FPL notes: £4.0m defender praise, Arsenal consistent + Arteta on his defence

Finishing off the Scout Notes from Saturday’s games, we look back at events at the Emirates and the City Ground.

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ARSENAL PICK UP WHERE THEY LEFT OFF

A performance straight out of 2023/24 from the Gunners, who were comfortable winners aside from some brief scares.

The division’s best defence last season carried on where they left off, keeping a clean sheet. So too did Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) and Kai Havertz (£8.0m), each assisting the other’s goal. Even Gabriel Martinelli (£7.0m) seamlessly spanned the summer break with another mediocre display…

With clubs elsewhere trying to integrate new signings or adapt to new managers’ methods, we know exactly what Arsenal are about. Their entire starting XI was made up of players who were here last season.

We know Saka and Havertz will be in the thick of things in most games, each registering five shots here. The defence should be at least as good, maybe even better with the arrival of Riccardo Calafiori (£6.0m). We know that they’ll be able to call upon a top goalkeeper in David Raya (£5.5m), as they did here to repel Jorgen Strand Larsen‘s (£5.5m) header, on the occasions that the backline concedes a chance.

All those knowns are a bit of a safety blanket at this time of the season, as we try to suss out the changing landscape elsewhere.

The next four fixtures are iffy but just look at what Havertz and Saka did against these teams last season, each averaging over six points per start:

Above: How Saka and Havertz got on against Arsenal’s next four opponents in 2023/24

Four clean sheets were registered in these eight matches, too.

ARTETA ON HIS DEFENCE

The left-back spot is the one position really up for grabs at Arsenal this season.

Oleksandr Zinchenko (£5.0m) started this game as expected, performing well initially. Familiar failings crept in but it was Jurrien Timber (£5.5m), not Calafiori, who was sent on to replace him.

“We will evolve game by game.

“Julien has been struggling the last few weeks – as you know, he hasn’t played any minutes in the last two or three weeks. Riccardo has just landed, and is getting used to a lot of things.

“They are both progressing really well, and we have a lot of competition there which is great for the team, because you can see that Alex, especially in the first half, was really good.

“In the second half, we needed something else, and we had the ability to change the game.” – Mikel Arteta

£4.0m MOSQUERA STARTS

With Valentin Barco (£4.0m) owners potentially seeking a replacement, Yerson Mosquera (£4.0m) is a name to consider.

Outside of the promoted clubs, he was one of just two £4.0m defenders – the other being Everton stopgap Michael Keane – to start in Gameweek 1.

The fixtures are dreadful for Wolves in the first 9/10 Gameweeks but Mosquera has the chance to establish himself as a regular before that very appealing schedule swing in the autumn.

Gary O’Neil certainly liked what he saw at the Emirates.

“Yeah, I was pleased with him. I was pleased with Toti and Yerson as a partnership, pleased with that. First sort of performance from Toti and Yerson as a partnership.

“He’s got so much physical quality, attribute wise, you know his pace, his jump, his ability to defend one v one. It’s just on us to try and sort of harness that and try and help him with some smaller details but I was delighted with both of them.” – Gary O’Neil on Yerson Mosquera

ALL LEVEL

It was about right that a match that ended 1.30-1.22 on xG and 14-13 on shots finished all square.

Nottingham Forest were arguably the better team overall at the City Ground, extending Murara Neto (£4.5m) on seven occasions. There weren’t too many ‘worldies’ within that, though, a save from Willy Boly’s (£4.5m) header about the best of them.

Aside from Chris Wood‘s (£6.0m) opportunistic goal, when the Kiwi striker followed up a poor parry from Neto to lash home a rebound, Forest mustered just 0.50 xG.

That was Wood’s 12th goal in 17 starts under Nuno Espirito Santo, an even more remarkable return given that he’s had only 38 shots in that time.

No one really stood out from a Forest perspective, with 10 different players registering at least one shot. Morgan Gibbs-White (£6.5m), as we saw in pre-season, now looks to have lost indirect free-kicks and corners. Still a probing force from midfield, he at least created three chances from open play.

At least Forest had an orthodox striker. Without the sold Dominic Solanke (£7.5m), the injured Enes Unal (£5.5m) and the unregistered Evanilson, Bournemouth had to turn to makeshift options.

Antoine Semenyo (£5.5m), Luis Sinisterra (£5.5m) and substitute Daniel Jebbison (£4.5m) all had a pop at leading the line, the lack of a focal point very evident. Semenyo was at least in the right place when some slapstick Forest defending presented him with the equaliser from point-blank range.

“He will be ready to train fully this week. We will try to give him as much info as we can. He will, for sure, have to adapt to the rhythm of the Premier League, that is always difficult.” – Andoni Iraola on Evanilson

All in all, some mid-table performances from two sides aspiring to be just that.

INJURY + ILLNESS

Danilo‘s (£5.0m) horrific ankle break cast a shadow over the game. The Brazilian now faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

He wasn’t the only ‘flag’ appearing on a Forest player. Ola Aina (£4.5m) and Anthony Elanga (£5.5m) both came off after 54 minutes, with the Nottingham Post reporting “slight” issues for the pair.

As for Bournemouth, Marcos Senesi (£5.0m) was nowhere to be seen in the squad.

It had nothing to do with the head injury that he sustained in the friendly against Girona last weekend, however.

“He has been ill the last three or four days with a temperature, I think today he felt a little bit better and I hope he can recover and he can help us next week.” – Andoni Iraola on Marcos Senesi

Filling in for Senesi was Dean Huijsen (£4.5m), the teenage centre-half. He followed up a promising pre-season with a fine display here, so Iraola may have a welcome selection headache in Gameweek 2.