Liverpool and Manchester City both made it three wins out of three in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.
We’re picking the bones out of both clubs’ midweek matches in this Scout Notes article.
FODEN’S GAMEWEEK 9 MINUTES BOOST?
Phil Foden (£9.2m) may have been benched for the win over Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend but his starting prospects in Gameweek 9 look rosier.
Only Pep Guardiola knows the true reasons for Foden’s continual omissions. He has heavily hinted that it’s fitness-related, even though we’re almost a quarter of the season down.
But injuries to other players now present Foden with a much heightened – if not guaranteed – chance of facing lowly Southampton.
First, Kevin De Bruyne‘s (£9.4m) recovery from a muscular issue isn’t going as quickly as hoped.
Then, a double boost – for Foden if not City – ahead of Wednesday’s win over Sparta Praha.
Guardiola says Grealish will be out for 7-10 days and Doku longer. Not ideal for #mcfc
— Simon Bajkowski (@spbajko) October 23, 2024
Despite the injury crisis, there might still be a surprise omission from the teamsheet on Saturday.
Matheus Nunes (£4.9m) was excellent on the left wing against Sparta Praha, building on a bright Gameweek 8 cameo. You would think Guardiola would reward him with a start this weekend – but at whose expense?
Savinho (£6.5m) has made four successive starts for club and country in less than a fortnight. He, along with Foden and Nunes, lasted the full 90 minutes on Wednesday as others like Bernardo Silva (£6.5m), Ilkay Gundogan (£6.5m) and Erling Haaland (£15.4m) were taken off. Will rest win out over rhythm, as the Brazilian was impressive again?
“Really good. When he scored a goal, how happy his team-mates are. He is incredibly beloved and he is a lovely guy.
“He has a specific quality. When you can run in transitions, he is as fast as Erling [Haaland]. It’s unbelievable when he runs for 30-40 metres, no one can stop him. Having a special quality that we don’t have: that’s why we need him. He can play in many, many roles.
“The only problem he has is just one, his manager maybe doesn’t give him the minutes he deserves. But he’s a nice guy, he’s ready always, can help us with the circumstances that we have now, with just 15 players plus ‘keepers available. Of course, it’s important to have him.” – Pep Guardiola on Matheus Nunes
HAALAND BACK AMONGST THE GOALS
Foden opened the scoring with a classic Foden goal: receive, turn, shoot from the edge of the box. Three more similar efforts followed in a performance of promise, if not 2023/24 levels.
Haaland has himself been under the spotlight in recent weeks, after three league matches without a goal. Bewilderingly, he’s being sold by more Fantasy managers than bought ahead of Friday’s FPL deadline. While there’s a longer-term debate to be had about a Haaland-less set-up, the Norwegian is about to face Southampton at home…
He bounced back to scoring ways in sensational fashion on Wednesday, adding to his acrobatic first with a more conventional second. His gravity-defying strike followed on from a frustrating opening hour in which he had seven unconverted shots – including several close-range headers. One thing you sense about Haaland is he’s not someone who suffers a crisis of confidence.
The Norwegian’s legs had been spared by the time Nunes won and converted a late penalty. John Stones (£5.3m) had earlier nodded in his third goal in eight matches in all competitions this season.
Josko Gvardiol (£6.1m), Ruben Dias (£5.5m) and Mateo Kovacic (£5.6m) were all benched, suggesting they’ll be back in the starting XI this weekend.
TAKING CARE OF SALAH
Liverpool made it 11 wins and seven clean sheets in 12 games with victory over RB Leipzig.
After a bright start from the hosts, Liverpool outshot the German side 12-2 from minutes 20-72. Victory should have been assured before the Bundesliga outfit’s late rally, with the woodwork struck and home goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi making several fine stops.
Mohamed Salah (£12.6m) saw a goal pinched off him by Darwin Nunez (£7.1m) and his afternoon ended on 63 minutes. The Egyptian’s owners in FPL wouldn’t have been complaining about the latter.
“We have some injuries now so I have to take good care of the players that have played a lot and Mo is one of them and on Sunday a big game is coming up again. So, I need to use as many players as I can use for these next tough weeks and these tough months that are coming up, so that they are all prepared to play.” – Arne Slot on Mohamed Salah’s substitution
Even aside from his goal, which was prodded in on the line from Salah’s goalbound header, Darwin was pretty impressive. We know that Slot, like his predecessor, values off-the-ball work as much as goal poaching when it comes to his attacking spearhead.
The Uruguayan, starting in place of the absent and injured Diogo Jota (£7.4m), ticked those boxes in Germany. There’s every chance he gets the nod to face Arsenal, with Jota not in training ahead of the midweek clash.
“What I liked from Darwin was that he was also strong, comfortable on the ball, kept the ball a lot, fighting if he had to defend, so he made it a really difficult game for the two centre-backs of Leipzig. And then for him scoring, I think that is always nice for a striker to be on the scoresheet.” – Arne Slot
As he did in Gameweeks 7 and 8, Cody Gakpo (£7.1m) was preferred over Luis Diaz (£7.9m) on the left flank. Just as it was against Chelsea, that looks to be the tightest starting XI call this weekend. Gakpo’s physicality would seem like a better match against a robust Arsenal side but will Slot countenance a sixth successive start for club and country for the Dutchman?
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