Dimitri Payet breaks hearts, Marcus Rashford spares blushes while Scott Dann and Vincent Kompany limp off in another eventful night of EFL Cup action. Here’s our notes on Wednesday’s action….
Northampton 1 Man United 3
A combination of old and young eased United into the next round of the EFL Cup – and some of the pressure on Jose Mourinho.
The recalled Michael Carrick (4.3) gave the side balance and control and even chipped in with the opening goal, while substitute Marcus Rashford (6.8) helped seal the win with an assist for Ander Herrera’s (6.3) strike and then a goal of his own.
Trying to second-guess Mourinho’s intentions is a mugs’ game, but Rashford looks highly likely to start against Leicester on Saturday given another limp display from Wayne Rooney (8.9) and Anthony Martial’s (9.3) ongoing head injury.
Rashford looks a ready-made differential and another intriguing variable to consider in the argument on whether to retain Zlatan Ibrahimovic (11.8) in our squads.
Carrick’s inclusion would be more of a surprise, although the local press see him as the man to help Paul Pogba (8.4) start to blossom as a United player.
Man United XI: Romero; Fosu-Mensah (Rashford 55), Smalling, Blind, Rojo; Carrick, Schneiderlin (Fellaini 73), Herrera; Depay (Ibrahimovic 55), Rooney, Young.
QPR 1 Sunderland 2
Two goals from defender Paddy McNair (4.4), used in a midfield role, handed Sunderland a come-from-behind victory.
The former Man United player was set up by Duncan Watmore (5.0) and Didier Ndong (5.0) in a tie notable for the return of Patrick van Aanholt (5.0) following a health scare that forced him to miss GW5’s loss at Spurs.
David Moyes came out with a bold statement regarding match-winner McNair that should pique the interest of Fantasy managers far and wide.
“There is some misconception with his position. He is an attacking midfielder, he started as a boy as a No.10. He is very much an attacking midfielder. We have seen in training. He is a good finisher. I believe he is better moving up the pitch and tonight was good for him. I think he will go on to be a really good buy for us but he needs a bit of developing.”
An FPL defender being used as an attacking midfielder – and all for 4.4 – seems to good to be true, even if he is in a struggling Sunderland outfit.
Sunderland XI: Pickford, Denayer (Love 69), van Aanholt, Djilobodji, O’Shea (c), McNair, Kirchhoff, Ndong, Watmore, Gooch (Cattermole 69), Asoro (Maja 69).
Southampton 2 Crystal Palace 0
Goals from Charlie Austin (6.2) and Jake Hesketh saw off Palace, who lost skipper Scott Dann (5.5) to an early hamstring issue.
Austin scored from the penalty spot – with no Dusan Tadic there to squabble over it this time – after Shane Long (6.2) was fouled. The Irish striker then set up Hesketh’s clincher.
Austin continues to boost his stock, then, and, with four goals in his last three outings in all competitions, now looks primed to earn the start at West Ham in Gameweek 6.
Both managers made eight changes to their weekend line-ups, with both Yohan Cabaye (5.7) and Connor Wickham (5.7) back after missing two matches through injury.
As for Dann, Alan Pardew went on to say:
“It was his hamstring and how damaged that it, we’ll have to wait and see – I don’t know. The only good news is that James [Tomkins] might be OK for the weekend, he’s had a speedy recovery and we’re pleased about that.”
Southampton XI: McCarthy, Martina, Targett, Yoshida, Fonte, Clasie, Reed, Ward-Prowse, Hesketh (Hojbjerg 77), Long, Austin (Redmond 57).
Subs: Lewis, Cedric, Davis, Stephens
Crystal Palace XI: Hennessey, Ward, Dann (Kelly 19), Delaney, Fryers, Cabaye, Mutch (Puncheon 69), Sako (Benteke 65), Lee, Zaha, Wickham.
Subs: Speroni, Flamini, Campbell, Townsend
Swansea 1 Man City 2
Vincent Kompany (5.9) returned from his latest injury lay-off only to limp out of the action late on as City eased past Swansea.
A major collectors’ item – a Gael Clichy (5.4) right-footed goal – and a strike from Aleix Garcia (5.0) from a Jesus Navas (6.3) cross secured the win, with Gylfi Sigurdsson (7.3) hitting a late consolation for the Swans.
Under-fire boss Francesco Guidolin was so short of attacking options on the flanks that he used defender Kyle Naughton (4.5) as a right winger and also handed record signing Borja Baston (6.9) his full Swansea debut.
But by the end, it was all about Kompany, with Guardiola uncertain of the extent of his skipper’s latest setback:
“The doctors are speaking with him and seeing what’s up. Hopefully he won’t be a big problem. We have to wait for the result from the doctors. I don’t have the opinion of my staff yet. It was a good performance from him. It’s not easy after a long time without playing. I didn’t see what happened. Swansea scored a goal and after I saw he was coming here. I said ‘What happened?’ He had to go to the locker room. I suppose he had a problem. We will have to wait. He could not stay on the pitch.”
Swansea City XI: Nordfeldt, Naughton (Sigurdsson 61), Rangel, Amat, van der Hoorn, Taylor, Fulton, Britton, Cork (Fer 55), Routledge, Baston (Barrow 75).
Subs: Tremmel, Fernandez, Kingsley, Llorente.
Man City XI: Caballero; Zabaleta, Kompany, Stones, Clichy, Fernando, Garcia; Navas, Angelino (De Bruyne 58), Sane; Iheanacho (Diaz 80).
Subs: Gunn, Fernandinho, Maffeo, Adrabioyo, Sagna.
West Ham 1 Accrington 0
A Dmitri Payet (9.4) free kick six minutes into time added on broke Accrington hearts and prevented West Ham’s poor start to the season plumbing new depths.
The League Two outfit gave as good as they got throughout the match, firing in three shots on target to the hosts’ four. They were seconds away from an extra 30 minutes of action which the Hammers would have had to play with just ten men after Arthur Masuaku (5.0) went off with a leg injury.
New signings Alvaro Arbeloa (4.9) and Edmilison Fernandes (5.0) were handed first starts, but Simone Zaza (6.8) again failed to open his West Ham account.
Slaven Bilic later said Masuaku’s injury ‘does not look like a worrying one’, adding:
“Arbeloa didn’t play for a long time but he played the full 90 minutes and he is going to bring us experience and quality. Of all the players on the pitch, I am most pleased with Fernandes. He is also a good player. He is young but has the quality and confidence to play forward. He came out with a big plus.”
West Ham XI: Randolph, Arbeloa, Nordtveit, Ogbonna, Masuaku, Obiang, Fernandes, Feghouli (Payet 45), Calleri (Antonio 70), Tore (Lanzini 45), Zaza.
Subs: Adrian, Byram, Fletcher, Antonio, Oxford.
Stoke City 1 Hull City 2
Stoke threw everything at Hull, racking up 21 attempts along the way, and yet still succumbed to a late Markus Henriksen (5.4) strike as their wretched early-season run continued.
Beleaguered boss Mark Hughes fielded an experienced side, giving starts to midfielder Giannelli Imbula (4.9) and defender Erik Pieters (4.4), and his side took the lead through Marko Arnautovic (7.3).
The Austrian has now netted in back-to-back matches and looks the Potters’ one form player ahead of some kind upcoming fixtures.
Record signing Ryan Mason (4.9), one of six players making their first starts for Hull, levelled the tie before midfielder Henriksen’s stoppage time winner.
Stoke City XI: Grant, Johnson, Shawcross, Indi, Pieters, Cameron, Allen, Arnautovic, Imbula (Adam 69), Ramadan, Bony (Diouf 69).
Subs: Bardsley, Muniesa, Given, Crouch, Verlinden.
Hull City XI: Marshall, Meyler, Maguire, Davies, Robertson, Mason (Elmohamady 68), Henriksen, Maloney, Weir, Mbokani, Keane.
Subs: Huddlestone, Kuciak, Diomande, Tymon, Bowen, Olley.
Tottenham Hotspur 5 Gillingham 0
Two goals from Christian Eriksen (8.4) and a first competitive strike from new signing Vincent Janssen (7.8) helped Spurs stroll to victory against their out-classed opponents.
Janssen’s goal, from the penalty spot, was particularly welcome as the Dutch striker will be expected to fill the void left by the injury to Harry Kane.
Boss Mauricio Pochettino was in no doubt as to the significance of the strike.
“Now that Harry Kane’s injured Janssen is our main striker and it’s important for his confidence for the next few games. That goal was important for him, to feel the love from the supporters. For a striker, always the difficult thing is to create chances but he has a lot of chances to score today. He was unlucky. The important thing is that he got into the box and he created a lot of chances and for the future, it’s important that he feels confidence and for the team it will help a lot for us.”
Janssen also supplied an assist on the night and has already been snapped up by 7,800 FPL managers this week ahead of the trip to Middlesbrough.
Erik Lamela (7.1) and Joshua Onomah (4.4) were also on target for Tottenham, with the Argentine turning in a man of the match display by also providing three assists. Having been benched for each of the last two Gameweeks, Lamela will be pushing for a return to Pochettino’s XI on Teesside.
Tottenham Hotspur XI: Vorm, Trippier, Carter-Vickers, Wimmer, Davies (Walkes 80), Winks, Carroll, Lamela, Eriksen (Mbida 60), Onomah, Janssen (Edwards 75).
Subs: Vertonghen, Son, Wanyama, Whiteman.
