A mid-match change of formation revives both Arsenal and Alexis Sanchez as the Gunners come from behind to beat Cologne.
But Everton’s woes continue as they are beaten 3-0 for the second time in a week.
Here are the notes from Thursday’s Europa League action.
Arsenal bag three from switch to four
Arsene Wenger’s half-time decision to revert to a back four inspired Arsenal to a 3-1 victory over Cologne.
A match delayed for more than an hour as thousands of visiting fans somehow made large swathes of the Emirates their own burst into life when the Germans took the lead in spectacular fashion after a fluffed clearance by keeper David Ospina.
The Gunners looked ill-equipped to respond, with the returning Alexis Sanchez’s lethargy and poor final ball typifying their struggles.
Wenger had stopped last season’s rot by turning to a formation of three centre-halves and wing-backs. He ditched that during the interval last night, replacing Rob Holding with Sead Kolasinac, who slotted in at left-back in a flat back four.
The Bosnian’s impact was immediate as he volleyed home an equaliser within four minutes of the re-start.
Sanchez moved closer to the left touchline in the formation shake-up but looked much more like last season’s 24-goal man, proving the point with a superb strike from the edge of the area following an assist from Alex Iwobi. Hector Bellerin completed the comeback from a Theo Walcott rebound.
The prospect of a Kolisanic/Sanchez partnership on the left is an exciting one for Arsenal fans, as Wenger alluded to post-match.
“I moved to a four in the second half and Kolasinac gave us a lot going forward, but as well he pushed Sanchez more forward. Sanchez played very deep in the first half and when he had more support on the flanks from Kolasinac he became more dangerous.”
And he hinted at more to come from his Chilean star man.
“I think in the second half he became alive. He’s still running, fighting to come back to his best physically. But Alexis is Alexis – he’s an exceptional player and even if he’s not completely back today physically, he is an exceptional football player.”
Whether Wenger keeps faith with the system for Sunday’s trip to Chelsea remains to be seen.
The first-half back three sorely missed the influence of the suspended Laurent Koscielny, struggling to contain a Cologne attack with just the one goal from three defeats in the Bundesliga this season.
Chelsea will provide a far sterner test whatever the formation, but the presence and influence of Kolasinac is now difficult to ignore and even the often contrary Wenger will find it hard to drop him as he did for the 4-0 humbling at Liverpool.
That will please the Bosnian’s 10.6% Fantasy Premier League ownership. A chunky 6.0 gets you a player who has now either scored or assisted in four of his five competitive appearances for the Gunners.
Arsenal’s defensive frailties remain a concern – they’ve kept just one clean sheet this season – but a decent run of fixtures awaits once the Chelsea match is done.
They’ll entertain West Brom, Brighton and Swansea City and travel to Watford and a fragile Everton before their schedule stiffens with back-to-back encounters with Man City and Spurs.
The case for Kolasinac looks strong, although the 11.9 needed to secure the services of Sanchez puts him in the “wait and see” category.
As for the Chelsea match, Wenger’s decision to play Olivier Giroud for the full 90 minutes against Cologne suggests that Alexandre Lacazette will get the nod up front at Stamford Bridge, with the in-form Danny Welbeck perhaps likely to keep Sanchez on the bench.
But based on the Chilean’s second-half performance last night, he could well be a major factor in our Fantasy teams sooner rather than later.
How we find the money to accommodate him and the premium strikers who continue to demand large portions of our team budgets could be one of this season’s biggest challenges.
Fixture shift might not save Everton
The good news for Everton fans is that their team’s horrendous early season schedule finally ends on Sunday at Old Trafford.
The bad news? Even a long run of fixtures – all the way through to Gameweek 15 – involving nothing more testing than a visit from Arsenal might be beyond Ronald Koeman’s side, so woefully short of form and confidence his players now are.
Having waited 28 minutes to concede to Spurs at Goodison Park on Saturday, the Toffees lasted just a minute shy of that against Atalanta, but only thanks to some fine goalkeeping from Maarten Stekelenburg – one of six changes Koeman made for the Europa League group match.
They ended a chastening first half in Italy three goals down and it could have been a lot worse.
Playing out a goalless second half was progress of sorts, but FPL managers with Everton players in their squads have much to ponder.
The Toffees’ three most popular defenders – Michael Keane (12.5%), Leighton Baines (8.5%) and Phil Jagielka (6.7%) – started last night. None impressed and all are currently struggling in a unit that hasn’t kept a clean sheet since the opening day and has now conceded three goals in consecutive matches.
Sunday’s visit to Man United is looking particularly poorly-timed, with old boy Romelu Lukaku on a run of six goals in as many matches, while the returning Wayne Rooney hasn’t scored since Gameweek 2 and is cutting an increasingly frustrated figure.
The 17.6%-owned Rooney is dropping deeper and deeper in search of some influence on matches – not what you want to see from a striker with his side’s only two goals this season.
After a stellar 17 points from his first two starts, he’s managed just two more since. Over his barren Gameweeks 3 and 4, fellow 7.5-priced forwards Danny Welbeck and Marcus Rashford have scored 17 and 13 points respectively – and the latter has played just 94 minutes in that time.
Small wonder that Rooney is in the top five for transfers-out over the last 24 hours, with 21,000+ letting him go. A total of 124,000+ sales overall means he’s also the fourth most-sold player of the Gameweek.
Even the usually dynamic Gylfi Sigurdsson looked lost and ineffectual in Italy – not what 4.7% of managers wanted to see after taking an early punt on a midfielder expected to make hay when the sun finally shines on Everton’s fixture list.
The schedule remains attractive – BOU, BUR, bri, ARS, lei, WAT, cry, sot, WHU, HUD – but Everton’s form is anything but.
Unless there’s a marked improvement in performance against United, the long wait to bring Everton assets into our teams might have to be delayed further still.
