Foden shines in Man City midfield as David Silva gets an hour run-out

Eight Premier League teams were in action on Tuesday evening in the Carabao Cup, with three of them bowing out of the competition at the third round stage.

While there was the usual mix of rotation and blooding of second-string or academy players, the line-ups were generally stronger across the board than those we saw in the previous round of the competition.

David Silva (£8.6m), John Stones (£5.4m), Gabriel Jesus (£10.3m), Romelu Lukaku (£11.1m), Jesse Lingard (£6.8m), Jamie Vardy (£8.9m) and Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.3m) were among those given extended run-outs in the League Cup last night.

In this first article, we run down the goals, assists, injuries, dismissals and Fantasy talking points from four of the seven matches involving top-flight sides on Tuesday night, with reflections on the games involving Burnley, Bournemouth and Fulham to follow later.

Oxford United 0-3 Manchester City

• Goals: Gabriel Jesus (£10.3m), Riyad Mahrez (£8.6m), Phil Foden (£4.7m)
• Assists: Brahim Diaz (£4.8m), Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling (£11.0m)

The 8.5% of Fantasy Premier League managers who own David Silva would have been left slightly demoralised to see their midfield asset among Manchester City’s starting XI yesterday evening, though the Spanish playmaker was at least withdrawn on 63 minutes to offer hope of a Premier League recall on Saturday after his no-show in Gameweek 6.

Silva was one of ten changes Pep Guardiola made to his line-up from the side that started against Cardiff City last weekend, with Nicolas Otamendi (£6.1m) the only player to retain his place.

Otamendi lined up alongside Vincent Kompany (£5.3m) at the heart of the City defence, with John Stones (£5.4m) deployed “out of position” in the holding midfield role – a strategy of Guardiola’s to monitor going forward if Fernandinho (£5.4m) picks up an injury.

Stones lined up alongside Silva and Phil Foden (£4.7m) in a 4-3-3, with Riyad Mahrez (£8.6m) and Brahim Diaz (£4.8m) flanking Gabriel Jesus (£10.3m) in attack.

As if the Manchester City midfield picture wasn’t complicated enough, Foden’s superb performance in the centre of the park demonstrated his undoubted fledgeling talent and the 18-year-old provides Guardiola with yet another creative option in the engine room – as well as giving cause for concern for the owners of David Silva, Bernardo Silva (£7.5m) and Ilkay Gundogan (£5.6m).

The caveat, of course, is that yesterday’s opponents currently lie in 23rd place in League One, but Foden outshone all of his more exalted team-mates and deservedly emerged from the encounter at the Kassam Stadium with the man of the match award.

Foden registered a goal and an assist in City’s 3-0 victory over Oxford and had a hand in his side’s opener, providing a superb cross-field ball to Diaz whose deflected shot was turned in by Jesus.

Foden then released Mahrez with a pinpoint through-ball for City’s second and capped off his evening with a deserved goal in stoppage time, firing low past home goalkeeper Jonathan Mitchell after being teed up by substitute Raheem Sterling (£11.0m).

Home manager Karl Robinson said of Foden:

His feet are to die for. His ability and his orientation of himself on the pitch is genius.

There is a naturalness to his game and something we have not seen for a long time. It reminded me of watching Barcelona and seeing Iniesta in those positions.

Guardiola was quick to downplay those comparisons with the Catalan midfielder, but lavished praise on the teenage prospect after full-time and once again reiterated Foden’s prominence in his first-team plans:

Andres is a big, big word but I have said many times we are delighted with Phil.

He’s an exceptional young player and for the next decade, Manchester City will have an amazing player. I’m not going to say he’s going to become Andres Iniesta, because that will put a lot of pressure on him and Andres is by far one of the best players I’ve ever seen.

He is a special guy in terms of quality with and without the ball. The finishing for the third goal was so good. He has a sense of the goal. He is not a guy who will pass in that situation.

Last season we showed him he was special and that is why we decided not to buy any attacking players in that position because we have Phil. He belongs in our team and he will have minutes.

He’s physically very strong. He grows up a lot, especially in the last year because he’s a teenager and he needs to grow.

He senses the rhythm we play and the pace we play and that is why he is ready to play with us home and away.

Silva, meanwhile, was his usual neat and tidy self without producing much of note in attack, other than a shot that narrowly flashed wide of Mitchell’s right-hand post during the first half.

Mahrez was a bright spark on the right flank though was wasteful when shooting, firing four attempts wide of the Oxford goal and having another effort saved before his breakaway goal on 78 minutes.

Jesus had the ball in the net on three occasions, though two of those efforts were ruled out for offside and the Brazilian forward did little in his 90-minute showing to suggest he will oust Sergio Aguero (£11.4m) from the starting XI when Brighton and Hove Albion visit the Etihad this Saturday.

Aguero, Bernardo, Fernandinho, Leroy Sane (£9.2m), Ederson (£5.7m), Fabian Delph (£5.3m), Kyle Walker (£6.5m) and Aymeric Laporte (£5.6m) were either unused substitutes or given the night off completely and most – if not all – will surely expect to feature from the start for the meeting with Chris Hughton’s side.

Manchester City XI (4-3-3): Muric; Danilo, Kompany, Otamendi, Zinchenko; Stones, Foden, Silva (Gundogan 63′); Diaz (Sterling 55′), Mahrez (Bernabe 85′), Jesus

Manchester United 2-2 Derby County (7-8 penalties)

• Goals: Juan Mata (£6.2m), Marouane Fellaini (£5.0m)
• Assists: Jesse Lingard (£6.8m), Diogo Dalot (£5.4m)

For the second time in four days, Manchester United were held to a draw at Old Trafford as Derby County progressed to the Carabao Cup at the expense of the Red Devils following an epic penalty shoot-out.

Jose Mourinho made nine changes to his starting XI from the side that were held by Wolves on Saturday, with Lukaku and Jesse Lingard (£6.8m) the only players to keep their places.

Lukaku once again played 90 minutes as the spearhead of the United attack and registered four shots on goal, the closest of which came in the second half when he struck the woodwork after being teed up by Anthony Martial (£7.2m).

Martial set up three of Lukaku’s chances and was arguably United’s best player on the night, registering five shots himself and shining on the left flank as Mourinho rolled out a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Alexis Sanchez (£10.1m) has toiled somewhat on the wing this season and Martial’s display would have given Mourinho food for thought ahead of the trip to West Ham on Saturday, though the Chilean was an unused substitute at Old Trafford last night and would appear in pole position to reclaim Martial’s role in Gameweek 7.

Lingard played just off Lukaku in the “number 10” position and teed up United’s opener, which Juan Mata (£6.2m) converted after just three minutes. Mata, stationed on the right wing, missed a glorious opportunity to double the hosts’ lead five minutes later when presented with a one-on-one chance by Ashley Young (£5.8m).

Young was back in the side at left-back in an all-new United back four, perhaps giving the rested Luke Shaw (£5.1m) the advantage in that position for the encounter with the Hammers this weekend.

Phil Jones (£5.2m), returning from injury, and Eric Bailly (£5.2m) produced shaky displays at centre-back and did little to suggest they would displace Chris Smalling (£5.8m) and Victor Lindelof (£4.9m) at the heart of the United defence this Saturday. Jones’ miserable night culminated with the decisive missed penalty in the shoot-out.

Diogo Dalot (£5.4m), however, produced a positive display at right-back in his second competitive United appearance and it was from his excellent cross that substitute Marouane Fellaini (£5.0m) nodded in the Red Devils’ stoppage-time equaliser.

Sergio Romero (£5.0m) was dismissed for a handball outside his box midway through the second half and will now be suspended for the trip to east London in Gameweek 7.

The headline news before the match concerned Mourinho stripping Paul Pogba (£8.2m) of his vice-captaincy role, but Mourinho – not for the first time this season – rubbished rumours of a fall-out between him and the French midfielder:

The only truth is that I made the decision of Paul not to be the second captain any more but no fall-out, no problems at all.

The same person that decides that Paul is not the second captain anymore is the same person who decides that Paul was the second captain. Myself. I am the manager, I can make these decisions.

No fall-out at all, no problems at all, just one decision that I don’t have to explain.

Manchester United X (4-2-3-1): Romero; Dalot, Bailly, Jones, Young; Matic, Herrera (Fellaini 63′); Mata (Grant 69′), Lingard (Fred 63′), Martial; Lukaku

West Bromwich Albion 0-3 Crystal Palace

• Goals: Andros Townsend (£5.8m) x2, Patrick van Aanholt (£5.5m)
• Assists: Alexander Sorloth (£4.9m), Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.3m)

Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Patrick van Aanholt (£5.5m) recorded clean sheets and attacking returns as the Eagles ran out comfortable winners at the Hawthorns whilst registering a third straight shut-out.

Wan-Bissaka had started the match on the bench but was pressed into action on 21 minutes when centre-back Jairo Riedewald (£4.4m) limped off; Joel Ward (£4.3m) moved across to centre-half alongside Martin Kelly (£3.9m) to allow Wan-Bissaka to take up his usual right-back slot.

Wan-Bissaka and Alexander Sorloth (£4.9m) provided the assists for Andros Townsend‘s (£5.8m) two strikes, but in truth, the winger’s goals were all of his own making.

Townsend had been Palace’s creative spark in the 0-0 draw with Newcastle United on Saturday and the change in system to a 4-3-3 seems to be suiting the England wide-man.

Both of Townsend’s goals were superb individual efforts and he was only denied a hat-trick when a chipped attempt was cleared off the line by Ahmed Hegazi.

Townsend, Cheikhou Kouyate (£4.8m) and van Aanholt were the only three Palace players who started at both Selhurst Park on Saturday and the Hawthorns on Tuesday night, and the Dutch left-back’s owners would have been cursing their luck as van Aanholt scored his first goal of the season in this Carabao Cup encounter.

Van Aanholt had two other shots throughout the match and was a menace throughout, playing behind “out of position” Jeffrey Schlupp (£4.5m) on the left flank. Schlupp got into some excellent positions but was profligate with his chances, meanwhile, in the role likely reserved for Wilfried Zaha (£7.0m) at Bournemouth next Monday evening.

Hodgson was positive about his much-changed side’s display at West Brom, but intimated that rotation would continue in this competition going forward:

I would find it hard to find any fault in our performance. I thought our defending was excellent and our attacking play was sometimes of a really, really good class.

It got us three goals but it could so easily have got us more. It is good to win games and it is good to win them away from home. Everything about the performance was just what I wanted.

Our message to the players was very simple that this was a great opportunity for the players to stake a claim and for us to advance in the competition.

It would be dishonest of me to say that we see the competition as a priority but we see it as a competition we will take very seriously.

The likes of Zaha, Mamadou Sakho (£5.0m), Wayne Hennessey (£4.6m), Luka Milivojevic (£6.2m) and James Tomkins (£4.4m) were given the night off as Max Meyer (£5.8m) furthered his case for a start at the Vitality Stadium in Gameweek 7 with a tidy performance in central midfield.

Crystal Palace XI (4-3-3): Guaita; Ward, Kelly, Riedewald (Wan-Bissaka 21′), van Aanholt (Souare 79′); Kouyate, Meyer, Puncheon; Townsend (Ayew 85′), Schlupp, Sorloth

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-0 Leicester City (1-3 penalties)

• Goals: none
• Assists: none

There were a combined 17 changes to the starting XIs at Molineux on Tuesday evening in the all-Premier League clash between Wolves and Leicester.

Jamie Vardy (£8.9m) was given a run-out for an hour as he, Jonny Evans (£4.9m) and Rachid Ghezzal (£5.3m) survived Claude Puel’s exercise in rotation, while defensive pair Conor Coady (£4.5m) and Jonny (£4.4m) retained their starts in Nuno Espirito Santo’s starting XI for the visit of the Foxes.

The largely low-key match was notable mostly for an injury to substitute Demarai Gray (£5.5m), who was stretchered off near the end of the game and given oxygen.

Puel was hopeful that Gray’s ankle problem isn’t a serious one:

He is positive. It was the one time he defended. Demarai has hurt his left ankle and will have a scan tomorrow morning (Wednesday). I hope it’s not a serious injury.

Gray’s injury means less competition for Ghezzal and Marc Albrighton (£5.3m) on the flanks, though of course James Maddison (£6.8m) was used on the left wing in Leicester’s 3-1 win over Huddersfield Town at the weekend.

Ricardo Pereira (£5.1m) provided his usual mix of attacking flair and suspect defensive work at right-back, while Wes Morgan (£4.5m) returned from suspension at centre-half.

Danny Ward (£4.4m) was Leicester’s hero in the shoot-out, saving three of Wolves’ penalties, and Puel paid tribute to Kasper Schmeichel‘s (£5.0m) deputy after the match:

We have recruited him for the penalties, of course.

No, we know his quality. In the training session, he is a fantastic goalkeeper.

It is a good opportunity for him to show his quality and I am happy for him.