FPL Gameweek 11 – The Fixtures
Hat-trick or treat? With Halloween around the corner, Leicester’s remarkable 9-0 thrashing of Southampton provided many frights and delights for the FPL community. Jamie Vardy (£9.2m) bagged three goals and an assist, yet was pipped to the match ball by Ayoze Perez (£6.0m) and his earlier trio. The match was so extraordinary that defender Ben Chilwell (£5.5m) brought home a fantastic 19 points but was only the Foxes’ third-highest scorer.
The events of Friday night defined the weekend of every Fantasy team but it was by no means the only drama. A late Mo Salah (£12.4m) penalty snatched three points for Liverpool against Spurs, while Tim Krul (£4.5m) saved two Man Utd penalties yet still couldn’t prevent a rare away win for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his men. Lucas Digne’s (£6.0m) injury-time own goal gave Brighton a 3-2 win over Everton, while Kevin De Bruyne’s (£10.2m) strike was later given to David Silva (£7.7m) by the Goal Accreditation Panel. It only added to the fury caused by a second consecutive rest for Sergio Aguero (£12.1m) and Nicolas Otamendi (£5.5m), especially when Aguero’s many captainers watched in horror as he made a 14-minute cameo. After two awful gameweeks beforehand, at least the goal of Raheem Sterling (£12.1m) added some stability to proceedings.
GAMEWEEK 11 FIXTURES
Saturday 2nd November
Bournemouth v Man Utd (12:30)
Arsenal v Wolves (15:00)
Aston Villa v Liverpool (15:00)
Brighton v Norwich (15:00)
Man City v Southampton (15:00)
Sheffield Utd v Burnley (15:00)
West Ham v Newcastle (15:00)
Watford v Chelsea (17:30)
Sunday 3rd November
Crystal Palace v Leicester (14:00)
Everton v Spurs (16:30)
GOALS NOT GHOULS FOR CHELSEA
It wasn’t just Vardy and Perez who reached the dizzying heights of 20 points – they were later joined by Christian Pulisic (£7.1m). The 200,000 (since Gameweek 8) new owners of Callum Hudson-Odoi (£6.0m) won’t have enjoyed seeing their man benched for the American, who proceeded to score his own hat-trick in the 4-2 win over Burnley. Frustrations followed for those with Mason Mount (£6.9m) and Tammy Abraham (£7.8m), who both only registered one assist as Chelsea raced into a four-goal lead by the hour mark.
It was the fourth time in the last five Premier League matches that Abraham has failed to score, but that hasn’t stopped him overtaking Virgil van Dijk (£6.5m) to become the game’s most owned player. Despite his quiet spell coinciding with some substitute goals from Michy Batshuayi (£6.6m), it isn’t yet time to leave the Abraham Party. Chelsea travel to bottom side Watford on Saturday, with home fixtures against Crystal Palace, West Ham and Aston Villa to come. Amongst that is a trip to Man City but the confident, free-scoring Blues will not be daunted by this.
SEAN OF THE DEAD
The two consolation goals from Jay Rodriguez (£5.7m) and Dwight McNeil (£6.0m) made Burnley’s defeat look respectable but they shouldn’t be too disheartened, considering their upcoming run of games. Sheffield Utd (a), West Ham (H), Watford (a), Crystal Palace (H) isn’t easy but Sean Dyche’s men will expect a solid number of points from that.
Perhaps the run is more encouraging for defensive prospects like Nick Pope (£4.7m) and Erik Pieters (£4.8m), considering Watford are the league’s lowest-scoring side and Sheffield Utd are joint-third lowest. Up front, Chris Wood (£6.2m) missed Saturday’s game with a hamstring problem but has taken over the early-season scoring duties of Ashley Barnes (£6.3m). The latter began with four goals in three games but none since, while Wood has the same number from his last four appearances and is still only on 1.2% ownership.
CAULDRON-LEWIN STIRS GOAL-SCORING POTION
Hovering above the relegation zone are Everton, with the late defeat to Brighton being their fifth loss in six games. Digne was in a high percentage of teams when the season started but his returns have taken a nosedive since the opening two clean sheets, culminating in this 94th-minute own goal. Even more concerning for manager Marco Silva is that the run of fixtures is about to turn nasty, aside from a trip to Southampton and the brief mercy of facing Norwich at home.
Hosting Spurs may even be deemed winnable, considering their recent problems, but they did take the lead and push Liverpool all the way during the first of their Merseyside visits. However, six of the Toffees’ next eight games are ranked either four or five on the FDR (Fixture Difficulty Rating) due to meetings with Liverpool (a), Chelsea (H), Leicester (a), Man Utd (a) and Arsenal (H). The disappointing Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.5m) has been benched for the last two games but, when his first goal of the season finally came, it was during his three-minute Gameweek 9 appearance. Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.8m) has wrestled the centre forward role from Moise Kean (£6.5m) and is their top-scorer with three goals.
