Liverpool rounded off the FA Cup third round with a 4-1 win over Barnsley on Monday night – and the return to fitness of Hugo Ekitike (£8.9m) was the big Fantasy takeaway from Anfield.
Reflecting on that game, plus the weekend ties involving Brentford, West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers, it’s time for another Scout Notes.
With Football League clubs providing the opposition and rotation rife, these notes are as much about the wider talking points as the on-field action.
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RESULTS
| Team | Opponent | Result | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool | Barnsley (h) | 4-1 win | Szoboszlai, Frimpong, Wirtz, Ekitiké | Mac Allister x2, Ekitiké, Wirtz |
| Brentford | Sheffield Wednesday (a) | 2-0 win | Lewis-Potter, Jensen pen | Jensen, Donovan |
| West Ham United | Queens Park Rangers (h) | 2-1 win | Summerville, Castellanos | Magassa, Summerville |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | Shrewsbury Town (h) | 6-1 win | Strand Larsen x3, Arias, Rodrigo Gomes, Arokodare | Hwang, Strand Larsen, Arias, Arokodare, Møller Wolfe |
SELECTION/ROTATION
| Team | Changes from GW21’s starting XI | Players who kept their places (mins played) | Mins for other players |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool | 6 | Van Dijk (90), Szoboszlai (90), Gakpo (90), Mac Allister (88), Frimpong (60) | Mamardashvili (90), Robertson (90), Jones (90), Ngumoha (73), Gomez (60), Chiesa (60), Konate (30), Wirtz (30), Ekitike (30), Gravenberch (17), Nyoni (2) |
| Brentford | 8 | Lewis-Potter (90), Jensen (89), Henry (80) | Valdimarsson (90), Hickey (90), Pinnock (90), Damsgaard (90), Donovan (90), van den Berg (89), Nelson (70), Henderson (45), Janelt (45), Nunes (20), Arthur (10), Kayode (1), Konak (1) |
| West Ham United | 6 | Todibo (120), Bowen (120), Summerville (120), Castellanos (111), Mavropanos (45) | Hermansen (120), Kilman (120), Potts (120), Wan-Bissaka (90), Mayers (90), Pablo (75), Magassa (70), Soucek (50), Walker-Peters (30), Scarles (30), Rodriguez (9) |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 5 | S Bueno (90), Krejci (90), Arias (84), Hwang (74), J Gomes (60), Tchatchoua (60) | Johnstone (90), Doherty (90), Moller Wolfe (90), Andre (90), Strand Larsen (74), Mane (30), Rodrigo Gomes (30), Arokodare (16), Lopez (16), Lima (6) |
LIVERPOOL
EKITIKE RETURNS – AND IS STRAIGHT ON THE SCORESHEET
Back just in time for a home match against Burnley…
Ekitike, the most-sold player of Gameweek 22 by some margin, reappeared as a substitute on Monday after a two-match absence.
Arne Slot introduced the French forward and Florian Wirtz (£8.2m) on the hour mark, the two going on to score and assist each other. Ekitike’s superb backheeled flick was curled in by the German midfielder, who repaid the favour by squaring for his fellow sub in injury time.
Cody Gakpo (£7.3m) had started the night up front, doing little to suggest Ekitike will struggle to reclaim his striker’s spot if he’s completely fit. Gakpo ended up playing up on both flanks in the closing stages, with Rio Ngumoha (£4.3m) withdrawn due to cramp.
MORE RIGHT-BACK RESPONSIBILITIES FOR SZOBOSZLAI?
The best player on the pitch for most of the game, and not for the first time this season, was Dominik Szoboszlai (£6.6m). His thunderbolt from distance opened the scoring, while he was one of the few Liverpool players who looked capable of grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck. A 4-1 scoreline flattered the Reds, with those Ekitike and Wirtz goals adding gloss.
Szoboszlai is only human, though: a horrendous error from the Hungarian resulted in Barnsley reducing the arrears to 2-1.
While we can chalk that gaffe up to a one-off, of greater worry to his owners in FPL is the potential for him to resume right-back duties – at least part of the time – in the season run-in.
That’s because Conor Bradley (£5.0m) looks set to miss the rest of 2025/26 with a knee injury. While Jeremie Frimpong (£5.7m) is fit, he’s been carefully managed since his own return from a medium-term lay-off and he’s not going to start every match. Even when fit, you sense that Slot has his reservations about the Dutchman’s defensive abilities. He’s only started two league matches at right-back this season, indeed. Those shortcomings mightn’t be too exposed at home to Barnsley or Wolves (or in Gameweek 22 against Burnley), but will Slot start Frimpong in the back four against, for instance, Manchester City in Gameweek 25?
There’s always Joe Gomez (£4.9m), of course, and Szoboszlai owners will be hoping he stays fit to share the burden at right-back. Still, Slot acknowledged the possibility of his influential Hungarian international returning to full-back duties in the weeks and months ahead – and that’s indeed where he finished Monday’s match against the Tykes.
“It’s an enormous blow for him but as a result of that, it’s a big blow for us as well because I hope that you don’t think I would like to play Dominik Szoboszlai as a right full-back. Jeremie Frimpong has to play a lot of minutes, also comes back from an injury, has missed out on three or four months of a lot of playing time. I liked him again today, by the way, but I have to make sure he is able to play again at the weekend and then we go to Marseille and then we go to Bournemouth. It is nine games in January with six defenders available. I have to manage it in the right way and I have to give enormous compliments to the players that are fit that we are 11 games unbeaten.” – Arne Slot on Conor Bradley
Frimpong did at least exhibit his undoubted attacking threat, scoring a cracker of his own.
BRENTFORD
THIAGO + SCHADE ABSENT
There was no Igor Thiago (£7.1m) as Brentford comfortably saw off troubled Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday. In the absence of any telling post-match quotes from Keith Andrews, the presumption is a rest. Andrews said after the Sunderland game about “looking after him” and this being his first run of starting matches more than once a week, so the likelihood is that the Bees were wrapping their 16-goal striker up in cotton wool.
Kevin Schade (£7.1m) was also missing from the matchday squad as Andrews rotated eight of his Gameweek 21 starting XI in all.
‘OOP’ LEWIS-POTTER GOES UP FRONT
In the absence of Schade and Thiago, Andrews opted for Keane Lewis-Potter (£4.9m) up top.
Lewis-Potter has been playing ‘out of position’ (OOP) on the wing in recent weeks but this was a further step up, with the versatile FPL defender leading the line. He was on the scoresheet, too, nodding in Mathias Jensen‘s (£4.9m) free-kick. That was one of six attempts he had at Hillsborough, another of which hit the bar. An attempted lob and a header from a corner also drew fine saves.
The threat to Lewis-Potter is now the return of Dango Ouattara (£5.8m) from international duty. Dango is back from the Africa Cup of Nations after Burkina Faso’s elimination, and he’ll return to contention in Gameweek 22 after being given the weekend off.
Brentford’s momentum may ensure that Lewis-Potter keeps his place for now but those ‘OOP’ run-outs are likely on borrowed time.
JENSEN DEPUTISES ON PENS
One of Brentford’s stand-out players over the last month or so has been Jensen, whose form has largely kept Mikkel Damsgaard (£5.8m) out of the side. It hasn’t translated into any attacking returns in FPL, and the underlying numbers have been middling (an expected goal involvement (xGI) of 1.90 since Gameweek 13).
Still, it’s sometimes nice to know who is where in the penalty-taking pecking order – and Jensen is at least in the mix when Thiago is out. The Danish midfielder scored superbly from the spot on Saturday after young winger Romelle Donovan (£4.4m) had been felled. Schade was also absent, of course; he had missed from the spot in Gameweek 3.
At the other end, the Bees were seldom troubled by their inexperienced hosts. Sepp van den Berg (£4.5m) stepped back into the defence but still faces a fight to regain his place in the Premier League when the regulars return in Gameweek 22.
WEST HAM UNITED
TATY OFF THE MARK
One of West Ham United’s two new strikers is off the mark.
Valentin ‘Taty’ Castellanos (£5.5m) scored the extra-time winner on Saturday as an unconvincing West Ham squeaked past Championship side Queens Park Rangers to spare under-fire manager Nuno Espirito Santo further woe.
Taty and Pablo Felipe (£5.5m) both arrived in early January but it’s the former who has seen more action so far, starting in Gameweek 21 and then again against QPR. Pablo has only been a substitute to date.
Taty does play up top but he’s more of the Nick Woltemade-type (£7.3m), ie a link-up man rather than goal-hanger. Still, he was in the right place at the right time to nod in Crysencio Summerville‘s (£5.5m) cross, one of four attempts he registered against the second-tier side. While modest things are expected from the Argentine forward, he is one to monitor in FPL, especially at a time when many Fantasy managers are stripping money from their frontline.
On a quiet afternoon for Jarrod Bowen (£7.7m), Summerville was the brightest spark on the opposite flank. Drawing two superb saves out of the visiting goalkeeper, he was not to be denied when Soungoutou Magassa (£5.0m) slipped him in on goal just before half-time.
Really, though, this was a victory that barely papered over the cracks. The wait for a clean sheet under Nuno goes on, too: it’s now 17 matches without one since he took over.
PAQUETA EXIT-BOUND?
It’s not just Bournemouth where there may be a void to be filled on penalty-taking duties.
Rumours suggest that Lucas Paqueta (£5.9m), the Hammers’ regular spot-kick taker, wants out at West Ham – although the Hammers are reluctant to sell. The Brazilian reportedly requested to be left out of Nuno’s squad on Sunday, with Flamengo circling.
Who is next in line? Other than Paqueta, Bowen (7/10 success rate) was the last player to take a competitive penalty for the Hammers, doing so last season. But both new strikers have some experience, with Taty (15/18) boasting the best record of the two (Pablo is 3/4).
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
MANE RESTED AS STRAND LARSEN BAGS A TREBLE
A sign of Mateus Mane‘s (£4.5m) growing importance that he was rested in the FA Cup? The budget forward, who has started Wolves’ last four league games and delivered three attacking returns in the process, was reduced to substitute duty as Rob Edwards’ slowly improving side breezed into round four.
There’s not a great deal anyone can take from the pummelling of a League Two side flirting with a drop to the National League but the 6-1 tonking of Shrewsbury Town at least continued a four-match unbeaten run.
Jorgen Strand Larsen (£6.1m), who has played benchwarmer in the Premier League since Christmas, netted a hat-trick, although a 60-year-old Steve Bull would have fancied his chances of bagging a goal or two against the Shrews. Strand Larsen’s second goal, indeed, was passed straight to him by the Salop ‘keeper.
The Norwegian even assisted a goal for Jhon Arias (£4.9m), who has looked better lately in a deeper role. Tolu Arokodare (£5.4m), who is effectively keeping Strand Larsen out of the side, came off the bench to net, too.
