Newcastle United suffered a 2-1 derby defeat to Sunderland, despite Anthony Gordon (£7.4m) giving them an early lead.
Here are our Scout Notes from St James’ Park.
3 IN 3 FOR GORDON
Newcastle had the perfect start to the match on Sunday, when a defensive mistake handed Gordon the opportunity to give them an early lead.
He’s now found the net in three consecutive Gameweeks for the very first time.
It’s coincided with Gordon occupying a central striker role, with Newcastle looking far better suited to having a runner up front.
Nick Woltemade (£6.7m) was consequently deployed in a deeper, No 8/10 role during the derby.
Gordon and co face Crystal Palace in Gameweek 32, who will be in European action against Fiorentina on both sides.
A potential Double Gameweek 33 awaits, too.
THIAW BENCHED, HOWE ON HIS DEFENCE
Eddie Howe made two changes from the 7-2 loss at Barcelona in midweek.
Sven Botman (£4.9m) replaced Malick Thiaw (£5.1m), the most-bought player of Gameweek 31, while the injured Sandro Tonali (£5.3m) missed out completely, with Woltemade taking his place.
Both alterations had consequences.
Thiaw had previously started 26 Premier League games in a row, so even taking into account his poor performance at the Nou Camp on Wednesday, his benching was still unexpected.
Botman later suffered a head injury, so Thiaw replaced him and very nearly scored, but his headed goal from Lewis Hall’s (£5.4m) corner was disallowed, with Jacob Murphy (£5.9m) blocking off the Sunderland ‘keeper and in an offside position.
But Newcastle conceded twice after Thiaw’s introduction, with Sunderland levelling through Chemsdine Talbi (£4.9m), before Brian Brobbey (£5.3m) hit a dramatic late winner.
“I thought they were two really poor goals to concede, both in the last actions and the bits before, and that’s not been a one-off for us. We’ve defended poorly for a period of time. Certainly, since the turn of the year and we’re well aware of that.” – Eddie Howe
The Magpies also suffered without Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes (£6.8m) and Lewis Miley (£4.4m) in the middle of the park, which clearly impacted the team’s balance.
“We missed our midfielders that would give us that control and that technical delivery – Bruno, Lewis Miley and Sandro. Missing all three of those players left us slightly unbalanced. That was the main consequence of that poor technical delivery, we lost the control of the game we had in that first half. Then the game became transitional. We’re slightly fatigued, then we look even more tired and then we make more mistakes. My first thought is to point at the technical delivery. We made the game too much like they wanted it and that didn’t help us.” – Eddie Howe
HALL’S CREATIVITY
Despite the loss, Hall put in a really positive performance from left-back, with three chances created.
He provided several high-quality crosses and nearly assisted, when his fine delivery was headed against the post by Botman, prior to Thiaw’s disallowed goal.
Defensively sound as well, Hall has now created 14 chances since Gameweek 20, the third-most of any FPL defender:
BROBBEY SUPERB
Sunderland responded superbly after the break and were much the better team, with Brobbey a real handful with his strength and hold-up play.
He won the match late on, when he prodded home after his initial shot was saved.
“He is getting better day after day. He is impressive. We needed more time as a team to find the right connections. The way we can use his strength especially. Now he is becoming a big threat and it’s big for the club.” – Regis Le Bris on Brian Brobbey
With Newcastle lacking tempo, the Black Cats drew level thanks to Talbi, as Newcastle conceded from another set-piece.
Sunderland’s form had dropped off recently, but they’ve now won back-to-back away matches, with a home clash against struggling Tottenham Hotspur to come after the international break.
The victory on Sunday was achieved without Robin Roefs (£4.8m) and Dan Ballard (£4.7m), while Nordi Mukiele (£4.5m), Reinildo Mandava (£3.8m) and Enzo Le Fee (£5.0m) were only fit enough for the bench.
Granit Xhaka (£5.1m), meanwhile, was one of four players to bank defensive contribution (DefCon) points on Sunday:
