A total of nine Premier League clubs are in EFL Cup action in midweek. Six of them contested ties on Tuesday evening, including Fulham and Manchester United.
We’ll bring you up to speed with all you need to know from a Fantasy perspective, from minutes played and injuries to any wider talking points.
TUESDAY’S RESULTS
| Opponent | Result | Goals | Assists | |
| Brentford | v Leyton Orient (h) | 3-1 win | Carvalho, Damsgaard, Norgaard | Schade, Carvalho x2 |
| Crystal Palace | v (a) | 2-1 win | Nketiah, Eze | Eze, Kamada |
| Everton | v Southampton (h) | 1-1 draw (lost on pens) | Doucoure | Keane |
| Fulham | v Preston (a) | 1-1 draw (lost on pens) | Nelson | Sessegnon |
| Man Utd | v Barnsley | 7-0 win | M. Rashford x2, Antony pen, Garnacho x2, Eriksen x2 | Garnacho x2, Rashford, Eriksen, Fernandes x2 |
| Southampton | v Everton (a) | 1-1 draw (won on pens) | Harwood-Bellis | Taylor |
TEAM SELECTION/ROTATION
| Team | No. of starting XI changes made from GW4 | Players who kept their places (mins played) | Other minutes for selected players |
| Brentford | 8 | van den Berg (77), Damsgaard (76), Norgaard (63) | Carvalho (90), Schade (90), Mbeumo (14), Lewis-Potter (14) |
| C Palace | 3 | Henderson (90), Munoz (90), Guehi (90), Lacroix (90), Mitchell (90), Eze (90), Mateta (74), Nketiah (65) | Kamada (90) |
| Everton | 8 | Keane (90), McNeil (90), Ndiaye (90) | Harrison (28), Young (28), Iroegbunam (11) |
| Fulham | 11 | – | Muniz (90), Smith Rowe (13), Iwobi (13), Jimenez (5) |
| Man Utd | 8 | Eriksen (90), Dalot (63), Rashford (63) | Garnacho (84), Ugarte (62), Fernandes (28), Zirkzee (27), Mazraoui (27), de Ligt (14), Amad (6) |
| Soton | 10 | Ugochukwu (62) | Harwood-Bellis (90), Armstrong (79), Brereton (27), Dibling (27), Steward (11) |
MUNIZ SUBBED OFF
A striker being substituted in a game is not normally headline news in itself.
But the withdrawal of Rodrigo Muniz (£6.0m) minutes before the start of a record-breaking penalty shootout (16-15!) is worthy of mention.
Either he was: a) injured or b) not fancied by Marco Silva to score a spot-kick.
The BBC live text suggested it was the former – but we’ve not seen or heard anything else to corroborate that, either from fans present, reporters or Silva himself.
The introduction of Sasa Lukic (£5.0m) perhaps suggested it was the latter. Lukic was the only Cottager to score a spot-kick in pre-season; funnily enough, that was won by Muniz.
We’re not sure who is Fulham’s main taker, following the departure of Willian. Raul Jimenez (£5.4m) scored from the spot in the EFL Cup second round in August, although Lukic was off the field. Those two were Fulham’s first two takers in the shootout at Deepdale on Tuesday, so perhaps this was Marco Silva wanting his main men to be up first.
Silva’s pre-Gameweek 5 will be worth watching, either way.
There weren’t too many other takeaways from Lancashire, simply because Silva changed his entire team. A completely different first-choice XI will likely be back involved against Newcastle United. That looks likely to include Jimenez over Muniz, with the latter again looking short of confidence and missing a couple of decent headed chances against the Championship side.
Reiss Nelson (£5.0m) will be hoping to challenge for a Premier League start soon. His goal was classic Fulham: a left-back overlap and the winger drifting infield to meet his cut-back. Ryan Sessegnon (£4.4m) was playing the Antonee Robinson (£4.7m) role, with the American rested.
SCHADE ‘OOP’, £4.8m CARVALHO EXCELLENT
We discussed Yoane Wissa‘s (£6.1m) injury and the repercussions of his two-month absence in an article earlier this week. On Tuesday, we got a glimpse of life without Wissa – as well as Ivan Toney (£7.3m) and Igor Thiago (£5.9m).
Thomas Frank’s frontline had Kevin Schade (£5.4m) at the tip of it, the budget midfielder who has mostly operated out wide for the Bees.
Fabio Carvalho (£4.8m), who will be gunning for a prominent league role with so many injuries, also started – nominally on the right, as Bryan Mbeumo (£7.1m) was rested.
Carvalho stole the show with a goal and two assists. He operated more like a roaming ’10’, with right-sided central midfielder Ryan Trevitt (£4.5m) or right-back Mads Roerslev (£4.5m) offering the width.
“He played it like the 10, you know, him and Kevin [Schade] the two front players but yeah definitely, he can play [as] one of the two [strikers] and he can play to the side.” – Thomas Frank on Fabio Carvalho
Carvalho opened the scoring with a superb bicycle kick, following up Schade’s run and saved shot. A fantastic assist (a cross for Damsgaard) was followed up by a fortuitous one when his touch was lashed in by Christian Norgaard (£5.0m).
The former Liverpool man was on corners in west London, too, creating a game-high four chances.
Schade didn’t wholly convince, but it’s still early days for him in a new-ish role.
Both Carvalho and Schade have fallen in FPL price this week but should get extended minutes over the coming months.
Mbeumo got through a late cameo unscathed, with many of the regulars rested.
Budget FPL defender Sepp van den Berg (£4.0m), one of three Gameweek 4 starters to keep their place against Orient, continued at centre-half.
GLASNER GOES STRONG, EZE SCORES
Oliver Glasner, as was the case in round two, avoided wholesale changes. Much like the last round, he rotated his central midfielders and went pretty much full strength elsewhere.
Full strength meant Eberechi Eze (£6.9m) and Eddie Nketiah (£5.9m) again playing off Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.4m) in the usual 3-4-2-1.
Daichi Kamada (£5.3m) was used in central midfield in an attacking selection, meanwhile.
Glasner is perhaps trying to play his regulars into form or keep their fitness levels topped up.
Either way, this was another fairly flat attacking performance in keeping with Gameweeks 1-4, a drop-off from the dynamic displays of Glasner’s honeymoon period.
Eze scored and assisted without breaking out of second gear, although his own strike looked suspiciously like it was heading off target before a deflection.
With Mateta quiet, Nketiah was arguably the pick of the front three. Busy in behind the Frenchman, the ‘dual 10’ might actually be a better fit for him than first thought. The ex-Gunner’s first Palace goal arrived from a quickly taken Eze free-kick. Again, some luck was needed as the QPR goalkeeper couldn’t stop the ball from zipping through his legs.
“Eddie showed it against Leicester: he had very good finishes, was a little bit unlucky. Today, he scored. He had a great chance as well in the first half where I think one defender cleared it on the line. He showed what he also showed in training. He got a little bit tired, which is normal because he played the first 90 minutes for a long time three days before.
“But we wanted to have the same attacking three, with Eze, Mateta and Nketiah, to get each other known, because this week we can’t train. It’s just recovery, and then we have to use the game time, the minutes to get each other known.
“JP scored two against Leicester. Eddie scored the first one [tonight]. Ebs scored the second today, so all offensive players scored goals, and this is important for their confidence.” – Oliver Glasner
Daniel Munoz (£4.9m) again somehow avoided scoring when the ball eluded him two yards out; that first goal is definitely coming…
At the back, there are still question marks with new boy Maxence Lacroix (£4.5m) yet to look settled.
CONFIDENCE BOOST FOR RASHFORD
A satisfying night for Manchester United, whose much-changed side demolished their League One opponents.
The positive vibes started in the pre-match presser when it was revealed that Matthijs de Ligt (£5.0m), Noussair Mazraoui (£4.5m) and Lisandro Martinez (£4.5m) had shrugged off Gameweek 4 injury scares to feature. All were on the bench here as Erik ten Hag rotated.
That rotation saw Marcus Rashford (£6.9m) lead the line, with Alejandro Garnacho (£6.4m) and Antony flanking him in attack.
Goals flowed. Garnacho delivered four attacking returns, Rashford and a more advanced Christian Eriksen (£5.4m) three apiece. Even Bruno Fernandes (£8.4m), limited to a second-half substitute appearance, chipped in with two assists.
Rashford ended his goal drought in Gameweek 4 and, perhaps the eyes were playing tricks or it was just the poor opponent, he looked the better for it. Both goals were taken confidently, while even the four shots that didn’t go in were well hit.
“Confidence is a big part of it. It’s not everything, there are also other parts, but confidence is a big part.
“I think Rashford is a big guy. He’s scored so many goals and is [number] one in the list of [current] United goalscorers, he’s on top of it.
“But you are as good as your last game and every time you have to prove it. I have even seen the biggest guys, the biggest football players, when they are not performing and when strikers are not scoring, then they drop in confidence. It doesn’t matter who it is.” – Erik ten Hag on Marcus Rashford
Doing it against the Premier League’s worst team and League One promotion hopefuls is one thing, tougher teams another. Crystal Palace, while not at their best, will be a tougher test.
Ten Hag meanwhile confirmed that Antony’s penalty-taking responsibility was an act of generosity on Rashford’s part.
“Like the penalty, when Antony needs some confidence, then Rashy gives the pen to Antony, which is good in a team that they are with each other, they are together.” – Erik ten Hag on his forwards’ “unselfishness”
Ten Hag certainly faces a tough call this weekend, with Garnacho starring here and Amad Diallo (£5.0m) impressing at St Mary’s.
RELEGATION RIVALS’ B TEAMS FACE OFF
More rotation at Goodison, where only four of the 22 starters from Gameweek 4 kept their places.
The two clubs were playing up to stereotype: Southampton utterly bossing possession without creating much, Everton – who to be fair had got it right in the last two Gameweeks – wasting chance after chance.
“Yet again we’ve created golden chances, and you’ve got to score those chances and that changes the whole game.
“There’s been times we’ve scored goals and looked like we can score goals, but you’ve got to kill games off. If you’re not keeping clean sheets, you have to kill games off and we’ve not done that.
“That’s a nemesis for us. It’s been here a long time, and we’ve tried to correct it and tried to find those moments, but that’s the hardest bit as a manager.” – Sean Dyche
No surprise, then, that the only goals came from dead-ball situations. Budget FPL defenders were at the heart of them.
Michael Keane (£4.0m) set up Abdoulaye Doucoure (£5.3m) for his headed opener before Taylor Harwood-Bellis (£4.0m) nodded in an equaliser.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.9m) was among three Toffees missing out through illness. James Tarkowski (£4.9m) also sat this one out with a niggling back issue.
Sean Dyche was hopeful of those regulars being back in Gameweek 5.
Tyler Dibling (£4.5m) fans were treated to another dazzling cameo. Showing up the players who started, he’ll surely be back in the line-up this weekend after this partial breather.
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