In his FPL Gameweek 14 review, Fantasy Premier League author David Wardale sees a Man United legend deliver once more, while Spurs brush Brentford aside in the other Thursday night match.

On Wednesday, a fantasy football phenomenon delivered once more as Liverpool dominated the Merseyside derby.

There was no clean sheet for the Reds’ premium defenders, however – a theme that was repeated for both Man City and Chelsea.

Elsewhere, there were draws involving the likes of Leicester and West Ham and the dullest of goalless draws between Wolves and Burnley.

You can catch all our FPL Gameweek 14 tips right here.

FPL Gameweek 14 Review

Man United 3 Arsenal 2

Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.3m) scored twice to remind all and sundry of his fantasy pedigree ahead of an incredibly attractive schedule for him and his Man United teammates.

The Portuguese legend notched his 800^th and 801^st career goals as new manager Ralf Rangnick watched on from the stands.

It would seem inconceivable for Ronaldo to be dropped by his new boss, whatever his taste for forwards who press, and fantasy managers are also unlikely to lose faith after a third return from his last four starts – especially as he seems to have taken over penalty duties as well.

Then again, more than 400,000 had done just that over the last two gameweeks, only to miss out on a 13-point haul from the win over Arsenal.

It didn’t start well for the home team, however, as the popular Emile Smith-Rowe (£6.0m and 28.3%) scored in strange circumstances.

United keeper David de Gea (£5.0m) was on the ground when the ball was swept past him after he was trodden on by Fred (£4.9m).

The goal, correctly, stood after some deliberation, before Bruno Fernandes (£11.6m) equalised to lessen any mistaken sense of injustice around Old Trafford.

After the break, it was the Ronaldo show, with support from Martin Odegaard (£5.4m), the Arsenal midfielder scoring and then giving away a penalty in a busy patch of play.

Two assists for Fred (£4.9m), plus his hand (or more precisely, foot) in Arsenal’s opener, meant an equally industrious night for the much-maligned Brazilian.

But it was Ronaldo’s match, and with the next six fixtures taking in Crystal Palace, Norwich, Brentford, Brighton, Newcastle and Burnley, there could be a few more of those to come.

If Rangnick can sort United’s dysfunctional defence out, then United assets across the side will become attractive. For now, it will all be about Ronaldo.

Arsenal’s stars also remain worthy of investment, with their schedule not quite as welcoming as United’s, but still offering much potential for points.

Spurs 2 Brentford 0

A long-awaited goal from Heung-Min Son (£10.4m) sealed a comfortable enough win for Spurs against a limited Brentford side.

A net 57,000 managers sold Son for the gameweek – a clear loss of patience after four straight blanks. The surprise was that a mere 7,000 or so did the same with Harry Kane (£12.3m).

Those who stuck by the South Korean have a home match with Norwich next.

It is a sign of how far Kane’s star has fallen that even such a plum fixture might not stop sales of a man with no goals in five matches.

During that time he’s had just nine attempts and just the one to his name on Thursday night. For context, those nine shots is the same tally as Brentford wing-back Sergi Canos (£5.5m).

At least Canos has found the net in that spell, although it was a decidedly unlucky own goal to open the scoring at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

One of the few Spurs players to gain owners for the match was wing-back Sergio Reguilon (£5.2m) and he set up Son’s goal for a second straight attacking return.

And with clean sheet and maximum bonus points heading his way too, the Spaniard brought in a first double-digit haul of the season for his 14% fan base.

Brentford were timid in the first half, improved after the interval, but were out-shot 11 to six and six to two for attempts on target.

Their fixtures are okay for now, but both results and performances have been patchy of late and none of their key players are looking overly attractive at present.

Everton 1 Liverpool 4

The ‘always captain Mo Salah (£13m)‘ mantra proved correct (as per) as the man with more than 4.6 million Gameweek 14 armbands scored two and brought in a seventh double-digit haul of an incredible season.

Vying for maximum bonus with the prodigious Egyptian was Jordan Henderson (£5.0m), who opened the scoring and set up one of Salah’s goals for good measure.

Prior to the Gameweek 14 deadline on Tuesday, ‘Foden to Jota’ trended on Twitter.

As well as being a testament to the increasing reach of FPL, it also proved to be a wise choice as Diogo Jota (£7.8m) scored for the third straight match to justify his status as the gameweek’s most transferred-in player.

The other big winners on the night were the 1.9% of managers who own Andy Robertson (£7.0m) as the left-back produced two assists (and three in two gameweeks) to outscore Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.0m) for a change.

Neither defender brought in clean sheet points thanks to a surprise goal – in terms of the run of play – from Demarai Gray (£5.5m), but Liverpool were a class apart and their key players continue to be must-haves for fantasy teams ahead of a solid schedule until the new year.

The one plus point for Everton was the return from suspension of Richarlison (£7.4m), who marked it with an assist.

Watford 1 Chelsea 2

Gameweek 14’s second most popular purchase – wing-back Reece James (£6.3m) – played no part as Chelsea battled to a win at Watford.

The 35.4%-owned James missed out with a knock, with the veteran Cesar Azpilicueta (£5.8m) taking his place in a backline that missed out on a clean sheet for the second match running.

In-form Hornets striker Emmanuel Dennis (£5.3m), himself an injury doubt for the match, made sure of that with his third goal in as many gameweeks.

He’s also provided three assists, is now up to second in the strikers’ standings and is finally starting to get the recognition, in terms of ownership, that his form deserves.

It’s Man City next for Watford, but they’ve tended to up their game against the ‘big’ teams, as Chelsea discovered.

The home team out-shot the Blues 13 to eight and had six attempts on target to the visitors’ four.

But Chelsea still emerged victorious, thanks to goals from Mason Mount (£7.4m) and substitute Hakim Ziyech (£7.3m).

Mount, making only his second start since Gameweek 9, made the most of it by also producing an assist. Kai Havertz (£7.9m), recalled to lead the line, set up Mount’s opener.

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel made six changes to the side that drew with Man United and it showed in a bitty, fractured performance.

That level of rotation is inevitable with Tuchel – especially at this time of year – and finding the players who will dodge most of the manager’s moves could prove tricky for the time being.

Aston Villa 1 Man City 2

Aston Villa fell just short as they made Man City work for a win that had seemed a foregone conclusion at half-time.

City went into the break two goals to the good thanks to a rare strike from Ruben Dias (£6.0m) and a brilliant one from Bernardo Silva (£7.3m).

The latter has started all bar one of City’s league games this season and is in a purple patch at present, with three goals from the last four fixtures.

His goal, a superb volley, came from a Gabriel Jesus (£8.7m) assist, which was some comfort for the Brazilian’s 9.4% ownership otherwise frustrated by their man having the most shots (six) of anyone in Gameweek 14, but failing to score for a sixth straight match.

At least Jesus played.

The in-form (and well-backed) Ilkay Gundogan (£7.3m) missed out with what was described as a ‘niggle’, while Phil Foden (£8.2m) spent the night on the bench and Jack Grealish (£7.6m) was given three minutes at the end.

Villa made a real fight of it after the interval thanks to an early goal back from Ollie Watkins (£7.4m) – his second strike in three matches under Steven Gerrard.

That form needs noting with Leicester, Norwich and Burnley to play over the next four gameweeks.

Southampton 2 Leicester City 2

James Maddison (£6.7m) continued his fine form with his second straight goal (to go with two assists) as Leicester twice came from behind to earn a point at Southampton.

The midfielder had enjoyed an ownership boost of 150,000+ going into the game. Some 20,000 more instead went for Jamie Vardy (£10.7m), only for the striker to blank.

Leicester’s other goal came from Jonny Evans (£5.4m) – a second consecutive attacking return from him to offset a 13^th game without a clean sheet.

Southampton’s strikes came from Jan Bednarek (£4.4m) and Che Adams (£6.8m), with the latter scoring for the third time in four starts.

Both sides have decent enough fixtures in the short term and Adams and, especially, Maddison seem to have the form to exploit them.

West Ham 1 Brighton 1

Brighton grabbed an unlikely point from, in recent times at least, an unlikely source as Neal Maupay (£6.3m) netted with an overhead kick to score for the first time since Gameweek 6.

The goal, from a Tariq Lamptey (£4.4m) cross, was all the more remarkable because the Seagulls were down to ten men when Adam Lallana (£5.4m) went off injured after the visitors had already used all three of their substitutions.

West Ham took the lead when Tomas Soucek (£5.7m) scored from a Pablo Fornals (£6.0m) assist and looked good for a win – despite ceding 66% of the possession to Brighton, the Hammers had six shots on target to their opponent’s three.

That meant save points for visiting keeper Robert Sanchez (£4.6m), with two stops being particularly impressive.

Neither of those came from Michail Antonio (£8.0m), however, as the 43.3%-owned forward blanked for a fifth straight match.

That high ownership (and his price) has been dropping over the last two gameweeks, and with Chelsea up next, both could well be in for another dip.

Wolves 0 Burnley 0

One of the better bets for a nil-nil draw delivered just that as Wolves made it three clean sheets in a row.

The fantasy interest revolved around the home strike force of the 13.7%-owned Raul Jimenez (£7.8m) and Hee-Chan Hwang (£5.8m and 12%).

But that was more in hope than expectation as Wolves have scored only once since Gameweek 10, even if that strike did come from Jimenez.

As for Burnley, it was a first shut-out in six games, but in a match with just three shots on target, even that had a strange inevitability about it.

Moving on from Wolves assets looks wise – they have to face Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea over the next four gameweeks.

Burnley’s schedule is much kinder, but their players have little else going for them at present.

Leeds 1 Crystal Palace 0

A 93rd minute penalty from Raphinha (£6.7m) won Leeds a game that had been lurching towards a surprisingly drab draw in the driving Yorkshire rain.

Before the midfielder’s spot-kick, the two sides had managed just three shots on target between them, although Crystal Palace substitute Christian Benteke (£6.4m) missed with a free header when it looked easier to score.

Raphinha, with 20.1% ownership, was easily the home side’s most popular fantasy asset on display, and there were considerably fewer on a Leeds defender, or goalkeeper Illan Meslier (£4.9m and 2.6%), to enjoy a second straight clean sheet from the side.

The run could be extended next time out at home to Brentford, but there’s a nasty four-match schedule to follow involving Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool.

That should dampen enthusiasm in any Leeds player, front or back.

Palace’s main FPL man, the 29.2%-owned Conor Gallagher (£6.1m), was not the driving force of late, and a yellow card meant he mustered just one point for a following boosted by a further 130,000+ for the gameweek.

Nearly 60,000 managers bought into the alternative charms of centre-back Marc Guehi (£4.5m), who had provided two clean sheets and two goals across his previous four highly productive starts.

But those riches came to an abrupt end as it was his handball that led to the penalty.

But for every loser, there’s a winner, and the assist for the spot-kick was given to Leeds defender Liam Cooper (£4.5m) which, with a clean sheet and maximum bonus, landed him a bumper 12-point haul – a season’s best by some margin.

Shame that only 38,241 managers have stuck by him long enough to appreciate it.

Newcastle 1 Norwich 1

Ten-man Newcastle held on for a battling point as opposing strikers Callum Wilson (£7.4m) and Teemu Pukki (£5.8m) both found the net.

The tone of the match was set as early as the ninth minute when Magpies defender Ciaran Clark (£4.4m) succumbed to a moment of total idiocy.

The centre-half mis-controlled the ball, Pukki stole possession and raced towards the area, only for Clark to double down on his error by fouling the Finn.

As last man, Clark had to go, and the Geordie faithful settled in for a long night.

But Norwich were so poor that it was Newcastle who offered the most threat and this was finally translated into a goal when the ball hit Billy Gilmour’s (£4.4m) arm in the area and Wilson converted the resultant penalty.

It took the Canaries until the 79^th minute to muster any kind of meaningful response, with Pukki lashing home a volley from substitute Dimitris Giannoulis’ (£4.4m) cross.

Newcastle keeper Martin Dubravka (£4.4m) made five saves in all, including a vital one late on from Pierre Lees-Melou (£4.8m), but Norwich were generally too slow and sloppy to deserve more than a point from a game that was theirs to win.

On a night of muted fantasy interest, the early sending-off hugely affected the attacking allure of the one popular player on duty, the 18.4%-owned Allan Saint-Maximin (£6.9m), who was bought by 140,000+ only to blank for the seventh time in eight gameweeks.

The 64,510 who opted for Wilson instead were rewarded with a (projected) nine points including maximum bonus, equalling his best return of the season.

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