It was the Nico O’Reilly (£4.9m) show on Saturday as the Manchester City defender once again came through and delivered on his ‘out of position’ (OOP) potential.

Here are our Scout Notes from the Etihad.

• READ MORE: FPL notes: Kayode injury, Collins error + Thiago blanks again
• READ MORE: FPL notes: James’ fitness, Estevao injury + Chelsea’s set-piece woes
• READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 27: Saturday’s goals, assists, bonus + ‘DefCon’ points

O’REILLY REAPING REWARDS FROM ‘OOP’ ROLE

O’Reilly isn’t just any old central midfielder in Pep Guardiola’s current 4-1-3-2/4-2-2-2 set-up. He’s the midfielder who often is the first one getting up alongside the front two to provide extra ammunition.

Exhibit A: his opener on Saturday, in which he ran onto Omar Marmoush‘s (£8.3m) pass to put City 1-0 up. Exhibit B: his dash into the box to meet Erling Haaland‘s (£14.8m) cross, six yards out, to restore the hosts’ lead.

He almost had a hat-trick, too, but Marmoush couldn’t quite pick him out with another cross. The offside flag went up on the Egyptian but replays showed a VAR check would have been tight.

Above: Man City’s leading shot-takers over the last two Gameweeks

It’s not just goal threat why Pep loves him in the engine room; it’s the defensive work, the energy and the physicality.

“Of course, I give a lot of minutes but he deserves it. The minutes he plays, he deserves it.” – Pep Guardiola on Nico O’Reilly

City’s current ‘Wingless Wonders’ system is partly enforced, of course. Antoine Semenyo (£8.0m) was, for weeks, the only fit wide-man on the books, with Marmoush more at home in a narrower role. Now, though, Savinho (£6.9m) is back. He was an unused substitute on Saturday. Jeremy Doku (£6.4m) is expected to return this week, too. Will Guardiola consequently go back to a set-up with more width soon, particularly in low-block matches like the one against Nottingham Forest in Gameweek 29? That, in turn, could affect who starts in midfield and how they’re used.

But if it ain’t broke, it might not be worth fixing. Pep likes to stick with tactical approaches while they’re working. This one currently is.

HAALAND ‘MAN OF THE MATCH’

Guardiola didn’t think O’Reilly was Man of the Match. That honour went to Haaland.

“Erling Haaland today was the Man of the Match, for me, because the fight with [Dan] Burn… against man-marking you have to play more direct and if you don’t win those balls or fight those balls 50/50, no chance – and he did it.” – Pep Guardiola

It’s now just one open-play goal in 10 Gameweeks for the Norwegian but this performance was more like it.

Haaland’s touch was really good against the Magpies, as, surprisingly, were his defensive efforts. Encouragingly for FPL managers, he had four shots of his own. His assist for O’Reilly was also superb, and the kind of service that he himself would relish receiving.

“No [I don’t want more of Haaland assisting others]. I want that someone cross to him, is what I want. I don’t like much, but it was incredible movement, four players in the park. So, yeah, it was an incredible assist.” – Pep Guardiola, when asked if Haaland now playing in a front two means he needs to be more creative

Harshly penalised by the Bonus Points System (BPS) for a ‘big chance missed’ on Saturday (he couldn’t do much else with Nick Pope (£5.1m) smothering his effort), it looked like he would miss out on a bonus point at the last minute. However, a data refresh on Sunday has taken him back up to 22 BPS – enough for one:

A much-needed, hungry-looking performance after some of his FPL owners got cold feet in recent weeks.

SEMENYO BAGS DEFCON!

Semenyo reprised the deeper, more central midfield role we saw him in against Liverpool two Gameweeks ago.

He, like O’Reilly, got up to support Marmoush and Haaland, with the Ghanaian international wasting a decent opening midway through the second half. Like the Liverpool match, he had three shots, so it isn’t particularly negatively impacting his output.

And maybe he had the role to thank for his DefCon points. That was the third time he’s managed that this season – with two of the games against Newcastle!

Above: Matches in which Semenyo has banked DefCon points this season

WHY DIAS WAS SUBBED OFF

Guardiola had provided only a nod to confirm that Haaland was fit on Friday.

And he wasn’t exactly loquacious when asked about Ruben Dias‘ (£5.5m) half-time withdrawal on Saturday.

“Yeah” – Pep Guardiola, when asked if Ruben Dias’ substitution was tactical rather than fitness-related

It wasn’t a huge shock to see Dias go off, as he had already picked up a booking against Newcastle’s pacy attack in the first half.

ANOTHER GOOD PERFORMANCE FROM NEWCASTLE

After three successive away wins in all competitions for Newcastle, this was one game too far.

But while a positive result failed to materialise, it was another heartening performance from the improving Magpies.

Not cowed by the occasion, they had a go at their hosts, with the lively, ‘out of position’ Anthony Gordon (£7.2m) seeing a good early chance saved, Dan Burn (£5.0m) denied an equaliser by an assistant’s flag (he had been pushed into an offside position by Dias!) and Harvey Barnes (£6.1m) thwarted at the death by Gianluigi Donnarumma (£5.6m). The Italian ‘keeper made six saves in all, with Newcastle almost matching their hosts for shots (13 v 15).

Man City probably still deserved the win but there wasn’t quite the chasm in quality there usually is when these two sides meet at the Etihad.

On the team selection front, Nick Woltemade (£6.8m) was again trusted with a deeper midfield role but predictably struggled more against City than he had done against 10-man Villa and a naive Qarabag side.

There was no Sven Botman (£4.9m) again, meanwhile.

“Yeah, we thought he was going to be available yesterday, but he just didn’t feel 100% right. So, we didn’t want to take any chances with him. We hope he’d be available on Tuesday, but that’s not 100% clear currently.” – Eddie Howe on Sven Botman