Another match from Saturday to look back on as Brighton and Hove Albion upset the form chart and the FPL managers to beat Brentford 2-0.
WHY KAYODE IS MISSING
Every Fantasy manager who jumped on it Michael Kayode (£4.5m) to start Brentford’s favorable fixture run was left disappointed on Saturday.
The right back was completely absent from the selection and missed a league match for the first time this season.
“Michael missed a blow and we will see how he does in the coming days.” – Keith Andrews on Michael Kayode
His replacement, Aaron Hickey (£4.0m), didn’t even make it to half-time as he picked up an injury himself.
“Not [any update] as i know. We’ll see how he does in the next two days.” – Keith Andrews on Aaron Hickey
COLLINS COMES BACK – BUT MAKES A BIG MISTAKE
As a result of Hickey bouncing away, Nathan Collins (£5.0 million) came up.
The one-time reliable starter, a good bet for DefCon points when he’s on the pitch, has been out of the squad since Gameweek 23.
Kristoffer Ajer (£4.4m), arguably Brentford’s best centre-back in recent months, moved to right-back when Hickey left, with Collins at centre-back:
Unfortunately for Collins, he made a big rick just minutes after his introduction, allowing that to happen Danny Welbeck (£6.1 million) to sneak in and score Brighton’s second goal.
His confidence seemed to be eroded after that as his distribution was erratic. Don’t expect him to get his place back anytime soon, unless Hickey and Kayode are both injured for Gameweek 28 and Keith Andrews’ hand is forced.
WAY BACK IN FOR DAMAGE?
Andrews responded to a flat first half by making a few changes at half-time. One of those changes was the ‘out position’ Keane Lewis Potter (£4.8m) makes way and Kevin Damage (£6.9 million).
Schade was a reliable starter before his three-match suspension (and a possible transfer target for Gameweek 27), but Andrews appears to be an ‘it’s your shirt to loose’ type of manager, and Lewis-Potter was rewarded for his performance and goal for Gameweek 26 with a fresh start here.
However, after a bad first half of ‘KLP’ (not that he was alone) he left. Damage wasn’t much better, but you wonder if Andrews will use the excuse of defeat to recall the German.
It should be noted that Lewis-Potter had problems in the first half, although the change may have happened anyway.
“Keano was suffering from a mild back spasm. I didn’t think he was moving particularly freely.
“I’ve been quite upfront about this all along: we’ve got a really good squad and I’ll use it, and I felt like it had to be used from half-time.” –Keith Andrews
THIAGO BLANKS AGAIN
So the drought in the open field continues Igor Thiago (£7.0 million). His only goal in the last six matchweeks came from the penalty spot on Tyneside.
But, as the old saying goes, you’d be more concerned if he didn’t get the opportunities.
Although there wasn’t as much as he got against Arsenal, he still had two good openings on Saturday. The first saw him fly over with only the keeper to beat (see below), the second saw a header fly over.
He also nodded belatedly Dango Ouattara (£5.8m) big chance, which the winger hooked over. That was Dango’s only chance in the match, but he could/should have gotten an assist as well, creating a great chance in the 87th minute that Mikkel Damsgaard (£5.6m) wasted and then almost forced an own-goal Joel Veltman (£4.3 million).
All in all, a bad day for the Bees. You’re going to get that every now and then – this is Brentford, not a title challenger, and they’re simply not going to put in great, winning performances week in, week out. Nottingham Forest in Gameweek 23 was another example – and the West Londoners bounced back with three fantastic games.
As we pointed out last week, the Bees don’t usually have an easy time against bottom half teams.
DESERVED WIN FOR BRIGHTON
The Statsbomb xG had it pretty much level (see below), but Brighton were deserved winners. It was no old-fashioned attacking display from the Seagulls; Kaoru Mitoma (£6.1m) had two decent openings from the box but that was about it apart from the two goals.
But it was more of a controlled performance, with Albion dealing well with the set-piece bombardment and controlling the midfield through veterans. James Milner (£4.9 million) and Pascal Gross (£5.5 million). Jack Hinshelwood (£5.1m) took on the more advanced ’10’ role.
Diego Gomes (£4.9m) got the opener and then pounced on the loose ball Ferdi Kadioglu (£4.4 million) hit the crossbar from distance. Welbeck then took advantage of Collins’ blood flow.
DefCon machine Mats Wieffer (£4.9m) returned after a long spell at right-back. Had Hurzeler not taken him off the field early to manage his minutes, Wieffer might have delivered again on that front.
As it was, the ‘vans’ – Jan Paul van Hecke (£4.4 million) and Sepp van den Berg (£4.5m) – were the only ones to collect DefCon points.
A much-needed boost for the under-fire Fabian Hurzeler, but Brighton is unlikely to attract much FPL interest. After the Gameweek 28 visit to Forest comes this unpleasant run:
#FPL #notes #Kayode #injury #Collins #foul #Thiago #blank