Scout Notes – Gameweek 27 – Sunday

Arsenal strengthen their grasp on a top four spot thanks to goals from Olivier Giroud and Tomas Rosicky. Liverpool continue their rapid ascent up the Premier League table as Manchester City’s title charge hits a roadblock. Chelsea claim the first silverware of the season, while Everton struggle to stay afloat in Roberto Martinez’s toilsome sophomore season.

Gunners march on

Arsenal bounced back from their midweek defeat to Monaco in the Champions League with a 2-0 home victory over Everton, propelling them to within four points of Manchester City in 2^nd place. The Gunners look well placed to capitalise on a favourable run of upcoming fixtures (qpr, WHU, new, LIV, bur, SUN) and further strengthen their hold on a Champions League berth.

Arsene Wenger made two changes from the side that faltered last Wednesday, drafting in Gabriel Paulista to replace Per Mertesacker in central defence and handing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain a start over Danny Welbeck. The Frenchman’s decision to keep faith in Olivier Giroud – who spurned a raft of chances against Monaco – paid dividends, as the 28-year-old frontman recorded his fourth league goal in six outings. Tomas Rosicky replaced Oxlade-Chamberlain in the 81^st minute and made the most of his late second-half cameo, doubling the North London outfit’s lead in the just prior to the final whistle. Elsewhere, Mesut Ozil’s two assists means he has delivered attacking returns for the fourth match in five, whereas Alexis Sanchez has now failed to pick up the points for four successive league outings.

Theo Walcott remained rooted to the bench for the second week running and looks to have slipped further down the pecking order upon Oxlade-Chamberlain’s return from injury. Just two starts in Arsenal’s previous five league ties give us little confidence that Walcott will emerage as a viable route into their midfield any time soon.

In defence, Hector Bellerin (4.6) retained the right-back berth amid rotation concerns, as Arsenal registered their fourth clean sheet in seven league fixtures. The 19-year-old Spaniard was rewarded with three bonus points in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL), boosting his points per game average up to 4.1 – second only to the 6.0-priced Laurent Koscielny (6.0) in Arsenal’s rearguard.

Everton plummet to new depths

With both Crystal Palace and West Brom bagging three points this Gameweek, Everton dropped to 14^th  and now sit just eight points off the relegation zone. Although the Toffees squad is still likely to stave off any threat of relegation, manager Roberto Martinez will be deeply concerned by their run of 11 matches with only one victory. Mercifully, the Merseysiders’ upcoming fixtures (sto, NEW, qpr, SOT, swa, BUR) provide ample opportunity for Everton to get their season back on track, yet they’ll need to get Romelu Lukaku – who’s only netted once in his previous 13 league appearances – firing again if they stand any chance of achieving that.

Martinez made three changes to the side that drew to Leicester City last time out, with Leighton Baines, Aaron Lennon and Steven Naismith making way for Luke Garbutt, Kevin Mirallas and Gareth Barry. Garbutt earned his second league start for Everton by virtue of Baines sustaining a quad injury in training on Friday – which, incidentally, is likely to keep him sidelined for their next match-up against Stoke City.

Liverpool’s streak continues

Liverpool extended their unbeaten league run to 11 matches following a 2-1 home victory over Manchester City. Philippe Coutinho was the standout player for the hosts, scoring the winning goal with a pacy, curling effort from outside the box – his second in as many outings for the Reds. Raheem Sterling also delivered attacking returns for the second week in succession, assisting both Coutinho’s and Jordan Henderson’s strikes. The latter notched his third goal of a campaign that’s shaping up to be his most productive in a Liverpool jersey – Henderson’s already matched his assist record (seven) for a season and is just two goals shy of his 2012/13 tally (five).

Wing-back Alberto Moreno came in for the injured Jordon Ibe in the only change enacted by Brendan Rodgers from the team that beat Southampton last Gameweek. Daniel Sturridge had to settle for a 15-minute spell in the latter stages of the match as Rodgers continues to ease the England international back into contention following his lengthy injury layoff.

City’s faltering title charge

Manchester City’s hopes of securing back-to-back titles were dealt a hammer blow on Sunday afternoon when they lost at Anfield. If Chelsea can secure the win against West Ham next Gameweek, they’ll be eight points clear of the champions with only 11 matches left to play.

Despite providing an exquisite through ball for Edin Dzeko’s first-half equaliser, Sergio Aguero didn’t match up to his customarily high standards, failing to force a save out of Simon Mignolet with any of his four attempts on goal. From a Fantasy standpoint, the Dzeko/Aguero strike partnership proved effective once again, with the pair combining for four assists and three goals in their last two league fixtures.

Manuel Pellegrini stuck with the same XI that breezed past Newcastle last Gameweek but was forced into a formation change at the hour mark to counter Liverpool’s midfield dominance – James Milner was subbed in for Edin Dzeko as they adopted a 4-2-3-1 set-up with Yaya Toure and Fernandinho sitting. Wilfried Bony’s arrival late on saw the Sky Blues revert to a 4-4-2 formation, but the Ivorian centre forward failed to make an impact during his brief spell on the pitch.

Chelsea triumphant as defence impresses

Chelsea secured their their fifth league cup trophy as they triumphed 2-0 over Tottenham in a largely incident-free final. In the absence of midfield stalwart Nemanja Matic, Blues boss Jose Mourinho fielded Kurt Zouma in a holding midfield role alongside Ramires. The ploy seemed to work, with Spurs playmaker Christian Eriksen unable to find the pockets of space he usually thrives in. Whether Mourinho elects to employ the same tactic in midweek against West Ham – as Matic serves the second match of his ban – remains to be seen.

Diego Costa was back on the score sheet for Chelsea – having drawn a blank against Burnley and Paris Saint-Germain – with John Terry providing the other goal. Remarkably, the Blues’ rearguard (Terry, Branislav Ivanovic, Kurt Zouma, Gary Cahill and Cesar Azpilicueta) have now tallied 16 goals and 13 assists between them in the 2014/15 campaign, bringing into focus what an attacking threat they’ve been this term.

Lilywhites boss Mauricio Pochettino handed Nacer Chadli and Andros Townsend starts ahead of Mousa Dembele and Erik Lamela in Tottenham’s midfield – although neither winger offered much support for lone striker Harry Kane, who was isolated up front for the majority of the tie. With Spurs now facing a double Gameweek (SWA, qpr) that rounds off a period of four matches within 10 days, Pochettino will doubtless rotate his squad for the next round of Premier League fixtures.