In his FPL Gameweek 19 review, Fantasy Premier League author David Wardale sees Man United labour to a lucky draw at a spirited Newcastle on Monday night.

Sunday’s fixtures added up to a wild day of fantasy football involving website crashes and goals galore.

Man City and Leicester scored nine between them, while Arsenal, Spurs, and Southampton all went big in four decidedly eventful 3pm kick-offs.

Not to be outdone, Chelsea also scored three in an entertaining early evening match at Aston Villa.

But there wasn’t much fun for those managers looking to take any last minute Covid news into account as the FPL site crashed five minutes before the transfer deadline, leaving thousands with a late and very unwelcome Christmas surprise.

You can catch all of our FPL Gameweek 19 tips right here.

FPL Gameweek 19 Review

Newcastle 1 Man United 1

Newcastle pushed a disjointed Man United to the limit as the heavily-captained Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.5m) was reduced to little more than a bit-part role.

Some 846,000 FPL managers brought in Ronaldo and 1.7 million captained him for what looked like a plum trip to the north east, but proved to be anything but.

He ended the game with two shots, none of which were on target, zero key passes, a booking and one point as a bad gameweek for many became that little bit worse.

The visitors hadn’t played in 16 days and it showed during a first-half in which they were truly wretched.

Newcastle took the lead early when Allan Saint Maximin (£6.6m) took Sean Longstaff’s (£4.5m) pass and steered a shot past the flat-footed David de Gea (£5.1m).

Red Devils manager Ralf Rangnick responded by bringing on Edinson Cavani (£8.4m) and Jadon Sancho (£8.9m) at the interval, with the anonymous Mason Greenwood (£7.2m) one of the players to make way.

United did improve, not much but enough for the Uruguayan to equalise after 71 minutes.

But they were vulnerable in transition throughout, courtesy of Newcastle’s pace and the hesitancy of their own defenders, with both the returning Raphael Varane (£5.5m) and his centre-half partner Harry Maguire (£5.4m) looking particularly uncomfortable.

The Magpies ended the match strongly and were deeply unlucky not to win it when de Gea made a superb late save to deny Miguel Almiron (£5.1m) seconds after Jacob Murphy (£4.7m) had hit the post.

And on any other day, Saint Maximin would have doubled his goal tally instead of contriving to fluff a huge chance from two yards out.

The mercurial winger couldn’t finish the match after picking up what looked like a muscle injury and Newcastle’s woes went even deeper than that as striker Callum Wilson (£7.4m) didn’t even make it to half-time when he pulled up with a calf problem.

It was a stirring performance from the home side, but their players won’t attract much fantasy interest until they can replicate it more consistently.

United’s fixtures remain attractive and they surely can’t play as badly as they did at St James’ Park.

Ronaldo’s 30.8% ownership will certainly hope that’s the case on Thursday night at home to Burnley.

Norwich 0 Arsenal 5

Bukayo Saka (£6.3m) starred in Arsenal’s demolition of an increasingly woeful Norwich.

Much of the pre-match talk involved who to bring in between Gabriel Martinelli (£5.4m) and Emile Smith-Rowe (£6.1m) for what looked like (and turned out to be) a plum fixture.

The majority went for the former who, with more than 650,000 new owners, became the gameweek’s second most popular purchase.

He promptly blanked, Smith-Rowe was benched (again) and Saka, himself bought by a net 113,601, stole all their thunder with a double to make it four straight starts with a return.

Smith-Rowe did finally make it onto the pitch after 82 minutes and he promptly scored.

That’s three goals from three consecutive sub appearances now for the midfielder, although he definitely won’t be starting next time out, against Wolves, as that encounter has now succumbed to the curse of Covid.

Another good value midfielder, Martin Odegaard (£5.6m), has been rather left behind in the rush to buy his eye-catching team-mates, but he provided two assists to haul for the fifth time in six gameweeks.

Up front, Alexandre Lacazette (£8.5m) is another in fine form and with bonus set to come his way, he was in line to produce a first double-digit return of the season courtesy of a penalty and an assist.

Saka took the maximum bonus award, and there was extra for Kieran Tierney (£4.8m) as well.

The left-back is on a superb run at present, scoring and keeping a clean sheet at Carrow Road to make it three double-figure hauls across five very productive gameweeks.

Arsenal as a team have now produced three shut-outs over that spell and a goal-shy Wolves would have bumped up the appeal of Tierney even further.

Another blot on the Arsenal landscape is that their next match is now at home to Man City in Gameweek 21.

Norwich’s blots are rather more widespread.

Four straight losses, 11 goals conceded and none scored is the stuff of relegation fodder.

Any fantasy managers thinking of going anywhere near their players should probably go for a nice long Christmas nap instead.

Spurs 3 Crystal Palace 0

Tottenham’s progress under Antonio Conte continued to gather pace as Harry Kane (£12.1m) scored for the second match running.

FPL this season has been marked by a strange lack of decent striking options.

Should Kane return to his usual goalscoring form, he could be an interesting, if expensive, variable for the second half of what is already a horribly unpredictable campaign.

Tottenham were good value for their win once Kane scored, with the outstanding Lucas Moura (£6.4m) doubling the lead two minutes later.

The Brazilian, found in just 1.6% of FPL squads, also provided two assists and brought in maximum bonus for his first double-figure haul of the season.

It was a very satisfying day for Conte.

Having already taken Kane off to save him for Tuesday’s trip to Southampton, he was about to do the same with Heung-Min Son (£10.4m) when the 22.4%-owned South Korean, the gameweek’s most purchased player, scored with what turned out to be his last touch of the match.

With his two star turns safe, warm and uninjured on the bench, it was then just a matter of seeing out the rest of the match and record a third clean sheet in four matches.

That state of affairs was greatly helped by the first-half dismissal of Wilfried Zaha (£6.8m) for two yellow cards, which reduced an already tentative Crystal Palace to a toothless outfit intent, mostly, on damage limitation.

All of that meant a fruitless day for the 25.3%-owned Conor Gallagher (£6.1m), who was kept to two key passes and zero shots. He’ll hope for a better Gameweek 20 at home to Norwich.

Spurs are starting to look like the real deal under Conte and the likes of Son, Kane and Moura could well put on owners for their next two fixtures.

Their defensive assets are also well worth a look, with the manager’s liking for attacking wing-backs meaning a bumper haul from Emerson Royal (£4.9m) thanks to an assist, clean sheet and two bonus points.

One word of warning. Covid complications have meant five straight home matches for Tottenham.

Their next two matches, against the Saints and then Watford, will be away.

Aston Villa 1 Chelsea 3

Super sub Romelu Lukaku (£11.5m) was the difference for Chelsea in a pulsating match at Villa Park.

The striker was brought on for the second half of a match that the Blues were finding difficult, with Aston Villa’s quick and purposeful breaks causing the visitors’ defence all manner of problems.

Chelsea have kept only one clean sheet in their past seven matches and the 37.1% of managers who had stuck by Reece James (£6.3m) through thick and thin were back on the blanks again as their man diverted Matt Targett’s (£4.7m) cross past Edouard Mendy (£6.2m) for an own goal.

The defensive woes continued when Thiago Silva (£5.6m) limped off just after the interval, the fit-again Andreas Christensen (£4.7m) taking his place.

Christian Pulisic (£7.9m) was handed a third straight start up front by Thomas Tuchel and blanked yet again, with Chelsea’s equaliser coming courtesy of a poor piece of defensive judgement from Matty Cash (£5.0m) rather than any attacking insight from the Londoners.

That led to a penalty earned by Callum Hudson-Odoi (£5.3m) and dispatched, as ever, by the unflappable Jorginho (£5.8m).

The Italy international scored another penalty to seal the victory when Lukaku was brought down.

In between those spot-kicks came a Lukaku goal, set up by Hudson-Odoi, as Chelsea grew massively as an attacking force when the Belgian was introduced.

If he can stay fit and build on the form he showed at Villa Park, FPL managers will have another premium, low-owned (8.4%) striker to break up the already brittle template used by many.

Wednesday’s home match against Brighton should tell us more.

It should also be another chance for the 23.9%-owned Mason Mount (£7.7m) to shine. He produced just two points against Villa, missing an open goal along the way.

The home side were busy throughout, but they lacked finesse and managed just one shot on target all game.

They’ll have to wait a little longer than most to rectify that as their Gameweek 20 clash with Leeds has already been called off thanks to a Covid outbreak among Marcelo Bielsa’s squad.

Man City 6 Leicester 3

A crazy game at the Etihad brought big hauls for small pockets of fantasy managers as Man City and Leicester decided to leave defending to another day.

The hosts were 4-0 up after 30 minutes against a makeshift visiting defence, thanks to an opener from Kevin De Bruyne (£11.9m), penalties from Riyad Mahrez (£8.6m) and Raheem Sterling (£10.6m) and an Ilkay Gundogan (£7.3m) tap-in.

Leicester, with star striker Jamie Vardy (£10.5m) benched, made it to half-time no further behind and then embarked on a startling comeback.

James Maddison (£6.8m), with a goal and an assist, inspired it, with Ademola Lookman (£6.0m) and Kelechi Iheanacho (£6.9m) also on the score sheet as the Foxes brought things back to 4-3.

That’s as close as it got, thanks to another goal for Sterling and a rare strike from Aymeric Laporte (£5.5m).

But after a chastening week of Carabao Cup disappointment and that first-half horror show, Leicester can at least prepare for Liverpool next with a touch of pride restored.

The game didn’t treat many fantasy managers well.

Maddison’s likely ten-pointer benefited 8.1%, but no other scorer could match that ownership level and the big-ticket players such as Bernardo Silva (£7.6m and 30.1%) blanked.

At least City’s popular defender, Joao Cancelo (£6.8m and 39.3%) scraped by with a seventh assist of the season – only Trent Alexander Arnold (£8.3m) and Mo Salah (£13.0m) have produced more.

The 27%-owned Ruben Dias (£6.2m) was another to offset the defensive pain with an assist, but it was a very mixed fantasy result for most considering the eye-popping scoreline.

All four of City’s first-half scorers are in prime form, however, so a Wednesday trip to Brentford looks like fertile ground, rotation issues notwithstanding.

Aside from Maddison, Leicester stars look less appealing, and the increasingly managed minutes for Vardy make the veteran striker a patchy prospect.

West Ham 2 Southampton 3

Southampton won for the first time since Gameweek 11 as West Ham’s inconsistent run of form continued.

The Hammers lost their second match on the spin, with one of the few plus points on the day being a first goal in nine games for the 32.4%-owned Michail Antonio (£7.8m).

The striker returned to the squad after a positive Covid test and he found the net after coming on at half-time with West Ham trailing to Mohamed Elyounoussi’s (£5.4m) early opener.

The Saints regained the lead with a James Ward-Prowse (£6.3m) penalty earned by Armando Broja (£5.2m).

The striker was a top five transfer-in, with a net 202,428 new owners enjoying his third return in four weeks.

An in-form Spurs might be a reach for points from Broja in Gameweek 20, but that’s followed by a very promising home match with Newcastle.

Ward-Prowse is also worth a look, seeing as he’s now scored in consecutive games and he’s always a threat from set-pieces. He also provided Southampton’s winner for Jan Bendarek (£4.4m) at the London Stadium.

In between those goals came another Hammers equaliser, this time from Said Benrahma (£5.9m), who was set up by Jarrod Bowen (£6.5m).

Consistent returns from David Moyes’ attackers are hard to find at the moment, while defensive hauls are even rarer – West Ham have kept one clean sheet in nine matches.

They travel to the attack-minded Watford on Tuesday, which suggests that dismal run could continue.

Brighton 2 Brentford 0

Two first-half goals secured Brighton a first win since Gameweek 5 in a match of limited fantasy interest.

Only two players went into the game with double-figure FPL ownership levels.

Home keeper Robert Sanchez (£4.6m and 17.6%) brought in a season-best nine-point haul, while visiting striker Ivan Toney (£6.6m and 11.9%) started his first match since Gameweek 14, but managed just one point.

Sanchez did well to deny Shandon Baptiste (£4.9m) and Ethan Pinnock (£4.5m), while Bryan Mbeumo (£5.4m) fluffed an excellent early chance to break the deadlock.

The Seagulls were worthy winners of Sunday’s late kick-off, however, with their goals coming in an eight-minute spell.

Leandro Trossard (£6.2m) opened the scoring with a superb volleyed lob before Neal Maupay (£6.4m) doubled the lead with an excellent curling shot.

The pair remain Brighton’s main attacking threats and have now scored 11 of the side’s 16 goals between them this season.

But neither look like attractive Gameweek 20 options when there’s a trip to Chelsea in the offing.

Brentford players are even further down the fantasy pecking order at present.

It’s Man City up next for the Bees, and they’ll have to face Liverpool and City again over the four fixtures that follow.

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