Brighton FPL Gameweek 31: Mitoma faces leaky Chelsea defence
Brighton were incredibly unlucky not to come away from Spurs with all three points in gameweek 30, but the loss at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium should not disappoint FPL managers too much ahead of Kaoru Mitoma and co heading to Chelsea this weekend.
What FPL managers do need to consider, however, is that the Albion are without a fixture in gameweek 32 owing to their FA Cup semi final against Manchester United.
A careful plan is therefore needed before investing heavily in Brighton FPL assets ahead of the trip to Chelsea, with Mitoma likely to be high on the list of possibilities.
Player Focus: Kaoru Mitoma (£5.6 million)
Midfielder Mitoma had an expected goals (xG) tally of 0.6 in the 2-1 defeat against Spurs, placing him seventh for underachievers in gameweek 30.
This means he was unlucky not score… which anyone who watched the game or the highlights already knows as he had a goal controversially ruled out for handball.
Since Gameweek 18, only three midfielders have scored more goals than Mitoma’s six, whilst only Marcus Rashford (£7.3 million) has totalled more attacking returns than the Japanese Bullet Train.
Mitoma has had 22 goal attempts in this period, of which 19 have come from inside the box and seven were classified as big chances. Mitoma has also created 15 chances for his teammates, four of them big.
This form both before and after the World Cup was enough to see Mitoma voted WAB Player of the Month in November, December and January.
At Spurs, Mitoma’s 12 penalty area touches were bettered only by Rashford and Mohamed Salah (£12.8 million) amongst midfielders in the whole of FPL.
Alongside this were three shots plus the finish which the assistant referee and VAR prevented counting towards the score.
His attacking threat provides an exceptional pick for a trip to Stamford Bridge, where Chelsea have struggled defensively.
The Blues have kept just one clean sheet in their last five league matches. Over the same period, Brighton have scored nine times.
Mitoma has been central to that rich vein of attacking form, bagging either a goal or assist on six occasions.
Captain Fantastic
Manchester City forward Erling Haaland (£12.2 million) returned from injury in gameweek 30 and marked the occasion with a brace as the Citizens attempt to hunt down Arsenal in the title race.
Next up, Haaland faces a Leicester City side which has not kept a clean sheet since the Premier League restart.
Instead, they have conceded 27 goals – only Leeds United have conceded more with 28. Dean Smith could not have asked for a tougher first game in charge of the Foxes.
Harry Kane (£11.7 million) has now registered an attacking return in six of his last seven matches, including scoring what proved to be the winner in Tottenham 2-1 Brighton last weekend.
The Spurs forward ranks top for threat amongst forwards in the ICT Index and is at home to Bournemouth, an opponent fresh from conceding 25 goals since Gameweek 17.
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