Brighton FPL Gameweek 30: United left weakness makes Gross right pick

After a run of disappointing results, Brighton returned back-to-back Premier League wins prior to the international break and now they go looking to extend that run away at Manchester United, where Pascal Gross could have a big say on proceedings with potentially rich returns for FPL managers.

Gross is the chief creator in an Albion team who have been creating a lot of chances. Over the last four gameweeks, the Seagulls are fifth best for goals scored – only Manchester City, Spurs, Arsenal and Leicester City have recorded more.

Brighton have created eight big opportunities, had nine set piece attempts, hit the woodwork three times and register a chance every 9.2 minutes. Their chance creation frequency is level with Spurs and better than Everton.

Likewise, the Albion have registered 20 shots on target in that period, the same as Leicester and Spurs. Only Manchester City and Chelsea have more and both of those clubs have been flying.

All of that makes Brighton attacking options look like a wise FPL investment, although with a tricky run of fixtures to come selecting the player who can take advantage of the opposition’s weaknesses will be important.

Which brings us nicely onto FPL gameweek 30 and the role of Pascal Gross (£5.8 million) in the current Brighton set up. Potter has been deploying Gross as a right wing back to good effect in the Albion’s improved recent run and this weekend, the German will find himself up against a Manchester United side who have conceded 43 crosses from their left in the past four gameweeks – almost double the 26 they have conceded from the right.

Gross’ numbers across the season as a whole are impressive enough to justify including him in FPL. He is sixth for creativity amongst midfielders over the whole campaign and has registered 14 penalty area touches in the last four gameweeks, seventh amongst midfielders under £6.0 million.

He has also registered 199 touches in the opposition half in the same period, fourth best across all midfielders, and 50 more than Leandro Trossard (£5.8 million) who is the next best Brighton player in this area.

Whilst Trossard was nominated for the Premier League Player of the Month Award and Adam Lallana was a landslide winner of our WAB March Brighton Player of the Month, Gross has been going about his business in equally impressive yet understated fashion, making him an attractive FPL pick for the trip to Old Trafford.

Defensively, the Seagulls have excelled in the last four gameweeks as well. They have conceded just 26 shots in total, the best in the league; Chelsea who sit second are a full six shots behind them with 32 conceded.

Couple this with the fact that Brighton have only conceded 16 shots in the box in the last four weeks – only Chelsea have been better – and the Albion’s defenders look like a wise investment.

Both Lewis Dunk (£5.0 million) and Joel Veltman (£4.4 million) registered clean sheet points in gameweek 29, although the latter topped up his returns to a 10 point haul on the back of his assist for Trossard’s opener and bonus point in the 3-0 win over Newcastle United.

The continued absence of Tariq Lamptey (£4.6 million) makes Veltman look a solid investment for future fixtures with Sheffield United, The Leeds United and Wolves once the Albion have got United, Everton and Chelsea out of the way.

FPL managers with a little more defensive budget should consider investing that little bit more money to own Dunk, who is second for goals scored by defenders this season with four, only beaten by Leeds’ Stuart Dallas (£5.1 million) who has five.

Captain Fantastic
There are a plethora of captain options for FPL managers to choose from this week. With Newcastle United keeping just one clean sheet in their last four Premier League matches and Spurs scoring eight goals during the same period, Harry Kane (£11.6 million) and Son Heung-min (£9.4 million) will be popular armband options.

Kane especially looks a great option as he is top for forwards for goals scored this season (17). With the likely return of team-mate Son from injury, Kane will be likely to add to the 13 assists he has already registered in the Premier League this season.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£7.6 million) faces a Crystal Palace side who have conceded 59 shots in the box in the last six gameweeks. Only Sheffield United and Wolves have conceded more in that time.

Furthermore, the Eagles are joint-worst for headed chances conceded over the last six matches, which should play right into Calvert-Lewin’s aerial strengths.

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