GameDay Squad EPL Gameweek 12 preview

It’s round two of the cup (for those who are still in it) [insert sad face]. Let’s take a look at the players you’ll want to target this round to get the edge on your opponent.

Burnley v Chelsea:

The long-awaited return of Cole Palmer is likely to continue, as Chelsea’s attacking firepower without him should be too much for Burnley to contain, even at home.

Relevant historical data:

●     Chelsea unbeaten in last five meetings (3W 2L)

●     Chelsea have scored 13 goals in the last five meetings

●     Chelsea have kept two clean sheets in the last five meetings

●     Chelsea have won the last five meetings at Burnley, keeping three clean sheets

●     Chelsea have scored 19 goals in the last five meetings at Burnley

●     Burnley have only beaten fellow promoted teams at home this season in the league

●     Chelsea’s only league away loss this season was against Man Utd

Last five meetings:

●     Palmer 3G 1A

●     Cullen 1G 1A

●     Foster 1A

●     R James 1G 2A

●     Chalobah 1A

Statistics (Top Five in the League for Conceding):

●     Burnley: Shots on Target (1st), Key Passes (1st), Accurate Crosses (1st), Aerials Duels Won (5th)

●     Chelsea: Tackles (4th), Blocks (2nd), Saves (1st)

Recommended Players:

●     Enzo Fernandez

●     Joao Pedro

●     Pedro Neto

●     Marc Cucurella

●     Reece James

●     Trevoh Chalobah

Wolves v Crystal Palace:

The struggling Wolves run into a powerful Palace side who are very capable at both ends of the field. Will Wolves home ground advantage help them cause the upset?

Relevant historical data:

●     Last five meetings have had no clean sheets

●     Palace are unbeaten in last five meetings (4W 1D)

●     There have been 23 goals combined in the last five meetings (15 to Palace)

●     Last five meetings at Wolves have resulted in two Palace wins, two Wolves wins and a draw

●     Wolves have kept two clean sheets in the last five home meetings v Palace, Palace have kept one in those five

●     There has only been one clean sheet against Wolves at home in the league this season (City 4-0)

●     Wolves only have one win in the league at home this season

●     Palace have two league away wins this season (2L, 1D)

Last five meetings:

●     Agbadou 1G

●     Nketiah 2G

●     I Sarr 1A

●     Strand Larsen 2G 2A

●     Guehi 1G

●     Munoz 1A

●     J Gomes 1G

●     S Bueno 1G

●     Wharton 1A

●     Mateta 1G 2A

●     Mitchell 1A

●     Hee-Chan 1G

Statistics (Top Five in the League for Conceding):

●     Wolves: Shots on Target (5th), Key Passes (4th), Successful Dribbles (2nd), Accurate Crosses (3rd), Fouls Drawn (2nd)

●     Crystal Palace: Successful Dribbles (5th), Accurate Crosses (5th), Interceptions (5th), Aerial Duel Wins (1st), Saves (3rd)

Recommended Players:

●     Jean-Philippe Mateta

●     Ismaila Sarr

●     Daniel Munoz

●     Tyrick Mitchell

●     Adam Wharton

●     Dean Henderson

●     Chris Richards

●     Marc Guehi

●     Yeremy Pino

●     Hugo Bueno

●     Jorgen Strand-Larsen

Liverpool v Nottingham Forest:

 Liverpool have struggled to break down a defensive Forest in recent history, and with Dyche at the helm we could see more of the same in a low scoring affair.

Relevant historical data:

●     Liverpool have won three of the last five meetings (1D 1L)

●     Three of the last five meetings have had a clean sheet (2 Liverpool 1 Forest)

●     Only four goals combined in the last three meetings

●     Liverpool have won four of the last five home meetings in this fixture

●     Only one Liverpool and one Forest clean sheet in the past five meetings at Anfield

●     Liverpool have only lost won league home fixture this season (to Man Utd), winning the others

●     Forest are yet to win away in the league this season

Last five meetings:

●     Wood 1G

●     Hudson-Odoi 1G

●     Mac Allister 1A

●     Szoboszlai 2A

●     Salah 2G

●     A Robertson 1A

●     Gibbs-White 1G 1A

●     N Williams 1G

Statistics (Top Five in the League for Conceding):

●     Liverpool: Interceptions (1st), Blocks (1st)

●     Nottingham Forest: Shots on Target (2nd), Key Passes (3rd), Interceptions (4th), Blocks (5th), Saves (5th)

Recommended Players:

●     Virgil van Dijk

●     Dominik Szoboszlai

●     Mo Salah

●     Neco Williams

●     Ryan Gravenberch

Fulham v Sunderland:

An intriguing matchup that could go either way. While Sunderland have been astounding this season as a promoted team, this fixture being away to Fulham could result in a slip up for their defence.

Relevant historical data:

●     There has been one clean sheet in the past five meetings (Sunderland)

●     There have been no clean sheets in the last five Fulham home meetings in this fixture

●     Sunderland have won three of the last five Fulham home meetings

●     Fulham have only lost once at home in the league this season (1-0 Arsenal)

●     Sunderland only have two away wins in the league this season (2L 1D)

Last five meetings:

●     H Wilson 1G

Statistics (Top Five in the League for Conceding):

●     Fulham: Fouls Drawn (1st), Blocks (5th)

●     Sunderland: Accurate Crosses (2nd), Aerial Duel Wins (2nd)

Recommended Players:

●     Dan Ballard

●     Robin Roefs

●     Nordi Mulere

●     Granit Xhaka

Brighton v Brentford:

Brighton have been a scarily good prospect while at home this season, while Brentford have been anything but in their away fixtures. The likelihood here appears to be a Brighton win.

Relevant historical data:

●     There have been two 0-0 draws in the last five meetings

●     Brighton have two wins in the last five meetings

●     There have been five combined clean sheets in the last five meetings (3 Brentford)

●     Brighton have managed two clean sheets in their last five home meetings in this fixture, while also managing two wins from them (only one loss)

●     Brighton are undefeated at home this season in the league, beating the likes of City and Newcastle

●     Brentford only have one win away in the league this season (v West Ham) they have lost their remaining four away games

Last five meetings:

●     Lewis-Potter 1A

●     Wieffer 1A

●     Welbeck 1G

●     Mitoma 1G 1A

Statistics (Top Five in the League for Conceding):

●     Brighton: Successful Dribbles (1st), Interceptions (5th), Fouls Drawn (4th), Saves (5th)

●     Brentford: Key Passes (2nd), Saves (4th)

Recommended Players:

●     Danny Welbeck

●     Diego Gomez

●     Bart Verbruggen

●     Jan Paul van Hecke

●     Yankuba Minteh

●     Michael Kayode

●     Caoimhin Kelleher

●     Mikkel Damsgaard

●     Kevin Schade

Bournemouth v West Ham:

Bournemouth have struggled immensely against West Ham in recent history, but it’s hard to see there being a repeat of that given West Ham’s form (particularly away) this season, while Bournemouth continue to dominate at home as one of the better attacking teams in the league.

Relevant historical data:

●     Bournemouth haven’t beaten West Ham in the past eight meetings

●     There have only been 11 goals combined in the last five meetings

●     Bournemouth have failed to beat West Ham in their last five home meetings

●     Bournemouth haven’t lost at home in the league this season (4W 1D)

●     West Ham’s only win away in the league this season was to Forest (3L 1D)

Last five fixtures:

●     Bowen 3G 1A

●     Diouf 1A

●     Fullkrug 2G

●     Evanilson 2G

●     Ward-Prowse 1G 1A

●     Paqueta 1G

Statistics (Top Five in the League for Conceding):

●     Bournemouth: Shots on Target (3rd), Successful Dribbles (4th), Fouls Drawn (3rd), Tackles (3rd)

●     West Ham: Shots on Target (4th), Accurate Crosses (4th), Aerial Duel Wins (3rd), Saves (5th)

Recommended Players:

●     Djordje Petrovic

●     Marcos Senesi

●     Antoine Semenyo

●     Adrien Truffert

●     Jarrod Bowen

Newcastle v Man City:

One of the more interesting games of the round as Newcastle have only gone down at home to the high flying teams of the league, while City have been far from great away from home. Newcastle are a chance of snatching this one.

Relevant historical data:

●     City have won three of the past five meetings

●     There have been three clean sheets in the past five games (2 City, 1 Newcastle)

●     City have won two of the past five Newcastle home meetings, with Newcastle winning once

●     Newcastle have only lost to Liverpool and Arsenal in the league at home this season (winning their other three home fixtures)

●     Man City have only scored more than one goal once in an away league fixture this season (4 to Wolves)

●     Man City have only won two of their five away league fixtures this season

Last five fixtures:

●     Marmoush 3G

●     Haaland 1A

●     Gordon 2G

●     Gvardiol 1G

●     B Silva 3G

●     Rodri 2A

●     R Dias 1A

●     Guimaraes 1A

●     D Burn 1A

●     Bobb 1G

●     Joelinton 1A

Statistics (Top Five in the League for Conceding):

●     Newcastle: Successful Dribbles (3rd), Interceptions (2nd), Blocks (5th)

●     Man City: Tackles (1st), Blocks (4th)

Recommended Players:

●     Gianluigi Donnarumma

●     Josko Gvardiol

●     Ruben Dias

●     Nick Pope

●     Phil Foden

●     Erling Haaland

●     Jeremy Doku

●     Bruno Guimaraes

Leeds v Aston Villa:

In their recent history, Villa have been very good at keeping clean sheets in Leeds home games. With a likely defensive setup from Leeds, this one could be a low scoring encounter with chances of clean sheets to both sides.

Relevant historical data:

●      Villa are unbeaten in the past five meetings (3W)

●     There have been four combined clean sheets in the past five meetings (3 to Aston Villa)

●     Villa are also unbeaten in the last five Leeds home meetings (2W)

●     Villa have kept clean sheets in the last three Leeds home fixtures

●     Villa have only conceded two goals in the past five Leeds home meetings, they have conceded no more than one goal in any of those fixtures.

●     Leeds only have one loss at home in the league this season (Tottenham 2-1)

●     Leeds have only conceded more than one goal in a league home fixture once (Tottenham 2-1) this season

●     Villa have only won once away in the league this season (Tottenham 2-1)

●     Villa have only kept one clean sheet away in the league this season

Last five fixtures:

●     Kamara 1A

●     Buendia 1G

●     Cash 1G 2A

●     Mings 1A

●     D James 2G

Statistics (Top Five in the League for Conceding):

●     Leeds: Successful Dribbles (5th), Leeds (5th)

●     Aston Villa: Key Passes (5th), Interceptions (3rd), Tackles (2nd)

Recommended Players:

●     Sean Longstaff

●     Matty Cash

●     Emiliano Martinez

Arsenal v Tottenham:

As always the NLD is likely to be a fiery affair and, based on recent games, a very close and low scoring one. Spurs have upset Arsenal at home in the most recent game, can they do it once again? 

Relevant historical data:

●     Arsenal have won three of the last five meetings

●     There have only been two clean sheets in the last five meetings (one each)

●     Arsenal have also won three of the last five home meetings between these teams

●     Only Spurs have kept a clean sheet in the last five Arsenal home meetings

●     Arsenal haven’t lost at home in the league this season, with only a 1-1 draw with City blemishing their perfect record

●     Arsenal have only conceded once at home in the league this season

●     Tottenham have not lost away in the league this season

Last five fixtures:

●     P Sarr 1G

●     Trossard 1G

●     Gabriel 1G

●     Saka 2G 1A

●     Rice 1A

●     Romero 1G 1OwnG

Statistics (Top Five in the League for Conceding):

●     Arsenal: Blocks (3rd)

●     Tottenham: Tackles (5th), Fouls Drawn (5th)

Recommended Players:

●     Bukayo Saka

●     Declan Rice

●     David Raya

●     Guglielmo Vicario

Man Utd v Everton:

Despite a poor few seasons from United they’ve managed to continually have the wood over Everton, making it all the more likely a far improved United will continue to do so. However, can a revamped attacking Everton get the job done this time?

Relevant historical data:

●     United are unbeaten in the last five meetings (3W)

●     United haven’t conceded in each of their three wins in the last five meetings

●     United have scored 13 goals in the last five meetings

●     United have won four of their last five home meetings against Everton (1D)

●     United have kept four clean sheets in their last five home meetings with Everton

●     United have won four of their five home league games this season with their only loss a 1-0 to Arsenal

●     United have only kept one clean sheet at home in the league this season

●     Everton have only won once away in the league this season (Wolves 3-2)

●     Everton have failed to score three times away in the league this season

Last five fixtures:

●     B Fernandes 3G 4A

●     Ndiaye 1G

●     Gueye 1A

●     Mount 1G

●     Beto 1G

●     Ugarte 1G

●     Diallo 2A

●     Dalot 1A

Statistics (Top Five in the League for Conceding):

●     Man Utd: Successful Dribbles (5th), Accurate Crosses (5th), Aerial Duel Wins (4th), Saves (2nd)

●     Everton: Blocks (5th)

Recommended Players:

●     Bruno Fernandes

●     Senne Lammens

●     Amad Diallo

●     Matheus Cunha

●     Matthijs de Ligt

●     Jordan Pickford

Goalkeepers:

●     Petrovic ⭐️

●     Donnarumma

●     E Martinez

●     Lammens

●     Raya

Uniques: Verbruggen and Kelleher

Defenders:

●     Cucurella ⭐️

●     Munoz

●     Mitchell

●     Timber

●     Senesi

●     R James

●     Cash

●     van Dijk

●     Richards

●     de Ligt

Uniques: Ballard and van Hecke

Midfielders:

●     Bruno Fernandes ⭐️

●     Enzo Fernandez

●     Szoboszlai

●     Longstaff

●     Schade

●     Rice

●     Xhaka

●     Wharton

●     Mbeumo

●     Damsgaard

Uniques: D Gomez and Pino

Forwards:

●     Pedro Neto ⭐️

●     Mateta

●     Joao Pedro

●     Saka

●     Haaland

●     Ismaila Sarr

●     Semenyo

●     Salah

●     Doku

●     Cunha

●     Welbeck

Uniques:  Amad Diallo and Strand Larsen

…And that’s a wrap! Best of luck with round twelve.