Fulham and Sunderland crashed out of the FA Cup on Sunday, as Southampton and Port Vale claimed surprise victories to nil.
The unexpected exits mean that we’ve now got two more Blank Gameweek 34 fixtures definitely ‘on’, which you can read about here.
For everything else, here are the key talking points.
RESULTS
| Home | Away | Result | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fulham | Southampton | 0-1 | ||
| Port Vale | Sunderland | 1-0 |
SELECTION/ROTATION
| Team | Changes from Gameweek 29 | Players who kept their places (+ mins) | Other notable players (+ mins) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fulham | 9 | Cairney (65), Chukwueze (90) | Castagne (90), Andersen (90), Cuenca (90), Sessegnon (90), Reed (90), Bobb (90), Smith Rowe (89), Muniz (90), Iwobi (25), Jimenez (7), King (1) |
| Sunderland | 2 | Ellborg (90), Geertruida (90), Ballard (90), Alderete (90), O’Nien (90), Diarra (90), Le Fee (90), Angulo (90), Mayenda (90) | Rigg (83), Talbi (68), Isidor (22), Xhaka (7) |
ANDERSEN RETURNS
Marco Silva surprisingly made nine changes to his starting XI on Sunday, with Joachim Andersen (£4.5m) among those coming in.
The Danish centre-back missed Gameweek 28 due to illness.
He then remained on the bench as an unused substitute in the midweek loss to West Ham United, with Issa Diop (£4.3m) preferred.
Back in the starting line-up on Sunday, Andersen’s return was notably poor.
Although he admittedly wasn’t given enough protection from central midfielders Harrison Reed (£4.3m) and Tom Cairney (£4.8m), his play was often clumsy, which led to him conceding the decisive penalty.
STILL NO WILSON
It’s been a really bad week for Fulham, who have now lost back-to-back home matches against West Ham and Southampton without scoring.
Harry Wilson (£6.0m) missed out on both occasions, having suffered an ankle injury in the 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur.
The Welshman’s absence has been keenly felt but with a free midweek to come, there is still optimism that he will return in Gameweek 30.
In case you missed it, here’s what Silva said on Friday:
“He was on the grass this morning. Let’s see how he’s going to react. He was there, doing individual work, not involved with the team, but doing the individual rehabilitation. Let’s see how he’s going to react tomorrow, [and] what is going to be the next step for him. Probably right now, if you ask me, he’s probably not going to be in contention for Sunday, but we have some days until the game, and probably can have some news on Saturday.” – Marco Silva on Harry Wilson
In Wilson’s absence, a heavily rotated Fulham side racked up 24 shots and had goals by Timothy Castagne (£4.3m), from an Andersen assist, and Rodrigo Muniz (£5.3m) disallowed.
Oscar Bobb (£5.1m), meanwhile, showed some decent touches but Fulham ultimately fell short, having failed to create enough clear-cut chances.
LE BRIS ON XHAKA
Granit Xhaka (£5.1m) was again a substitute for Sunderland, with Regis Le Bris opting to take a cautious approach with his captain.
“We need to manage his load. The Premier League is the first objective, 100%.” – Regis Le Bris on Granit Xhaka
Le Bris made two changes for this FA Cup clash, with Chris Rigg (£4.7m) and Chemsdine Talbi (£4.9m) coming in for the suspended Trai Hume (£4.5m) and Noah Sadiki (£4.9m).
Habib Diarra (£5.3m) consequently dropped into a deeper midfield position and saw his effort cleared off the line, while Eliezer Mayenda (£5.2m) hit the woodwork.
BALLARD THREAT
However, centre-back Dan Ballard (£4.6m) posed the most significant threat.
He came close with four headed attempts (see image below via SofaScore), which included two big chances, with one of his efforts tipped over the crossbar.
Throughout the season, Ballard has racked up eight big chances in the Premier League, the second-most of any Fantasy defender.
Enzo Le Fee (£5.0m), meanwhile, created a match-high six chances on Sunday.
In other news, with Robin Roefs (£4.9m) still out, Melker Ellborg (£4.0m) continued in goal but was perhaps fortunate not to be sent off.
