While Wolverhampton Wanderers v Nottingham Forest is still to come tonight, it’s time to finish off the weekend Scout Notes.
There are only two more matches remaining: Manchester City 4-1 West Ham United and Aston Villa 2-1 Leicester City.
- READ MORE: FPL notes: Why Son + Maddison were subs, Howe on Botman
- READ MORE: FPL notes: Odegaard, Havertz + Nwaneri updates, why Mitoma was a sub
- READ MORE: FPL notes: £4.0m Chelsea defender, Maresca on Jackson’s form
- READ MORE: FPL notes: Pickford avoids ban, Huijsen bonus + Brentford’s big chances
- READ MORE: FPL notes: Alexander-Arnold poor, Slot on Konate + Raul’s pens
PEP: CITY WERE “NOT GOOD”
Four goals scored, an Erling Haaland (£14.8m) brace and back-to-back league wins for the first time since October. Are Manchester City back?
Not so, if you ask Pep Guardiola.
“You judge results. Our performance was not good. So when we play good, we know when to play good.
“The first minutes, they deserved to be 0-1 or 0-2. We were lucky in the first goal. We are a strong team because we run a lot and with the ball, we were the composer – and now we don’t have it. But of course, very pleased for the result.
“But you cannot tell me, “It’s old Manchester City’s back” because if you see the game it’s not. You saw many times during the years what we have done with our opponents.” – Pep Guardiola
This wasn’t just Guardiola being his usual contrarian self. He had a point: City again looked really suspect in transitional phases, and a better team than West Ham United would have punished them.
Mohammed Kudus (£6.2m) had some good early breakaway chances, while the Hammers actually outshot their hosts 17-10 and matched them for ‘big chances’ (three each). Crysencio Summerville (£5.6m) was also very unfortunate to be pulled back for a foul – which it wasn’t – when he was clean through.
Yes, there was a late flurry of West Ham shots – including Niclas Fullkrug‘s (£6.7m) consolation – when the game was done. But City took half an hour to have their first attempt from open play, their 10th-minute opener being an own-goal.
“When we attack quick, they open attack quicker. So we have to make a build-up, drop them and have to make two thousand million passes – and we don’t do it. We don’t pass the ball. That’s why we suffer and we lose the ball so easy and that’s why they can run.” – Pep Guardiola on why his team look so open
If you’re an owner of Bryan Mbeumo (£7.8m) or Yoane Wissa (£6.2m), you wouldn’t have seen anything to deter you from starting them in Gameweek 21. Kudus – essentially playing where Mbeumo will be next week – had a game-high five shots.
The return to fitness of Mateo Kovacic (£5.4m) has not steadied the ship.
SAVINHO IMPRESSES
There were some positives from City.
Haaland returned his first double-digit haul since Gameweek 4. The dinked finish for his second goal was superb and perhaps hinted that the confidence is starting to flow back. He should have had an assist, too, but Bernardo Silva (£6.3m) fired straight at Alphonse Areola (£4.2m).
You’d ideally like to see Haaland’s underlying stats improve: this was the sixth match in eight that he’s had two or fewer shots.
Savinho (£6.5m) can perhaps help with that. The Brazilian winger claimed a hat-trick of assists on Saturday, setting up both Haaland goals and forcing Vladimir Coufal (£4.2m) to put into his own net.
Crucially, Guardiola is playing him on the left. So, more out-and-out wing play and crosses (Savio attempted a match-best five) for Haaland to latch onto.
The City boss praised Savinho after full-time – and used that opportunity to have a pop at Jack Grealish (£6.4m), too.
“Having a left foot on the left side like an old-fashioned, old-vintage football: right in the right, left in the left. Of course, these kind of crosses help strikers like we have.
“Right now, he has something special and brilliant that helps us a lot to the team because he scored a goal – a little lucky – but after the two assists are brilliant. The second and the third are really, really good. I’m so happy for him. He deserves to play.” – Pep Guardiola on Savinho
“Savinho is in better shape and everything than Jack, and that’s why I played Savinho. [Do] I want the Jack that won the treble? Yes, I want it – but I try to be honest with myself for that.
“What happened with Savinho’s delivery in the box? It’s higher than maybe the other wingers in that position.
“They have to fight. You can say it’s unfair. OK, if you think that, it’s fine, but you have to prove [to me], ‘OK, I’m going to fight with Savinho, to deserve to play in that position’. Every single day, every single week, every single month.” – Pep Guardiola on Jack Grealish
Kevin De Bruyne (£9.4m) and Phil Foden (£9.2m) combined for the fourth goal. They owed a debt of gratitude to Kudus for a wayward pass and in truth, neither player really looked all that threatening – certainly not to the point where you’d be willing to shell out £9.0m+.
FULLKRUG NETS, FABIANSKI TO RETURN?
For West Ham, there was encouragement that they could create chances and score without Jarrod Bowen (£7.4m).
Fullkrug got through 90 minutes for the first time and netted, while Kudus looked a big threat – if wasteful.
“We deserve more, in my opinion. It’s not easy to see that when you lost 4-1. But it’s true that they happened out of little details that work against us.
“Not only that, we don’t take advantage of our clear situations. Two chances, but very clear. Three or four more clear situations where we can and we have to do better to find our finishing points.
“And after they scored one goal when we were very, very, very unlucky. It was one rebound, was not one chance, one rebound. And sometimes they don’t happen, all these things.
“And after it’s true that we have a very clear situation when Cry Somerville regained the ball from Akanji – was not a foul but the referee say foul. It was a very unlucky situation and unfair situation for us too.
“There are a lot of little details that all of them I think they can explain why in the end the score has been like this.” – Julen Lopetegui
The Hammers lost Emerson Palmieri (£4.4m) to injury before the game, while Jeanclair Todibo (£4.2m) hobbled out of the match. Lopetegui said he was “not optimistic” on the latter.
West Ham should get Lukasz Fabianski (£4.1m) back for Gameweek 21. By the time that fixture comes around, there’ll have been 19 days of recovery from his head injury on Boxing Day. In all bar the most severe cases, that’s well beyond the concussion protocol rest period.
Fabianski owners would have been pleased to see Areola ship nine goals in his absence, not that he was to blame for many of them. The Frenchman did flap badly at Haaland’s first, mind, and was caught in two minds for the striker’s second.
There’s a stark difference between the two goalkeepers’ xG prevented stats this season:
A GOOD ADVERT FOR ROGERS AND DURAN?
At the hour mark in Saturday’s clash at Villa Park, the xG count read a miserable 0.33-0.11.
Villa had just taken the lead through a fine Ross Barkley (£5.2m) strike but were devoid of inspiration, with Leicester City sitting in a low block.
In such games, you could really do with the slaloming, midfield-bypassing runs of Morgan Rogers (£5.5m) and the predatory goalscoring skills of Jhon Duran (£5.8m). Both were suspended, of course, with Youri Tielemans (£5.5m) – crowded out in a more advanced role – and Ollie Watkins (£8.9m) unable to get much success in their absences.
Rogers will return in Gameweek 21, at least. Duran is scheduled to, too – but an FA charge is hanging over his head and further punishment may follow.
Villa were hit by a further blow early on when John McGinn (£5.2m) hobbled off.
“I think it’s a hamstring. More or less two, three, four, five weeks he could be out.” – Unai Emery on John McGinn
It wasn’t until Stephy Mavididi (£5.1m) followed up Jamie Vardy‘s (£5.5m) saved effort to equalise that Villa acted with any urgency. Leon Bailey (£6.2m) scored his first of the season before hitting the bar, with Emiliano Buendia (£5.1m) and Watkins wasting glorious chances on the rebound.
Substitute Ian Maatsen (£4.5m) teed up Bailey for the winner to the chagrin of Lucas Digne (£4.6m) owners, who haven’t seen any sort of return since Gameweek 9. Digne has mostly seen off Maatsen’s challenge so far, with Emery tending to introduce the Dutchman when Villa need that extra attacking thrust from left-back.
“He is always very positive and ready to play. He knows the confidence we have in him. When we needed something more in the attacking third, his capacity to make us faster, he always does it. His impact was fantastic and helped us score a goal because he was wishing for it.” – Unai Emery on Ian Maatsen
FOXES PLUCKY
Having held their own against Manchester City in Gameweek 20, Leicester repeated the trick at Villa Park.
“It was a very stable performance off the ball where Jakub [Stolarczyk] hasn’t really had to make a save. In general, those are a lot of positives, that are important conclusions to get points in this league. It’s just in the final details where it’s costing us against Man City and against Villa.” – Ruud van Nistelrooy, via the Leicester Mercury
Crystal Palace attackers may face a tougher test at the King Power than they would have done a few weeks ago, although the hope for Messrs Eze, Mateta and Sarr is that the Foxes will show more attacking ambition and open up a bit more in a more ‘winnable’ match than the three they’ve just had.
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