We’ve already discussed the implications for Blank Gameweek 29 after Tuesday’s FA Cup fifth-round results.
Now, in these midweek Scout Notes, we turn our attention to the other Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points.
SOLANKE INJURY: EVERYTHING IRAOLA SAID
As you’ll likely be aware by now, Dominic Solanke (£7.1m) missed out on Bournemouth’s extra-time defeat to Leicester City on Tuesday.
Solanke, who finished the defeat to Manchester City on Saturday despite sustaining a first-half knock, was absent with a knee injury.
Cherries boss Andoni Iraola is hopeful the striker’s issue isn’t too serious.
“Dom wasn’t feeling well from his knee. We have to assess him, I hope it’s not something big and he can help us this weekend.” – Andoni Iraola on Dominic Solanke, to afcb tv
“It was related to his fitness. He wasn’t feeling well to play. He had some issues in the knee, I hope it’s nothing big. He was the first one that I didn’t want to risk, now we have to assess him and see if he can play at the weekend because it’s true that Enes is going to be difficult.
“I hope Dom can recover and help us against Burnley.” – Andoni Iraola on Dominic Solanke, to BBC Radio Solent Sport
“We did an MRI just today, so we have to see what he has, assess him, how he wakes up tomorrow. From there, we will see.
“Today is when we decided not to risk him, because he wasn’t feeling well. You never want to lose your top scorer.”
“We hoped that he could be on the bench. But we assessed him at the last moment and he wasn’t feel well.
“When someone like Dom, who is normally training and playing every minute, it says you cannot risk it.” – Andoni Iraola on Dominic Solanke, in quotes transcribed by the Bournemouth Echo
We’ll hear from Iraola again ahead of Saturday’s Gameweek 27 deadline, so we should get an injury update on Solanke then.
HAALAND HITS FIVE
Where was this last week, Erling Haaland (£14.4m)?
Having scored with one of his 17 shots in the last two Gameweeks, Norwegian hit five goals from seven attempts against Luton.
Four of them were assisted by Kevin De Bruyne (£10.7m), who happens to be the most-sold player of Gameweek 27.
“I think Erling needs a guy with the vision, the quality and the generosity. Kevin is the less selfish player in front of goal. And Kevin needs the movement from Erling but of course, we know how aggressive they are.” – Pep Guardiola on Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne
While you can be sure that Haaland’s name will be on the teamsheet in the upcoming Manchester derby, the big question now is whether De Bruyne starts.
Asked about the importance of the link-up between De Bruyne and Haaland for the next few matches, Pep Guardiola was eager to point out the difference between the up-and-at-them approach that Luton adopted and the tactics that less naive opponents may use.
“Completely different games. Today they play in different ways, in others they way they attack will be completely different. But of course, in these up-and-down transitions when you can have Kevin and Erling having metres behind them to run, it’s difficult to control.
“United will be completely different one, they defend differently and have experienced players.” – Pep Guardiola on Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne
You could look at De Bruyne’s 90 minutes against the Hatters in one of two ways.
The glass-half-full view is that, after his recent minute management, getting a full game in a cup tie might not bode well for Gameweek 27.
But it’s worth stressing that the substitute roles against Brentford and Bournemouth came off the back of a fresh, and minor, hamstring scare. Guardiola obviously felt that De Bruyne was sufficiently recovered from that to not just start but last an entire 90 minutes. With a Tuesday-Sunday turnaround, too, there’s ample recovery time in between matches.
FODEN RESTED
There was a welcome rest for Phil Foden (£8.1m), who didn’t get off the bench at Kenilworth Road.
While we Fantasy managers aren’t gullible enough to think that a midweek rest means a weekend start in every case, the fact that starting XI staples Foden, Rodri (£5.6m) and Ruben Dias (£5.5m) were the ones failing to kick a ball against Luton was likely telling.
It’s likely a different story with Julian Alvarez (£6.6m), however, who has De Bruyne, Foden, Mateo Kovacic (£4.7m) and Matheus Nunes (£4.8m) as competition for the 8/10 roles.
Alvarez was thrown on as a late substitute for Haaland on Tuesday night.
Jack Grealish (£7.2m) suffered what seems to be the recurrence of a groin injury, meanwhile, and will be assessed.
Iraola also led the changes for the Cherries, making six in all. All of his front four were changed, including Solanke, while goalkeeper Murara Neto (£4.6m) was not in the squad at all. We assume that was merely a rest, as he had been omitted in the previous two rounds as well.
DUBRAVKA RETURNS, WHY BOTMAN MISSED OUT
Martin Dubravka (£4.2m) was absent in Gameweek 26 through illness but rose from his sickbed to star in Newcastle’s shootout win over Blackburn Rovers.
“The two penalty saves were huge for us but in open play I thought he really performed well today and we needed him to, because they had a few big moments.
“He was nowhere near fit for the weekend against Arsenal and hasn’t been 100 per cent for quite a long period of time. He’s been playing feeling slightly ill and he deserves huge credit for doing that.” – Eddie Howe on Martin Dubravka
Dubravka’s busyness against a side sitting 16th in the Championship said all you need to know about how Newcastle’s out-of-sorts defence looked.
Sven Botman (£4.2m) was notable for his absence from the squad but Eddie Howe said after full-time that it wasn’t injury-related.
“Just rested today. We feel Sven would benefit more from training than being involved today.” – Eddie Howe on Sven Botman
At least there were chances aplenty created at the other end, with Anthony Gordon (£6.1m) going up front after Alexander Isak‘s (£7.5m) withdrawal and scoring yet again.
