Brighton FPL Gameweek 11: Attack, defend, Marc Cucurella does it all
Brighton & Hove Albion’s season continues to go from strength to strength and after a highly encouraging draw against in-form Liverpool, the Seagulls start a gentler run of fixtures at home to Newcastle United – and with FPL points up for grabs at both ends of the pitch, Marc Cucurella is a player you will want on your side.
Defensively, Marc Cucurella (£5.0 million) may have only registered one FPL point from Liverpool 2-2 Brighton in gameweek 10.
Going forward however, he led the Seagulls in several metrics – and if he can be so impressive against a side as good as Jurgen Klopp’s Reds, imagine what he can do against the struggling Toon Army.
Cucurella was top across the Brighton team for expected assists (xA), top for passes (63) and successful passes (50) at Anfield, also coming joint top with Adam Lallana for big chances created.
Newcastle are not the only side at the wrong end of the table who the Albion face in the coming weeks. November also features a trip to 1982 European Cup winners Aston Villa and 1996 Coca Cola Cup runners up The Leeds United, making Cucurella an excellent pick for both defensive and attacking returns.
Looking at this weekend, Newcastle have managed just 27 attempts on goal over the last four gameweeks and have registered only three big chances in that time – both rank as the league’s lowest. With this in mind, there is potential for Cucurella to win points at both ends of the pitch.
Aside from Cucurella, Solly March (£5.3 million) impressed at Liverpool in his second start since returning from injury. He picked up an assist for the first Brighton goal and was unlucky not to have given the Albion an early lead after being denied by a good save from Alisson (£6.0 million).
March was top for crosses amongst the Brighton team for gameweek 10 (five), as well as being joint top for chances created alongside Lallana (£5.4 million) and Leandro Trossard (£6.4 million), with two each.
Trossard scored his second goal of the season with the equaliser at Liverpool, continuing his fine form which has put him in the running for the WAB October Player of the Month award.
His pair of goal attempts at Anfield could only be beaten across the two teams by Jordan Henderson (£5.0 million), who had three.
The Vampire of Genk also had the highest expected goals (xG) total across the fixture with 0.57 – better than Liverpool’s star attackers Sadio Mane (£11.9 million) and Mohamed Salah (£12.9 million), who tallied 0.35 and 0.11 respectively.
Captain Fantastic
With many FPL managers leaving the captain’s armband on Salah until he leaves for the African Cup of Nations in January, he remains a good captaincy option for gameweek 11.
The news that Spurs have replaced Nuno Espirito Santo with Antonio Conte ahead of gameweek 11 may make FPL managers look to the likes of Harry Kane (£12.1 million) and Son Heung-Min (£10.2 million) as differential captains.
Many will be expecting Conte to provide a new manager bounce against an Everton side whose only clean sheet since gameweek 4 has come against Norwich City.
Normally the unwritten rule of FPL is never to captain a defender. However, with Chelsea defenders registering clean sheets, assists, goals and bonus points for fun, they should be part of the conversation.
Chelsea have conceded only three goals so far this season, the fewest in the league. Their seven clean sheets rank highest and at least one of their defenders has scored in each of the last four gameweeks.
With a fixture against a Burnley side with a fifth-lowest total of ten goals, the potential for double-digit hauls from likes of Reece James (£5.7 million) and Ben Chilwell (£6.0 million) will be difficult to ignore.
You can pick up expert advice throughout the 2021-22 Fantasy Premier League season with Fantasy Football Scout
