FPL Community Reactions to Gameweek 15 (Saturday)
With Reece James declared fit by Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea’s defence was heavily-owned for their difficult trip across London to face West Ham. Things started well, with Mason Mount’s corner headed home by Thiago Silva and Mount himself adding a second goal before half-time. Unfortunately for FPL managers, in between those was a West Ham goal from a Manuel Lanzini penalty.
Jarrod Bowen won the penalty after an Edouard Mendy error, before equalising later on to make it 2-2. It’s another impressive display from Bowen who, despite blanking in the three previous matches, now has ten goal involvements from the last 11 matches. Both he and Mount were the outstanding attacking options here.
What will concern new owners of Marcos Alonso is that, following Thomas Tuchel’s admission that he may try other options at left wing-back during this chaotic December, it was another match where his side of the pitch was exploited. Perhaps Tuchel now sees the Spaniard as his weakness.
However, Alonso wasn’t the headline-grabbing problem as Mendy somehow let an Arthur Masuaku cross beat him at his near post right at the end. Incredibly, West Ham beat Chelsea by the same 3-2 that recently defeated Liverpool.
The winner came from a Michail Antonio assist and a late Reece James booking saw him end on zero points.
There were just three 3pm matches which, for 90 minutes, produced very little of FPL interest. Shane Duffy picked up his fifth yellow of the season, Callum Wilson scored a crucial winner for Newcastle and Wolves were about to hold off Liverpool for a fourth successive clean sheet.
Diogo Jota has gained 1.5 million new owners since Gameweek 11, so naturally he blanked at former club Wolves after a truly horrific miss that stunned the FPL community.
However, Liverpool were saved in injury time when Divock Origi netted from a Mohamed Salah assist. Simultaneously, Southampton conceded an equaliser against Brighton which robbed Tino Livramento of a clean sheet.
In the evening kick-off, Man City travelled to Watford with a strong starting line-up that included Phil Foden, to the relief of many owners. After four minutes, Foden set up a Raheem Sterling goal.
However, Bernardo Silva was once again the star of the show. FPL’s third-most transferred player of the Gameweek notched twice to deliver a 15-point haul. It’s already clear that his ownership will escalate dramatically until the Gameweek 16 deadline.
A Watford consolation denied Joao Cancelo and Ruben Dias a clean sheet.
