Budget FPL defender Livramento and Saints set for favourable fixtures

MANCHESTER CITY 0-0 SOUTHAMPTON

• Bonus: Jan Bednarek (£4.4m) x3, Ederson (£6.0m) x2, Ruben Dias (£6.1m) x2

NO MINUTES FOR TORRES

The failure of Manchester City to buy a striker to replace Sergio Aguero, combined with the desire of Gabriel Jesus (£8.6m) to play as a wide forward, significantly boosted the out-of-position potential for Ferran Torres (£7.2m). Listed in midfield, the thought of a mid-priced asset playing as a striker for the champions escalated in excitement following his 18-point haul against Arsenal in Gameweek 3.

However, two price rises later and it’s a familiar scenario for those who put faith into the likes of Riyad Mahrez (£8.8m), Raheem Sterling (£10.8m) and Phil Foden (£7.9m) in recent times: Pep Roulette. As City chased a goal to break the deadlock, Guardiola was able to bring on Mahrez, Foden and Kevin De Bruyne (£11.9m), yet no Torres.

“Today we didn’t win not because we don’t have a centre-forward. We didn’t win because the process to build up, to create, to give better balls to the players up front was not good. The reason is because we didn’t do the process for our back four and Fernandinho. The five guys who have to bring the ball to the other players was not good today.”

Pep Guardiola

Back-to-back trips to Chelsea and Liverpool further dent the Spaniard’s short-term appeal, especially considering the strong weekend for cheaper assets like Ismaila Sarr (£6.1m) and Raphinha (£6.5m).

BARGAIN LIVRAMENTO RETURNS AGAIN

It was a very impressive clean sheet for visitors Southampton. Following their 0-0 against West Ham, the Saints not only prevented Man City from winning 5-0 for a third consecutive home game but ensured that they couldn’t produce a shot on target until the 90^th minute.

Tino Livramento (£4.2m) has quickly developed from a pre-season footnote into one of the first names on Ralph Hasenhuttl’s teamsheet. After a one-season break from the £4.0m defensive wonders of John Lundstram and Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£5.4m), this attacking full-back – who still got forward even at the Etihad (see below) – brings enormous potential to FPL.

Above: Tino Livramento’s touch heatmap against Man City

Livramento received a late yellow card but his five points provided an unexpected boost to the many who had to turn to their benches due to the weekend’s high-profile absences. Southampton will be pleased with this draw, although securing four in a row can be interpreted in different ways. Difficult to beat or are they decisive enough to win matches?

On top of a home game against a misfiring Wolves this weekend, a promising run of fixtures from Gameweek 8 against Leeds (H), Burnley (H), Watford (a), Aston Villa (H) and Norwich (a) not only boosts Livramento’s appeal but that of Adam Armstrong (£6.0m). The striker had four attempts on goal on Saturday and was unlucky not to have been given a penalty after a suspicious challenge from Kyle Walker (£5.5m).

If Armstrong can retain his place in the starting line-up ahead of Che Adams (£6.9m) and Armando Broja (£5.0m), his cheap price could tempt managers to proceed with him as an enabler when stocking up on premium assets like Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.7m) and Romelu Lukaku (£11.6m).

DIAS LOOKING SUPREME IN DEFENCE

Two successive Southampton clean sheets is good but Man City are now on a streak of four, having played 395 minutes since conceding a league goal. They have allowed the fewest number of shots (32, almost half of Chelsea’s 60) and just six from set pieces. Alongside Ederson and Joao Cancelo (£6.0m), Ruben Dias is one of three to have played every minute of the season, with the centre-back already delivering five bonus points. His last 31 league starts have returned an outstanding 19 shut-outs.

Manchester City XI: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Ake, Cancelo; Bernardo Silva (Foden 72), Fernandinho (De Bruyne 65), Gundogan; Jesus (Mahrez 67), Sterling, Grealish

Southampton XI: McCarthy; Livramento (Perraud 86), Stephens (Salisu 37), Bednarek, Walker-Peters; Elyounoussi, Ward-Prowse, Romeu, Redmond; Adams (Broja 68), Armstrong

ASTON VILLA 3-0 EVERTON

• Goals: Matty Cash (£5.0m), Lucas Digne (£5.4m) own goal, Leon Bailey (£6.4m)
• Assists: Douglas Luiz (£4.5m), Bailey, Danny Ings (£7.9m)
• Bonus: Cash x3, Emiliano Martinez (£5.5m) x2, Bailey

BAILEY HAS ARRIVED

It was an action-packed cameo for new signing Leon Bailey (£6.4m). The £30m signing entered proceedings in the second half to play his first minutes at Villa Park, going on to assist the Lucas Digne (£5.4m) own-goal, score one of his own and get booked before being taken off with a quad injury after just 21 minutes.

The 24-year-old was bought with Jack Grealish (£8.0m) money and arrives with an exciting reputation, having scored 39 times in his four full seasons at Bayer Leverkusen. Hamstring troubles mean he is yet to start for Dean Smith’s side but, combined with his opening day assist, Bailey has scored once and set up two more during 84 minutes of action. He believes Saturday evening’s injury was caused by the ferocity of the strike that blasted past Asmir Begovic (£4.0m).

“The injury was actually from the shot – I think I hit it too hard so I started feeling a little stiff in my quad. But I don’t think it should be anything serious. Instead of risking it I decided to come out – because we have a lot of games coming up. So no worries.”

Leon Bailey

Aston Villa again lined up in a wing-back formation that enabled Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins (£7.3m) to play as a partnership up front. Whether a fully-fit Bailey reverts Villa back to the 4-2-3-1 remains to be seen, as it may have been forced by the absence of both himself and Emi Buendia (£6.4m). Away meetings with Manchester United and Tottenham dent their short-term appeal, although the tactics may become clearer by the subsequent run of six promising fixtures.

GRAY BLANKS AS DIGNE CONTINUES TO DISAPPOINT

Demarai Gray (£5.8m) has collected an ownership of 17.6% because of successive goals against Leeds United, Brighton and Hove Albion and Burnley but that run ended against Villa. His stats seemed unsustainable, with those three goals coming from just three shots on target and four attempts from inside the box.

His successful start on Merseyside has been unexpected and he seems to be the default choice of midfielder in the sub-£6.0m bracket, although his xGI (expected goal involvement) of 1.60 ranks below seven others in this range.

At the back, Digne has returned a pitiful nine points from five matches, notching his third Premier League own-goal when nodding Bailey’s in-swinging corner past his goalkeeper. However, managers wanting to get rid of the Frenchman may want to wait one more Gameweek – the Toffees are about to face Norwich at home.

RICHARLISON OUT FOR “2/3 WEEKS”

Whilst Everton came from behind to defeat Burnley 3-1 without the injured Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£8.1m), things were more difficult here. Rafa Benitez was also robbed of Richarlison (£7.5m) up front due to a knee injury, so handed a first start to Salomon Rondon (£6.0m). The Venezuelan’s only two touches in the penalty box were shots but he couldn’t convert either.

“We started the game quite well and in the first half had a lot of situations on the counter-attack where the final decision was not right – but we were very close. Salomon, Demarai Gray and Alex Iwobi [had chances], so we had two or three situations where it could have been different.” – Rafa Benitez

Benitez believes Richarlison, Seamus Coleman (£5.0m) and Jordan Pickford (£5.0m) will be out for “two to three weeks minimum”, with the goalkeeper missing out due to a shoulder problem and Irishman suffering a hamstring strain.

Aston Villa XI: Martinez; Konsa, Tuanzebe, Mings; Cash (Traore 86), McGinn (Nakamba 40), Douglas Luiz, Ramsey, Targett (Bailey 61 (Young 82)); Watkins, Ings

Everton XI: Begovic; Godfrey (Kenny 80), Mina, Keane, Digne; Allan (Gordon 72), Doucoure; Townsend, Gray, Iwobi (Davies 81); Rondon (Andre Gomes 63)

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW FROM GAMEWEEK 5

• Saturday summary in brief
• Sunday summary in brief
• Newcastle 1-1 Leeds: Raphinha injury latest
• Wolves 0-2 Brentford: Bees defence to give Salah a tough test
• Burnley 0-1 Arsenal: Gunners defence looking solid
• Liverpool 3-0 Crystal Palace: Why Alexander-Arnold missed GW5
• Man City 0-0 Southampton: Livramento and Saints set for favourable fixtures
• Norwich 1-3 Watford: Why £4.0m Foster started in Gameweek 5
• Aston Villa 3-0 Everton: Richarlison out for 2/3 weeks
• Brighton 2-1 Leicester: Budget asset Duffy returns again from a set play
• West Ham 1-2 Man Utd: Shaw blanks but remains creative force
• Spurs 0-3 Chelsea: The reason for Mendy’s absence as Chelsea defence excel again