Pochettino discusses Son’s availability after latest cup exit

Our Scout Notes series focuses on the two FA Cup matches contested on Sunday evening, as Spurs became the 13th Premier League club to bow out of the competition before the fourth round is even completed.

Chelsea, meanwhile, cruised into the last 16 as Gonzalo Higuaín made his Blues debut.

You can read our initial thoughts on Sunday’s Double Gameweek announcement here and our write-ups of the other relevant FA Cup ties via this page.

Crystal Palace 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur

• Goals: Connor Wickham, Andros Townsend
• Assists: Jeffrey Schlupp

Mauricio Pochettino said Son Heung-min (£8.6m) looked “tired” after his return to the club from the Asian Cup – but didn’t rule out playing the South Korea international against Watford on Wednesday night.

Son wasn’t involved at Selhurst Park on Sunday as Spurs slumped to a second domestic cup exit in the space of 72 hours, with the mid-price FPL midfielder having been in action for his country only on Friday.

Pochettino said of his player:

Today, we were with him on the training ground in the morning. He’s so tired, he played three games. Very tough games.

Of course, not too much energy today but I think, we hope, for Wednesday he’ll be ready and available to help the team.

An early return from the United Arab Emirates, an imminent triple-header at Wembley and a guaranteed fixture in Blank Gameweek 27 has enhanced Son’s appeal over the last two days.

Just over 40,000 more FPL managers have drafted the Korean into their squads ahead of Gameweek 24, though Son is still within the “differential” bracket given that he sits in only 4.8% of Fantasy squads at the time of writing.

Christian Eriksen (£9.4m) wasn’t part of the matchday squad at Selhurst Park, either, with Pochettino explaining:

He’s rested because he’s so tired. He played a lot in the last few months. Of course, today is a massive risk to play with him. It’s 90 minutes. It’s the FA Cup.

It’s a game you must win. But of course I rest some players and today I rest him and Toby [Alderweireld].

With Son and Eriksen having earned a breather and Dele Alli (£8.9m) and Harry Kane (£12.5m) sidelined through injury, Spurs struggled to carve their hosts open and wasted what few clear chances came their way: Georges Kevin Nkoudou (£4.8m) twice being denied by Julian Speroni (£3.9m) in the same move and Kieran Trippier (£6.1m) blazing a penalty wide with the Lilywhites two goals down.

Speroni also tipped a Fernando Llorente (£5.6m) shot round the post but the fact that Spurs couldn’t breach a second-string Palace defence – Patrick van Aanholt (£5.4m) aside – underscored just how much they missed their first-choice attacking quartet.

Son and Eriksen’s involvement against Watford may change all that, of course, though with the Korean evidently fatigued there is still legitimate concern about just how appealing Spurs’ Fantasy assets are for their midweek fixture.

Pochettino said he had no regrets about his team selection in south London:

Regrets? No, no. We played with our best team that we can play at the moment. I think it was a moment, of course, for different players to play, to help the team. I think we came from a very crazy fixture [list] and were forced to take some decisions, rest some players and rotate. But like in the past we are going to play Wednesday, too, and Saturday. Always this is a disadvantage against our opponent. Watford played yesterday.

The Spurs boss had set up with a 3-4-2-1 at kick-off but switched to a 4-2-3-1 at half-time, with Jan Vertonghen (£5.9m) sacrificed at the break.

Lucas Moura (£6.8m) made his first start since recovering from injury and had a so-so game but at least offers Pochettino another attack-minded option ahead of the visit of the Hornets.

Spurs’ defence hardly covered themselves in glory either, with Davinson Sanchez (£5.8m) guilty of all-too-easily letting Jeffrey Schlupp (£4.4m) past him in the build-up to Connor Wickham’s (£4.9m) tap-in before Kyle Walker-Peters (£4.2m) committed a senseless handball to gift Andros Townsend (£5.8m) a penalty.

Roy Hodgson made six changes to his side for this encounter, with Wickham leading the line in between Wilfried Zaha (£6.7m) and Townsend.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.5m) was among the Palace players to be handed a rest, with Joel Ward (£4.3m) impressing in his stead at right-back.

Hodgson said of his Wickham’s goalscoring display:

The fact is that he’s worked hard to get where he is, it’s good that he’s had the chance today. Had it been a league game he wouldn’t have had that chance as Jordan [Ayew] would have played in the centre-forward position.

But I decided to rest Jordan so he could play and he took the opportunity which is very creditable and I’m very pleased about.

I don’t want to say anything that could even be interpreted as remotely negative, but it is two-and-a-quarter years and the fact is coming back and playing for 70 or 75 minutes and getting a goal, it can’t get much better than that for you, but if you suddenly believe ‘well that’s it now and now it’s going to be just like it was four or five years ago when I was in my prime’, I think that would be too much to ask.

He has to keep training, keep himself fit enough to get out to all the training sessions which is something he’s been doing now for the last five or six weeks. In my previous year-and-a-quarter at the club he never had that spell of training every day, there was always a spell followed by a breakdown, followed by a new spell, followed by a breakdown.

I think the reason he’s playing now and can play from the start is because he’s training and the reason also is because Christian Benteke who has been doing it for the last two or three weeks can come on and give us the 15 minutes that he can give.

Bakary Sako has re-signed for the Eagles until the end of the season, meanwhile, with Hodgson adding:

We hope he is going to give us what he gave us before he had that very bad ankle injury. We are hoping that he can come back and give us what he gave us then which was a boost in training every day with his joyful attitude and enthusiasm, and the fact he’s so well-liked in the group.

He wanted to come, we wanted to take him and it’s another very useful addition to our squad because wide areas and forward areas we are still limited to some extent because Connor and Christian we’ve still got to see how that progresses on a weekly basis.

Crystal Palace XI (4-3-3): Speroni; Ward, Kelly, Dann, Van Aanholt; Meyer (Milivojevic 78′), Kouyate, Schlupp; Townsend (Ayew 87′), Zaha, Wickham (Benteke 69′).

Tottenham Hotspur XI (3-4-2-1): Gazzaniga; Foyth, Sanchez, Vertonghen (Lamela 45′); Trippier, Skipp, Dier (Wanyama 62′), Walker-Peters; Moura (Sterling 80′) N’Koudou; Llorente.

Chelsea 3-0 Sheffield Wednesday

• Goals: Willian x2, Callum Hudson-Odoi
• Assists: Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen, Olivier Giroud

Gonzalo Higuaín (£9.5m) made his Chelsea debut on Sunday as the Blues coasted to an FA Cup fourth-round victory over Sheffield Wednesday.

The on-loan striker showed glimpses of promise but it was generally a quiet evening for the Argentinean, with wingers Willian (£7.2m) and Callum Hudson-Odoi (£4.2m) stealing the show with their performances and goals.

Higuaín indeed registered fewer touches than any Chelsea player who started the tie at Stamford Bridge – even goalkeeper Willy Caballero (£4.7m) – and had limited opportunities, though showed excellent movement when latching onto a Mateo Kovacic (£5.7m) pass on 19 minutes before seeing his shot deflected away.

The burning question from a Fantasy perspective remains unanswered for now, though: that is, whether Higuaín can have a beneficial effect on Eden Hazard (£11.0m).

The Belgian was given the evening off after his excellent display against Spurs in the Carabao Cup last Thursday, so Wednesday’s trip to Bournemouth may be the first match in which the two are paired together.

Higuaín has already been bought by over 50,000 FPL managers since being added to the game though other Fantasy bosses may be willing to give the former Real Madrid forward a little while longer to impress given that the Blues have a blank in Gameweek 27 and meet Manchester City and Spurs either side of it.

Standing in for Maurizio Sarri in the obligatory post-match press conference, Gianfranco Zola said of Higuain:

Considering it was his first game, you will see more from him. A couple of times in the first half he made some great moves into space and he nearly got the right ball.

I’m personally satisfied with him, but he’s going to get better because he needs to build up an understanding with the others. Sometimes in the first half he was making movement but we couldn’t see his movement and it’s something we need to improve.

Hudson-Odoi reportedly handed in a transfer request ahead of Sunday’s tie but impressed in the second half especially, scoring Chelsea’s second goal after bringing down Andreas Christensen‘s (£5.0m) excellent pass with two beautiful touches.

Zola said of the budget FPL midfielder’s future:

I don’t know if he will stay. We want him to stay, he has a contract, we are playing him, we believe in what he can do for this team.

There are not many 18-year olds in Europe who are playing as much as he is in a big team. That shows we believe him, we think he can be an important player for us, so we will see what happens.

We can do as much as we can do. He has a lot of strong players around him but we are still finding space to play him.

If we played him it’s because yesterday in training his attitude was excellent. He really played well. He scored a fantastic goal in training yesterday too. He didn’t show any signs which is why he played today.

Chelsea’s only shot on target of the first half was Willian’s converted 26th-minute penalty and the Brazilian was arguably the pick of the players at Stamford Bridge, scoring an excellent second goal with a curling effort from an Olivier Giroud (£7.7m) lay-off.

Kovacic impressed on the right of central midfield, playing in N’Golo Kante‘s (£5.0m) usual position – the Frenchman also being handed a breather on Sunday evening.

Marcos Alonso (£6.6m) returned at left-back after being benched in the Carabao Cup semi-final against Spurs but, like Higuaín, the Spanish defender had a somewhat quiet evening, not being called upon too much defensively and offering little in attack.

The Blues were rarely troubled by Wednesday but had a scare with the game still goalless – VAR coming to the hosts’ rescue as a penalty decision against Ethan Ampadu (£4.4m) was overturned.

Brighton and Hove Albion’s 0-0 draw with West Bromwich Albion on Saturday means that the Seagulls will require a replay on Tuesday week and puts an end to any suggestion that Chelsea may join Manchester City and Everton in having a Double Gameweek 25.

Chelsea XI (4-3-3): Caballero; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Christensen, Alonso; Kovacic, Ampadu (Loftus-Cheek 65′), Barkley (Jorginho 84′); Hudson-Odoi, Higuain, Willian.

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