Erling Haaland has scored nine goals, but one forward has already had seven more big chances. Brighton have kept seven clean sheets, yet nine teams have conceded fewer shots inside the box. And one midfielder sits ninth in the FPL points standings without a single assist.
Ahead of Gameweek 11, here are ten surprising Fantasy Premier League stats that could change how you judge a transfer target, a defensive double-up or even your next chip decision.
If you could give any FPL forward one player’s chances from the opening ten Gameweeks, you’d probably pick Erling Haaland’s. The numbers make a case for Thierno Barry.
The Everton forward leads the league with 22 big chances, seven more than Haaland’s 15. Barry also leads on expected goals (xG), with 9.89 to Haaland’s 8.15. The goals column tells a different story. Barry has scored six, leaving him behind Alexander Isak on seven and Haaland on nine.
For FPL managers, the appeal is how often Barry gets another opportunity. He’s averaging more than two big chances per Gameweek, so even on a day when he misses his first, he may well get a second. If you’re weighing up when to buy, see how Everton’s upcoming run compares in our FPL fixture guide for Gameweeks 11–16.
Haaland has taken 38 shots, Barry has had 36 and next on the list is Ipswich’s Julio Enciso with 32 as shown in the Opta Stats Sandox. On shot volume alone, that’s some company. Look at where he’s shooting from, though, and the gap between them starts to make sense.
Only eight of Enciso’s 32 shots have come from inside the box, as shown in the Opta Heatmaps tool.
Nine have been on target, and all 32 attempts add up to 2.46 xG, or roughly 0.08 xG per shot. Barry, by comparison, averages 0.27 xG per shot. He’s taken just four more shots than Enciso but accumulated roughly four times the xG.
That’s where xG earns its place in FPL research. A shot count gives a 25-yard effort the same weight as a close-range finish. Expected goals accounts for how likely each chance is to go in. Seen that way, Enciso’s two goals are pretty much what you’d expect.
Rayan Cherki has scored five goals from 2.29 xG, beating his expected total by 2.71 goals. That’s the biggest positive gap in the league. For anyone considering him moving forward, the question is whether he can keep scoring at this rate or start getting the chances to sustain it.
Cherki has been the biggest ‘overachiever’ so far this season — 5 goals from just 2.29 xG. 📈 pic.twitter.com/WrmRn7vK4p
— Fantasy Football Fix (@FantasyFootyFix) November 12, 2026
Barry sits at the other end of the rankings, scoring 3.89 fewer goals than expected. But spare a thought for Gonzalo (and his owners), whose only goal came against Chelsea in Gameweek 1. He’s scored once from 4.51 xG across the opening ten Gameweeks.
Since that Chelsea goal, Gonzalo has had 21 shots, seven big chances and 3.56 xG without scoring again. Nine Gameweeks on, anyone who bought him after the opening weekend is still waiting for their first goal.
Last season, Evanilson scored six goals from 11.30 xG for Bournemouth. Ten Gameweeks into 2026/27, he already has five goals from 5.20 xG, as shown in the Opta Comparison tool. He’s one finish away from matching last season’s tally and has used less than half the xG to get there.
Has he found his clinical edge under Marco Rose?
Ten Gameweeks is a small sample, but there’s an encouraging detail for prospective owners. Evanilson’s five goals are almost exactly what you’d expect from the chances he’s getting. If Bournemouth keep supplying him at this rate, an average return in front of goal would do his FPL owners nicely.
Sunderland have scored eight goals in ten Gameweeks, and three have come from the penalty spot. They’ve been awarded a league-high four penalties, twice as many as any other side. That leaves just five non-penalty goals all season.
You’d struggle to guess that from their chance creation. Sunderland rank seventh for both big chances (27) and xG (17.36). They’ve scored 9.36 fewer goals than expected!
That matters if you’re eyeing up a defender because Sunderland are next on the fixture list. Eight goals makes the fixture look inviting. Giving up a clean sheet to a side averaging 2.7 big chances per Gameweek would hardly be a shock, though.
Marcus Tavernier has 58 FPL points, making him the ninth-highest scorer in the game. The surprise is that a player who’s put in 117 crosses, the fifth-most in the league, is still waiting for his first assist.
The Opta Stats Sandbox shows that Tavernier has created five big chances. That’s joint-most for Bournemouth and joint-sixth in the Premier League. With 1.92 expected assists (xA), he could reasonably have expected two assists by now. He’s still waiting for his first.
Tavernier has already given his owners plenty to cheer. If a teammate starts finishing those chances, there’s another source of points still to come.
Brighton have conceded just seven goals, the second-fewest in the league, and their seven clean sheets are joint-most. Remarkably, that means all seven goals went past them in just three matches.
Could Brighton be overperforming defensively? Their 16.10 expected goals conceded (xGC) ranks 11th in the league, and they’ve allowed 89 shots inside the box, the tenth-most. They’ve conceded 9.10 fewer goals than expected. That’s worth weighing up before committing two defensive spots to a side whose clean-sheet record looks so convincing.
Nottingham Forest are the defence to look at from the opposite angle. They’ve allowed the fewest shots overall (101), the third-fewest inside the box (68) and have the third-best xGC (11.38). If you’re scouting a defender for the next few Gameweeks, Forest’s ability to stop opponents getting shots away makes them worth a closer look.
If bonus points were awarded on season totals, Elliot Anderson would have every reason to feel hard done by. He’s accumulated 202 points in the FPL Bonus Points System (BPS), the most of any player yet to earn a single bonus point. Ian Maatsen, meanwhile, has earned one bonus point from just 37 BPS all season.
How does that happen? Bonus is decided match by match. A player can keep posting respectable BPS totals and finish outside the bonus places every week. Another can do enough in one match to earn a bonus point and spend the rest of the season well down the rankings.
Anderson has accumulated more than five times Maatsen’s BPS. If you owned both, it’s Maatsen who would have added the extra point to your total.
How many FPL teams are already ‘dead’? By the measure we’re using here – no changes to a team for five Gameweeks – the answer is 29.1%.
Some of those managers may be perfectly happy with their sides. Even so, almost three in ten teams have stood still across half the season so far. That matters whenever we talk about what ‘most FPL managers’ are doing, particularly when it comes to chips.
Across all FPL teams, 64.5% still have their first Wildcard. You might look at that and think playing yours before Gameweek 11 puts you in a fairly small minority. Take out the teams inactive for five Gameweeks, though, and the picture changes.
| First Chips Still Available | All FPL Teams | Active FPL Teams |
|---|---|---|
| Free Hit | 82.8% | 77.8% |
| Bench Boost | 78.1% | 73.0% |
| Triple Captain | 64.9% | 59.0% |
| Wildcard | 64.5% | 53.7% |
The Wildcard shows the biggest swing. Across all teams, 35.5% have used it. Among active teams, that rises to 46.3% – close to an even split between those who’ve rebuilt their squad and those still holding off.
The Free Hit is the chip managers seem most reluctant to spend. Even among active teams, more than three in four still have it. So if you’ve already Wildcarded but haven’t touched your Free Hit, you’ve got plenty of company heading into Gameweek 11.
Your next FPL move starts here.
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