We ain’t afraid of no ghosts. In fact, we seek them – ghost points, that is. Ghost Points are fantasy points that do not come from attacking returns or clean sheets. These can come in the form of key passes, shots on target, successful dribbles, interceptions, and tackles, among others. Identifying these points is essential for your Fantasy EPL prospects, and our Gameweek 28 Ghost Point Hunters article is here to help!
This Ghost Point Hunters article is based on the Fantrax Scoring System. Check out our Ghost Point Tracker page for the full list of Fantasy EPL players and their respective Ghost Point capabilities!
Gameweek 28 Ghost Point Hunters
It's here: the dreaded "blank gameweek" in which 6 EPL teams do not play. The week where some managers keep their rosters intact & take the L while others tear up most of their team in order to field a full XI. In honor of this madness, we're only focusing this week on players that do not blank this week. On the big board, we have
Son Heung-Min, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Joe Willock. Meanwhile, Honorable Mention features KWP, Thomas Partey, & Joao Moutinho. And the Dr. Peter Venkman Award goes to the Polish Cafu, Matty Cash.
Son Heung-Min
Position: Forward
Team: Tottenham
Rostered: 100%
Ghost Points Per Start: 7.25
Ghost Points Last GW: 18
Prospects: The beginning of a new day for Son? Not so fast. We would need to see a few more GWs with these types of numbers to be able to determine that he has indeed turned his season around. This was likely just a one off; a case of Forest's away day syndrome.
Verdict: Avoid trading him in on a false high.
Football's nicest guy - we're talking about Son Heung-Min of course - is having a difficult season. His pps is under 9, less than that of Joe Gomez, and his goals have been few & far between. That was until we played against him this past GW. Shocking, we know. In his best ghost point showing by a mile this season, Son combined a goal with 18 scary scores. These stemmed from 5 Key Passes, 2 Shots on Target, 3 Accurate Crosses Not Corners (ACNCs), & 1 Interception.
Unfortunately for Son rosterers, he won't be playing against us nor Nottingham Forest at home every week. He isn't dominating set pieces and his ghost points are unsurprisingly down (8.4 gpps in 20/21; 9.1 in 21/22; 7.25 this season). And his attacking returns, as mentioned above, are rare. Prior to this past GW, he averaged 4 points per start in his previous 6 starts, saving any decent performances for cameos off the bench. So was this 27 pointer a watershed moment? Doubtful. Son has it in his locker to score better but he just hasn't for most of the season. Conte is under fire & the club is out of all competitions other than the EPL. The turbulent season doesn't look like letting up. A trade high is likely the play here.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall
Position: Midfielder
Team: Leicester City
Rostered: 73%
Ghost Points Per Start: 6.7
Ghost Points Last GW: 14
Prospects: Seems to be nailed on in the Leicester engine room, especially with Youri Tielemans out through injury. He has an eye for goal & can also rack up both defensive & attacking ghost points. Has a good schedule (plays this GW & has a DGW next week); if he can keep this ghosting up, he could be deadly over the next few GWs.
Verdict: Trading is going to be tricky this week given all the blanks. I'd try a 2 for 1 with 2 active players this week or a bigger name player (e.g., Bernardo Silva) who doesn't play this week.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, another hyphenated fantasy asset, is good at passing the eye test. He is young, dashing, and has tekkers. He looks like he can do it all in the midfield. Fantasy-wise, he showed some promise last season, but his 7-ish pps was nothing to write home about. Those who bet on KDH having a breakout season have been fairly disappointed. Having said that, his pps of 8.4 isn't that bad. Life is all about lowering your expectations.
Fast forward to this past GW, where KDH posted a mouthwatering 14 ghosties. Where did they come from? Well, from here: 1 Key Pass, 2 Shots on Target, 2 Tackles Won, 2 Interceptions, 5 Successful Dribbles, & 1 Aerial. This a beautiful medley of both attacking & defensive stats - peak KDH. Given what we've seen this season, we can't expect this every week. His gpps is under 7, after all. But he can still do a job and can also nick some attacking returns (he was very unlucky to not get a goal v Chelsea over the weekend). Add in the fact that KDH plays this week and also has a DGW in GW29 and we're on board.
Joe Willock
Position: Midfielder
Team: Newcastle United
Rostered: 50%
Ghost Points Per Start: 5.8
Ghost Points Last GW: 14
Prospects: He lost his spot but he has seemingly regained it. He should continue in central midfield after his impressive performance last time out.
Verdict: A streakier player does not exist. If he is available on your wire, pick him up. If not, and you believe this is the start of one of his purple patches (plays in this blank GW & doubles next GW), try to trade him in.
The maddening madness that is the fantasy odyssey of one Joe Willock has had more twists and turns than a strange, erotic journey from Milan to Minsk. He leaves Arsenal & immediately hits the ground running at St. James' park, scoring in 7 consecutive games at the end of the 2020/2021 season. He came back down to earth last season and has been hit or miss this season. He is impossible to predict. Let's take a look at his last two starts - 20 points & 0.5 points, respectively. That, ladies & gentlemen, is Willock in a nutshell.
Willock's 20 pointer, in his most recent outing v Wolves included 14 ghosts. These came from 2 Key Passes, 2 Shots on Target, 1 Tackle Won, 1 Interception, 2 Clearances, 4 Successful Dribbles. This was an obvious aberration. As we can see, his gpps is a mediocre 5.8, just below his 6.6 gpps from last season. This is a long wind up to say that this won't last. But it doesn't need to last that long for Willock to be a good asset, especially in the next few weeks which includes a date with Forest in this blank GW and then a DGW v Man United & West Ham. Don't be surprised to see a 0.5 pointer in there though.
Honorable Mentions:
Kyle Walker-Peters (Southampton DEF; 12.75 ghosts): KWP rolled back the years & dropped his tastiest ghost point-laden performance of the season v Man Utd. Let's see how he cracks on, likely just a one off.
Thomas Partey (Arsenal MID; 10 ghosts): It's hard to tell when Partey will get out of his 5-8 point comfort zone and go double digits. But he has proven roster-worthy.
Joao Moutinho (Wolves MID; 10 ghosts): The aging Portuguese was dominating set pieces & created a few chances, putting himself in the streamer shop window for this short-handed gameweek.
Dr. Peter Venkman Award:
Matty Cash (Aston Villa DEF; 1.75 ghosts): The Polish fullback has recently regained some credence in the community after wresting back his spot - well done, sir - from a 94 year old Ashley Young. In an otherwise poor season, Cash put in a shift last week, dropping 19 points. But that turned out to be a false dawn, as Matty delivered -0.25 this past week in a seemingly good matchup v West Ham. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise, as the 19 pointer last GW came largely from an assist & a clean sheet and Cash can only boast a points per start avg of just under 5. He is just not a very good fantasy player anymore. He has been on a steady decline - his ghost point avg dropped from over 9 two seasons ago to 7.8 last season and it's now hovering around 6. He has a good schedule but would be a trade out for us. On the bright side, Cash looks like pure bants. So that's something.
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