Guimaraes shines as rotation hits hard at Leicester

We round up the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from Newcastle United v Leicester City in our Scout Notes summary.

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BRUNO’S THE BOY

After his brace of goals on Sunday, Bruno Guimaraes (£4.9m) has now netted three times in five starts for Newcastle, one more than he managed in his final 47 Ligue 1 games for Lyon.

The budget-freeing differential scrambled the ball over the line for his side’s first-half equaliser, before his close-range header late on sealed the points.

The Brazilian is thriving as a right-sided number eight in Eddie Howe’s 4-3-3 formation and at times looks a level above those around him.

On the day, he posted match-leading totals for goal attempts (four), shots in the box (four) and big chances (four), although those figures do need context, given that three efforts arrived in the same action which resulted in the Magpies’ opener.

However, it’s hard to argue against the value he offers right now as a sub-£5.0m midfielder, despite some middling goal threat numbers.

GUIMARAES BY NUMBERS – LAST SIX MATCHES

Above: Bruno Guimaraes’ touch heatmap in his last two outings

For Chris Wood (£6.8m), however, it was a day to forget as he departed after 69 minutes with just one shot on goal.

As a result of today’s win, Newcastle have now won five consecutive home league games and have lost just once in 11 home matches since Howe was appointed in November, with Crystal Palace up next on Wednesday.

“Magnificent in every aspect. Especially out of possession. Due to our three midfielders in there it was very good. He had treatment on his back at half-time. He looked fatigued. But it wasn’t in my plans to take him off. He cares deeply whether we win or lose. That’s what I love about him. You need players who will give their all on the pitch.” – Eddie Howe on Bruno Guimaraes

“I thought we had the best chances. Leicester were probably in control of the game but we had some really good moments and I thought our defensive resilience in the second half, as Leicester took control of the ball, was excellent. We hung in there, made it difficult for them to penetrate us, and got rewarded for that with the counter-attack goal at the end.” – Eddie Howe

RODGERS ROTATES

Brendan Rodgers unsurprisingly made wholesale changes to the Leicester side that beat PSV in the Europa Conference League in midweek.

Just Kasper Schmeichel (£4.9m), Youri Tielemans (£6.4m) and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£4.4m) retained their places, which meant popular FPL picks James Maddison (£7.0m) and Harvey Barnes (£6.6m) had to settle for cameos from the bench.

In their respective 30 and 24-minute run-outs, neither of the pair was able to make an impact, but on a more positive note, you would now expect the duo to feature from the off at Everton on Wednesday.

However, Barnes will need to step up after several sub-par performances, with Ademola Lookman (£5.9m) impressing in his absence. The winger has now produced back-to-back Premier League goals and also performed well as a substitute in Eindhoven, while Rodgers spoke only last week about how his best position was coming off the left.

As for Leicester, today marked the 17th goal of the season they have conceded from set-piece situations (more than any other side), while they have also suffered six defeats in their last eight Premier League away matches ahead of Wednesday’s trip to Everton.

Newcastle United XI: Dubravka, Krafth, Schar, Burn, Targett, Shelvey, Guimaraes, Joelinton, Almiron (Murphy 70), Saint-Maximin (Gayle 90+1), Wood (Willock 69)

Leicester City XI: Schmeichel, Justin, Amartey, Soyuncu, Thomas, Mendy, Tielemans, Dewsbury-Hall, Perez (Maddison 60), Lookman (Barnes 66), Daka (Iheanacho 78)