Lewis Hall played all 90 minutes at home to Everton on Monday night and finished with 2 points: no goal, no assist, no clean sheet. He is owned by 20.2% of managers and 33.3% of the top 10,000, so a lot of teams expected more from this fixture. The market did too. He went into the deadline on 4.3 expected points with an 8% chance to score, one of the better numbers for a £5.3m defender.
The odds for Fulham
His number for next week is lower. Away at Fulham in GW10, the market gives him 2.9 expected points, down 1.4 on last week. His own chance to score barely changes, 7% against 8%. The drop comes from the team around him: Newcastle win that match 29% of the time and keep a clean sheet only 19% of the time. For a defender, the clean sheet is most of the points. Monday's blank did not cause the drop. The trip to Fulham did.
The crowd
Since the deadline, 32,260 managers have sold him and 8,099 have bought him. His price has not moved from £5.3m. The crowd is right that 2.9 is a weak number for a week. It is wrong if it is selling him because of Monday's 2 points. A blank against Everton tells you less than the odds for the next match do, and spending a transfer to get rid of a defender for one away fixture rarely pays.
If you own him, keep him. If your fourth or fifth defender has a better match in GW10, bench Hall for this one; you can compare them in the planner. If you were planning to sell him anyway, there are three options around his price. Jan Paul van Hecke costs £5.0m and is owned by 10.8%. Bournemouth's James Hill costs £5.5m and Silva £5.0m. Check their GW10 numbers before you move.
Hall stays in the template until his numbers say otherwise. For this one week, they say bench him.
Sources: Fantasy Premier League