Manchester City fought back from conceding in the first 43 seconds of their UEFA Champions League match against Hoffenheim to secure a much-needed three points, with Sergio Aguero and David Silva on the scoresheet for Pep Guardiola’s side.
The murmurings of discontent at Old Trafford grew louder, meanwhile, as Manchester United were held to a goalless draw by Valencia – the fourth successive competitive home match in which Jose Mourinho’s side have failed to win.
In the Carabao Cup third round, Southampton came out on top in a penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw with Everton: Danny Ings and Theo Walcott on target for their respective clubs.
We round up all the goals, assists, Fantasy talking points and manager quotes from the three matches involving Premier League clubs on Tuesday evening, including an update on Ilkay Gundogan‘s injury.
1899 Hoffenheim 1-2 Manchester City
- Goals: Sergio Aguero (£11.4m), David Silva (£8.5m)
- Assists: Leroy Sane (£9.2m), Bernardo Silva (£7.6m)
If what Pep Guardiola said about Sergio Aguero’s ongoing injury problem after the defeat of Brighton and Hove Albion is true, then a fully fit Aguero is going to be a force to be reckoned with in Fantasy Premier League this season.
The Argentinean forward played the full 90 minutes of City’s 2-1 win over Hoffenheim last night, scoring his side’s equaliser and registering six other attempts on goal.
Aguero’s thwarted efforts included a 25-yard shot brilliantly saved by home goalkeeper Oliver Baumann, an attempt from a similar distance that narrowly crept over the Hoffenheim custodian’s crossbar and a presentable chance from six yards that the City striker hooked wide.
This was the second successive match in Aguero has recorded seven attempts on goal and, while his goal conversion rate is low, that the City striker is consistently creating room and regular chances for himself suggests another monster haul can’t be too far away.
While the fact that Aguero played the entirety of the Hoffenheim match is a slight worry for his Fantasy owners ahead of Gameweek 8, that City have five days to recover before their trip to Liverpool and that Aguero won’t be part of the Argentina squad over the subsequent international break would suggest that he has an excellent chance of featuring from the start against Jurgen Klopp’s unbeaten Reds.
Guardiola’s faith in Gabriel Jesus (£10.2m) certainly seems to have diminished this season, with the Brazilian striker not seeing a minute off the bench last night despite Aguero’s underlying foot problem.
Meanwhile, David Silva‘s (£8.5m) excellent display and a possible hamstring injury picked up Ilkay Gundogan (£5.6m) would also seem to further the chances of the diminutive Spaniard featuring against Liverpool.
Gundogan, who was generally poor prior to his substitution, limped off on 68 minutes and the club confirmed after the match that the German midfielder would be assessed by their medical team on Wednesday (today).
If Guardiola persists with a 4-3-3, as he did last night, then Gundogan’s potential absence will be one less name to worry about in the centre of the park for Silva’s Fantasy owners in Gameweek 8. Despite a return to training, Kevin De Bruyne (£9.7m) will surely not feature this weekend either.
Silva has played in only one of City’s three away league matches this season, but his display last night left his manager purring and will surely increase his chances of starting against Liverpool.
Guardiola said:
He is one of the best players I have trained in my life.
I am a lucky guy to have many of them who are top players at Barcelona and Bayern Munich and he is in that list.
In terms of mentality, I love the players who in the bad moments step forward and say ‘I am here guys’ and he is one of them.
I am so happy for him. He deserves all of my respect.
Silva scored City’s winner on 87 minutes, while the assists for both strikes – registered by Leroy Sane (£9.2m) and Bernardo Silva (£7.6m) – would have been contentious in nature in Fantasy Premier League concerning “intended destination” and opposition touches.
Sane was a bright spark again on the left flank and had a strong shout for a penalty kick turned away, while Raheem Sterling (£11.0m) on the opposite wing wasted a glorious chance in the first half when one on one with Baumann.
Benjamin Mendy (£6.3m) was once again absent through injury, leading Guardiola to field his fourth different player at left-back this season: Aymeric Laporte (£5.7m).
While it would be unfair to overly criticise the Manchester City centre-back after being deployed in an unusual role, Laporte struggled for pace at full-back and was often dragged out of position to cover at centre-half – as was the case for Hoffenheim’s early strike.
Should Laporte reprise his role at left-back against Liverpool, which perhaps seems unlikely after last night, then Mohamed Salah (£12.9m) ought to find plenty of joy down the City left if selected.
Owners of Liverpool assets in general would have been heartened to see Vincent Kompany (£5.3m) and Nicolas Otamendi (£6.1m) struggling for pace at centre-back, though John Stones (£5.3m) now surely has a better chance of starting against the Reds after settling the City defence down on his 64th-minute introduction.
Ederson (£5.7m), who recorded an assist in Gameweek 2 for Sergio Aguero’s opening goal against Huddersfield Town, was at it again last night, with one of his laser-guided punt-outs finding the Argentinean striker and leading to the effort that whistled over Baumann’s bar.
The Brazilian goalkeeper was caught out in the second half though after misjudging a through-ball and it was left to the back-tracking Sane to spare Ederson’s blushes and prevent a Hoffenheim goal.
Manchester City XI (4-3-3) Ederson; Walker, Kompany, Otamendi (Stones 64′), Laporte; Fernandinho, Gundogan (B Silva 68′), D Silva; Sterling (Mahrez 75′), Aguero, Sane
Manchester United 0-0 Valencia
Another home match for Manchester United without victory hardly instils confidence in their Fantasy assets ahead of the enticing-looking home league fixture against Newcastle United this weekend and increased pressure on the under-fire Jose Mourinho.
It wasn’t long ago that Romelu Lukaku (£11.0m) was touted in some quarters as a possible premium FPL pick in attack but the Belgian forward delivered another static performance last night after back-to-back blanks in Gameweeks 6 and 7.
It wasn’t until after the 70-minute mark that Lukaku had his first effort on goal, but the United frontman was far from alone in his insipid display and indeed the substitution of the unrecognisable Alexis Sanchez (£10.1m) was greeted by cheers from the Old Trafford faithful.
Mourinho acknowledged his side’s current offensive failings after full-time:
We don’t have the technical quality to build from the back. The players tried. They raised the level of their intensity in spite of the fact we don’t have many with that intensity.
We had probably a couple of the biggest chances to win it but I have accepted the result as a fair result.
We tried to do something we did well which was to stop a fast team on the counter-attack. We knew we wouldn’t create 20 chances.
Our attacking players aren’t in their best moments of confidence and individual level. We thought with three or four chances we would score and win the game.
Marcus Rashford (£6.7m) was perhaps United’s brightest spark having been deployed on the left wing and came close to breaking the deadlock with a free-kick that clipped the woodwork late on.
Paul Pogba (£8.1m) was far from his best but was saddled with two defensive midfielders in Nemanja Matic (£5.0m) and Marouane Fellaini (£5.0m) alongside him, with the Belgian in a slightly more advanced role than usual in the midfield three.
Pogba created a decent chance for Lukaku in the second half and had a free-kick tipped over by Neto in the Valencia goal, but all is clearly not well between the French midfielder and the club after the post-match suggestion that he has been gagged by United following recent events.
Only two FPL midfielders have had more goal attempts than Pogba this season and a home match with Newcastle would ordinarily have seemed an excellent fixture for investing in the France international, but with his situation at United as volatile as it is there seems little cause for championing his case ahead of Gameweek 8.
Luke Shaw (£5.1m) played the full 90 minutes at left-back in Ashley Young‘s (£5.8m) injury-enforced absence and came close to registering an assist when Lukaku nodded his corner wide late on.
Antonio Valencia (£6.5m) had a fairly wretched game at right-back, however, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he is once again overlooked for a league fixture this weekend – particularly after liking a post on social media calling for Mourinho to be sacked.
Valencia has since issued an apology:
These are not my views and I apologise for this.
I am fully supportive of the manager and my team-mates. We are all giving our everything to improve the results.
Manchester United XI (4-3-3): De Gea; Valencia, Bailly, Smalling, Shaw; Fellaini, Matic, Pogba; Sanchez (Martial 76′), Lukaku, Rashford
Everton 1-1 Southampton (3-4 penalties)
- Goals: Theo Walcott (£6.6m) | Danny Ings (£5.7m)
- Assists: Oumar Niasse (£5.2m) | Nathan Redmond (£5.3m)
There were 13 changes made to the starting XIs at Goodison Park yesterday evening for the Carabao Cup match between Everton and Southampton, but some of the more widely owned Fantasy assets from either side were given a run-out.
Danny Ings (£5.7m) played the full 90 minutes and was on the scoresheet for the Saints, grabbing the game’s opening goal just before the interval after a Nathan Redmond (£5.3m) cut-back.
Ings had earlier had an excellent chance saved by Maarten Stekelenburg (£4.0m), while Redmond had himself clipped the post after a mistake by Morgan Schneiderlin (£4.5m).
Richarlison (£6.6m) and Theo Walcott (£6.7m) were thrown on as second-half substitutes by Marco Silva, meanwhile, as the Toffees attempted to peg back that one-goal deficit and the alterations paid dividends when Walcott latches onto a through-ball from fellow substitute Oumar Niasse (£5.2m) to send the tie to penalties.
Walcott and Richarlison, however, both missed from the spot in the subsequent shootout, with the Brazilian’s dismal effort sailing high over the bar. If Everton were in the market for a new penalty-taker after Gylfi Sigurdsson‘s (£7.3m) miss from 12 yards on Saturday, then neither of his fellow midfielders laid down a good marker.
Silva refused to blame either of his first-choice wingers, however:
Richarlison, even Theo, they will have all of our support to go forward. It wasn’t the first moment when one good player missed a penalty.
If the players are kicking the penalties, it is because I take that decision. During the match, we missed some chances as well and we didn’t score.
Bernard (£5.9m) looked tidy on the wing in a 4-2-3-1 in the first half, which became a 4-4-2 in the second half as “number 10” Kieran Dowell (£4.5m) was hooked at half-time in favour of an out-and-out striker in Niasse.
The pint-sized Brazilian forced Angus Gunn (£4.4m) into a decent stop in the first half and then provided a beautifully lofted through-ball for the lively Ademola Lookman (£5.1m) to latch onto after the interval.
Silva praised his attacking midfielders after the match:
Everyone will agree with me that the wingers did well and Kieran tried. He gave good things for us, he needs more.
Leighton Baines (£5.3m) played at left-back, meanwhile, in an otherwise unchanged back four.
After his goal off the bench last weekend, Cenk Tosun (£6.8m) had a torrid evening up front and did little to suggest he will start at Leicester in Gameweek 8.
Mark Hughes experimented with wing-backs for the trip to Goodison Park as the Saints rolled out a 3-4-3.
Jan Bednarek (£3.9m), who lined up alongside Maya Yoshida (£4.2m) and Jack Stephens (£4.4m) at centre-back, went close to scoring with a header from a Redmond corner before Walcott’s equaliser.
Hughes admitted that the strong performance from his squad players in this different system gives him a dilemma ahead of the visit of Chelsea this Sunday:
A number of guys have come into the side who haven’t played a huge amount of football lately, but acquitted themselves really well. It gives me food for thought.
Hughes reserved praise for goalkeeper Gunn too:
We made changes, and there were a number of things I wanted to look at. Each and every one of the changes were ready to compete – Angus, in particular, did really well.
Excellent in the penalty shoot-out and the one on one save from [Ademola] Lookman was also important. We needed his calmness, I thought he gave us a presence at the back.
He wasn’t fazed by anything in front of him, and that helped the guys.
Everton XI (4-2-3-1): Stekelenburg; Kenny, Keane, Zouma, Baines; Davies, Schneiderlin (Walcott 79); Lookman (Richarlison 60′), Dowell (Niasse 46′), Bernard; Tosun
Southampton XI (3-4-3): Gunn; Yoshida, Bednarek, Stephens; Targett, Hojbjerg, Lemina, Cedric; Redmond, Gabbiadini (Davis 73′), Ings
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