The key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) takeaways from Sunday’s three Gameweek 35 matches are covered in this article.
Nottingham Forest v Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal and Bournemouth v Brighton and Hove Albion are the focus here.
- READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 35: Sunday’s goals, assists, bonus points + stats
- READ MORE: Schar + Ait-Nouri injury latest, Isak + Wilson united
EDERSON INJURY LATEST/FODEN ILL
Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson (£5.5m) left the City Ground with his left arm in a sling after coming off at half time following a collision with Willy Boly (£4.5m).
Pep Guardiola was concerned after full-time.
“It doesn’t look good. We see tomorrow with the doctor.” – Pep Guardiola on Ederson
Guardiola was also without Phil Foden (£8.3m) and Ruben Dias (£5.5m) for the trip to Nottingham, with both suffering from illness.
“He is not ready. He is ill. He didn’t feel good, discomfort today and he is back to Manchester. It is what it is. It is a long season, they always happen these kinds of things.
“Ruben [Dias] had a fever and made the effort to go to Brighton but since coming back from there it has gotten worse.” – Pep Guardiola on Phil Foden and Ruben Dias
HAALAND RETURNS
Erling Haaland (£14.1m) marked his return to action with a goal at the City Ground.
The Norwegian forward missed Gameweek 34 through injury but came off the bench in Nottingham just after the hour mark. He scored nine minutes later.
“It is important that he is back and doing what he does. Kevin [De Bruyne] found him and it was a really good finish. He was not ready for 90 minutes, but it was good for him to be back.” – Pep Guardiola on Erling Haaland
City were not at their fluent best on Sunday but they have players who tend to step up in big moments, like Kevin De Bruyne (£10.4m), who delivered two assists.
The first, an in-swinging corner for Josko Gvardiol’s (£4.9m) near-post header, was followed by a through ball to Haaland.
As for Gvardiol, after not scoring in 32 appearances for Man City in all competitions, he’s since netted three goals in his past five appearances for the club.
“At the beginning it was one idea then the manager changed it after half an hour, then again at half time he made a change back to do the same as at the beginning of the game. To be fair I was a bit lost because I did not know exactly what he wanted from me but he was much clearer after half time.” – Josko Gvardiol on playing a more advanced role v Nottingham Forest
Forest, who switched to a back-three formation for the first time under Nuno Espirito Santo, created several good opportunities and generally played well, but lacked an end product.
Chris Wood (£4.8m) missed two ‘big chances’, for example, nodding a header over the bar and struggling to sort his feet out for two simple tap-ins.
Based on this performance, Forest can take confidence, but it is now just two wins in their last 15 Premier League games, with a vital trip to Sheffield United up next.
KING KAI
Written off and much maligned earlier in the season, Kai Havertz (£7.4m) is now an integral part of this Arsenal team.
With a goal and assist on Sunday, the German delivered his sixth double-figure haul in 11 matches. Over that period (Gameweeks 25-35), Havertz has racked up 100 FPL points, 10 more than any other player.
“He was sensational in every department today. He wasn’t 100 per cent, he was ill before the match and was struggling a bit but he still put in the performance that he put in. I thought he was unbelievable today.” – Mikel Arteta on Kai Havertz
Bukayo Saka (£9.0m) also produced two attacking returns in the north London derby. He’s now up to 15 Premier League goals this season, his best return in a single campaign.
Crucially, Arsenal’s first and third goals both came from corners.
It’s a huge weapon for the Gunners, with Havertz’s simple close-range header from Declan Rice’s (£5.5m) delivery their 16th goal from a corner in the league this season – easily the most by any team.
Above: Teams sorted by goals scored directly from corners in 2023/24
UPDATE ON WERNER
Ange Postecoglou provided a brief update on Timo Werner (£6.3m), who was forced off on 31 minutes.
“I’m not sure, he felt his hamstring… we’ll find out the extent of it.” – Ange Postecoglou on Timo Werner
Brennan Johnson (£5.8m) replaced Werner and made a positive contribution from the bench, as did Richarlison (£6.8m), who appeared as a second half substitute.
However, Cristian Romero (£5.1m) was Tottenham’s most dangerous player from an attacking perspective. He sent a header against the post in the first half, one of four shots in total, before calmly slotting past David Raya (£5.2m) after the Spaniard’s howler.
VAR chalked off a Micky van de Ven (£4.4m) goal, too.
Elsewhere, Son Heung-min (£9.8m) rewarded his owners with a late penalty goal and seven points, with one match still to play in Double Gameweek 35.
Still, Spurs continue to look fragile defensively, even at home, where they have now gone 13 Premier League games without a clean sheet.
“We are still not as resilient as we can be, especially in the transition moments or set pieces. We allow them far too easy access to our goal. They are a good side and they will punish you if you do not show that steel protecting your goal. There are a lot of areas of concern, so if you try to fix one thing – that is not where we’re at – we have to fix a lot of things. Today was not great, we need to get punished and then we are a lot better in the second half. Sometimes you have to feel the pain to realise you have to do things differently next time.” – Ange Postecoglou
IRAOLA-BALL
Bournemouth’s flourishing season continued on Sunday, as they schooled Brighton from start to finish on the south coast.
It’s now 48 points from 35 games this season, despite failing to win any of their first nine matches under Andoni Iraola.
And they were excellent here, with some tasty passages of play and goals from Marcos Senesi (£4.4m), Enes Unal (£5.0m) and the impressive Justin Kluivert (£4.6m), who has now scored in his last three home outings.
As for Senesi, this was his eighth attacking return of the campaign, a tally only four FPL defenders can beat.
The way Iraola has turned things around has been impressive, with Sunday’s performance marking a shift to a 4-4-2, which accommodated all of Kluivert, Antoine Semenyo (£4.5m), Unal and Dominic Solanke (£7.3m).
“I was very happy, he has been pushing a lot. It has been a difficult situation for him because it is difficult to take minutes from Dom Solanke but we decided to play two up front tonight. I am happy because he scored a really, really nice goal in the second half.” – Andoni Iraola on Enes Unal
Semenyo, however, will now require an MRI scan to determine the severity of his injury after being stretchered off.
Illia Zabarnyi (£4.5m) missed out through illness, meanwhile.
As for Brighton, their season is in danger of fizzling out.
They have now failed to score in five of their last eight matches and didn’t create many meaningful chances at Bournemouth, coming closest when Simon Adingra’s (£5.0m) effort was tipped over the bar by Mark Travers (£4.0m).
“We are having a tough season, especially in the last two or three months. We have a lot of injuries but we have to be able to find the energy to be able to finish the season in a different way. Motivation I think in football is 80% of our work and, in my time, we kept every game a big challenge, a big target. In this moment, the Europa League is finished, we are too many points from the European positions in the table. We are working for not a clear, clear target and it can happen. It’s normal but I can’t accept a game without soul. We are Brighton and we have to keep respect for ourselves, for our club, for our fans and I am sorry for that. I am really sorry. I am suffering a lot but I am working in football for 30 years and I know this moment can happen. We have to stop this moment quickly.” – Roberto De Zerbi
Roberto De Zerbi also confirmed Jan Paul van Hecke (£4.1m) has a hamstring injury. The Italian said, “I’m not sure for how long or how many games, but JP can’t play at Bournemouth”.
