Here’s our FPL gameweek 3 review where we look back at each game in GW3. We look at the lineups, give some key team indicators and review FPL relevant player performances.
FPL Gameweek 3 review – a look at the games and underlying stats from GW3
Graphics are from whoscored.com
The article was written over a couple of days so player values may differ from when the article was posted.
Norwich 2 Chelsea 3
Norwich 6 shots xG 1.08 Chelsea 23 shots xG 1.91
Lineup wise, it was the same team for Norwich so again £4.7m Cantwell starts as an AM in 4-2-3-1. For Chelsea £7.0m fwd Abraham got the nod as CF and £5.9m Barkley came in for £7.0m Pedro who was injured in the warm up. £6.0m Rudiger wasn’t fit so we don’t know which of the £5.0m CBs will likely be his partner when he is.
A 6 shot to 23 shot game although Chelsea’s possession was only 53%.
£6.9m fwd Pukki got a goal and an assist although it was only a 2 shot (and fairly low % shots) performance and 1 key pass. Cantwell’s tap in was his only shot or key pass. £6.0m mid Buendia with 3 KPs was the only other player to stand out.
For Chelsea Abraham with 2 goals was the star although with 3 shots only it was down to clinical finishing rather than shot volume. £6.2m mid Mount 1 goal, £7.5m mid Pulisic 1 assist and Barkley a blank all put in his volume and good x G performances.
Liverpool 3 Arsenal 1
Liverpool 25 shots 2.79 xG. Arsenal 9 shots 0.81 xG
Lineups: The 2nd CB is the only unknown of significance and that was taken by £5.4m Def Matip for the 2nd consecutive week. For Arsenal £9.5m Pepe started up top with £11.0m Aubameyang and £5.6m Ceballos as a number 10 at the tip of a diamond designed to allow 2 of the best fullbacks in the PL unchallenged space out wide. £5.0m mid Willock continues to start. £9.5m Lacazette was on the bench.
Despite the fact that only £12.5m mid Salah returned with 2 goals all the front 3 of him, £11.5m Mane and £9.5m fwd Firmino had strong underlying stats. The 2 fullbacks of £7.0m Alexander Arnold and £7.0m Robertson, who were the fulcrum of the attacks, had strong key pass and shot volumes in a game that was effectively unchallenged crossing practice. TAA got the assist for Matips goal from a corner. Salah took the pen that he earned himself.
Liverpool lost the clean sheet and whether they were unlucky or not depends on how you view Pepe’s missed 1 on 1.
£9.5m mid Pepe was the star for Arsenal and should have scored in a 1 on 1 with the GK. Volume wise he was far ahead of anyone else for Arsenal. £6.0m Luiz was a disaster for Arsenal responsible effectively for both goals. Aubameyang had a couple of chances and got the assist for Torriera’s last consolation and Liverpool CS buster.
Man Utd 1 C Palace 2
Man Utd 22 shots xG 2.24. Palace 5 shots 0.68 xG
Lineups: Martial again played CF with Rashford on the left. For Palace Ayew played CF with Zaha seemingly on the right. Cahill came on for Dann rather than Kelly surprisingly.
United’s shot count and possession of 71% says alot about the game. Rashford, Martial, Pogba and James all had good volumes of shots but if you strip out the penalty only James and Martial had anything like decent % chances.
Palace took their couple of chances to win the game which is about all you can say. The goals against were pretty poor slices of defending with Maguire miles away from Lindelof for the first and De Gea’s error for the 2nd.
Watford 1 West Ham 3
Watford 23 shots x G 2.29 West Ham 16 shots 3.46 xG
Lineups: £5.9m Gray started up top for the injured Deeney. Pereyra was also injured. Yarmalenko got the 1 attacking spot that seems up for grabs. Ogbonna again preferred to Balbuena.
A quite incredibly open game with £6.9m mid Anderson and £7.4m fwd Haller the stars of the show as you might expect. £6.4m fwd Deulofeu, Gray and £5.5m Hughes were good for Watford with excellent shot and xG numbers. Hughes really should have added a goal to his assist as he missed from virtually the goal line.
Sheff Utd 1 Leicester 2
Sheffield 8 shots xG 0.65 Leicester 11 shots 0.72
No surprises in either lineup particularly.
For Leicester Maddison with 4 shots and 3 KPs and good expected numbers was the star although Vardy with his goal from 2 high quality shots also rated well xG wise. Perez and Tielemans were disappointing.
Lundstram owners will be disappointed he didn’t add to his goal last week when he had a great chance saved.
Brighton 0 Southampton 2
Brighton 12 shots xG 1.00 Southampton 12 shots xG 2.08
Lineups; Again Potter tinkered with his front 3 with Murray and Gross dropping out and Andone and Maupay coming in. Ings returned for Southampton.
A 29 minute sending off of Andone meant it becomes a difficult game to judge individual performances from. However stats wise £6.4m mid Redmond and £6.0m fwd Maupay were the best performers although Locadia from the subs bench should have scored. Watchers of £6.0m fwd Ings will be glad for the assist but disappointed in the stats of 1 shot and 3 fairly low % KPs. He did at least make it to 83 mins before being subbed.
Aston Villa 2 Everton 0
Villa 7 shots 0.73 xG Everton 12 shots 1.14 xG
Lineups: Jota started instead of El Ghazi and Guilbert instead of Elmo.
It was all pretty low volume underlying stats although Wesleys 1 on 1 with Pickford gave him a reasonable xG. A fairly predictable Everton lineup with Iwobi and Kean deemed not ready.
No one came out with any credit for Everton. Digne had 2 shots and 4 key passes but they were incredibly low % stuff. Changes could be afoot after a dismal attacking performance.
Bournemouth 1 Man City 3
Bournemouth 10 shots xG 1.89 Man City 19 shots xG 3.14
Lineups: Gundogan instead of Rodri was the main surprise for Man City. Charlie Daniels started instead of £4.0m Rico again and when injured Harry Wilson comes on and Fraser moves to LWB.
Although 10 shots isn’t the end of the world, Man City didn’t concede an xG against this high in all of last seasons PL games. Now you could rationalise it by saying half of it was due to 2 shots. 1 from Adam Smith and the other from Dominic Solakne at the death but still. Going forward for City it was pretty much business as usual. There were great stat performances everywhere volume and xG wise. Aguero in particular the hero but good stats from De Bruyne, and both Silva’s.
For Bournemouth apart from the Solanke and Smith’s chances only Callum Wilson can walk away with any satisfaction.
Wolves 1 Burnley 1
Wolves 17 shots 1.33 xG, Burnley 13 shots xG 1.23
Lineups: The main surprise here was that £4.5m box to box midfielder Dendoncker started on the bench for the more offensive Gibbs White. Whether this is going to be a regular occurrence or related to wanting a more attacking lineup for the home Burnley fixture remains to be seen.
Nothing attack wise to write home about except Jimenez hit the post and took the penalty while Neves was on the pitch.
Barnes and Wood were the only good stat performances in the game with Wood in particular having 1 good chance to win it.
Spurs 0 Newcastle 1
Spurs 17 shots xG 1.26 Newcastle 0.51 xG
Lineups: Son returns but Eriksen and Lo Celso on the bench. Dele injured and Vertonghen unused on the bench. No particular surprises for Newcastle although Saint Maximin went off injured early.
A dismal Spurs attacking performance. Having said that Moura and Kane both had chances to score. It’s incredible to think that 1 good chance was Kanes only shot or key pass in the game. Kane is Mr shot volume. That’s his calling card. Alot of volume of shots from Moura and Son but it was only Sissoko ironically who had an real xA stats.
A backs to the wall performance from Newcastle but if you were pushing for attacking output it you’d give credit to the goalscoring combination of Joelinton and Atsu.
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