Two enthusiastic exponents of long throws and set plays met at Selhurst Park on Saturday, with Crystal Palace deservedly coming out on top.
True to form, both of the Eagles’ goals came from dead-ball situations.
Here are our Scout Notes from ‘El Chuckico’.
SARR MUST SCORE AS PALACE BOSS OF THE BEES
Opta had the xG quite close at 0.70-0.54 on Saturday, but that was quite misleading as a measure of how (un)balanced the match was, with the Eagles being better in every department – not just set play!
What the expected goals do not show, for example, is the passage of play in which Ismail Sarr (£6.6m) raced away from the Bees defense and played a poor square pass. A shot from himself, or a tap for a teammate, would have put the Eagles clear in the xG stakes.
Sarr owners should have had at least one attacking return in the bag, even excluding that incident.
The Senegalese winger broke Brentford’s backline again in the second half, but hit the post with his golden chance.
Sarr had earlier taken the chest and hit narrowly wide from, you guessed it, another set piece.
Above: Ismaila Sarr leads all other FPL midfielders for non-penalty xG this season
Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.7m), bought by over a million FPL managers ahead of Gameweek 10, rewarded its new owners with a goal.
The improbable figure of Jefferson Lerma (£4.9m), who is likely to drop out of the starting XI next weekend, was at the heart of both Palace attacks. His strike was nodded in by Mateta for the Eagles’ opener, while Lerma’s long throw was turned into his own goal by Nathan Collins (£4.9 million) to seal the victory.
Half of the 16 shots in the game came from set-piece situations!
DEFCON MAGNETS DELIVERY AGAIN
Of the dozens of defenders to collect ten or more defensive contribution points (DefCon) this season, five featured at Selhurst Park.
Maxence Lacroix (£5.0 million), Marc Guehi (£5.0 million), Sepp van den Berg (£4.5m) and Collins all delivered again, with Chris Richards (£4.5m) – fit enough to start after injury in midweek – an odd man out. Even the American defender was just two contributions away.
Lacroix should really be a joint top Mark Senesi (£5.0 million) and James Tarkowski (£5.5m) in the table below, as his DefCon total in Gameweek 3 was rounded up to 10 after the FPL scores for that week were determined.
Above: The leading defensemen for DefCon (DC) points in 2025/26
BRENTFORD’S AWAY-DAY BLUES
Keith Andrews’ side were a match for most on home soil, but they have also toiled hard away from home, with their only success coming in a 2-0 win over poor West Ham United.
With a tame one they could hardly lay a glove on Palace on Saturday Kristoffer Ajer (£4.4m) headed their first shot on target after 57 minutes.
The visitors only had one attempt in the penalty area in the entire match.
With three of their next five league games in hand, and one of their home games against a solid Newcastle United side, they aren’t exactly high on the FPL radar at the moment.
#FPL #Notes #Sarr #close #DefCon #magnets #Chuckico