Brighton FPL Gameweek 24: Dunk delivers an attacking threat
The ‘crisis’ at the Amex did not last long. Just four days to be precise, as the quick turnaround between FPL Gameweek 22 and Gameweek 23 saw Lewis Dunk and Brighton bounce back from their disappointing midweek defeat at Luton Town by thrashing Crystal Palace.
Dunk was the man who began the rout of the Seagulls’ arch rivals, needing just three minutes to open the scoring in front of a shell shocked and angered away end.
Further strikers from Jack Hinshelwood (£4.5 million), Facundo Buonanotte (£4.7 million) and Joao Pedro (£5.4 million) contributed to a record-breaking Premier League weekend for goals scored across 10 matches, as 45 came in total.
Without an FA Cup replay to think about, the Seagulls have enjoyed a rare clear week to prepare for their trip to Tottenham Hotspur.
It was just over a month ago that Brighton put in such a thrilling display to hammer Spurs 4-2 at the Amex. The Albion were far more dominant that night than the final score suggests, conceding two goals in the final 10 minutes.
Here are a couple of interesting players for FPL managers to think about ahead of the Seagulls’ trip to North London.
Pascal Gross (£6.4 million)
Over 400,000 FPL managers bought Pascal Gross before Gameweek 21 when highly-owned premiums Mohamed Salah (£13.0 million) and Son Heung-min (£9.6 million) departed for respective international tournaments.
This did not work out initially for new-Gross owners. Two immediate blanks made it an unusually unproductive four games in a row without points for the German.
Turns out Gross was saving his best for the big one against Palace. Two assists, all three bonus points and a haul of 11 points rewarded those who stuck with Der Kaiser.
Gross is now onto 59 chances created over the course of the season, the third-best individual total throughout the Premier League.
His role in Buonanotte’s goal was particularly delightful. Gross pressed to win possession back within seconds of Palace restarting after Hinshelwood had moved Brighton 2-0 ahead.
He then embarked on a run including a dummy, exchanged passes with Pedro before slipping a subtle ball into the path of Buonanotte which the teenager finished first time.
Gross is also the main set-piece taker for a Brighton team which ranks third for shots on target (138). He is certain to be a popular purchase when various other midfielders are fixtureless in Gameweek 26 due to the Carabao Cup final.
Lewis Dunk (£5.0 million)
It was from a Gross corner that Albion captain Dunk headed home the opening goal past Palace for his second of the campaign.
Dunk possesses some attacking threat which, when combined with the a pair of recent clean sheets for Brighton, puts him firmly on the radar of FPL managers seeking a defender.
He now ranks as the fourth-best defender for shots inside the box (16), and only Virgil van Dijk (£6.3 million) and Gabriel Magalhaes (£5.0 million) better him for headed attempts (12).
This is consistent with recent seasons, where Dunk ranked sixth-best in 2022-23 and joint-seventh in 2021-22 amongst defensive colleagues in the headers metric.
Captaincy
A lot of focus will be on Liverpool and Manchester City attackers when it comes to Gameweek 24 captaincy. Both clubs not only have appealing weekend matches, but also play twice in Double Gameweek 25 which follows.
Erling Haaland (£14.2 million) is at home to Everton, where Phil Foden (£7.9 million) should start following his Monday hattrick at Brentford.
City v Everton is the early kick off and there are those who do not like using the armband in the opening game of the weekend.
In which case, Liverpool hosting Burnley will hold a lot of appeal. Diogo Jota (£8.1 million) has four goals and three assists from the last five outings, a couple of which were from the bench.
Teammate Darwin Nunez (£7.4 million) usually gets a high frequency of shots and could be explosive against a Clarets side who have struggled defensively on their return to the Premier League.
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