- 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 second part of my GW2 review.
FANTASY PREMIER LEAGUE GW2 REVIEW – PART 2
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.
SOUTHAMPTON (0.51+2pens) 3-2 (2.06) WEST HAM
We have our first miracle of the season as Southampton scored not only one goal at home, but three! However, they certainly made things more difficult that they should have been against a side who had ten men for most of the game.
There were a fair few saves for Forster to make in the Saints goal which is a worrying sign with the man advantage his side had. Both goals came from rebounded shots which suggests better fortune or goalkeeping could have resulted in a clean sheet. Yoshida is proving to be a nuisance in the opposition box, winning the late penalty but it remains to be seen who misses out between him and Stephens once Van Dijk returns.
There was no start for Ward-Prowse in midfield as new signing Lemina made his debut with Davis pushed further forward. The latter won the first penalty which Tadic converted but he didn’t take the second which implies that he’s not first choice. There were some further impressive stats for Redmond and he was rewarded with the assist for the opener.
Gabbiadini ended his scoring drought with a well taken goal and also hit the bar from distance. The match winner was Austin though, who converted a stoppage time penalty to clinch the victory.
When you splash out £25mil on a player, you’d rather they didn’t get themselves sent off in their second game which puts you massively on the back foot. Unfortunately, that’s what happened to West Ham though they very nearly claimed an unlikely point.
Reid picked up an injury in the warm up which may explain a poor first half defensive display. They were much improved in the second half until Zabaleta gave away an unnecessary penalty.
They welcomed back last season’s top scorer Antonio who made an instant impression and looks a decent option at 7.5mil. Three of his attempts were in the box so it appears that he is carrying the same goal threat as last year. Arnautovic was the man to be sent off with a disgusting cheap shot that fully deserved the red card.
Meanwhile, Hernandez does what he does best with two classic poacher’s goals after saves by the opposing keeper. A telling stat is that all of his PL goals have come from inside the area.
STOKE (0.68) 1-0 (1.74) ARSENAL
There’s something about playing Arsenal at home that seems to galvanise Stoke and it was evident again as they ground out a great victory.
They were greatly helped by Butland in goal who made several saves to preserve their clean sheet. They lined up with three at the back again and Chelsea loanee Zouma put in a great performance at RCB.
There was a debut to remember for Jese after his arrival from PSG. He grabbed the winning goal and caused problems throughout with the most shots and chances created for his team. When his signing was announced, I thought he would be a 7.0mil forward so he looks a potential bargain at 6.0mil.
There’s little to comment on for Stoke strikers, Berahino coming off the bench for an assist is all that needs mentioning.
It seems Arsenal are desperate for certain players to make their return from injury/suspension as their struggles at the Bet365 stadium continued.
Their defence was disorganised at times and seems to be badly missing the leadership that Koscielny brings. Kolasinac was placed at LCB once more which is limiting the attacking threat that he does possess though he may line up at LWB next week when Koscielny returns.
There was plenty of the ball for Xhaka and Ozil but not much in terms of quality as they struggled to find the final pass to break through the rigid Stoke defence. Ramsey was the main threat for the Gunners with his late runs into the box presenting him with a couple of good opportunities.
Lacazette had a goal ruled out for offside which was just about the correct decision but offered very little else. The link up play improved when Giroud came on but there was to be no late equaliser.
HUDDERSFIELD (0.31) 1-0 (1.01) NEWCASTLE
Huddersfield seem to have taken rather well to the Premier League with their second victory placing them second in the table at this early stage.
Another clean sheet with Schindler putting in a fantastic performance which was rightly rewarded in the bonus system. Lossl made one fantastic save and picked up bonus points for the second week running. Could he be this year’s Heaton?
This was a game screaming out for quality after the first half and Mooy brought it to the game with a great finish. He seems to be on the majority of set pieces though Ince takes his fair share of corners from the right. Mooy does play a little deeper than we’d ideally want but there’s no doubting that he’s the key man for the Terriers.
Have the wheels already come off the Mounie bandwagon? He had a quiet game as can be seen from the stats but it’s not the time to sell just yet given his upcoming fixtures.
It hasn’t been a brilliant start to the season for Newcastle and I’ve been a little disappointed in their performances.
Nonetheless, there was some good news as we had our first start from a 4.0mil defender thanks to injuries presenting the starting opportunity to Mbemba. Elliot continued in goal but it appears that Benitez is actively seeking a new first choice goalkeeper.
There wasn’t much to shout about in midfield; a curling Ritchie shot which drew a fingertip save was the only highlight.
Gayle started again but was withdrawn early in the second half with his side chasing a goal. This isn’t a good sign for his managers and it may be time to move on. Joselu came off the bench and provided a much greater threat so could be in line to replace Gayle in the starting XI.
TOTTENHAM (0.62) 1-2 (0.86) CHELSEA
Another defeat for Tottenham at Wembley, albeit to a strong side, will certainly have FPL managers worrying. Spurs at home were a reliable source of points last season and it would helpful to see a return to this form.
Pre-season favourite Trippier returned to the side but appeared to pick up another knock to his ankle though the initial assessment is hopeful. Although they conceded two goals, Tottenham were little unlucky as one came from a fantastic free kick and the other was due to poor goalkeeping by Lloris.
Eriksen was the man to return points in attack, comfortably outshining the similarly priced Alli. The former is beginning to look a fantastic FPL option and we could see many mangers taking him as the key option from the Spurs attack. Son got some more minutes off the bench and could be primed for a run in the team.
2 games, 14 shots, 11 in the box, hit the woodwork twice but still no August goal for Kane. I certainly feel that when he does score, a big return will come for him. The underlying stats support this theory as mentioned by FFG in his stats summary. I will definitely be giving him one more week at least in my team.
This was a fantastic victory for Conte and his men to answer the criticism that had been coming their way after their opening day defeat.
I pointed out Alonso’s goal threat in last week’s article and it came to fruition this week. A brace and 16 points was a welcome return for his owners. There was a shuffle around at the back as 6 FPL defenders were used but that should be a one off.
Willian hit the post but posed little other threat. With Pedro on the bench in this game and Hazard nearing fitness, his time in the team may be up soon. I think he will start this weekend but it’s difficult to see him keeping his place after that.
There was a first PL start for Morata who missed a wonderful opportunity early on. It appears the striker position will be in his possession for the foreseeable future.
MAN CITY 1-1 EVERTON
The first home game of the season didn’t go exactly to plan for Man City but they did fight back well with 10 men to salvage a point.
Those managers who took a pre-season punt on Danilo would have been left disappointed as he started on the bench. Walker was sent off after picking up two bookings just before half-time and will miss the next game. Therefore, you can afford to give Danilo one more week even though Mendy is approaching full fitness.
10.0 mil is a lot of cash to spend on one player and it’s becoming tricky to claim that De Bruyne is worth the money at this moment. Though the sending off affected this, he is playing far too deep and simply not getting into the box enough. Personally, I have bigger issues than taking out someone of his quality before a game against a Bournemouth side who have started the season poorly. My general advice would be to hold for one more week. However, Silva is producing a similar output for 2.0mil less so I would understand managers looking to move KDB on. Sterling came off the bench to score a great volley but it’s still difficult to guarantee his starts.
I’ve always had the opinion that Jesus is a Pep favourite so it was a surprise to see him withdrawn after 45 mins for tactical reasons. Aguero stayed on and continued to cause issues for Everton but there wasn’t to be a goal for him.
It seems that Everton are going to be a key side for the top teams to play against as they are more than capable of taking points away from those games as they did on Monday night.
Their defence did reasonably well against a strong City attack, albeit with a man less for a large portion of the game. Owners of Williams can count themselves lucky as his early withdrawal preserved his clean sheet. This allowed him to claim a couple of bonus points as well.
Schneiderlin was harshly sent off for a tackle on Aguero and is currently suspended for the next game. I imagine that we will see one of, or maybe both, Klaasen and record signing Sigurdsson starting in their next match, another tough away game at Chelsea.
Sandro was injured but the strikers starting certainly stepped up in his absence. Calvert-Lewin put in a great performance leading the line as he held the ball up well and provided the assist for the opening goal. It was his fellow striker Rooney who got that goal and is looking a great mid-price option. I’ve got my eye on him for when his side’s fixtures improve around GW6.
That concludes part 2 of the GW2 review. Part 1 can be found here. Feel free to post any questions or feedback in the comments section or you can find me on Twitter.
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