Continuing with the Gameweek 30 Scout Notes, we begin to dissect Wednesday’s matches.
First up, Newcastle United 2-1 Brentford and Southampton 1-1 Crystal Palace.
ISAK + TRIPPIER INJURY SCARES
Alexander Isak (£9.5m) and Kieran Trippier (£5.6m) are newly flagged in FPL following Newcastle’s midweek victory over Brentford.
Isak was surprisingly taken off after only 65 minutes, just after the Bees had levelled at 1-1. Trippier, meanwhile, came off in the game’s dying stages.
Both were fitness-related substitutions, it turns out.
“You look at today, you’ve got Kieran feeling something in his groin, you’ve got Alex feeling something in his groin, you’ve got Matt Targett with illness. There’s a couple of other players feeling just little… I don’t think they’re massive injuries but little things. We’ve got a wafer-thin squad so we can’t afford to lose anybody so fingers crossed for Monday they can all recover.” – Eddie Howe, speaking to BBC Radio Newcastle
“[Isak] just wasn’t feeling 100%, I think his groin was just causing him a little bit of discomfort so we decided to withdraw him, hopefully as more of a safety mechanism really than anything else. We hope he’ll be fine but we’ve got a few niggles in the camp. So, Kieran [Trippier] just felt his groin, as well – again, we hope it’s not serious. We were missing Matt Targett through illness, so we’ve got a really stretched squad at the moment.” – Eddie Howe, speaking to NUFC.TV
Yet another Eddie Howe quote reported Trippier’s issue as a “cramp sensation”.
FPL managers hoping for a clear-cut update before Saturday’s deadline may have a problem.
Firstly, Howe will likely face the media on Friday morning before the Magpies have trained properly again. Thursday, we presume, will be a recovery day.
Newcastle also don’t play until Monday night, three-and-a-half days after Howe’s Gameweek 31 presser. Information he provides then could well have changed come kick-off at the King Power.
MURPHY + ISAK COMBO DELIVERS AGAIN
Isak had had an eventful hour or so, spurning some really good chances (an early header, a one-on-one in which he dallied) before an unfortunate Bryan Mbeumo (£8.1m) slip afforded him room to convert Jacob Murphy‘s (£5.0m) cross.
Murphy now has nine assists for the Premier League season – and seven of them have been supplied to Isak.
There were no signs of a Newcastle hangover from Wembley, with the Magpies starting strongly. Not a performance on a par with the EFL Cup final, but not bad all the same.
Tino Livramento (£4.5m) impressed down the left, carving out two good early chances. Harvey Barnes (£5.9m) was in the thick of things further down the flank, again racking up some eye-catching shot numbers.
Above: The leading shot-takers at St James’ Park
The problem for him is that he probably hasn’t done enough in the last three games to seriously threaten Anthony Gordon (£7.4m), who is now free from suspension. Gordon’s fitness may allow Barnes a stay of execution but the end product has been lacking so far, with Barnes perhaps too eager to impress knowing he has a small window to do so.
MBEUMO RISES TO SECOND
Mbeumo netted from the spot to briefly restore parity before Sandro Tonali‘s (£5.5m) freakish cross-shot winner.
Above: Sandro Tonali’s low-xG winner
That was Mbeumo’s 16th goal of the campaign and saw him rise to second in the overall FPL points table, at a time when he’s no longer the Fantasy flavour of the month. Almost 500,000 got rid of him in Gameweek 30, with some iffy fixtures and probably no ‘double’ to look forward to.
The Bees had fewer shots (21-12) and open-play xG (1.37-0.53) but had good chances nonetheless, with Ethan Pinnock (£4.4m) nodding against the post and Mikkel Damsgaard (£5.1m) blazing over from a great position.
Fine margins, with the Bees getting a point or more on another day. There’s certainly plenty of fight left in them, despite mid-table obscurity beckoning.
Damsgaard was on the bench for this one, with Thomas Frank revealing before kick-off that he’d been a minor injury doubt for this fixture.
On budget defender watch, Sepp van den Berg (£4.1m) was back in the starting XI. He had returned from injury as a substitute in Gameweek 29 but displaced Kristoffer Ajer (£4.4m) here.
“TIRED” PALACE
How utterly FPL that a Crystal Palace team who hadn’t conceded an away goal in 2025 should lose their clean sheet at the home of the division’s lowest scorers.
The Eagles, so excellent in recent months, chose the week of massive FPL investment (a combined circa three million transfers in) to deliver their flattest display in months.
Oliver Glasner cited mental fatigue after full-time, saying that Saturday’s FA Cup win took its toll.
Never one to rotate much (his only change was enforced), this did look to be a case of tired bodies and minds.
Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.6m) and Tyrick Mitchell (£4.8m) didn’t make it to the hour mark, while even ‘Mr 90 Minutes’ Daniel Munoz (£5.1m) came off with a quarter of an hour to go.
“I think we all know that we can play better but today it was really about never losing the belief and to keep going until the final whistle, and this is what the players did.
“We were missing a few percentage in every phase of the game and we looked a little bit mentally tired, not at our top [level]. Then also missing the first chance, then being down 1-0. We could see the players at half-time.” – Oliver Glasner
It begs the question of how they’ll go again in the ‘A23 derby’ on Saturday, although you’d imagine they’d be a bit more fired up for that.
Neither Palace nor Southampton made it to 10 shots or 1.0 xG in this game.
While he was part of a flat display, Mateta still came agonisingly close to scoring. An early effort cracked off the underside of the bar, while another shot on the turn was brilliantly kept out by Aaron Ramsdale (£4.4m).
The narratives around Mateta being hampered by his headgear will be trotted out but the likes of Eberechi Eze (£6.8m) were more ineffective. He wasted one good opening provided by Ismaila Sarr (£5.7m).
NO GAMEWEEK 31 BONUS FOR GLASNER
Matheus Franca‘s (£4.4m) late, late header cancelled out Paul Onuachu‘s (£4.9m) opener, with both ‘keepers perhaps disappointed that they couldn’t keep those efforts out.
Palace’s dropped points meant that, had Brighton and Hove Albion beaten or even drawn with Aston Villa, Glasner would have been eligible for Assistant Manager chip ‘table bonus’ in Gameweek 31.
As it is, with the Seagulls losing, that’s no longer case.
Glasner will, probably, at least get two shots at that in Double Gameweek 32.
- READ MORE: What is the Assistant Manager chip?
