Son assist REMOVED: FPL explain why after controversy

Son Heung-min (£9.8m) will no longer get his controversial assist for Tottenham Hotspur’s third goal in their win over West Ham United – and Fantasy Premier League (FPL) have explained why.

THE GOAL

THE CONTROVERSY

Initially, a ‘TBC’ went out on FPL’s usual goal alert.

Then, after the Premier League deemed that Alphonse Areola (£4.5m) – and not Jeanclair Todibo (£4.4m) – was responsible for the telling touch, FPL announced no assist.

All sorted? Not quite.

There was still time for another twist on Saturday, with Son given the assist several hours after full-time in north London. FPL subsequently deleted their post announcing this.

Now, well over 48 hours after the conclusion game, we have a final resolution: Areola own-goal, no assist.

WHY WAS THE DECISION TAKEN TO GIVE NO ASSIST?

FPL have published a detailed article highlighting the thought process behind the decision.

The key lines were these:

“Shot rebounds can be rewarded with an assist in Fantasy if a goal is scored directly from the block, save or rebound off the woodwork. This ruling also applies to own goals.

“If a significant touch is made by an opposition player after the blocked effort, then no assist is awarded.

“Due to the goal being credited to Areola, the last significant touch prior to the own-goal scorer (Areola) was made by team-mate Todibo and not Son. Therefore, no assist can be awarded to the attacking player.”

Had Todibo’s touch not been heading off target and he’d been ‘awarded’ the own-goal, then Son would have kept the assist.

We saw an example of this on Saturday when Issa Diop (£4.5m) diverted Lucas Digne‘s (£4.6m) cross past his own goalkeeper, Bernd Leno (£5.0m).

Leno did get a nick on it but, as FPL say, it “was not deflected off target by Diop before entering the goal via a touch from the goalkeeper”.

So, Diop own-goal, Digne assist in this case.

HOW MANY POINTS WILL SON HAVE NOW?

Son will finish on eight points now, having lost three points for an assist and one of his two bonus points.

WHEN WILL THE POINTS CHANGES BE MADE IN FPL?

FPL say all points will be updated before the Gameweek ends, which is approximately one hour after the final match of the round.

So that’ll be around 23:00 BST on Monday evening after the conclusion of Nottingham Forest v Crystal Palace.