Tom Carnduff's Notebook: Matheus Nunes, Nikola Milenkovic, Leeds United
Just a bizarre weekend of Barclays, wasn't it?
Bournemouth turned over Manchester City, Nottingham Forest are in a title race and Wolves versus Crystal Palace produced one of the worst hours of football I've seen and somehow finished as a 2-2 thriller.
The FA Cup also played its part with some brilliant results. A total of ten non-league teams will feature in the second round, although I am writing this prior to Chesham's clash with Lincoln on Monday.
As ever, the past few days have thrown up some particularly interesting talking points from across the divisions.
Let's get on with it.
City's chief creator?
Matheus Nunes provided a 17/2 winner in Manchester City's trip to Tottenham last week and he could have returned more based on his performance in the weekend's surprise defeat to Bournemouth.
No player on the pitch created more than Nunes' five chances, with his expected assists (xA) tally standing at a considerable 0.48.
He's thriving in this new role out wide on the left. Two chances came against Tottenham, with the same amount against Southampton the week prior.
The Champions League contest with Sparta Prague had two assists from three chances - a high total of 0.67 xA.
I've added him to my FPL team so I'm hoping points will arrive but there is clearly value in backing him in the markets, whether that be to score or to assist.
It's one to get on across their next few games before players return and bookmakers fully price him as a winger rather than a defensive midfielder as some are still doing now.
Keep faith in Milenkovic
We're ten games into the season and Nottingham Forest sit third in the Premier League table. Just what most of us expected.
Nuno Espirito Santo's side registered their fifth win of the campaign with a comfortable 3-0 success over West Ham on Saturday.
It was yet another strong defensive showing with Forest limiting their opponents to chances worth a tiny 0.13 expected goals (xG).
I've backed Nikola Milenkovic to score anytime this season and I'm more than happy to keep the faith with the centre-back getting one soon.
He registered two shots in their last contest but the second was a significant one. His right-footed effort saved in a chance that we rate as 'Great' in our shot map.
Milenkovic's own xG figure now stands at 1.71 - the third-highest in this Forest squad - and that has come from seven shots.
Newcastle up next before the international break. There will likely be big prices out there on the defender getting his first of the campaign.
Assists will arrive for Andreas
Fulham are involved in the Monday Night Football clash this week - they take on rivals Brentford at Craven Cottage.
So, here's a bonus I've just stumbled across in case you're reading this before. It's not in keeping with the column format but I don't care, I'll make it quick.
I can't believe Andreas Pereira hasn't registered an assist yet this season considering the high quality of chances he is creating.
Prior to their next contest, the midfielder has created 26 chances leading to shots in nine league outings, it doesn't seem to matter that he's operating in a deeper role.
You can get 9/2 on him finally getting an assist against Brentford, but if not, keep this in mind for when Fulham travel to face Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Wish I'd seen this when I did the match preview. Still fancy the actual tip in that match though.
Anyway, back to the normal format.
You shall not pass
Leeds continued their promotion push with an incredibly comfortable 3-0 win over Plymouth on Saturday.
Dominated would be the appropriate word. Daniel Farke's side posted 23 shots with seven on target and an xG tally of 1.86. In response, Plymouth had nothing.
Literally nothing. Zero. Zilch. Illan Meslier must have been bored in the Leeds goal - he touched the ball five times throughout the first-half.
This game continued the trend of Leeds being a really good defensive unit, especially at home. That doesn't mean they have a 'negative' mindset but they are limiting their opponents.
The 8.11 expected goals against (xGA) is the best in the Championship by a distance. At Elland Road, it's even better.
Taking away that penalty conceded to Portsmouth in the first game of the season and Leeds' open play xGA in seven home games is 2.61 - an average of 0.37 per game. That is ridiculously strong.
They sit second in the Sky Bet Championship table but ask most supporters of teams in the division and they'll probably acknowledge Leeds as the best of the bunch.
Super Cooper
It was a delight to see Jake Cooper scoring Millwall's winner in their 1-0 triumph over Burnley on Sunday having backed centre-back partner Japhet Tanganga anytime.
I did admit that Cooper was the bigger attacking threat and I'm TOTALLY FINE ABOUT IT but I couldn't quite believe just how many opportunities he saw during that contest.
Cooper's total of four shots means that he's posted at least two in each of his last four outings and set-pieces are going to be a route to success for his side this season.
Not a surprise really when we consider that this is nothing new. "That's about as Millwall as it gets," was Cooper's verdict in his post-match interview.
In terms of chances created from set-pieces per game, Millwall are the fourth-best team in England's top four divisions, it just hasn't quite converted into a higher amount of goals.
But it'll continue to be a strong point for them and both centre-backs, but particularly Cooper, will represent value in the goalscorer market.
To Hull and back
We perhaps should have paid a bit more attention to Hull winger Mohamed Belloumi prior to his inclusion in this column, which is the first one of November.
It had gone under my radar a little bit just how much he was creating but the 22-year-old has now posted assists in each of his last two contests.
Hardly a surprise really when he created seven chances in those games. That means he's created at least two in each of his previous eight league outings.
The Tigers are an average team in this division with pressure on Tim Walter following the draw with Portsmouth yet it doesn't appear to have restricted Belloumi's creativity.
Not only that but he's been seeing opportunities to score as well. Saturday was actually the first time this season he's failed to return a shot.
A total of 21 shots in the eight games prior led to a brace against Cardiff and an xG figure of 2.19 for the campaign so far.
A late addition in the summer transfer window, I'll be keeping an eye on the winger and the markets surrounding him to find some value in Hull's upcoming fixtures.
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