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 GW27 review. Last year, Joseph finished with an overall rank of 13k.
FANTASY PREMIER LEAGUE GW27 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
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
Man City
There seems no better place to start than with the highest gameweek score of the season so far from Aguero thanks to a sensational four goal haul in the second half at the Etihad. It’s now 11 goals in his last 5 home league games for the Argentine who had 7 shots in total at the weekend. Perhaps controversially, I’m not sure that I would recommend buying him now; that ship has sailed in my opinion with Jesus closing in on a return and fixture congestion increasing. Nonetheless, it must be an enjoyable sight to see Aguero’s name in your FPL team, especially when there’s 42 points next to it for those who placed the armband on him.
He is certainly benefiting from playing in the same City side as De Bruyne who seems to create a tap-in opportunity every other game for a teammate. It was a hat-trick of assists along with a total of 7 key passes for the Belgian in this game to register his 4th double figure haul in his last 6 home games. He has now taken second place in the overall points standing from Sterling who scored his 15th goal of an impressive season to punish those crazy enough to sell him.
The only blip was that another game passed without a clean sheet despite only conceding 2 shots on goal for an xG conceded score of 0.11. There is a decision to be made for those holding the expensive Otamendi as he faces Arsenal and Chelsea in the next two games with a likely blank in GW31.
Tottenham
If there is such a thing as a 1-0 battering, then it was on display at Wembley as Spurs registered the highest team xG score of the gameweek. The main contributor to this was unsurprisingly Kane who grabbed the winner with a fine header during an xG score of 1.17. This score was boosted by a couple of other missed headed opportunities which in turn hindered his chance at picking up bonus points. It’s now 7 goals in 7 games against his side’s fierce rivals, though it should’ve been more to the annoyance of those who captained him.
In midfield, Eriksen created some good chances (xA=0.75) and also saw a free kick well saved, though it is just one return in the last four gameweeks now. That’s one more than the ever-energetic Son, who worked hard in this game for little reward, and the same as Alli who missed one great chance. Spurs have shown some good form during the tough fixture period and it is tempting to hold onto their midfield assets despite a lack of fantasy form with the schedule improving.
The defence has looked solid as well and though Davies added an assist, I would be wary of rotation in the back line, especially at full back. Once the return of Alderweireld is complete, Pochettino will have all of his defenders available to him and only Vertonghen looks secure in the near future.
Liverpool
There’s not too much more that needs to be said about Salah who picked up another double figure haul after a goal and an assist. He posted good underlying stats again and we could see a ridiculously high percentage of teams captain him in GW31 given the potential number of blanks and a home fixture against Watford.
He linked up well with Firmino who registered a goal and an assist of his own; the latter due to a wonderful flick on the edge of the box. The Brazilian posted similar stats to his prolific teammate, though it was Mane who registered the highest number of shots with 5, albeit for the lowest xG score. It was the striker’s first double figure haul since GW20, but he remains a player that will be very risky to not own during the blank gameweek.
A second consecutive clean sheet for the defence and a first in a Liverpool shirt for Van Dijk on his return to Southampton. If he can keep himself fit, he looks a good option having shown some attacking form at Liverpool and in previous seasons. I also like the look of Robertson who is a great outlet for his side down the left and puts in some decent crosses.
Man United
A disappointing away performance from United as Mourinho is struggling to find the right balance for his side since the arrival of Sanchez. The new signing missed one great opportunity as did Martial after being sent through on goal. The schedule is rather mixed over the next few weeks and it looks a good time to avoid their attackers; Lingard will be a popular transfer out this week after another blank.
The lack of clean sheet hurts a significant number of managers and it’s worth noting that Jones had been on course for maximum bonus points again before they conceded. Despite the tough upcoming fixtures, it would be a brave move to sell their defenders because their ownership is so high.
Chelsea
A much-needed win for the Blues which was typically inspired by Hazard who bagged a brace which he’ll be hoping will help rejuvenate his side. He also had the highest xA score for Chelsea after 5 key passes. Similar to Aguero though, I’m not sure now is the time to be buying the Belgian as they face away trips to the Manchester clubs in the next two gameweeks.
He was assisted for the first goal by Giroud, who had 6 shots of his own, and by Morata for his second goal. I wouldn’t be shocked to see the striker sharing starting responsibilities for the foreseeable future so it’s best to avoid until the situation is clear.
The most expensive FPL defender seems to not enjoy playing on Monday nights as Alonso failed to make the squad again after apparently twisting his ankle in training on Saturday. I would not be surprised if he was the most sold player once GW28 comes along in a couple weeks’ time. There was a return for Christensen who seems to be highly regarded by his manager after the post-match words from Conte and has friendly price of 5.3mil now.
Other Players
Intriguingly, Mahrez was back in the squad for Leicester and has potential as an option for his side’s kind run-in if he can find his earlier form.
Arsenal were kept pretty quiet at Wembley causing much disappointment for those who invested in Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan as the January signings failed to register a shot or key pass between them. At least they made it onto the pitch though which is more than can be said for Ramsey who missed out with a groin injury.
Arnautovic returned from injury and put in an impressive display from a fairly central role. He scored his 7th goal in his last 9 starts and missed one huge opportunity. Watford were rather poor in this game for those eying up their assets for GW31.
Cheap striker J Ayew had some decent stats though his place could come under threat from his brother and Abraham who got a couple of goals in a recent cup game.
An injury to Coleman could provide a reprieve for those who own Kenny, but it was another game without a clean sheet for Everton. Popular transfer Walcott blanked after failing to take a single shot, though he was fairly lively. He was overshadowed by cheap striker Niasse who was preferred up front again and picked up a goal and an assist. There was a similar return for Sigurdsson who could be an interesting pick for the blank gameweek.
Milivojevic scored yet another penalty in the above game for his 4th goal in 6 games. The spot-kick was won by Benteke who returned for the 6th successive game, but the struggle for goals continues after some missed chances.
A couple of cheap midfielders showed their usual decent underlying stats as Gross and Gudmonssen both created 4 chances for their teams. They were overshadowed in that price bracket by Shaqiri who scored for the second gameweek in a row with a fine long-range effort. After the penalty debacle late against Brighton, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Swiss international take over spot-kick duties.
That concludes the GW27 review. Feel free to post any questions or feedback in the comments section or you can find me on Twitter.
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