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 GW17 review. Last year, Joseph finished with an overall rank of 13k.
FANTASY PREMIER LEAGUE GW17 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.
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
Hazard
The Belgian was positioned in a false 9 position due to the absence of Morata and this seemed to dwindle his fantasy output slightly. He fulfilled a similar role to Firmino at Liverpool, assisting the assist for the first goal as an example. Nonetheless, he was unlucky to blank and it was only due to Pedro’s poor finishing that meant he didn’t pick up an assist. He had one shot saved from close range, but was then withdrawn early to rest him for future games. I wouldn’t be losing faith just yet as the upcoming fixtures still look good and it seems others agree as he currently leads our captain poll.
Chelsea defence
Another match without a clean sheet for Conte’s men after they conceded with the last kick of the game. They had been comfortable throughout and it’s surely only a matter of time before the clean sheets arrive with the fixture list. Fortunately for some managers, Christensen was substituted which meant he kept his points and Alonso registered an assist plus a bonus point. The latter was a threat throughout with his crosses and registered 4 key passes for an xA score of 0.69.
Burnley defence
Mee missed out again but he is available to play in GW18. Their most popular asset at the back is Ward and he was unfortunately taken off early with an injury which may rule out for the game at the weekend. Despite missing 3 of their first choice back 4, Burnley still held on for another clean sheet and their defenders look like season keepers. Speaking of keepers, Pope made an impressive 7 saves which helped him to 3 bonus points and a double figure haul.
Richarlison
Tuesday’s game began the start of a good run of fixtures for the Watford winger and managers were looking for points to restore some faith after three successive blanks. He picked up an assist after just 3 minutes but was unable to add to his tally. He created one wonderful opportunity for Deeney and also missed a chance of his own in the second half. He was another to be taken off early with an injury concern, seemingly his groin, though at least he meant that he kept his clean sheet point. Owners will be hoping that he’s fit with the good fixtures that are coming up.
Loftus-Cheek
A further two points for the 4.6mil asset which I’m sure a lot of managers will have coming off their bench. He had a couple of shots and offers consistent starts in a team that’s starting to find form; you can’t ask for much more at the price.
Man City
A thumping victory for runaway leaders at Swansea and it was David Silva who stole the show again with a brace. De Bruyne also scored which means, after blanking the first 3 games, he has 5 goals and 8 assists in his last 14 league games. Sterling returned 2 assists to keep his score ticking over and all of the mentioned three players have now hit 100 FPL points. Conversely, Sane found himself on the bench throughout which marks 6 games since his last goal or assist. Looking at the fixtures, a double up on the City midfield is viable and Pep is starting to rotate less in midfield; Silva, Sterling and KDB have all started the last 3.
Up front, it was Aguero’s chance to start and he grabbed a goal in a performance which saw 8 shots on goal. Jesus failed to gain any minutes and it seems likely that we will see the striker rotation continue for the foreseeable future.
Despite missing Kompany, it was a first clean sheet since GW12 for City, though Walker owners missed out due to his benching. Otamendi is looking a great asset for our teams with the attacking threat he poses and the security of starts with the injuries at centre back.
The next game for City is at home to Spurs so we should see Pep’s strongest line up, but I would recommend looking out for the teamsheet in league cup on Tuesday for clues about rotation for GW19.
Kane
It was another blank at home against a weaker side for Kane though it was not through a lack of trying. He took 9 shots, one of which hit the post, and he also had an unusually high xA score as well. The next 4 fixtures for Spurs are mci, bur, SOU, blank before the double gameweek so I can see why some managers are tempted to move him on. However, every manager will be looking to bring him back in GW22 so it’ll cost at least two transfers and that’s presuming it’s a straight swap for another striker. For me, I’ll be holding him throughout as you never know when the next haul is coming and Spurs are starting to find some form again.
A mention for Son who scored for the third successive game and I think that he will continue to start as he is bringing some much needed energy to the side. He could be a great option at 8.0mil and is posting some fantastic underlying stats, one to watch with the double gameweek coming up.
Everton
A quick word on Allardyce’s side who ground out a 1-0 win at Newcastle which further highlighted the defensive potential of Everton under their new manager. Kenny looks great at 4.4mil and I really like the look of Pickford in goal if you’re looking at their assets. Rooney scored again which is his 9th goal of the season and Calvert-Lewin started once more.
United defence
A 10th clean sheet of the season for Mourinho’s men and we saw the return of Jones from injury who is now priced at 5.4mil. However, I find it difficult to imagine that he’ll be able to start all of the games over the Christmas period given his injury record. Meanwhile, Smalling has quietly played every minute of the last 11 games and he’s available at the same price. In goal, De Gea made 7 saves and collected maximum bonus to return his biggest points haul of the season. He moved to 5th in the overall points standings, level with Harry Kane, and with an ownership of over 40%, it’s becoming painful for non-owners whenever United keep a clean sheet.
Lukaku
The Belgian scored his first goal in 5 PL games but a yellow card meant that it was only a 5 point return. His ownership has plummeted in recent weeks, but it might be time to look at him again as we’ve seen in the past that one goal can often kickstart a good run of form for Lukaku. He could have added another goal but it’s worth noting that United only had two shots on target during the game as the attacking output continued to be stunted by the absence of Pogba.
Liverpool’s fab four
Despite Klopp electing to start his strongest attack, they were unable to break through the West Brom defence. They all took a couple of shots each, but it was FPL’s most popular asset, Salah, who registered the highest xG and xA score during the game. It was a disappointing and surprising blank but 3 of the next 4 games look strong on paper so it’s worth holding your assets and possibly investing.
Mahrez
Perhaps we need to start seriously considering the 15/16 player of the season who has found some impressive form under Claude Puel. He scored again at Southampton and is getting closer to the player he was during Leicester’s title-winning season. He had 3 shots and 3 key passes on Wednesday and he now found founds himself in the overall dream team. His side’s fixtures are very mixed with games against Palace, Watford and Huddersfield offset by tougher fixtures against United, Liverpool and Chelsea.
That concludes the GW17 review. Feel free to post any questions or feedback in the comments section or you can find me on Twitter.
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