We round up the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from Manchester United v Chelsea in our Scout Notes summary.
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RONALDO’S HOME COMFORTS
Cristiano Ronaldo’s (£12.2m) goal cancelled out Marcos Alonso’s (£5.6m) opener in the final match of Double Gameweek 34.
The Portuguese had scored two hat-tricks in his past two appearances at Old Trafford, doing so in 3-2 victories over Tottenham Hotspur and Norwich City, and continued that rich vein of form with an emphatic second-half strike.
Ronaldo has now remarkably scored eight of United’s last nine Premier League goals, including each of the last five.
He is also the leading Premier League home goalscorer, with his tally of 13 at least two more than any other player:
“Not only the goal Cristiano (Ronaldo) scored but his whole performance, his attitude at age of 37, this is not normal to do that. If he plays like he did today he can still be a big help to this team. It is Erik’s (ten Hag) and Cristiano’s decision for what he can do next but today his performance was really great.” – Ralf Rangnick on Cristiano Ronaldo
“We showed a good reaction in the second half, and it was a great finish from Cristiano Ronaldo. In the first half we had our problems and we needed a few great saves from David de Gea. Second half we did better and we got more control. You could see they are a top team, it’s no coincidence they won the Champions League and we don’t have much confidence and had eight players missing. Although it was still a lucky draw, we earned it. At times we saw the gap, but they played with their best XI and we had players missing. We have problems with defending, not compact enough and not physical enough.” – Ralf Rangnick
CHELSEA’S WING-BACKS
Marcos Alonso scored his second goal in four matches for Chelsea on Thursday, a lovely angled volley that flew past David de Gea (£5.1m).
As a result, the Spaniard ends Double Gameweek 34 as the Blues’ highest-scoring player, with an impressive 19 points across his two outings.
However, Reece James (£6.4m) – who recovered from injury and was back on the right-flank – was incredibly unfortunate not to return, too.
The England international added another dimension to Chelsea’s attacking play, hitting the outside of the post from a Mason Mount (£7.7m) pass and producing a David Beckham-esque cross that Kai Havertz (£7.9m) really should have done better with.
JAMES V MAN UTD
| Metric | Total | Match rank |
| Shots | 4 | 2nd= |
| Shots in the box | 3 | 2nd |
| Chances created | 3 | 3rd= |
| Crosses | 10 | 1st |
| Penalty box touches | 10 | 1st |
| Final-third touches | 57 | 1st |
“Reece James played a very good match and Mason Mount unlucky with his decisions.” – Thomas Tuchel
WASTEFUL HAVERTZ
Chelsea carved open United’s defence a number of times, particularly in the first-half, and they will kick themselves that they didn’t take maximum points from Old Trafford.
That it was goalless at half-time was largely due to Kai Havertz, who missed three major openings for the Blues in the opening 45 minutes.
In fact, the German racked up 0.96 expected goals (xG) against United from five shots, more than any other player on the pitch.
However, he did at least provide an assist for his owners, with his flick-on finding Alonso at the far post.
“He needs to fight back into his shape. The guys are still young upfront and we will not start pointing fingers. At Southampton and at the Bernabeu, we took our chances. So, when we look at the data, there is a huge amount of intensity from Kai (Havertz) and Timo (Werner), so they don’t arrive fully fresh in these moments.” – Thomas Tuchel on Kai Havertz
Chelsea’s remaining games after this are as follows, with the second part of their Gameweek 36 double-header against Leeds United looking particularly troublesome for rotation, given that it arrives just three days before the FA Cup final.
- Sunday 1 May: Gameweek 35 – Everton (a)
- Saturday 7 May: Gameweek 36 – Wolverhampton Wanderers (h)
- Wednesday 11 May: Gameweek 36 – Leeds United (a)
- Saturday 14 May: FA Cup final – Liverpool (n)
- Thursday 19 May: Gameweek 37 – Leicester City (h)
- Sunday 22 May: Gameweek 38 – Watford (h)
Manchester United XI: de Gea, Dalot, Lindelof, Varane, Telles, McTominay, Matic (Jones 79), Elanga (Garnacho 90+1), Fernandes, Rashford (Mata 79), Ronaldo
Chelsea XI: Mendy, Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva, Rudiger, James, Jorginho, Kante (Loftus-Cheek 82), Alonso, Mount, Werner (Pulisic 71), Havertz (Lukaku 70)
