A total of 19 Premier League clubs have been or are about to be in EFL Cup third-round action, with Fulham the only top-flight team to get a midweek breather.
Manchester United v Aston Villa is still to come on Thursday evening but with much to discuss from the matches on Tuesday and especially Wednesday, we’ll round up the main Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points in this Scout Notes special.
HAALAND STILL “NOT FULLY FIT”
Erling Haaland (£12.2m) was named among the substitutes for the second successive Manchester City match but, unlike in Gameweek 15, he didn’t set foot onto the turf at the Etihad.
City ran out 2-0 winners against Chelsea on Wednesday, with Julian Alvarez (£6.0m) on the scoresheet in Haaland’s stead.
A 90-minute run-out for Alvarez – starting his fifth successive competitive match – and a complete breather for Haaland might look good on paper for the Norwegian’s Gameweek 16 game-time prospects but there was another comment from Pep Guardiola after full-time about the premium forward’s fitness.
“He has to fight against one of the best strikers in the world in Erling but now Erling had problems with his feet, he’s not fully fit and we rely on Julian 100 percent.” – Pep Guardiola
FODEN UNUSED – A GOOD OMEN FOR GAMEWEEK 16?
Another unused substitute in the north-west was Phil Foden (£8.3m), who has also been benched in the last three successive Gameweeks.
Again, the lack of minutes some 63 hours before Manchester City take on Brentford in the Premier League seems to be a good thing on paper but this is the ever-unpredictable Guardiola we’re talking about here.
Ilkay Gundogan (£7.3m), the man indirectly but effectively starting over Foden lately, had his legs preserved after 50 minutes of Wednesday’s match, while Jack Grealish‘s (£6.8m) performance on the left flank was described as “magnificent” and “exceptional” by Guardiola after full-time.
The City boss even raised the prospect of fielding Alvarez and Haaland together against “deep” defences (something that Brentford may possess when they inevitably revert to a 3-5-2 this weekend), a tactic he used recently against Copenhagen in the Champions League.
“They can play together. When we play teams who defend so so deep, they can share. The good players can always play together.” – Pep Guardiola on Julian Alvarez’s role when both of City’s strikers are fit
KANE FATIGUED
A tired-looking Tottenham Hotspur slumped to a 2-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Wednesday, with Harry Kane (£11.6m) withdrawn on the hour, shortly after the hosts doubled their advantage.
“They are really tired. I tried to manage the situation, for example in midfield with Hojbjerg in the first half and Bentancur in the second half because they were really tired with the risk of injuries. The same with Harry Kane and with Harry, until this morning we waited to see if he could start or not. But in this situation he was the only striker for us.
“Other players maybe they could tell me, ‘I’m tired and don’t want to play and help the team’. When I speak, I have a group of players who are men and then good players, and because of this. Another could be selfish and think for himself because in one week they have to play the World Cup. Instead, Harry Kane showed to be a really good man. But the same for Hojbjerg and Bentancur and Perisic and Dier, another who played a lot of games.
“[Kane was] really, really tired and yesterday we had a soft training session and at one point he stopped himself to recover energy. But he’s okay, it’s only fatigue but it’s normal because Harry played every game. When you have a player like him it’s difficult to decide you don’t play with him.” – Antonio Conte
Tiredness might well be a factor heading into the meeting with a Leeds side who handed most of their regulars breathers in the 1-0 loss at Wolverhampton Wanderers, something Conte couldn’t or didn’t want to do.
There was potentially good news for Ivan Perisic (£5.5m), praised by his manager above, as Ryan Sessegnon (£4.5m) was moving very gingerly in the closing stages of the game and may well have come off had Conte not used all five of his substitutions.
RICHARLISON AND KULUSEVSKI TO START IN GAMEWEEK 16?
Some FPL managers will be looking for one-week punts in Gameweek 16, with unlimited transfers around the corner.
The newly fit-again duo of Richarlison (£8.4m) and Dejan Kulusevski (£8.0m) represent two such gambles, with a favourable fixture upon them but also lingering concerns about stamina levels and game-time following their recent lay-offs.
Conte’s post-match presser did sound positive regarding the pair’s starting prospects.
“I liked the way Richarlison came in and the effort he made showed he has recovered. The same for Deki and I hope to have them to start on Saturday. To pick them in the starting XI would be great for us, because it is an important game on Saturday. If we finished this cycle with qualification in the Champions League and a good position in the table it would be in my opinion really good.” – Antonio Conte
ROTATION AND RESTS
| Team | Starting XI changes from GW15 | Players who retained their starts |
| Arsenal | 10 | Saliba |
| Bournemouth | 9 | Travers, Mepham |
| Brentford | 6 | Raya, Roerslev, Pinnock, Henry, Lewis-Potter |
| Brighton | 8 | Dunk, Caicedo, March |
| Chelsea | 7 | Mendy, Chalobah, Cucurella, Loftus-Cheek |
| C Palace | 6 | Clyne, Guehi, Mitchell, Olise, Ayew |
| Everton | 11 | – |
| Leeds | 10 | Harrison |
| Leicester | 7 | Justin, Faes, Soumare, Barnes |
| Liverpool | 11 | – |
| Man City | 7 | Rodri, Gundogan, Grealish, Alvarez |
| Newcastle | 8 | Pope, Burn, Longstaff |
| Nottm Forest | 9 | Aurier, Yates |
| Southampton | 9 | Salisu, Ward-Prowse |
| Spurs | 4 | Dier, Lenglet, Hojbjerg, Bissouma, Sessegnon, Perisic, Kane |
| West Ham | 11 | – |
| Wolves | 6 | Kilman, Collins, Neves, Guedes, Hwang |
Most of the key Fantasy assets were handed cameos or complete rests on Tuesday and Wednesday: of the 20 most-owned players in FPL, only William Saliba (£5.3m), Kane, Perisic and Nick Pope (£5.3m) started for their teams.
Marcus Rashford (£6.7m), 20th in the the ownership table, could feature tonight, of course.
Conte made the fewest starting XI changes of any Premier League manager, with seven of his Gameweek 15 team retaining their places.
Liverpool, West Ham United and Everton made wholesale alterations, while Saliba was the only Arsenal regular to start but even then was handed an early substitution on the hour mark.
A start for Jack Harrison (£5.8m), the only surviving starter from Gameweek 15 for Leeds United, was interesting as it might hint at a weekend benching for the winger and a first Premier League start for budget forward Willy Gnonto (£5.0m).
WHEN WILL THE FOURTH ROUND BE PLAYED?
A total of 10 Premier League clubs will be involved in the EFL Cup fourth round and it means that we’ll see half of the top-flight sides in action shortly before Gameweek 17.
The round-of-16 ties are scheduled to take place on the midweek of December 20-22, just a few days after the World Cup final.
Expect to see players eliminated from the World Cup at the group stage or simply not involved in Qatar at all, with Guardiola already stating that Haaland will likely feature.
“It will be good for Sergio [Gomez], Riyad [Mahrez], Erling [Haaland] before we go to Leeds for the first Premier League game after the World Cup to have a rhythm.” – Pep Guardiola
“Obviously, we have players at the World Cup but we have a big group together for pre-season [training camp] and probably will use them then. It makes sense, I think. But that’s it. We will know where we have to go tomorrow [after the draw] and stuff like this. We are in a training camp, we will come back and then we will have a few days to prepare for this game. It’s fine, we love playing football by the way, it’s not a problem, but three or four days after the World Cup final… let me say, if it is England, Brazil, Holland or whatever, we will miss a few players probably but let’s see.” – Jurgen Klopp
