Here are the major Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from Thursday’s Europa and Conference League fixtures involving Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace.
- READ MORE: Tuesday notes – Kudus injury, Gakpo risk + Szoboszlai in FPL
- READ MORE: Tuesday notes – Saka pen, Rice assist + clean sheet record
- READ MORE: Wednesday notes – In-form Foden, Gordon injury + no Pedro rest
THURSDAY’S RESULTS
| Team | Opponent | Result | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aston Villa | Maccabi Tel Aviv (h) | 2-0 win | Maatsen, Malen (pen) | Rogers, Konsa |
| Crystal Palace | AZ Alkmaar (h) | 3-1 win | Lacroix, Sarr (x2) | Guehi, Lacroix, Mateta |
| Nott’m Forest | Sturm Graz (a) | 0-0 draw |
SELECTION/ROTATION
| Team | Changes from GW10’s starting XI | Players who kept their places (mins played) | Mins for other notable players |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aston Villa | 5 | Konsa (90), Martinez (90), Guessand (75), Onana (75), Rogers (64), Pau (64) | Maatsen (90), Malen (90), Sancho (75), Watkins (26), Buendia (15), Tielemans (15), McGinn (15) |
| Crystal Palace | 1 | Guehi (90), Richards (90), Henderson (90), Lacroix (90), Mitchell (90), Lerma (90), Mateta (86), Munoz (86), Yeremy (73), Sarr (65) | Hughes (65), Wharton (25), Kamada (25) |
| Nott’m Forest | 7 | Milenkovic (90), Williams (90), Savona (90), Gibbs-White (77) | Yates (90), Morato (90), Kalimuendo (79), McAtee (66), Ndoye (24), Murillo (13) |
SARR BRACE AFTER INJURY SCARE
A brace from Ismaila Sarr (£6.6m) helped fire Crystal Palace to a 3-1 win over AZ Alkmaar in the Conference League. Yet the Senegal star lasted just over an hour before being withdrawn.
The good news: the hamstring “tightness” that you may have seen reported happened before Thursday’s match – and he played anyway!
“He mentioned yesterday, very, very small tightness in his hamstring and the doctor told me and then I said, “Hey, we have a game on Sunday as well”. Then he plays for Senegal, fortunately here in London. So yeah, again, we have to manage the minutes. This is what we could do today.” – Oliver Glasner on Ismaila Sarr
He’ll enter Gameweek 11 in fine (cup) form, though. Having nearly netted against Brentford last Saturday, Sarr scored on either side of half-time, knocking in a close-range box bobbler, then running onto Jean-Philippe Mateta‘s (£7.9m) through ball to lash home.
Now on eight goals in all competitions, Sarr is only behind you-know-who among Premier League players.
MATETA PENALTY MISS, BUT GUEHI + LACROIX JOY
That all came after Sarr hit the post and also cleverly won a penalty less than a quarter of an hour in. Appearing not to hear the referee’s whistle, Mateta seemed unprepared and subsequently saw his spot kick saved.
Palace recovered quickly from that setback, though, when Marc Guehi (£5.0m) headed down a high ball that allowed Maxence Lacroix (£5.0m) to rifle in.
The Eagles’ clean sheet, meanwhile, was only spoiled by a second-half deflection that wrongfooted Dean Henderson (£5.0m), before hitting the goalkeeper on its way in. The only other goal Oliver Glasner’s men have conceded in four matches was against Arsenal.
ANOTHER FOREST CLEAN SHEET
Similarly, Nottingham Forest have kept two clean sheets in their last four. The period since Sean Dyche took over has seen a slight return to last season’s superb defensive solidity.
Both shut-outs have come in the Europa League, versus Porto and Sturm Graz. Still, though, it’s a notable improvement at that end of the pitch, with a heavily rotated side allowing just two shots on target.
Leeds United come to the City Ground next, offering the likes of Nikola Milenkovic (£5.2m), Murillo (£5.3m), Matz Sels (£4.8m) and Neco Williams (£4.7m) – who was a threat down the flank in Austria – to get back on our FPL radar.
It’s Liverpool away after that, then Brighton, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Everton and Fulham before Christmas.
GIBBS-WHITE ALSO FLUFFS PENALTY
Where Forest struggled on Thursday was at the other end of the field.
The visitors came close to a breakthrough on several occasions, through James McAtee (£5.2m), Ryan Yates (£4.7m) and Nicolas Dominguez (£5.0m) – the latter striking the crossbar late on – but the golden opportunity was when they were awarded a penalty for a handball.
Morgan Gibbs-White (£7.3m) stepped up, as he did against Porto a fortnight ago – but this time the England international had his spot-kick saved, denying him a third goal in Dyche’s four matches.
Forest’s lack of regular – or at least clinical – goal threat, as evidenced by only two of their nine attempts being on target, won’t have been helped by the ongoing absence of Chris Wood (£7.2m), with usual stand-in Igor Jesus (£5.8m) suspended for this match.
Jesus and Gibbs-White both took and scored penalties against Porto, so quite where the Englishman’s miss – admittedly his only unsuccessful effort in his senior career – leaves the pecking order at the City Ground is uncertain.
Summer signing Arnaud Kalimuendo (£6.0m) failed to impress as the line leader on his first start, one of seven changes to the starting XI that drew against United last Saturday. Murillo and Dan Ndoye (£5.7m) were restricted to substitute duty.
NO ELLIOT ANDERSON
Perhaps the most worrying absence of all from a Forest – and England – perspective was that of Elliot Anderson (£5.3m).
The defensive contributions (DefCon) and set-piece-taking king has, according to Dyche (per BBC Radio Nottingham) been “carrying a number of injuries” recently, resulting in him being left out of the travelling squad this midweek.
“Obviously, he’s been able to play, but with the heavy game schedule, he’s been carrying knocks.
“We thought, ‘hang on, we can’t just keep going and going. At some point, he’ll break if we’re not careful.’ All the others are injured. Until we can get them fit, it’s going to be a challenge. That’s quite apparent.” – Dyche on Anderson’s absence on Thursday.
MALEN FROM THE SPOT
While there was no fortune for Forest or Palace from 12 yards on Thursday, Aston Villa got some much-needed luck.
Unai Emery’s side had missed seven of their last 13 penalties in all competitions before Donyell Malen (£5.1m) stepped up and successfully beat the diving Maccabi Tel Aviv goalkeeper to round off a not entirely comfortable victory at home.
Interestingly, the Dutchman was not one of the four men Emery listed as possible takers – Emi Buendia (£5.3m), Jadon Sancho (£5.8m), John McGinn (£5.4m) and Morgan Rogers (£6.8m) – after his team’s last miss.
Similar to the Forest situation, we’re therefore not entirely sure where that leaves Villa’s pecking order. Buendia, the guilty party that day, and McGinn only came off the bench at Villa Park after Malen’s 59th-minute conversion, although Rogers (a threat at No10) and Sancho (responsible for a few bits of threatening link-up play from the left wing) were still on the field.
The circumstances of Villa’s penalty being awarded were a little dubious, with stand-in Ezri Konsa (£4.4m) seeming to trip himself up more than anything – but it was awarded and scored nonetheless.
TIELEMANS RETURNS
There was a heartening return to action of Youri Tielemans (£5.9m), who had been sidelined for around two months with calf problems.
The Belgian playmaker is a vitally important cog in Emery’s team (as well as another potential penalty taker…), with his 75th-minute introduction from the bench a welcome sight for the Villa faithful.
Elsewhere, Rogers provided an assist for left-back Ian Maatsen (£4.3m), who grabbed the opener with a good finish from a terribly tight angle in first-half stoppage time.
Emi Martinez (£5.0m) was called into action a few times, but ultimately kept a clean sheet alongside a backline that featured Victor Lindelof (£4.5m) at right-back. Matty Cash (£4.6m) and Lucas Digne (£4.5m) were unused substitutes.
“The most important thing was how we achieved the three points – not playing brilliant(ly), but playing seriously and passionately.
“We conceded more chances than we planned and we made some mistakes, but overall we dominated.” – Unai Emery on Villa’s performance
