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 first part of the fantasy premier league GW10 review. Last year, Joseph finished with an overall rank of 13k.
FANTASY PREMIER LEAGUE GW10 REVIEW – PART 1
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.
MAN UTD (0.94) 1-0 (1.09) TOTTENHAM
A great victory for United to help them bounce back from last week’s disappointing result and prevent their neighbours from extending their lead at the top of the league.
It’s 8 clean sheets from 10 games for Mourinho’s men and their defence looks such great value. This is particularly true for Jones who claimed maximum bonus points for the second time this season. I’d potentially wait one more gameweek but after that it’s time to purchase him and leave him in our teams every week for the foreseeable future.
Martial came off the bench to grab the winner but he continues to be rotated in and out of the side despite some impressive stats. That’s 5 blanks in a row for Mkhitaryan and it’s not down to bad luck truthfully, just poor form. It’s not surprise that he’s been a popular transfer out again so far this week.
Just an assist for Lukaku again but it keeps his score ticking over and the consistency is helpful given the volatility that we’ve seen in the premium striker market. He also hit the post from a header and I’d be worried about not owning him for GW12-14 looking at the fixtures there.
Spurs’ disappointing away form against the rest of the top 6 continued under Pochettino as they sorely missed their star striker.
I mentioned in last week’s article that I expected to Davies to start at Old Trafford and this was the case with Aurier lining up on the side. Managers will be looking to the Champions League match against Real Madrid for clues about which full back will line up in the favourable GW11 fixture against Palace.
Eriksen seemed to be positioned deeper again; adopting a similar role to KDB at Man City. He still had a decent xA score after creating wonderful opportunity for Alli who could only send the ball wide of the target. Son started in the striker role but didn’t get much joy out of the United back line.
There was an obvious Kane-sized hole up front and Tottenham will be desperate to have him back as soon as possible. Pochettino seemed optimistic about his chances of playing against Madrid but we’ve heard similar stories from him before. I would advise not making any transfers until this game has been played because the news on Kane will surely affect your decisions.
ARSENAL (2.38) 2-1 (0.84) SWANSEA
Not quite as easy for Arsenal compared to last week but they eventually claimed the win that their fans would have expected.
This game was mostly about Kolasinac in this game as the big Bosnian registered his first PL goal along with an assist to help himself to a bumper haul. He did have to be withdrawn early with a slight injury though which will need to be monitored. Monreal and Bellerin both showed some good attacking output as seen in their expected stats, but the anticipated clean sheet did not come in.
He may be at a slightly awkward price at the moment, but Ramsey is making himself hard to ignore. Another goal with a couple of bonus points and some impressive underlying stats to boot; the Welshman looks a good shout once the next couple of games are out the way. Ozil was the creator again with 5 key passes and he picked up a rather fortunate assist after his blocked shot fell to Kolasinac. Sanchez was busy again but could only return 2 points; a source of great disappointment for those who used their free hit to take a punt on him.
Lacazette was the man chosen FFG to replace the injured Kane in the FFG team, but it was a quiet game for the Frenchman unfortunately. He has previously showed some great home form, but he could only muster one shot on goal here.
Swansea have a good record at the Emirates having won 3 of their previous 5 visits and they would have been hoping for another positive result after leading at halftime.
However, two quick second half goals meant it was an away defeat for the Swans. They lined up with 5 at the back once more but without the injured Olsson. A further 3 saves for Fabianski to cement his place at the top of that particular chart and one to consider with his side’s fantastic fixture schedule.
A rare goal for Clucas who started in the LWB position. The rest of the midfield was very quiet and couldn’t register a single shot or key pass between them.
A first assist of the season for Abraham to go with his 4 goals and he continues to be the best striker option in the 6mil bracket in my opinion. A great option to bring in this week given the previously mentioned good fixtures for Paul Clement’s team.
BOURNEMOUTH (0.46) 0-1 (1.80) CHELSEA
An expected defeat for Bournemouth who often struggle against Chelsea but they will be looking to their upcoming favourable fixtures to pick up some crucial points.
Clean sheets will be required for this and it was interesting to see FPL favourite Daniels at LWB for this game. He certainly looks an intriguing option to bring in with his history of attacking returns.
I had been eying up Stanislas, but he was taken off early with a groin problem on Saturday. Hopefully, it won’t keep him out for too long as he could be a great budget option.
I’m sure that Defoe would not have been happy to be taken off early but, to me, he just doesn’t seem to suit Bournemouth’s style currently. Wilson came off the bench after returning from injury with a goal and an assist in the League Cup last week and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him starting in the PL soon.
A good win for Chelsea and the margin of victory should have been greater than just the one goal.
They picked up their first clean sheet since GW6 and it was Azpilicueta picking up bonus points again to further confirm his status as the best pick among the Blues’ rear-guard. Cahill was benched and only started during 1 of his side’s 4 clean sheets this season.
Could this have been the week that Hazard announces himself to FPL managers? He scored with a good near-post finish and somehow didn’t pick up an assist. He created an impressive 7 chances of which two were incredible opportunities. Fabregas had more shots than any other player in this game but Kante could be back very soon which puts his place at risk.
Morata picked up the assist for the goal and could have easily had at least a brace after missing the amazing chances I mentioned earlier. Both times he was clean through on goal but couldn’t convert after having one shot saved and sending the other inexplicably wide. It was a much-improved performance from him in general though and I still like him as a long-term pick.
WATFORD (1.16) 0-1 (0.78) STOKE
As more games go by, it seems that away games are a better proposition for returns from Watford players. A poor result for those of us that invested in their assets like myself.
Mariappa was placed on the bench after starting in the previous 5 games which ended our latest hope of a 4.0mil defender. That means Watford have only picked up 3 clean sheets, but I still think that their defence will prove good value.
The bandwagon for Richarlison went into overdrive ahead of this game and he, almost inevitably, blanked. His xG score was good again after missing two good chances from close range and it’s just his conversion rate that is letting him down.
Deeney started again but has now been charged with violent conduct after his scuffle late on in the game and will likely be suspended.
Another week goes by and there’s another win for a manager to help relieve the pressure that was starting to build.
The defence was brilliantly marshalled by captain Shawcross on their way to their second clean sheet of the season. Stoke have some good fixtures over the next few weeks and if Wimmer can cement his place, he presents a good value option at 4.4mil.
A training ground routine led to Fletcher’s goal with a great volley directly from a corner sent in by Shaqiri. Choupo-Moting returned to the striker role and had a couple of shots but not much else.
That meant the Diouf lined up at RWB again which naturally reduced his goal threat; not good news for the 100k+ managers that brought him in.
LIVERPOOL (2.20) 3-0 (0.06) HUDDERSFIELD
A second win in 7 games for Liverpool which should prepare them well for the next few promising fixtures.
An impressive defensive display which I believe resulted in Huddersfield registering the lowest team xG score this season. Moreno and Gomez started again and their places look secure at 4.5mil. Milner started in midfield and picked up an assist to send him on his way to a double figure haul.
I supposed we have to start with the penalty miss from Salah; a heart-breaking moment for myself and other managers that captained him. He somewhat redeemed himself with an assist and he also hit the post, but it was an ultimately disappointing return of 4 points. The assist was for a goal from Wijnaldum with a fine strike for his first of the season.
Firmino was back on the scoresheet and showcased his ability to pick up bonus points again. A rare start for Sturridge and he pounced on a defensive error to open the scoring.
A bad day for Wagner after watching his side sink to a 3-goal defeat against his old friend.
It was an even worse day for Smith at RB who gave away the penalty and then sent a poor header straight into the path of Sturridge. Lossl saved the penalty which took him to 3rd place in the overall standings for goalkeepers.
Ince was the man to take the only shot for the Terriers – a long range effort that failed to hit the target.
Mounie lined up on the bench again but surely it’s only a matter of time until he makes the starting XI again.
That concludes part 1 of the GW10 review. Part 2 will be coming shortly. Feel free to post any questions or feedback in the comments section or you can find me on Twitter.
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