After helping West Ham United secure a point at Old Trafford last weekend, Dimitri Payet (£9.2m) looks to maintain momentum against Arsenal at London Stadium in Gameweek 14.
The Frenchman supplied the cross for Diafra Sakho’s (£5.8m) opener at Manchester United, taking his season tally to a goal and six assists in 11 Premier League appearances.
Despite failing to start a match until Gameweek 4, Payet’s creativity has been vital for Slaven Bilic’s side.
His 46 key passes is 11 more than his nearest contender, Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne (£10.8m).
Payet has also supplied the most successful crosses (35) over the first 13 Gameweeks.
While his average of 4.7 Fantasy Premier League points a match is below last season’s 5.7, the statistics show he has been unfortunate.
Payet per match 2015/16 v 2016/17
| 2015/16 | 2016/17 | |
| Goal attempts | 2.3 | 2.8 |
| Penalty-area attempts | 0.8 | 1.0 |
| Penalty-area touches | 2.8 | 3.7 |
| Goal attempts on target | 0.9 | 0.5 |
| Chances created | 3.9 | 4.2 |
| ICT Index per match | 11.5 | 11.8 |
When compared with 2015/16, as the table above shows, Payet’s shots per appearance and efforts in the opposition box are both up this season.
He is also having more touches in the penalty area but his shooting accuracy is down on the previous campaign.
Payet has also improved his creativity, supplying an average of 4.2 key passes. This was 3.9 per appearance last term, when he produced 13 FPL assists.
While on the pitch Payet has been directly involved in 50% of West Ham’s goals this season, up on 38.2% from 2015/16.
Having recorded FPL points against Man Utd, he faces an Arsenal defence who have kept clean sheets once in the last six Gameweeks.
Arsenal are also set to be without the injured Hector Bellerin (£6.4m) and Mathieu Debuchy (£4.7m) at right-back to help nullify the threat from Payet on West Ham's left.
After Gameweek 14, West Ham travel to Anfield before a kinder run of festive fixtures, hosting Burnley and Hull City, and a trip to Swansea City between Gameweeks 16-18.
Owned by 9.7% of FPL managers, Payet has the platform to offer an intriguing midfield differential as the search to replace Liverpool’s injured Philippe Coutinho (£8.5m) escalates.
