The weekend just gone saw the FA Cup take centre stage, allowing Fantasy Premier League (FPL) to take a long-needed breather.
With this being the third round, it involves all 20 top-flight teams, so our Scout Notes will go through every tie involving these.
Many head coaches took the opportunity to rotate their squads after a busy festive period, but there were still a few FPL-related conclusions to make.
Next up, Arsenal, Brighton and Hove Albion, Leeds United and Manchester United.
RESULTS
| TEAM | OPPONENT | RESULT | GOALS | ASSISTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | Portsmouth (a) | 4-1 win | Dozzell (own goal), Martinelli x3 | Norgaard, Madueke x2, Jesus |
| Brighton | Man United (a) | 2-1 win | Gruda, Welbeck | Rutter, Gruda |
| Leeds | Derby County (a) | 3-1 win | Gnonto, Tanaka, Justin | Bijol, Piroe, Nmecha |
| Man United | Brighton (h) | 1-2 defeat | Sesko | Fernandes |
SELECTION / ROTATION
| TEAM | CHANGES FROM THE GW21 STARTING XI | PLAYERS WHO KEPT THEIR PLACES (+ MINS) | OTHER NOTABLE PLAYERS (+ MINS) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | 10 | Gabriel (76) | Kepa (90), Eze (90), Madueke (90), Lewis-Skelly (90), Merino (90), Martinelli (82), White (69), Timber (21), Odegaard (21), Havertz (21) |
| Brighton | 6 | Gross (90), Hinshelwood (90), Kadioglu (90), Rutter (83), Diego Gomez (77) | Steele (90), Coppola (90), Gruda (90), Welbeck (78), van Hecke (13), Ayari (13), Mitoma (13) |
| Leeds | 8 | Bijol (90), Ampadu (90), Gruev (73) | Darlow (90), Nmecha (90), Okafor (89), Justin (45), Longstaff (17), Stach (1), Aaronson (1) |
| Man United | 3 | Fernandes (90), Cunha (90), Sesko (90), Dorgu (90), Dalot (90), Lammens (90), Martinez (79), Ugarte (79) | Yoro (90), Mount (62), Mainoo (62), Maguire (11), Casemiro (11) |
ARSENAL
Three goals from corners
Days after making the headlines for his conduct towards an injured Conor Bradley (£5.0m), we saw the best of Gabriel Martinelli (£6.8m) at Fratton Park.
The Brazilian scored his first professional hat-trick, where two were similar near-post headers from a Noni Madueke (£6.8m) corner. In between, Martinelli’s tap-in met a perfect Gabriel Jesus (£6.4m) pass, executed in open play.
Arsenal’s initial equaliser came from an Eberechi Eze (£7.3m) corner, meaning that by mid-January, they’ve already netted 17 times from such situations. Madueke even found time to put his penalty off-target.
Gabriel stays in the XI, Hincapie latest
Of course, it’s hard to recommend Martinelli as an FPL option when he’s so rarely in Mikel Arteta’s lineup. And only two of these six league starts went (marginally) beyond the 60-minute mark.
The Gunners have a crazy level of squad depth, meaning they were able to not use Bukayo Saka (£10.2m), Declan Rice (£7.3m), David Raya (£5.9m) or William Saliba (£5.9m), and still have a high-quality XI.
So it was curious to see Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.7m) be the sole remaining starter from Thursday’s 0-0 versus Liverpool, knowing that such a vital player has just come back from a month-long hamstring injury.
Approximately four million owners will hope this was purely a building up of match fitness. After all, the absences of Piero Hincapie (£5.3m) and Cristhian Mosquera (£5.3m) won’t exactly allow rotation against Nottingham Forest.
“Probably tomorrow we’ll know a little bit more where he’s at. Obviously he had to come off [against Liverpool] which is never a good sign, but hopefully it’s not too much [time out].” – Mikel Arteta on Piero Hincapie, speaking on Sunday
Another threat to Gyokeres
Whereas the treatment room situation is different up front, where Viktor Gyokeres (£8.7m) now has Jesus and Kai Havertz (£7.3m) to compete with.
The German successfully made his first appearance since picking up a knee injury in Gameweek 1.
“In the last few minutes, I was just watching him move and his awareness, the way he needs to move, when he needs to move, in relation to what he moves. We miss him big time. He’s back with us, and now we need to maintain his fitness because he’s a very important player for us”. – Mikel Arteta on Kai Havertz
Surely it won’t be long until Havertz displaces Gyokeres in the lineup. Despite being signed for big money, the latter has only churned out three shots on target and one penalty goal from six consecutive league starts. To become champions, a better quality is needed.
LEEDS UNITED
Rotation to please FPL managers
Elsewhere, all Leeds assets owned by at least three per cent of FPL managers were either unused – Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.0m), Joe Rodon (£3.9m), Gabriel Gudmundsson (£3.8m) – or were kept back until the 89th minute, like Anton Stach (£4.9m).
That’s ideal, ahead of winnable matches against Fulham and Everton. While stoppage-time drama at St James’ Park not only denied Leeds a memorable away win, but ended their seven-game unbeaten run, they came from behind here to wipe out Ben Brereton-Diaz’s opener.
Like on the south coast, this encounter also had a missed penalty. Joel Piroe (£4.9m) was Pride Park Stadium’s guilty party.
Longstaff minutes
Meanwhile, Sean Longstaff‘s (£4.8m) second-half cameo was the first time we’ve seen him since Gameweek 12, because of a calf problem.
Just beforehand, Stach temporarily lost his starting spot for two matches. But he’s been in each lineup from Gameweek 14, delivering two goals, two assists and four defensive contribution (DefCon) returns.
Does Longstaff’s return affect Stach in any way? The latter’s form coincided with his team’s good run, so you’d think not, but it’s worth pointing out that Longstaff had taken over Stach’s set-piece duties before injury struck. One to monitor.
MANCHESTER UNITED
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
Sesko kicking on?
At Old Trafford, Benjamin Sesko (£7.2m) followed up his Burnley brace by netting a consolation goal past Brighton.
In his last four outings (all competitions), the former RB Leipzig striker has racked up 22 attempts, 14 efforts on target and seven big chances.
Furthermore, he’s joint-fourth for putting them on target (18) from Gameweek 6 onwards, despite missing four occasions.
We’re still awaiting confirmation on whether Michael Carrick or Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will get the interim head coach role but, in both scenarios, it feels like a back four, with Bruno Fernandes (£9.1m) in an attacking number 10 role and Sesko building confidence up front, is the way to proceed.
It’s not like the new boss can waste this precious auditioning time. From now on, it’s purely Premier League matches for Man United. And, at a time when appealing FPL forwards are scarce, maybe Sesko is the new answer.
Gruda stars for second-string Brighton
Then again, a strong home side couldn’t overcome a heavily-rotated Seagulls side that took out the likes of Bart Verbruggen (£4.5m), Lewis Dunk (£4.5m), Jan Paul van Hecke (£4.5m) and more. That’s now seven wins from 10 against Man United.
Due to uncertainty over the availability of Yankuba Minteh (£5.8m), there’s a chance for Brajan Gruda (£5.4m) stake a claim for a starting spot.
The 21-year-old both scored and assisted here, having bagged four attacking returns in the final five matches of 2024/25. He only started two of them, totalling a mere 197 minutes.
