Brighton FPL Gameweek 25: Veltman thrives in games like Chelsea
FPL Gameweek 25 gets underway with Brighton hosting Chelsea on Valentine’s night – and if there is one man who loves a fixture with a bit of an edge to it, it is Joel Veltman.
We saw that beautifully in the FA Cup fourth round last weekend. Brighton beat Chelsea 2-1 and whilst the result was an excellent one for the Albion, many Seagulls supporters will tell you their favourite moment was seeing Veltman clatter through Marc Cucurella (£5.2 million).
It received a bigger cheer from the Amex crowd than the goals scored by Georginio Rutter (£5.5 million) and Kaoru Mitoma (£6.7 million).
Victory over Chelsea was the perfect way for Brighton to bounce back from the 7-0 thrashing suffered at Nottingham Forest in Gameweek 24.
Forest had themselves been hammered 5-0 at Bournemouth in Gameweek 23. In this most unpredictable of Premier League campaigns, clubs who suffer heavy defeats one week are now going onto inflict the same misery on their opponents in the following game.
Taking all this into account, here are a couple of interesting Albion players for FPL managers to consider ahead of round two against the Blues at the Amex.
Joel Veltman (£4.4 million)
A master of the dark arts, Veltman’s skillset and ability to get in opposition heads seems to come to the fore particularly in games against the big six and grudge matches.
Chelsea tick both of those boxes, the second thanks to their constant buying of players, management and other backroom staff from Brighton.
Exhibit A being the Dutch defender’s performance against the Blues last week. He was rock solid at right back and dominated an intriguing battle with ex-Seagull Cucurella.
The only concern for FPL managers will be whether Veltman ends up booked in another Brighton against Chelsea clash for saying hello to his former teammate via a particularly brutal tackle!
Ignore the potential for a yellow card, however, and Veltman looks a rock solid pick. He has provided stability all season at right back for an Albion defence which has suffered a huge number of injuries elsewhere.
Take left back, for example. Pervis Estupinan (£4.9 million), Ferdi Kadioglu (£4.4 million) and Igor Julio (£4.3 million) are currently sidelined, forcing Tariq Lamptey (£4.4 million) to move across.
Lamptey has been very hit and miss on a less familiar flank. He struggled badly at Forest before being named ITV man-of-the-match against Chelsea last week.
But back to Veltman. No Seagulls defender has picked up more bonus points than his seven. And although he has not yet registered an attacking return, his previous four seasons all ended with exactly one goal and one assist. If this pattern is to be continued, they are coming soon.
Brighton have kept five clean sheets so far, ranking seventh-best for preventing opposition attempts (273) and shots on target (96).
Yankuba Minteh (£5.0 million)
Studying the stats from Forest 7-0 Brighton brings up an unusual quirk. Despite it being one of the heaviest defeats in Brighton history, no goalkeeper in Gameweek 24 made more saves than the Tricky Tree’s Matz Sels (£5.0 million).
Only five top flight teams accumulated more shots on target than Brighton. The closest the Albion came being when a Danny Welbeck (£5.5 million) attempt came down from the crossbar and was millimetres from crossing the line.
One of those shots was a big chance from Minteh. After being played through by Joao Pedro (£5.5 million), the summer signing from Newcastle dug out a left-footed shot that could not get quite high enough to clear Sels.
A muscle injury means it’s been a stop-start campaign for the 20-year-old. One goal and two assists arrived by Gameweek 7 but he has only begun three league games since, including his 12-point haul at Manchester United in Gameweek 22.
Minteh was subsequently dropped for the disappointing 1-0 home defeat against Everton the following Saturday after reportedly arriving late to the game.
But starts against Forest and in the FA Cup win over Chelsea suggest Minteh is back in Fabian Hurzeler’s good books.
In this highly competitive FPL price bracket, a string of appearances could see Minteh become an intriguing differential option.
Captaincy
It was revealed before the previous deadline that there will definitely be a Double Gameweek 25 and we now know it will see Aston Villa and Liverpool feature twice.
That propels Mohamed Salah (£13.7 million) to the front of the queue again, though some might be tempted to trust Cody Gakpo (£7.6 million) or Ollie Watkins (£8.6 million) with their armband.
Should these fixture pairings not appeal, an intriguing alternative could be whichever Bournemouth midfielder is owned as they visit last-placed Southampton.
Justin Kluivert (£5.9 million) takes penalties, Dango Ouattara (£5.0 million) is playing as a centre-forward and Antoine Semenyo (£5.6 million) fires out plenty of shots.
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