FPL notes: Konsa injury, Villa debuts, Tel goal + Liverpool out

All of Sunday’s FA Cup ties are dealt with in one fell swoop as we bring you our latest Scout Notes.

The key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from the ties involving Liverpool, Wolverhampton, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur are covered here.

Villa and Liverpool both double in Gameweek 25, of course, so there was plenty to keep an eye on.

• READ MORE: FPL notes: Burn, Gordon + Jackson injuries, Pedro benched
• READ MORE: FPL notes: Mykolenko injury, Semenyo pen + Kluivert/Dango rested

SUNDAY’S RESULTS

TEAM SELECTION/ROTATION

*Gameweek 24 for Villa and Wolves, Thursday’s EFL Cup tie for Liverpool and Spurs

KONSA INJURY BLOW

Already short of options in defence, Aston Villa may have lost another centre-half to injury on Sunday.

Ezri Konsa (£4.4m) limped out of the win over Tottenham Hotspur with what seemed to be a hamstring injury, disappearing straight down the tunnel. He had lasted only 27 minutes.

Villa ended up with Boubacar Kamara (£5.0m) and Lamare Bogarde (£4.0m) at centre-half, both more at home in midfield.

The extent of Konsa’s injury is yet to be determined but there is light at the end of the tunnel ahead of Gameweek 25. Tyrone Mings (£4.4m) has been in training, while Axel Disasi (£4.2m) has been loaned from Chelsea.

“Hopefully we can recover quickly Pau Torres, Tyrone Mings, as well Axel Disasi for next week if everything goes well. For Konsa, hopefully it is not a big injury.” – Unai Emery, via the Birmingham Mail

If you’re thinking of the dirt-cheap Disasi for Double Gameweek 25, be warned: he can’t feature in Gameweek 26 and he’ll blank in Gameweek 29.

Andrés García (£4.5m), who had a torrid league debut, was a lot more impressive at right-back here.

MALEN UP TOP, RASHFORD + ASENSIO IMPRESS ON DEBUTS

Villa have more choice further up the pitch, with Ollie Watkins (£8.9m) to add to Sunday’s group. He’ll hopefully return to training this week.

In Watkins’ absence, Donyell Malen (£5.5m) started up top. The Dutchman was very good indeed, his link-up play and intelligent running very much in the Watkins mould. His contribution was vital to Morgan Rogers’ (£5.6m) goal, too, with Malen’s driving run and low cross eventually falling for his teammate in the six-yard box.

But the moment everyone was waiting for came in the 66th minute. Leon Bailey (£6.2m) and Malen made way, with Marco Asensio (£6.0m) and Marcus Rashford (£6.6m) introduced.

Villa at that point had Rogers right, Jacob Ramsey (£5.4m) left, Asensio in the ‘hole’ and Rashford up front. It was a fairly fluid front four, however, with Rashford – as Watkins does – drifting over to the left channel.

While playing as a No 9 on paper signalled a shift in position for Marcus Rashford, the areas Emery intends for him to be in are comparable to how he has long operated – in the inside left channel. Exactly where many of his touches came vs Spurs: #AVFC

🔗https://t.co/nMkGM90HWs pic.twitter.com/nlClCFxRp9

— Jacob Tanswell (@J_Tanswell) February 10, 2025

The immediate signs were very good indeed, with that four linking well in the closing stages. Asensio and Rogers played a superb one-two that nearly resulted in a goal for the latter, while an excellent Rashford flick helped set Ramsey on his way for what should have been 3-0. Ramsey himself responded brilliantly to the added threat to his place, registering more shots than anyone on show (five). He struck the woodwork with one of those efforts.

“We have to build the team again after the circumstances we had. Lamare Bogarde played consistently again when we needed him. Andres Garcia and Malen both played in the idea we had. They were consistent and focused. As well, Marcus Rashford and Asensio, we watched their skill and how they helped us and will help us again in the next months in the different competitions we will face. We are in a new way after the changes we did. We are demanding because we still need to improve due to some tactical issues and how we want to compete in the Premier League.” – Unai Emery, via the Birmingham Mail

Huge encouragement, then, but also a lot of game-time uncertainty heading into Double Gameweek 25. If Kamara is not needed in defence and Watkins is fit, you’ve got 10 players competing for six spots.

Rogers is someone who has swerved the rotation this season. Great yet again on Sunday, it was his trademark run and pass that set Ramsey away for the early opener.

“With Morgan Rogers, he’s being consistent as well. He’s performing fantastic and always doing his task in everything tactically offensively and defensively. He’s scoring goals, he’s as well assisting players, he’s getting our identity stronger with his skills and how he is as well adapting in different positions in the attacking third.” – Unai Emery, via the Birmingham Mail

TEL OPENS SPURS ACCOUNT

The mood around Villa is buoyant following their January transfer market moves. It’s fair to say it’s less positive in the Spurs camp.

Eliminated from two cups in the space of 72 hours, it’s now just Premier League respectability and the UEFA Europa League to play for.

In (continual) mitigation, their injury situation is horrendous. The ones who are fit, the likes of Pedro Porro (£5.4m), Son Heung-min (£9.8m) and Dejan Kulusevski (£6.4m), look pooped.

“I really don’t know how else to explain it other than if you can’t see that this team is just trying to play its hardest in the most extreme of circumstances. Two and a half months of asking 18-year-olds and 17-year-olds and senior players with no rest to play Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday. I’ll keep going for two-and-a-half months. If you think that is not at all a factor of how this team is performing then there’s nothing else I can say. There’s nothing else I can explain.” – Ange Postecoglou

The good news is that most of those currently sidelined should return in February, some as soon as Gameweek 25.

“That’s the timing of things. Just unfortunate for us that we couldn’t get a couple back, we were hoping to get a couple back for this last week, it didn’t happen.

“We could have risked a couple but again, with what’s ahead, we went conservative on that. It is a bit of a reset. We’ll definitely get three, maybe four, players back this week, with the possibility of one or two others in the week or two weeks after that.” – Ange Postecoglou

In another positive, Mathys Tel (£6.0m) opened his Spurs account on Sunday. Starting on the left flank with Son up top, Tel’s overall display won’t live long in the memory. He was, indeed, partly culpable for Villa’s second goal. But he stuck to his task, converting Kulusevski’s stoppage-time cross for a late Lilywhites consolation. By that point, he and Son – who had earlier spurned a sitter – had switched roles.

It’s still too early to be assessing Tel as an FPL asset, especially with Brennan Johnson (£6.2m), James Maddison (£7.4m), Wilson Odobert (£5.3m) and Dominic Solanke (£7.4m) to return in the coming weeks. Once they do, we should be able to gauge expected game-time more reliably.

The recovering defenders are as much needed as the attackers, with Villa wasting chance after chance on Sunday.

LIVERPOOL V SPURS: GAMEWEEK 34 FIXTURE CONFIRMED

Spurs’ elimination confirmed that their Gameweek 34 fixture against Liverpool will go ahead. That’s because earlier in the day, a much-changed Reds side had been dumped out of the FA Cup by Plymouth Argyle.

Gameweek 34 clashes with the FA Cup semi-finals, so we’ll see up to eight teams blank that week:

An unexpected cup exit means that, after Double Gameweek 25, Liverpool are less than likely to double again this season. There are some scenarios where they could (eg a weather-related postponement or Brighton reaching the FA Cup final and their Gameweek 37 meeting with Arne Slot’s side being moved to Double Gameweek 36) but the law of probability would suggest not.

Your final chance to hand Mohamed Salah (£13.7m) the Triple Captain or Arne Slot (£1.5m) the Assistant Manager chip in a ‘double’ might be in Gameweek 25, then…

BIG GUNS RESTED FOR MERSEYSIDE DERBY

While Liverpool’s defeat was a shock, some perspective is needed. There is the possibility that none of the starters at Plymouth line up to face Everton on Wednesday, when the Reds conclude their Gameweek 24 double-header.

The vast majority of the regulars – including Salah, Virgil van Dijk (£6.4m) and Cody Gakpo (£7.6m) – weren’t even in the squad at Home Park, let alone the starting XI.

“I think today also showed why we played with the ones we played with today because these players need game rhythm as well. For them to be ready in the upcoming months, they need game time, and you saw today that some of these players really need games like this to be ready for the last three months of the season.” – Arne Slot

The biggest disappointment was arguably the front three. Federico Chiesa (£6.8m), Luis Diaz (£7.5m) and Diogo Jota (£7.2m) all had excellent chances to stake their first-team claims here, flopping badly.

Plymouth’s 53rd-minute penalty spurred Liverpool belatedly into life. Diaz saw a close-range shot blocked, Jota had a swivelling volley parried away and substitute Darwin Nunez (£7.0m) went close twice late on. But in general, this was hugely underwhelming from the attacking deputies.

Diaz lasting the whole match, with Nunez appearing only in the 58th minute, might have been an indication over which of those two gets the nod this Wednesday.

And was Conor Bradley‘s (£4.7m) breather an indication that Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.4m) won’t be fit for Goodison Park? Slot’s press conference at 9am GMT on Tuesday might be the final word on the matter.

Slot may also bring us more news then on Joe Gomez (£4.7m), who hobbled out of the Plymouth game with hamstring discomfort.

CUNHA SCORES, MUNETSI CATCHES THE EYE

A second successive 2-0 win for Wolves, who managed to navigate their way through the potential banana skin that was Blackburn Rovers away.

In a forgettable game, two first-half goals in quick succession did the job. Joao Gomes (£4.9m) squeezed a shot in to break the deadlock before Matheus Cunha (£6.8m) finished superbly to double the advantage.

That was one of eight attempts Cunha had; that was half Wolves’ total. After some displays in January that left his own manager questioning his commitment, the Brazilian looked much hungrier here. A less distracted Cunha would be a real Fantasy asset for this upcoming run:

Wolves rode their luck a bit. Blackburn had a goal disallowed for an offside that looked questionable; no VAR here.

But consecutive clean sheets is a boost. The acquisition of the no-nonsense centre-half Emmanuel Agbadou (£4.0m) looks like a savvy one.

There’s hope that Marshall Munetsi (£5.0m) can equally prove to be a clever buy. The deadline-day arrival has a decent record of attacking returns despite operating in central midfield. Here, on as a second-half substitute, he ghosted in to nod wide before lashing narrowly off target from a corner.

Vitor Pereira mixed regulars with back-ups for this contest, making five changes. Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.7m) got a breather, with Rodrigo Gomes (£5.1m) used at left wing-back.

Wolves will have to check on Hwang Hee-chan (£6.1m), who came off with a hamstring issue.