Results:
GW4 – Southampton (h) – Lost 2-0
GW5 – Huddersfield (a) – Won 1-0
GW6 – Newcastle (h) – Drew 0-0
GW7 – Bournemouth (a) – Lost 2-1
A pretty disappointing month for Palace, although we managed to somehow grab a win away at Huddersfield, we failed to come out on top in any of the other games, only getting 4 of a possible 12 points. The South London side have slipped down the table to 13th place, so dropping ever closer to that relegation scrap, only 5 points clear of Newcastle in 18th. Roy switched to a 4-3-3 after the injury to Benteke, as he brought Ayew in up front between Zaha and Townsend. This may have had an adverse effect on someone like Zaha who has been pushed back out wide and having to track back and defend, whereas before in the 4-4-2, he had the luxury of staying up top knowing that he had van Aanholt and Schlupp on that left-hand side for protection. With Roy reluctant to give Sørloth a real run in the team, even though he seems like the obvious replacement for Benteke, it seems like it’ll be 4-3-3 for the foreseeable future in Benteke’s absence.
Total Combined Points – September (Season)
Keepers – 24 (37)
Defence – 83 (131)
Midfield – 39 (65)
Forwards – 31 (52)
Total – 167 (285)
Palace haven’t been making similar moves in @fplkernow’s FPL table, holding our own in 9th place in between Watford and Burnley. There is no change from the fact that it is the defensive foundations that are the largest portion of the overall points, making up over 46% of the total points for the team.
Top FPL Points Scorers
Wayne Hennessey – 24
Patrick van Aanholt – 23
Aaron Wan Bissaka – 19
Wilfried Zaha – 15
Mamadou Sakho – 15
Player of the Month
Wayne Hennessey
Wayne has stood out this month, only failing to register a return in the last match with Bournemouth, and even in that game he had the chance to save a penalty. He kept two clean sheets, against Huddersfield and Newcastle, collecting a bonus point in the latter along with the game against Southampton. He has thrown himself into that budget keeper discussion, gained a £0.1m price increase due to the interest that has been shown in him, seeing his ownership rise to 7.8% after over 200,000 managers bought him in to their teams.
Honourable Mentions
The Defence
The month of September was all about the defence for Palace, having only conceded 4 goals across the 4 games. The issue was the scoring up the other end, only managing to score just the two goals. So, it’s clear to see that the FPL points would lie with the defence. The highest points scorer of which was van Aanholt, grabbing an impressive 23 points thanks to the two clean sheets, and then scoring the equaliser against Bournemouth with a thunderbolt of a shot with his ‘weaker’ foot. Everyone’s favourite budget defender, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, had another rollercoaster month, with the highs of back-to-back 9-point hauls, and the lows of a combined 1 point between the other two games. He was every manager’s darling when he came off their benches when Benjamin Mendy failed to turn up in GW5. Sakho didn’t have his best month on a personal level. He obviously got good points for the clean sheets, etc, but he missed a last-minute header against Newcastle that would have given the Eagles all 3 points, and then needlessly conceded the penalty that denied us any points down at the Vitality. Hopefully he will have a more memorable October, for better reasons this time.
Fixtures in October
GW8 – Wolves (h)
GW9 – Everton (a)
GW10 – Arsenal (h)
Players to Watch Out for in October
Wilfried Zaha
He’s always going be a fixture in the ones to watch because he IS Palace. You just have to look at the game against Southampton that he missed, there was no fear factor up front to trouble the Saints defence, and thus allowed them to control the game and get the win. Wilf is still performing and getting returns to warrant his £7.0m price tag, having scored 3 goals and grabbing assist in his 6 games so far. All three teams he’s up against in October have full-backs that like to attack more than they defend, so we’ll be hoping that they leave acres of space in behind them that Zaha can exploit.
Max Meyer
Max only made his first start in the game against Bournemouth, replacing fellow summer signing Kouyate in the first eleven. He done an alright job trying to fill that empty space where an attacking midfielder should be as Palace currently lack someone to link the more defensively minded midfielders like Milivojević and Kouyate, to the front three. So, if Meyer can put in some good performances when he gets the chance, and show himself to be more attacking without forgetting his defensive duties, then he lock down that attacking midfielder spot.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully this is as bad a month as Palace have this season, although that’s hard to say looking at what’s coming up in November, but we tend to perform well against the ‘bigger’ clubs and just come up short. It’s against sides like Bournemouth, Newcastle, and Southampton that we should be picking up wins against if we don’t want to spend another season fretting about relegation.
D- – Have had a real drop in performance and some disappointing results, have to be getting more than an average of 1 point out of 3.