Brighton FPL Gameweek 12: Welcome back, Terrific Tariq Lamptey
There is one Brighton & Hove Albion player who FPL managers should be keeping an eye on in the coming weeks – no, not Jason Steele – but Tariq Lamptey who is back after 10 months out injured.
The flying wing back has now registered minutes in four consecutive gameweeks, including 74 minutes on his first Premier League start since last December as Brighton drew 1-1 with Newcastle United in their most recent fixture.
Prior to the hamstring injury that wrecked his 2020-21 campaign, Lamptey (£4.4 million) made 11 appearances and returned in six of them. Given that the Albion only won two of their first 18 matches of the season, that is some return.
Now imagine what he might be capable of playing in a Brighton team who are currently flying high on the cusp of the top six? If Tariq Lamptey builds on his recent minutes and his form of a year ago, then he looks a great FPL differential pick as Brighton visit Aston Villa in gameweek 12.
Goalkeeper Robert Sanchez (£4.6 million) was shown a late red card in the gameweek 11 stalemate with Newcastle, leaving the 21.4 percent of FPL managers who own him concerned about what this would mean for his one-match suspension.
However, manager Graham Potter kindly revealed that Steele will get the nod for Villa away, meaning that the many managers who doubled-up on the Seagulls’ shot stoppers will breathe a sigh of relief knowing that they will have a playing goalkeeper at the weekend.
Whether they are so happy if Steele has one of those “Is he on MDMA?” matches which he specialises in remains to be seen. Either way, it is certain to be entertaining.
Whilst Sanchez was busy getting sent off against Newcastle, it was once again Leandro Trossard (£6.5 million) who impressed the most for the Seagulls.
He was flagged up as one to watch in our FPL Gameweek 11 article alongside Marc Cucurella and duly delivered, converting the Albion’s first half penalty with regular takers Neal Maupay, Pascal Gross and Alexis Mac Allister all sat on the bench at the time.
Trossard ranked as the second-best midfielder in the Bonus Points System (BPS) across gameweek 11; indeed he was fifth amongst all players. He was also top for shots with five, three of which were on target.
The Belgian has now returned 19 points from the last two gameweeks, yet is still only owned by 2.5 percent of FPL managers. That makes him an excellent differential.
In the ICT Index, Trossard sits seventh overall for midfielders, whilst he is also the fourth most-threatening midfielder. He ranks ninth in the ICT Index across all positions – very impressive considering his low price tag.
Captain Fantastic
Picking a captain on the back of an international break can feel more challenging than normal to FPL managers, with concerns about their travel minutes, playing minutes and indeed that of their club mates too.
Phil Foden (£8.1 million) faces an Everton defence which has only kept one clean sheet since gameweek six. Over the past four gameweeks, Foden comes top across the Manchester City team for goals scored, total assists, passes received in the final third, expected goals (xG) and expected goal involvement (xGI).
Gameweek 12 also sees Antonio Conte’s first Premier League home match in charge at Tottenham, facing a The Leeds United side who have kept just one clean sheet this season.
Harry Kane (£12.2 million) returned a first half hat-trick for England against Albania as well as four goals in the first half against San Marino and this could therefore make him a popular differential captain pick.
However, even with a difficult fixture against an Arsenal team with back-to-back clean sheets, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (£13.0 million) will likely continue to be the most popular pick.
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