looking to bring in one of these two and FFG wrote an article comparing them to help you decide. Mata was impressive again as he maintained some set-piece responsibility and Martial came off the bench to score for the second consecutive game. He is certainly putting forward a good argument for starting in future games.

Lukaku was the most captained player again this week and scored to keep his owners happy but otherwise it was a relatively quiet performance from him. Rashford was very lively but lacked the ruthless side that others showed, missing one glorious opportunity and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him replaced by Martial soon in the starting XI.




 

BOURNEMOUTH (0.49) 0-2 (1.90) WATFORD

Their defence gave up a lot of attempts and always looked likely to concede. There wasn’t much attacking threat from their defenders either and it may be time to either keep them on the bench or sell.Frankly this was another average performance from Bournemouth and I would consider offloading their assets, especially looking at their next two fixtures.

The midfield was poor with a lack of creativity and goal threat.

Defoe started on the bench once more but surely, he will get his start soon. King had one decent chance but it’s really hard to be optimistic about Bournemouth players from an FPL perspective after seeing their first couple of games.

It seems Marco Silva is working his magic again because this was a very good Watford performance with their attack looking very impressive.

This was a good clean sheet away from home for the Hornets and their defenders are starting to look like decent options. Holebas made 4 key passes but still looks a bit pricey at 5.0mil for me.

Chalobah played quite far forward and was heavily involved. He needs to improve his finishing though after missing a one v one opportunity and then inexplicably leaving the ball when well placed to shoot. Richarlison looks a bright prospect with plenty of shots and chances created, and deserved his goal even if there was a little fortune required. Capoue came off the bench to score as well.

Summer signing Gray made his full debut and looks to have struck up a relationship with fellow new boy Richarlison. He missed one very good opportunity and gained the assist for the first goal.

BURNLEY (1.58) 0-1 (0.67) WEST BROM

A strange start to this year for Burnley with a victory away and then a loss at home which is quite the contrast to last season.

The defence coped reasonably well with the aerial threat of West Brom but were unable to hold onto the clean sheet that many FPL managers were craving. Mee missed an absolute sitter at the other end which would have provided some respite.

There isn’t too much FPL interest in the Burnley midfield but for what it’s worth, Hendrick had plenty of shots and Walters had one good opening that he couldn’t take advantage of.

Last week’s hero Vokes was mostly kept quiet in a game that you’d hope for returns from. Burnley have completed the signing of Chris Wood from Leeds today which could jeopardise his position in the team.

Another classic Tony Pulis result though this time the winner came from a striker who was introduced from the bench.

The West Brom defence is another example that pre-season form cannot always be trusted. They were leaking goals throughout the summer but that’s back-to-back clean sheets for the Baggies to start the season. Hegazi started again, picked up a couple of bonus points and is showing enough form to keep his place secure for now.

Could this be the return to form for Phillps? He had control of set pieces and laid on the assist for the winning goal along with 2 other chances created.

Rodriguez started in the main striker role again but had a much quieter game. The same could not be said for Robson-Kanu who came on to score the winner but also got himself sent off, becoming only the 4th player in PL history to do this.

LEICESTER (2.36) 2-0 (0.18) BRIGHTON

Leicester got their season off and running with a victory on a comfortable afternoon at the King Power stadium.

Maguire registered his first goal for the club from a corner and put in a strong performance. The defence had an easy game and didn’t give up any clear-cut chances.

It was refreshing to see a player who’s strongly linked with a move away firstly start this weekend and secondly put in a brilliant performance for his current side. Mahrez was a threat throughout and caused a number of problems for the Brighton defence.

For the first time in the PL, Okazaki scored in successive games which should help to keep his place in the team. Vardy was his usual nuisance and missed one great chance but worryingly went off with what appeared to be an ankle injury late in the game. Certainly one to monitor for those who invested after his brace last week.

It’s been a tough start to Premier League for the new boys and there hasn’t been too many encouraging signs.

The clean sheet was gone very early on thanks to some poor goalkeeping from Ryan. Suttner really struggled to contain Mahrez but he’s definitely not the first PL full-back to have this issue. The back-ups in his position don’t look particularly impressive so his position in the team should be OK for now.

Knockaert was on the bench again as he continues his recovery from injury but I would be shocked if he doesn’t start next week. Gross had a poor game with even worse stats for someone playing in the no. 10 role.

There was a change up front as Murray came in but he struggled and Brighton look desperate for a new acquisition in that position especially as Murray looks to have picked up a knock to his ankle

LIVERPOOL (2.32) 2-0 (0.68) PALACE

There had been warning from Klopp regarding rotation and it came as early as GW2 which will cause headaches for FPL managers.

A clean sheet was on offer but not for those who invested Alexander-Arnold as he didn’t even make the bench. Milner started in midfield and Robertson was a real threat down the left-hand side, putting in some cracking crosses and was unlucky not to get an assist.

After all the worries about Mane not starting, Salah was the one who had to take a place on the bench. The former got the winning goal and showed some strong goal threat throughout with all his shots coming inside the box. It’s clear that rotation is going to be an issue for Liverpool attackers so you have to learn to accept this if you’re willing to invest.

Sturridge got his first start of the season as Firmino was shifted out to the wing but he was still able to be strongly involved. However, he didn’t seem to have a part in any of Liverpool’s big chances from what I saw.

Anfield has been a happy hunting ground for Palace in recent seasons and they were a little unlucky not to take anything out of this game.

Hennessey made 12 saves which helped to a 9-point haul despite not keeping his clean sheet in a great display. We saw three at the back again which meant Van Aanholt and Ward were positioned in the wing back roles.

The star in midfield was Loftus-Cheek again who carved out one wonderful opportunity and was lively throughout. Townsend was positioned further forward in the absence of Zaha but struggled to get into the game.

Considering his record at Anfield as an opposing player, it was a shock to see Benteke blaze over the bar after being presented with a glorious chance but it was a quiet day besides that.

That concludes the first part of the GW2 review and Part 2 should be uploaded in the near future. Feel free to post any questions or feedback in the comments section or you can find me on Twitter.

 

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