After each gameweek, Joseph Crilley is going to be writing an article reviewing all the Premier League games from a fantasy perspective. He will be providing some stats and a brief summary on the performances and prospects of a few of the players. This is the fantasy premier league GW20 review. Last year, Joseph finished with an overall rank of 13k. Now updated for stats and a review of Crystal Palace v Arsenal
FANTASY PREMIER LEAGUE GW20 REVIEW BY JOSEPH CRILLEY
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.
The tables also include the Expected Goals and Expected Assists for each individual player. This is in addition to the expected goals for each team in brackets within the scoreline. BBC Sport provided a very useful piece to help explain this statistic. Essentially each shot is given a score between 0 and 1 as to how likely it is to go in the net. For example, suppose a shot taken from inside the box is worth 0.56; this will be added to the xG tally of the player who take the shot and added to the xA of the player who passes the ball to him. All underlying stats are from the brilliant website understat.com. References to average position come from the twitter site 11tegen11.
STATS TABLES
Due to the midweek gameweek causing a shortage of time, I have prepared a shortened version of the article this week. The stats tables are all available via the following google spreadsheet link and I will speak about a few key players during the gameweek.
KEY PLAYERS
Spurs
I was fortunate enough to be at Wembley on Boxing Day, so I can give some first-hand information on our assets with the upcoming double gameweek in GW21.
For me, I would probably avoid the defenders as for any security of starts, you will have to be paying 6mil+ which is too much for a defence missing Alderweireld. Spurs are leaking goals with only 2 clean sheets in their last 8 games and gave up some decent chances to Southampton. I imagine that the full backs will play one game each, so it seems unnecessary to bring them in despite the attacking threat that they can bring.
Son was very lively in this game and looks a great differential with some good recent form, but one to watch could be Alli who had arguably his best league game against the Saints. He now has a goal and four assists in the last couple of gameweeks, though he is still pricey at 9.0mil. I think that I prefer Son over him and Eriksen, though he is probably the most likely to not start both games.
8 shots and an xG score of 2.37 for Kane at Wembley which sent him on the way to another hat-trick and a huge haul. For me, the only question in GW22 is whether to triple captain him or simply captain him and I’m leaning towards the former. It appears a perfect scenario; the best striker in the league with great form and two great fixtures, plus he seems certain to start both matches.
Hazard & Morata
Hazard is becoming an extremely frustrating asset to own as he now has just one assist in the last 5 games. He had some better underlying stats in this game after being moved back into his usual supporting role; 4 shots and 3 key passes against Brighton plus a shot cleared off the line. In my opinion, a game against a depleted Stoke side at Stamford Bridge looks very enticing and owners should look to give him one more week, especially as he should be guaranteed a start. With his high price tag, he could then be used to fund moves for double gameweek players, though sellers should be wary of some further good fixtures.
Meanwhile, Morata marked his return to the starting line-up with a goal, typically with his head. He also had 4 shots in total, but failed to pick up any bonus points due to attacking returns in defence. If they are managers looking for a one-week punt in place of Kane, they could do a lot worse than the Chelsea striker who scored a hat-trick in the return fixture against his GW21 opposition.
West Ham
The second double gameweek team have been gaining interest due to an increase in form as of late. However, they have conceded 6 goals in their last 2 games with a total xG score of 4.76; not what current and potential owners wanted to see. Adrian made some good saves, so his place shouldn’t be under threat and he still looks a decent option; as does Masuaku who created two very good chances in an xA score of 0.49.
The attacking man in form is Arnautovic with 5 goals in his last 5 games and he’s had some decent underlying stats in that time with 19 shots. However, the two goals in the Bournemouth game came from two awful goalkeeping errors. Nonetheless, he looks a very good choice to bring in, despite the fact that I’ve always been a fan of Lanzini.
Liverpool’s fab three…?
It seems that Mané is slightly out of favour currently, having only started one of the last three. His teammates have proved more than capable of stepping up in his absence and they helped their side to a comfortable victory against Swansea.
Firmino has found some real form lately and grabbed two goals here despite missing one glorious first-half chance. It’s now three double-figure hauls in a row and is one of few strikers bringing in the points lately.
The game’s highest owned player, Salah, was more of creative force in this game with his xA score outweighing his xG score which is rare to see. As such, he picked up a couple of assists and he did have a couple of chances despite not scoring. He will surely be one of the favourite captain choices this week. He and Firmino were both withdrawn early so it looks likely that they will both start their next game at home to Leicester. With Kane blanking, the Egyptian will almost certainly be the highest captain pick and looks set for another haul against a porous defence.
The same certainty of start in the next game can’t be said about Coutinho who played the full 90 mins, though he was brilliant in the evening kick-off. He got the ball rolling with a fantastic early strike and assisted the second goal. 4 shots and 5 key passes as well, but my only niggling worry is that he’s playing for a January move to Barcelona. Ignoring that fact, he looks a fantastic option to pair alongside Salah, though there are a couple of tricky fixtures on the horizon for Liverpool.
Man Utd
Another blank for Lukaku whose stock continues to dwindle after two successive blanks; just 1 shot & key pass apiece in this game which means the Belgian still hasn’t scored more than 8 points since GW5. The fixtures are still decent, nevertheless managers should really be looking elsewhere.
The return of Pogba was supposed to help out the striker, but the Frenchman seems to be back in a deeper position which is hindering his FPL output. He may have had 5 shots against Burnley, but none were of real quality as seen from an xG score of 0.15. Lingard now looks the most appealing United attacking asset as seen by the transfers in this week already. He came off the bench to score twice and also missed a sitter; surely he comes back into the starting XI against Southampton.
The defence failed to keep a clean sheet again; just one in their last 7 games which is hindering United’s chances of picking up points. They actually only conceded 3 shots in this game and one of the goals was an unbelievable free-kick. Looking at the next four games, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a couple of clean sheets come in.
Man City
Just a second 1-0 win of the season for Guardiola’s men and it’s 18 wins in a row for them. 3 clean sheets in 4 games for them as well now which means that, although the goals have dried up, Otamendi is still picking up points; a couple bonus points here as well.
In midfield, Silva was absence with personal reasons once more; unfortunately, it seems like he may need to be avoided until the situation becomes clearer. The star of the show was De Bruyne who laid on another wonderful assist to go along with 5 shots and 3 other key passes. He certainly looks better value than the similarly-priced Hazard at the moment. Speaking of value, Sterling got the winner with a tidy finish to keep him second in the overall standings. He has started the last 10 PL games, so perhaps he is due a rest which is what happened to Sané in this game.
Aguero was preferred up front, though Jesus was an early substitution after the latest injury setback for Kompany. I have no idea how the Argentinian didn’t score as he hit the woodwork twice and had a couple other great chances. Is he Pep’s preferred option now? Perhaps, but there is still a lot of rotation risk there.
Richarlison
After one assist in his last 6 games, there has been a lot of talk about Richarlison’s place in our teams. He picked up an assist against Leicester after his acrobatic effort was blocked and he could have easily added a goal. The Brazilian could only find the side netting after rounding the keeper and he also hit the post. Swansea are up next at Vicarage Road, so I would have thought that the majority of managers will give him one more week.
Other players
Alonso showed some real attacking threat on his way to another big haul while Christensen missed out with illness. The question has always been whether the Spaniard can produce the attacking returns to provide enough value over his cheaper colleague; he is certainly doing that at the moment. Azpilicueta also picked up an attacking return with an assist.
A quiet game for Calvert-Lewin who had no shots or key passes and was withdrawn early; I wonder if a rest is due for him. Rooney missed out with illness again so perhaps he comes back in for the youngster. Kenny continues to start and gained another clean sheet under Big Sam.
Mahrez scored again along with some more decent stats, but he could be another player who is playing for a move.
Back in the Bournemouth line-up was Wilson and he grabbed a last-minute equaliser. With the injury to Defoe, he could be one to look at in that cheap striker position.
There had been some interest in Depoitre, but he was promptly dropped to the bench. If you’re looking for a cheaper Huddersfield striker, Quaner could be the way to go who got an assist this gameweek (xA assist score of 0.99) and has started the last three.
Elliot continues to start in goal for Newcastle and put in a decent performance against the league leaders; he faces Brighton at home next.
UPDATED
Arsenal
The star man from the last match of the gameweek was undoubtedly Sanchez who registered a brace along with 4 shots and 2 key passes. I’m sure there are a few managers eyeing up a straight swap to him from Hazard, but I’d be worried about the likelihood of him moving in the January window. Ozil blanked, though he did have one big chance hence his decent xG score. An interesting question is whether Wilshere is becoming a decent option at 5.4mil; he has started the last four games and picked up an assist against Palace.
The Arsenal defence has now conceded 5 goals in their last 2 games, though Mustafi did reward his small ownership with a goal. Kolasinac was back in the starting line-up, but unfortunately it seems that he has become a serious rotation risk now.
Zaha
Some great stats from Zaha in this game as he had 5 shots and 4 key passes which included the assist for the first Palace goal. He was extremely lively and, as always, was Palace’s main threat. He has shown some good recent form, but interest in him is yet to really peak, mostly due to him being in the same bracket as the West Ham midfielders.
That concludes the GW20 review. Feel free to post any questions or feedback in the comments section or you can find me on Twitter.
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