Erling Haaland (£15.0m) scored twice and supplied an assist as Manchester City eased past West Ham United 3-0 on Saturday.
Here are our Scout Notes from the Etihad Stadium.
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HAALAND HAUL
Almost one million Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers opted to use their Triple Captain chip on Haaland in Gameweek 17.
It’s fair to say he delivered.
The Norwegian found the net just five minutes into a lop-sided encounter at the Etihad Stadium. He subsequently turned provider for Tijjani Reijnders (£5.2m), before a simple second-half finish increased his points tally to 16.
Haaland nearly completed a hat-trick late on, too, but dragged his low shot wide of the far post.
That was Haaland’s seventh attempt of the afternoon, with four of those efforts deemed ‘big chances’ by Opta, the most he’s had in a single match all season.
“I always have to thank Erling [Haaland] for the goals but today thanks to him and Phil [Foden] and Nico O’Reilly they helped us a lot to do this type of game.” – Pep Guardiola
CHERKI UNLUCKY
With Haaland up top, Rayan Cherki (£6.5m) and Phil Foden (£8.9m) functioned as dual No 10s behind in a 4-3-2-1 formation.
Cherki was instrumental in many of City’s best attacks and was unlucky not return, having created three big chances for his teammates.
If he had remained on the pitch longer (he was substituted off in the 67th minute), he surely would have added to his clean sheet/bonus point.
Above: Rayan Cherki’s key passes map v West Ham
As for Foden, his fine run of form came to an end as he blanked for the first time in five Gameweeks.
Notably, it was Foden’s cross which found Haaland in the box for the opener, with the Norwegian scoring from the rebound after his initial attempt was saved.
REIJNDERS’ THREAT
Instead, Reijnders came out on top among the City midfielders.
He thumped home the second goal on Saturday to total eight points, having previously shot straight at Alphonse Areola (£4.3m) from a favourable position inside the box.
Having recently returned to the starting XI, in part due to the absence of Jeremy Doku (£6.5m), Reijnders made some really threatening runs in behind against West Ham, even if he wasn’t always found by his teammates.
City have now scored at least three goals in each of their last five Premier League matches, whilst keeping clean sheets in each of the last three.
Discussing the next steps, Pep Guardiola said:
“The next step is hopefully to have Rodri back and we have to do many things better. You cannot forget Jeremy [Doku], [Mateo] Kovacic, Rodri, Omar Marmoush are not here. Rayan Ait-Nouri is not here, but we need him because Nico O’Reilly cannot play 90 minutes every game in his role.” – Pep Guardiola
WEST HAM POOR
Nuno Espirito Santo made three changes to the side beaten by Aston Villa last time out, with Max Kilman (£4.2m), Kyle Walker-Peters (£4.2m) and Ollie Scarles (£4.3m) coming into the starting XI.
The latter two replaced AFCON duo Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.2m) and El Hadji Malick Diouf (£4.1m), but looked rusty throughout.
The main issue, however, was a lack of goal threat.
Jarrod Bowen (£7.6m) fizzed a shot wide when 2-0 down, while Crysencio Summerville (£5.5m) took up some dangerous positions down the left, but bar a small period at the start of the second half, West Ham looked flat.
Easier tests do at least await, with West Ham top of the ticker in Gameweeks 18-25.
