Brighton FPL Gameweek 12: Don’t show Gross negligence – pick Pascal
It has been a roller coaster season so far for Brighton but fortunately, FPL gameweek 12 is the start of a gentler run of fixtures for the Seagulls which means an increased chance of goals and assists – good news if your name is Pascal Gross.
This Sunday’s trip to Leicester should be the toughest test of the next six matches, taking us through to early January and the third round of the FA Cup. And even the Foxes aren’t so cunning at home these days.
Leicester Is Not More
Since beating Burnley way back in gameweek 2, Brendan Rodgers’ side have played four more matches at the King Power Stadium and lost three of them, most recently to Fulham.
Leicester consistently struggle to break down teams that sit deep and limit the chances for Jamie Vardy (£10.3 million) to run in behind, so a disciplined Brighton could well start this promising six match schedule with a point or three.
Easier said than done, of course. Graham Potter’s men have conceded eight goals and kept just the one clean sheet on the road this season, both of which are decidedly mid-table stats.
So a shut out at the weekend might be a stretch, but that is not to say investing in a Brighton defender is entirely off the agenda.
Dunk Not Disorderly
Rodgers watched his side concede a goal from a corner against Sheffield United last week and declared post-match: “We’ve conceded more goals from set pieces than we normally do, purely because of the profile of players that are missing – tall defenders.”
That immediately bumps up the attractiveness of Brighton’s back three, who are all big units, with skipper Lewis Dunk (£4.8 million) arguably at the head of the queue.
Among the defence, only Tariq Lamptey (£4.8 million) has scored this season. He might be many things, but ‘tall defender’ is not one of them.
Of the rest, Dunk is lagging behind his team-mates in terms of attempts, but that’s mainly because he had to sit out three games following his last minute madness when kneecapping Gary Cahill at the end of the 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace.
What Dunk has is a bit of goal scoring pedigree, with six of them across his three Premier League seasons to date. And with Fulham and Sheffield United to come before Christmas Day – two teams in the bottom four for goals scored – buying into the Brighton defence should not be a one-match deal.
Gross Not Negligent
Sheffield United and Fulham are also bottom when it comes to keeping clean sheets, with just the one between them this season. So an in-form Pascal Gross (£5.8 million) could be worth a look.
Since the start of November, he has started five straight matches and produced attacking returns in four of them, enough to see him voted into third spot in our WAB Brighton Player of the Month.
Gross’ productivity becomes even more impressive when you consider that leaders Tottenham Hotspur, second place Liverpool, fifth place Aston Villa and sixth place Southampton were four of those games.
Pascal Gross is top for assists (two) and chances created (16) among Brighton players this season, and only Neal Maupay (£6.2 million) has more goals coming into FPL gameweek 12 but from 240 minutes more pitch-time.
Captaincy Corner
Fulham might have found a reason or two to be cheerful over the last few weeks with a couple of wins and even a clean sheet to their name. But Sunday’s visit from Liverpool still screams away win and handing the fantasy armband to Mohamed Salah (£12.3m) looks a no-brainer.
The Egyptian has been remarkably consistent this season, with returns from eight of his ten starts. He has scored in three of his last four games, provided an assist in the other and a Fulham defence that’s allowed 33 shots on target this term – only Leeds United (37) have conceded more – looks ill-equipped to stop him.
The only worry is that Salah has played a lot of football since returning from a Covid lay-off, including 99 minutes of a dead Champions League rubber in midweek. But not having him and/or captaining him looks very risky indeed.
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