With Wednesday night’s two Carabao Cup ties out of the way, Fantasy managers now only have the congested Premier League schedule to worry about over the next fortnight.
The EFL Cup matches at the Emirates and Stamford Bridge left us with plenty to ponder for Gameweek 18 and beyond, however, with many big names seeing action either from the start or off the bench.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Kieran Trippier, Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen and Callum Wilson were among those players who were handed 90-minute run-outs, while owners of Eden Hazard, Harry Kane, Alexandre Lacazette and Ryan Fraser would have been reassured to see their Fantasy assets only given cameos off the bench.
We’ll round up the goals, assists, Fantasy talking points, injury news and manager quotes from last night’s fixtures in London.
Arsenal 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur
- Goals: Son Heung-min (£8.5m), Dele Alli (£8.9m)
- Assists: Dele Alli, Harry Kane (£12.6m)
For those Fantasy managers hoping for limited minutes or a rest for their premium strikers in the north London derby, there was mixed news.
Harry Kane (£12.6m) and Alexandre Lacazette (£9.6m) both came off the bench in the 58th minute of last night’s encounter, perhaps hinting that starts are in the offing when Gameweek 18 rolls around this weekend.
Kane had been suffering with a “cold” in the lead-up to this Carabao Cup quarter-final and the end result of a half-hour run-out was perhaps the best scenario his owners could envisage, with the worst of his illness seemingly over but his midweek minutes limited as a result of the ailment.
A week after his start in the Europa League caused hearts to sink among his owners, Lacazette dropped to the bench for this tie – a potentially significant move ahead of the visit of Burnley on Saturday.
With the Gunners next in league action roughly 62 hours after the completion of Wednesday night’s defeat, there must be concern about the prospects of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£11.5m) lining up for the match against Sean Dyche’s troops on Saturday lunchtime.
The Gabonese striker played the entirety of the north London derby, failing to find the net for the fourth successive fixture.
Even for those Fantasy managers who prefer not to overanalyse midweek minutes, Aubameyang’s performance as the sole central striker – not for the first time this season – didn’t particularly convince on the eye.
It seems preposterous to suggest that Arsenal look less of an all-round threat with the Premier League’s joint-leading goalscorer playing as the lone spearhead but Aubameyang was peripheral as a bona fide striker last night, not managing one shot on target before being shifted out to the left flank upon Lacazette’s introduction.
The former Borussia Dortmund striker teed up Lacazette for a shot that clipped the post shortly after, before striking the crossbar himself with a mishit cross.
Aubameyang has, of course, proved to be adept at making the most of what few chances he has been presented with, disappearing for large chunks of games before popping up with an almost inevitable goal in predatory fashion.
He remains a premium FPL striker to be reckoned with but it wouldn’t be a huge shock to see his role change this weekend, either rested to the bench for the visit of Burnley or perhaps even redeployed as a left-winger again, should Emery persist with the 4-2-3-1 formation he used last night.
Aubameyang has played 90 minutes in each of Arsenal’s last six Premier League matches and with four fixtures to contest in the space of 11 days over Christmas, he will surely be handed a breather at some point over the festive period.
Lacazette, meanwhile, hasn’t played more than 45 minutes of a domestic fixture since Gameweek 12.
Kane made an impact almost instantly after his introduction, claiming an assist by setting Dele Alli (£8.9m) free to put Spurs two goals ahead just before the hour-mark.
Kane didn’t manage a shot on goal himself in the half an hour that followed but his hold-up play and tendency to drop into deeper positions was all-the-more understandable last night given that Spurs were closing out the match at 2-0 up.
As good as Son Heung-min (£8.5m) was at leading the line in Kane’s absence, we can surely expect the most expensive forward in FPL to be back in the starting XI on Sunday when the Lilywhites head to Goodison Park.
Son opened the scoring on 20 minutes from a fine Alli through-ball, before dropping back into an attacking midfield position and eventually being replaced on 79 minutes.
Speaking of the South Korean international, confirmation came on Thursday morning that Son had been called up to his country’s Asian Games squad:
His delayed departure means he will be available to Fantasy managers until Gameweek 22 and at worst, he will likely only miss three Premier League matches – potentially fewer, should Korea not progress to the latter stages of the tournament.
It was another impressive performance from Spurs’ attacking midfielders, with Christian Eriksen (£9.3m) full of his usual probing and Alli the star of the show with his goal and assist.
Alli’s slightly “deeper” role in the Spurs midfield may deter Fantasy investment but the 22-year-old England international is developing into a clever player, seemingly knowing exactly when to retreat alongside Spurs’ two defensive midfielders – Harry Winks (£5.5m) and Moussa Sissoko (£4.9m) last night – and when he should be making those sojourns into the opposition box.
Only Eriksen had more shots than Alli at the Emirates (most of the Dane’s efforts were from distance), with the former MK Dons prospect demonstrating his knack for well-timed runs by getting onto the end of two Kieran Trippier (£6.1m) crosses.
The midfield rotation roulette will no doubt continue for Spurs this weekend, with perhaps Erik Lamela (£6.2m) in line for a start after his benching last night, but an away fixture at Goodison Park is arguably not the match to be making wholesale changes or playing anything other than your best eleven.
Alli’s form may see him retain his start, especially with an extra day’s rest ahead of Sunday’s televised encounter, though Eriksen has been handled more delicately after an abdominal injury and hasn’t started in either of Spurs’ last two Premier League fixtures.
Mauricio Pochettino indeed talked up Alli’s appetite for the “big games” after full-time:
I think I explained before, Dele is very competitive. He loves to compete. I explained to you that in easy situations he gets bored easily. In training he gets bored easily if you don’t put in opposition and you push him to compete, because he’s an animal, a competitive animal.
When he feels so comfortable when he’s in a very competitive space and situation he always gives his best. Yes, that is a quality he has and you cannot buy that in the supermarket, of course.
With Jan Vertonghen (£5.9m) ruled out until January and Davinson Sanchez (£5.8m) still unable to feature, Ben Davies (£5.6m) once again lined up at centre-back and he – along with the imperious Toby Alderweireld (£5.9m) – deserve a lot of credit for keeping Aubameyang so quiet.
Juan Foyth (£5.0m) was fit enough for a place on the bench, though, so could return to the defence on Merseyside this Sunday.
Trippier’s owners will be hoping Serge Aurier (£5.8m) isn’t able to return at Everton, meanwhile, with the England right-back having completed his second 90-minute run-out in five days and possibly vulnerable to rotation with concerns about his ongoing groin issue.
For Arsenal, Granit Xhaka (£5.3m) was used at centre-half alongside Sokratis (£5.1m), with Ainsley Maitland-Niles (£4.4m) and Nacho Monreal (£5.4m) deployed as the two orthodox full-backs.
Emery explained his decision after the match:
Every player is helping us with big commitments, playing in different positions, because sometimes the team needs them there.
Laurent Koscielny played on Sunday and after coming back from his injury, starting against Tottenham would have been a lot of minutes on the pitch.
Granit is helping and I am happy with him and his performance. His commitment to help us is very important.
Xhaka’s absence from central midfield seemed to again have a negative impact on Lucas Torreira (£5.2m) but with Koscielny (partially) preserved for the weekend and the likes of Shkodran Mustafi (£5.4m) and Sead Kolasinac (£5.1m) nearing a return, Arsenal’s defensive crisis is showing signs of easing.
Mesut Ozil (£8.1m), meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen, fuelling more speculation about his future.
Emery said of the German’s absence:
It’s a tactical decision because I thought that the players that were with us today were the best choices for this match.
We are thinking of every player. We have 24 or 25 players and when they are playing one game and not in another, it’s the decision. Today it was tactical.
Arsenal XI (4-2-3-1): Cech; Maitland-Niles, Sokratis, Xhaka, Monreal; Torreira, Guendouzi (Nketiah 65′); Mkhitaryan (Koscielny 46′), Ramsey, Iwobi (Lacazette 58′); Aubameyang.
Spurs XI (4-2-3-1): Gazzaniga; Trippier, Alderweireld, Davies, Rose; Sissoko, Winks; Eriksen, Moura (Kane 58′), Alli; Son (Lamela 79′).
Chelsea 1-0 Bournemouth
- Goal: Eden Hazard (£11.0m)
- Assist: Emerson (£5.2m)
Chelsea assistant manager Gianfranco Zola hailed the influence of Eden Hazard (£11.0m) after the Belgian came off the bench to grab a late winner for Chelsea in their EFL Cup quarter-final tie with Bournemouth.
Hazard linked up with fellow substitute Pedro (£6.3m) and the unwitting Emerson (£5.2m) to score the game’s only goal, with Zola paying tribute to the club’s talismanic winger:
The difference was the changes we made. When Pedro and Eden came on, they gave us an extra gear.
Eden is the type of player who can make a big difference when he comes on, even for 20 minutes.
He’s certainly one of the players who has given this club a lot of satisfaction. He is 27, and hopefully he will stay long with us and become even bigger.
Zola was also asked in his post-match press conference if the Blues would have preferred Hazard to have remained an unused substitute after the knock he picked up at the weekend, to which the Chelsea assistant replied:
We have a lot of games. Players like Eden we need to keep fit and in good condition. But we also know Eden is the type of player when he comes on, even for 20 minutes, he can make a big difference. Also Pedro. He was excellent.
Maurizio Sarri’s comments in late-November about Hazard’s workload may have deterred a few Fantasy managers but the Belgian is being rested in all the right matches as far as his existing owners are concerned – Hazard having also missed the Europa League tie against MOL Vidi last Thursday.
Hazard would appear set to return to the starting XI against Leicester this weekend and warmed up for that encounter by rifling a deflected effort past Artur Boruc (£4.0m) on 84 minutes, having set his sights with two efforts from distance prior to that point.
Hazard has led the line in Chelsea’s last two league matches and may even do so again this weekend, with Olivier Giroud (£7.7m) playing 90 minutes against the Cherries and Alvaro Morata‘s (£8.5m) availability still uncertain.
Should that happen, then Ruben Loftus-Cheek (£5.2m) laid down a marker for one of the wing roles after an excellent display against Eddie Howe’s side.
The England youngster put in a dynamic showing on the right flank before eventually moving into central midfield, with his surging runs causing problems for Bournemouth down their left.
Loftus-Cheek came close to a deserved goal when a second-half shot clipped the upright and Zola was full of praise for the budget midfielder after full-time:
I was impressed with him. He has done very well as one of the wide players, but he showed a lot of application and sacrifice when he played as a midfielder. He was getting tired towards the end but he was still disciplined and gave the team a hand.
He has come far since the beginning of the season. He has improved in many ways, and I’m pleased because he is a good boy and he works very hard on his game.
In an end-to-end encounter, Willian (£7.3m) and Ross Barkley (£5.5m) were trigger-happy from midfield without ever really troubling Boruc, while Giroud was denied by the excellent Polish shot-stopper on three occasions.
Bournemouth had their chances too, with Callum Wilson (£6.9m) looking lively in a 90-minute showing: the England striker fired one excellent chance wide on 15 minutes, had another goalbound effort blocked in the second half and was denied by an alert, on-rushing Kepa Arrizabalaga (£5.6m) on a couple of occasions.
More impressive was David Brooks (£5.1m), who turned in a superb display in an attacking midfield position as Howe experimented with a 3-5-2/3-4-1-2.
Junior Stanislas (£6.0m) and an “out of position” Nathan Ake (£5.0m) joined Brooks in central midfield, with the promising Lys Mousset (£4.9m) partnering Wilson up front.
Mousset was name-checked by Howe in his post-match presser:
One of the positives is our squad, there were players who hadn’t played regularly who did really well and it shows the strength in the squad.
I thought Lys Mousset did very well and that was his best performance for the club. Technically he reached a very high level and he’s a big part of our future.
David Luiz (£5.7m), Ryan Fraser and Joshua King (both £6.3m) only saw action from the bench, while it was also positive news for owners of Marcos Alonso (£7.0m), who was given the night off.
Chelsea XI (4-3-3): Kepa; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Christensen (Luiz 81′), Emerson; Barkley (Hazard 61′), Fabregas, Kovacic; Loftus-Cheek, Giroud, Willian (Pedro 55′)
Bournemouth XI (3-4-2-1): Boruc; S. Cook, Simpson, Daniels; Ibe, Stanislas (Fraser 63′), Ake, Rico; Brooks (Defoe 88); Mousset (King 73), Wilson.
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