Numerous Premier League clubs are in midweek action, either in European competition or the EFL Cup. Three of them played on Tuesday evening: Arsenal, Manchester City and Newcastle United.
We’ll bring you up to speed with all you need to know from a Fantasy Premier League (FPL) perspective, from minutes played and injuries to any wider talking points.
TUESDAY’S RESULTS
| OPPONENT | RESULT | GOALS | ASSISTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | v Paris Saint-Germain (h) | 2-0 win | Havertz, Saka | Trossard |
| Manchester City | v Slovan Bratislava (a) | 4-0 win | Gundogan, Foden, Haaland, McAtee | Doku, Lewis, Foden |
| Newcastle United | v AFC Wimbledon (h) | 1-0 win | Schar (pen) | none |
TEAM SELECTION/ROTATION
| STARTING XI CHANGES FROM GW6 | PLAYERS WHO KEPT THEIR PLACES (MINS) | OTHER MINS FOR SELECTED PLAYERS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | 0 | Raya (90), Gabriel (90), Saliba (90), Havertz (90), Rice (90), Martinelli (90), Saka (89), Trossard (74) | Merino (26), Jesus (16) |
| Manchester City | 6 | Lewis (90), Gvardiol (78), Haaland (61), Akanji (61) | Doku (90), Savinho (90), Foden (78), Dias (29), Walker (12) |
| Newcastle United | 8 | Schar (89), Joelinton (62), Barnes (45) | Livramento (90), Gordon (45), Hall (28), Burn (28) |
90 MINUTES FOR LEWIS
The 1.1 million Rico Lewis (£4.7m) FPL owners will be encouraged by his superb performance in Bratislava.
Back in an inverted right-back role, the bargain FPL defender racked up three shots on target and created the same number of big chances. One of those assisted Erling Haaland‘s (£15.3m) strike.
Above: A map of defender Rico Lewis’ three shots on target
Lewis ended with 1.63 expected goal involvement (xGI), which is superb, but he played all 90 minutes just days after another 80 at Newcastle.
“The way Rico is playing, there are no words. He does everything.” – Pep Guardiola
His boss Pep Guardiola was full of praise afterwards but there’s a chance that limiting Kyle Walker (£5.3m) to a brief cameo means the latter starts against Fulham on Saturday.
Lewis is the only City player to have started the last three games in league and cup. If you need some reassurance, Guardiola doesn’t always rotate for rotation’s sake: he’s espoused the virtues of “rhythm” as much as he has a rest.
The wallet-friendly defender is also versatile and could be used in multiple areas of the pitch. Instead of Josko Gvardiol (£5.9m), who featured in 78 minutes, for example.
Recent FPL Wildcard users have hopefully surrounded Lewis with nailed-on defenders to cope with any possible rotation.
WHY HAALAND WAS SUBBED, FODEN IMPRESSES
Perhaps Pep’s strong-ish line-up was an attempt to make amends after three successive Premier League and Champions League draws.
Haaland was in the line-up, as was Phil Foden (£9.2m) for just the second time this season. The 24-year-old grabbed a goal and assist, reminding Fantasy managers of his near-essentialness in 2023/24 when dazzling his way to become FPL’s second-highest points scorer.
Haaland meanwhile was hooked on the hour after getting back to scoring ways in Slovakia.
“I will keep him on the pitch all the time but at 0-3 the game was almost over and with this amount of games we have to take care of him.” – Pep Guardiola on Erling Haaland
From a central role, Foden accumulated five shots. And with Kevin De Bruyne (£9.5m) hurt, he could be a brilliant differential for Man City’s immediate fixture shift. The champions sit second on our Season Ticker for these next five league Gameweeks and first for the next 15.
GOALS FOR HAVERTZ + SAKA
At the same time, Arsenal were delivering a statement win over Paris Saint-Germain – albeit a side without Kylian Mbappe anymore.
Kai Havertz (£8.2m) rose high to convert a Leandro Trossard (£6.9m) cross and break the deadlock. The forward has scored in all five home games (all competitions) so far – a good sign for owners heading into Saturday’s hosting of Southampton.
Soon after, a wide Bukayo Saka (£10.1m) free-kick somehow emerged from a sea of bodies untouched, wrong-footing Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Above : Bukayo Saka is so far wide for his goal that he’s not shown on the map
That’ll frustrate the many FPL managers who bought him for Gameweek 6, only to witness his first blank of the season. Furthermore, unlike against Leicester City, Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.2m), William Saliba (£6.0m) and David Raya (£5.6m) collected a clean sheet. Typical!
TIMBER OFF AT HALF-TIME
Mikel Arteta named an unchanged XI from last weekend but here he was able to bring Mikel Merino (£6.0m) on for a debut cameo, following a shoulder injury.
Jurrien Timber (£5.5m) made way at the break but post-match quotes suggest it was precautionary.
“He was unbelievable in the first half but he felt something muscular and he was uncertain and I didn’t want to take any risks. He’s been out for a year, he’s played a lot of minutes, probably more minutes than we wanted in the last few weeks and we have to manage him.” – Mikel Arteta on Jurrien Timber
Ben White (£6.4m) was absent yet again with a groin issue.
Interestingly, Raheem Sterling (£6.8m) was an unused substitute. Arteta may call on such fresh legs versus the 19th-placed Saints.
A DEFENDER AS BACK-UP PENALTY TAKER
On Friday, it’ll be a year since Newcastle themselves beat PSG in the Champions League.
This time, St James’ Park hosted a flat EFL Cup meeting with League Two’s AFC Wimbledon, which was forced to switch venue after severe southern rain led to last week’s postponement. With such short notice in mind, it was impressive to see 51,739 inside the stadium.
Meanwhile, the absences of Alexander Isak (£8.3m) and Callum Wilson (£6.9m) and initial benching of Anthony Gordon (£7.3m) meant centre-back Fabian Schar (£5.4m) stepped up to take the Magpies’ penalty.
By calmly slotting home, he set up a round of 16 clash with Chelsea.
POPE + SCHAR KNOCKS
Post-match, Eddie Howe confirmed that the half-time removal of Harvey Barnes (£6.5m) for Gordon was pre-planned. But Schar and goalkeepers Nick Pope (£5.0m) and Martin Dubravka (£4.3m) are slight doubts for Gameweek 7’s trip to Everton.
Dubravka was taken off at the interval, Schar close to full-time.
“I think we’re OK. Martin Dubravka’s taken a nasty bang to his knee, we hope he’s all right but we’ll see how he settles down tomorrow. Hopefully no major injuries from the game. Fabian [Schar] had a couple of issues, his ankle and other things, but hopefully he’ll be all right and it’s not serious.” – Eddie Howe
“We don’t think it’s serious, it’s just a bit of swelling on his knee. We’re hopeful he will be fit for Everton on Saturday.” – Eddie Howe on Nick Pope
When analysing the line-up, weekend starts can be predicted for the rested Dan Burn (£4.4m) and Lewis Hall (£4.3m). Tino Livramento (£4.5m) – having played all 90 minutes – probably won’t, unless the supposedly minor issue that kept Kieran Trippier (£5.6m) sidelined turns out to be something more serious.
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