What to do with Wout Weghorst?
Up next in our ‘What to do’ series, we look at Burnley’s Wout Weghorst. Specifically, should FPL managers keep or sell him?
What to do?
With eight games to go, Burnley sits in 18th place on 24 points, realistically needing at least three wins to escape relegation. Just like their two Gameweek 26 victories, they were unable to then build on the momentum of beating Everton as it was immediately followed by a 2-0 defeat to Norwich.
It was not only a blow to their survival hopes but to the FPL managers who continue to be let down when putting faith in the Clarets. Some invested in their defence but many more have been failed by January signing Wout Weghorst.
We built up the Double Gameweek 31 hype by asking if Burnley assets were an obvious trap. Indeed, the answer was a resounding yes.
Then, Friday morning brought the news of manager Sean Dyche being relieved from his duties.
Player’s Form
Owned by over 50% of top 10k managers and 42% within the top 100k, the Dutch international extended his goalless run to eight matches. One goal and two assists from 12 appearances. In fact, by being replaced after 55 minutes at Norwich, he totals just nine points from the last six.
Burnley have had the fewest shots on target throughout everyone’s last six matches and Weghorst still isn’t their biggest goal threat. Nowhere near. Incredibly, nine team mates have had more than his four goal attempts during this period, including three defenders. He has had no shots on target either.
Team’s Fixtures
Using the Fantasy Football Scout Fixture Ticker, Burnley are ranked as having the second-best run until the season ends.
The final six Gameweeks offers them eight shots at victory, starting with a promising pair. They face West Ham just days after their second quarter-final against Lyon, then Southampton soon after their 6-0 weekend mauling.
Home matches versus Wolves, Aston Villa and Newcastle sit alongside a trip to Watford – prime for a new manager bounce.
FPL Alternatives
Whilst a nice set of fixtures has given them hope of survival, we’ve already learnt that doesn’t translate to FPL returns. Perhaps managers have other fires to put out – such as the blanks of Aston Villa, Leeds and Wolves – where Weghorst and co have two shots at appearance points and possible returns.
On the other hand, alternative options do exist. The brilliant form of Ivan Toney (£6.9m) has delivered eight goals and two assists from his last seven starts. Newcastle duo Chris Wood (£6.7m) and Allan Saint-Maximin (£6.8m) play twice this week, followed by a trip to Norwich and Temmu Pukki (£5.9m), who himself has three goals from five.
Elsewhere, Ollie Watkins (£7.4m) has a strong set of fixtures to switch to, should managers keep Weghorst for one more round. Crystal Palace offer Jean-Philippe Mateta, scorer of three recent goals and at a bargain price of £5.3m.
Thoughts from the FPL community
Meanwhile, Weghorst has become a frequent punchline within the FPL community. Andy (Let’s Talk FPL) leads the way).
Jimmy the Claret had a very tough start to Monday.
Likewise, FPL Fledgling jokes about the inevitable two-point return. Although recently, it hasn’t even been that!
And yet, despite all that, some of Weghorst’s potential replacements aren’t actually that convincing either. FPL Olympian shows an example of this.
