Brighton FPL Gameweek 17: Underrated Adingra impresses again
The fixtures continue to come thick and fast for the Albion. After their 1-1 draw with Burnley in which Simon Adingra scored, Brighton defeated Marseille on Thursday night and now face a a trip to Arsenal for a game which will intrigue a lot of FPL managers.
Brighton have beaten the Gunners in three of the last four competitive meetings between the clubs, with all those victories coming at the Emirates Stadium.
The Seagulls effectively ended Arsenal’s faint title hopes when securing a stunning 3-0 win in North London back in April.
Last November, Brighton eliminated the Gunners from the League Cup and a 2-1 victory under Graham Potter the previous April ended a barren run for the Albion of six defeats, one draw and only one goal scored in their preceding seven matches.
If Brighton can maintain their dominance at the Emirates Stadium, then there are some interesting players for FPL managers to consider.
Simon Adingra (£5.0 million)
With his equaliser in Brighton 1-1 Burnley, 21-year-old Adingra ended the game with 10 points for his first FPL double-digit tally of the season. It made him one of Gameweek 16’s top points scorers, bettered by only five others.
Adingra’s three shots inside the box ranked well and the two big chances he created were joint most throughout the league.
Despite having four goals and an assist for Brighton so far this season, Adingra is owned by only 1.3 percent of FPL managers – meaning he has high potential as a differential.
What also helps is that he has started nine consecutive Premier League matches. No other Albion midfielder or forward is on more than three in a row as a result of Roberto De Zerbi’s heavy rotation.
Pascal Gross (£6.4 million)
Adingra scored against the Clarets thanks to a ball placed beautifully onto his head by Pascal Gross’ right-footed, left-wing cross.
As already pointed out last week, Gross is the highest scoring Brighton player in FPL so far this season. He remains number one for setting up shots (37) and second for shots on target (13).
The six chances Gross created in the Burnley game were the weekend’s joint-most. Add this to four shots and two on target and the versatile German suddenly looks like a very appealing FPL asset for the upcoming festive weeks.
With his fifth assist from the last seven matches, Gross now sits 13th amongst all FPL midfielders – ahead of more popular, big money names like Martin Odegaard (£8.3 million) and Bruno Fernandes (£8.3 million).
Captaincy
Last week’s tip of handing the armband to Erling Haaland (£14.0 million) did not pay off – although it was pointed out that opponents Luton Town have been a trap for highly-owned FPL names.
Rather than the Hatters nullifying another big threat successfully, the problem this time was an injury which might also rule Haaland out of Gameweek 17’s clash with Crystal Palace.
Therefore, the leading captaincy candidates are Son Heung-min (£9.5 million) and Mohamed Salah (£13.1 million).
Son delivered a goal and two assists as Spurs hammered Newcastle United and next travels to struggling Nottingham Forest.
Salah meanwhile will be hoping for a repeat of last season’s antics at home to Manchester United, when the Egyptian bagged two goals, two assists and 21 FPL points in the 7-0 thrashing of Erik ten Haag’s side.
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