Manchester City booked their place in the final of the Carabao Cup with a 3-1 win over Newcastle.
We’ve already covered the possible Blank Gameweek 31 implications from City’s victory but in this piece, we take a look at the other Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from the match.
- READ MORE: Tuesday’s EFL Cup notes: Saka, Odegaard, James + Neto absences explained
- READ MORE: FPL Double Gameweek 26 confirmed for Arsenal + Wolves
WEDNESDAY’S RESULT
| HOME | AWAY | RESULT | GOALS | ASSISTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Man City | Newcastle | 3-1 | Marmoush (2), Reijnders | Elanga | Semenyo | Thiaw |
SELECTION / ROTATION
| TEAM | CHANGES FROM GAMEWEEK 24 | PLAYERS WHO KEPT THEIR PLACES (+ MINS) | OTHER PLAYERS (+ MINS) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Man City | 6 | Nunes (90), Khusanov (90), O’Reilly (71), Ait-Nouri (90), Semenyo (71) | Trafford (90), Ake (45), Gonzalez (83), Foden (72), Reijnders (90), Marmoush (90), Alleyne (45), Rodri (19), Haaland (19), Cherki (18), Lewis (7) |
| Newcastle | 3 | Trippier (78), Thiaw (90), Burn (90), Hall (90), Ramsey (90), Tonali (90), Willock (45), Gordon (44) | Ramsdale (90), Botman (90), Woltemade (45), Barnes (46), Elanaga (45), Murphy (45), Wissa (45), Osula (14) |
HAALAND AND CHERKI RESTED
With a two-goal advantage from the first leg, Pep Guardiola was able to give Erling Haaland (£15.0m) and Rayan Cherki (£6.6m) a good breather ahead of their crunch match against Liverpool on Sunday. Both began the midweek tie on the bench.
Marc Guehi (£5.2m) will also be back in starting XI contention in Gameweek 25. His absence against Newcastle was down to being ineligible, due to having signed for City after the semi-final first leg had already been played (he will also miss the final).
SEMENYO AND MARMOUSH SHINE
Antoine Semenyo (£7.8m) did start, however, and was effective in City’s front line, producing the cross that led to Omar Marmoush’s (£8.3m) second goal. His run also led to Tijjani Reijnders (£5.1m) sweeping home City’s third.
Having started every domestic match since arriving at the club, it is hard to imagine Guardiola leaving out Semenyo, the game’s highest scoring midfielder, for the trip to Anfield – not least because he has already scored against them this season.
Marmoush’s two goals served as a reminder to us all, and Pep, that he has an excellent forward waiting in the wings should the Spaniard finally lose patience with the out-of-sorts Haaland. The Egyptian had five of Newcastle’s five shots, with Reijnders weighing in with an impressive four goal attempts.
“He gives us his special quality, that is his pace, his movement in behind, and his work ethic. Omar helped us a lot last season. This season before Afcon, Haaland was [scoring] goals and goals and goals, he played less minutes. But Omar, with Antoine, he made another incredible game today, I am pleased with the work we have done.” – Pep Guardiola on Marmoush and Semenyo’s performances
Haaland has 20 goals this season, but only one in the last seven Gameweeks. He had two pops at goal after his late introduction but put them too close to Aaron Ramsdale (£4.8m).
DIAS FIT AGAIN
Ruben Dias (£5.5m) did not get on the field but his return to the bench makes City defenders a viable prospect again – after the Liverpool match, anyway.
City have kept only one clean sheet during Dias’s four-week absence, and that was against Wolves.
The Portugal centre-back averaged seven points a match across the six Gameweeks that preceded his hamstring twang.
BERNARDO INJURY NEWS
Bernardo Silva (£6.2m) missed out through injury, paving the way for Reijnders to give a strong performance in midfield.
Guardiola said afterwards that Bernardo’s injury is not too serious but he remains doubtful to face Liverpool.
“I don’t know [how bad it is]. Bernardo is special. Yesterday he said to me ‘I feel quite good. I wanna try, I wanna try’, but I don’t know. [The injury is] in a position that is I would say less dangerous than hamstring. It’s another type of muscle in the hamstring position. He’s back, but we’ll see in the next days. He is in incredible doubt for Sunday. I know him, he will try but right now I don’t know.” – Pep Guardiola on Bernardo availability
CITY STILL OPEN AT THE BACK
In an open game, there were gilt-edged chances for both sides. Man City produced 18 shots to Newcastle’s 12, winning on expected goals (xG) 2.22 to 1.33.
Guardiola said he would have liked his side to have defended more resolutely but commended his side’s offensive display and was pleased they didn’t rest on their laurels to protect what they had.
“Yes [I am worried that we were too open at the back]. We have to fix it, but it’s not difficult to control, I think in the way we played, but what I liked is we started the game with 0-0 not 2-0. We didn’t play to control what we won there, it was completely the opposite, we had incredible pace, we had chances, shots and aggressive with the ball, but the second half [we suffered more] for the tiredness maybe because Newcastle have this incredible attribute, whatever happened for 90 minutes they go, go, go, they have high pressing.
“We have to be a little more focused [defensively]. Omar was a little bit more tired in the second half and Nico O’Reilly as well, that’s why you cannot be so aggressive in those positions but, come on, I know how difficult winning the Carabao Cup is, against last year’s champions, and we did it.” – Pep Guardiola on City’s attacking strength and defensive shortcomings
Owners of Liverpool attackers may be buoyed by City’s continued largesse. Certainly, if they defend like they did last night then there will be joy to be had.
However, we can probably expect things to tighten up on Sunday with Gianluigi Donnarumma (£5.6m) back in goal, Guehi and Dias lining up for the first time and Rodri (£6.3m), who made a 19-minute cameo, strengthening the spine of the team.
GORDON INJURY LATEST
A miserable night for Newcastle was compounded by an injury to Anthony Gordon (£7.3m), who hobbled off just before half-time.
“It looks like a hamstring problem. I don’t know how bad it is but it was enough for him to come off so that’s a big worry.” – Eddie Howe on Anthony Gordon’s injury
HOWE CONCERNED BY ‘WORRYING TREND’ – GOOD FOR THIAGO?
The other thing that troubled the Newcastle head coach was the standard of his side’s defending. They found themselves 5-0 down on aggregate in just over half an hour, the tie effectively over.
Howe, who set his side up in a back five, was concerned.
“It’s irrelevant in terms of what numbers you have at the back, it’s how you adapt that to the game and we were trying to attack tonight; I thought that was quite clear. But you need to defend well, and part of playing five was to try and help us defend well but that wouldn’t be obvious from what you saw in the first half an hour.
“The goals were strange, they came from individual mistakes and errors. I don’t like the way the goals happened and I don’t like the final actions. That’s something following on from Liverpool, they were quite similar, a worrying trend the last two games.” – Eddie Howe on Newcastle’s ‘worrying’ defending
All of which spells good news for owners of Igor Thiago (£7.1m). They will be rubbing their hands at the prospect of the Brentford forward exploiting Newcastle’s brittle backline this weekend.
The Magpies’ forwards were not exactly at the Blaydon Races either. Joe Willock (£5.0m) and Gordon missed great chances in the first half, while substitutes Yoane Wissa (£7.3m) and Anthony Elanga (£6.5m) were culpable after the break. The Swede did at least score Newcastle’s consolation goal and produced four shots in a lively display.
“We are playing every three days at the moment, we’re finding it difficult having played Paris, Liverpool and Manchester City away, that’s a tough schedule for any team to face, and we’re doing it with the number of injuries we have. They’re not excuses, that’s the reality, we’re missing some really big players, and you could feel that with the performance today.” – Eddie Howe on Newcastle’s injury crisis
WHY HALL WAS TAKEN OFF AT HALF-TIME
Lewis Miley (£4.5m) and Bruno Guimaraes (£7.1m) were absent from the Newcastle squad, as expected.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hall (£5.3m), Willock and the ineffectual Nick Woltemade (£7.0m) were taken off at half-time. Howe knew the game was up and he was in preservation mode for what is becoming a disappointingly fitful league campaign.
“Definitely with Lewis and Joe Willock, that was very much the thinking, because Lewis hasn’t had a rest. He’s one of the ones we’d have loved to have taken out at certain stages during this run of games. I thought this was the right time to do make sure we can keep him at his best levels in the games coming up.
“Same with Kieran [Trippier]. We’re trying to protect Kieran, as we did at the end. But with the injuries we’ve got we can’t do that as much as we would like, and that’s why any injury to any player has a really detrimental effect.” – Eddie Howe on squad rotation
