Wednesday was a winless night for two Premier League heavyweights.
Liverpool were held to a 2-2 draw at Villa Park as Manchester City crashed out of Europe at the hands of Real Madrid.
It wasn’t all bad news from a Fantasy Premier League (FPL) perspective, however
A few well-owned assets delivered in the Double Gameweek 25 closer, while are positives to take from City’s Champions League exit.
Liverpool 2-2 Aston Villa and Real Madrid 3-1 Man City get the Scout Notes treatment.
Salah’s scoring streak, Gakpo absent again
Starting off on the homefront, it was another productive day for Mohamed Salah (£13.7m) and his legions of backers.
Liverpool’s main man, heavily backed with either the regular captain’s armband or the Triple Captain chip for the second Gameweek running, netted his side’s opener with one of his two total attempts, after a calamitous backpass from new Villa right-back Andrés García (£4.5m) was intercepted by Diogo Jota (£7.2m).
The Portuguese forward made only his second start since Gameweek 8 amid an injury-hit campaign, with that assist still his ninth attacking return from less than 800 minutes of action. He came close to adding more on several occasions, racking up a match-leading 11 penalty box touches and six attempts (five of which came from inside the area), with one Opta-defined ‘big chance’. His one shot from range also rattled the crossbar.
Jota led the line in both Double Gameweek 25 appearances, but will face more competition for a starting spot again soon with Cody Gakpo (£7.6m) – who was absent from each of those matches with an ankle injury – “close to being back”. Darwin Núñez (£7.0m) will pose less of a threat in that respect having failed to impress in his half-hour cameo at Villa Park, which included blasting over a potential game-winner of a big chance in front of an open net.
“I had to take out Jota and Trent [in the second half], both coming back from injuries. Jota hasn’t played for four or five months, it is his second start now after four or five months. So yeah, you have to take care of them, especially in a period of time where you play so many games.” – Arne Slot
By the final whistle, Liverpool had outshot their hosts with 17 attempts to Villa’s nine, but the two sides were evenly matched in how many times they hit the target (three).
Trent delivers as positional rival picks up injury
Having already scored his sixth goal in five matches, Salah then turned provider, keeping possession through a Lucas Digne (£4.6m) challenge on the edge of the area before laying the ball off for Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.4m) to rifle home via a deflection off the otherwise impressive Tyrone Mings (£4.4m), who had registered the assist for Villa’s first of the match.
That was the Liverpool right-back’s second goal of the season, adding to his tally of six assists. It followed a somewhat fortunate clean sheet in his Gameweek 25 opener which meant he far outscored his defensive colleagues despite playing the fewest total minutes across the two matches in this round of fixtures.
In his 65 minutes on the Villa Park pitch, Alexander-Arnold created a game-high four chances. He was matched in that regard by Andy Robertson (£5.9m), who despite also registering a ‘big chance’ is still searching for his first attacking return of the season.
Alexander-Arnold was replaced by regular deputy Conor Bradley (£4.7m) midway through the second half but the young Northern Irishman was himself withdrawn not long after with a muscular injury which looks set to keep him out of action for at least a week.
Díaz benched
There will have been some disappointment felt by owners of Luis Díaz (£7.5m), who finally delivered the goods against Wolves after a six-match barren run – only to be benched at Villa Park.
The returning Curtis Jones (£5.3m) was instead stationed on the left – where Díaz lined up in his previous appearance, due to Gakpo’s absence – as Jota took the central role. Díaz was eventually handed a brief run-out but saw very little of the ball.
“The reason why we did this is because Lucho [Luis Diaz] played three games in seven days. I played him at Plymouth because I knew I had Cody [Gakpo] so I could switch them around if needed but then Cody got injured at Everton, he got a big knock, and then all of a sudden you have only one winger left.
“So, that’s why for today we felt this could work and I felt it did if you look at the amount of chances we created and how we played the game. But result-wise you never know if you would have done it differently what might have happened but it wasn’t smart to play Lucho 90 minutes again.” – Arne Slot
His rest should at least boost the Colombian’s chances of starting at the weekend. Yet that trip to the Etihad being followed by the visit of Newcastle will test owners’ willingness to hold him for Gameweek 28’s home tie against Southampton, particularly given Blank Gameweek 29 follows that.
Watkins scores again, another Rogers blank
FPL managers who tuned in to last week’s press conferences heard Ollie Watkins (£8.9m) was fit to start – and those who promptly snapped him up for Gameweek 25 were duly rewarded.
Watkins bagged one against Ipswich Town and his second of the Gameweek temporarily put Villa ahead on Wednesday, nodding the ball in from a well-placed Digne cross.
It was the only attempt the Villa frontman managed all evening. Villa’s other goal was thumped in by Youri Tielemans (£5.5m).
There was further frustration for Morgan Rogers (£5.7m) owners, however.
Villa’s most highly owned FPL asset remains a key cog in his side’s attack – promising signs included a match-high four successful take-ons, and involvement in Watkins’ goal – but ultimately blanked for the fifth straight match.
Rogers was involved in Watkins’ goal and also created a second-half opportunity for Donyell Malen (£5.5m). He had another late chance to change that narrative himself ahead of what will likely be a period of heavy sales prior to Blank Gameweek 29 but couldn’t keep a stoppage time effort down.
Rashford starts, Malen threatens
Marcus Rashford (£6.6m) was handed his first league start in Villa colours and very nearly delivered his second FPL assist in as many matches, having strayed offside in the opening minutes of Wednesday’s encounter.
The Manchester United loanee had a chance to extend his side’s lead early in the second half, but couldn’t put his shot past Ibrahima Konaté (£5.2m) from an admittedly tight angle. That was Rashford’s only attempt before being replaced by Jacob Ramsey (£5.4m) in the 67th minute, but he did also match Salah for total and successful take-ons after performing well in that metric against Ipswich.
“Getting better. Getting minutes, confidence, a good feeling with more or less Aston Villa as a club, the supporters, their teammates. I think they performed well. They played 65 minutes and are progressively helping us more and more.” – Unai Emery on Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio
There’s every chance he could continue to challenge for minutes either on the left or even through the middle as a back-up to Watkins moving forward. Prospective buyers should of course keep in mind that Villa blank in Gameweek 29 and face two away trips before then.
It was a quieter showing for fellow loanee Marco Asensio (£6.0m) on his own first league start for Villa, but Malen – featuring from the bench as Asensio’s 67th-minute replacement – twice came close to scoring his first goal for his new club. One injury time shot clipped the outside of the post.
At the other end, Chelsea loanee Axel Disasi (£4.2m) started both Double Gameweek 25 outings as Mings returned to the XI alongside him on Wednesday. García was given the nod for the third straight match, forcing Matty Cash (£4.4m) to settle for a place on the bench as he returned to the matchday squad following a muscle injury.
Disasi will of course be ineligible to face his parent club in Gameweek 26, which could leave Villa short of centre-back options if Ezri Konsa (£4.4m) isn’t deemed fit in time.
Assistant Manager round 2 results: Slot vs Emery
Wednesday’s action completed round two of the Assistant Manager chip for many FPL bosses (and round one for many more).
Unai Emery (£0.8m) edged ahead of Arne Slot (£1.5m) having secured table bonus points. The Villa boss returned 14 total points in Double Gameweek 25 compared to Slot’s 13.
Decisions must now be made regarding whether to stick or twist for Gameweek 26. Neither manager is eligible for table bonus points in the upcoming round of fixtures.
- READ MORE: Who to pick as Assistant Manager in FPL Gameweek 26?
- READ MORE: How often does the Assistant Manager table bonus happen?
Haaland unused, Marmoush up top
Man City’s dire Champions League campaign ended with a whimper at the Bernabeu. A sublime Kylian Mbappé hat-trick sealed City’s earliest exit from the competition in over a decade.
Erling Haaland (£14.7m) was a notable absentee from the pre-match team line-ups, and the Norwegian remained an unused substitute in Madrid after being unable to shake an issue with his knee picked up in last weekend’s win over Newcastle.
“Apparently with the images we have done he is fine but it was discomfort walking and when, for example, with the stairs. We spoke yesterday this morning, he said, ‘I’m not ready, I don’t feel good, I’m not ready’.” – Pep Guardiola on Erling Haaland
It was instead Omar Marmoush (£7.1m) up top with Savinho (£6.2m). City’s exciting new January signing was unable to build on his first career hat-trick, though, coming closest to scoring when his stoppage time free-kick rebounded off the bar. Holding midfielder Nico González (£6.0m) tucked home his maiden goal for his new club.
At the very least, Wednesday’s showing served as further evidence of Marmoush’s versatility. It looks like he’ll be City’s go-to centre-forward option whenever Haaland is out of action, much like Julián Alvarez was. If the main man struggles to return promptly from this current injury, as we saw happen midway through last season, the appeal of Marmoush as an FPL option will only increase.
Kevin De Bruyne (£9.3m) was also benched once again, having offered little at the Etihad last week against Real. The once-undroppable Belgian hasn’t started in the league since Gameweek 22 either, and – as was the case against Newcastle last weekend – failed to make an appearance on Wednesday even with his side craving some creativity.
STONES INJURY
Abdukodir Khusanov (£5.0m) was targeted in a less familiar right-back role in this one, with Rico Lewis (£4.4m) pushed to the bench. However, the young Uzbek could be sent back into the centre of City’s backline after John Stones (£5.3m) was forced off with an early injury in the Spanish capital, with Nathan Aké (£5.3m) his cover on the night.
We’ll bring you any further updates on Stones’ (and Haaland’s) availability following Friday’s press conferences.
‘CONCENTRATE ON THE LEAGUE’
It was another poor European night for City, who were looking to overturn a one-goal deficit from the first leg but showed little signs of doing so.
They were down another mere minutes into Wednesday’s action, and three goals behind on aggregate by the end of the first half. During that time, they had mustered only one shot.
Pep Guardiola’s men did up that shot count to 12 by the end of the night, but only four of those efforts found the target compared to eight of Real’s. The visitors were also largely kept at arm’s length, with eight of their 12 shots coming from outside the box.
And the scoreline could have been worse were it not for a few solid saves by Ederson (£5.3m) to deny Mbappé and Vinicius Jr.
City won’t face Real Madrid every week, and now have one less competition to focus on. Pushing for a top-four league finish, could we now see less rotation in the run-in? FPL manager would welcome that given there are multiple Double Gameweeks still to come.
The reigning champions do, however, face league leaders Liverpool this weekend. That’s an unwelcome sight for any backline, let alone one struggling for form, confidence and fresh legs.
