There are two more of Sunday’s Premier League matches to get through as we continue our Double Gameweek 33 Scout Notes.
This time, it’s Manchester City 2-1 Arsenal and Nottingham Forest 4-1 Burnley.
PEP ON RODRI …
The only downside from Sunday’s win over Arsenal was the fact that Rodri (£6.3m) had to be substituted off in the second half.
Rodri will now be assessed in the coming days.
“I don’t know how long Rodri will be out. [It’s the] Groin I think the doctor said but we will see. We will make a test tonight or tomorrow.” – Pep Guardiola on Rodri
… AND ROTATION
City are in action once more at Burnley on Wednesday, likely without Rodri, before Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Southampton.
For the past three matches since the international break, Pep Guardiola’s only line-up alteration has been in goal.
However, the Spaniard has admitted he will need to rotate in this busy period.
“In these last games I played more or less the starting XI because we had six, seven, eight days between games. But now we go to Burnley and then London to play Southampton and these guys cannot play all the time. If you are a good team, we can do it together.” – Pep Guardiola
If City beat Burnley in midweek, they will go top of the table on either goals scored or goal difference, with Pep urging his squad not to “lose the focus”.
“Congratulations to the guys, but don’t lose the focus. Wednesday is our game in hand and we can be there if we win. That’s what we have to do. Doing it will be so difficult because Everton or Brentford, or Aston Villa, Crystal Palace. The games that we have. Bournemouth away. Last week they won in Emirates and Newcastle. It will be more difficult.” – Pep Guardiola
CHERKI HAUL + “EXCEPTIONAL” O’REILLY
Rayan Cherki (£6.4m) is enjoying a fine debut season for City, and he was superb once more on Sunday, flicking the ball into the far corner after some top-quality footwork, having previously hit the post.
The Frenchman has now delivered 20 points across his last two matches.
In an excellent display, Erling Haaland (£14.5m) later scored the winner, having recorded five shots in total, including three ‘big chances’.
Nico O’Reilly (£5.1m) was fit to start as a ‘roaming’ left-back, and it was his clever pass across the six-yard box that found the Norwegian, who subsequently slotted home.
“Incredible defensively, offensively and set pieces. What a player he is becoming. Playing different positions. He is exceptional. He had the composure today to take the ball and again arrive in the final third for the second goal. What a season! I don’t know if he is the best player or the man of the season but the young one? Guys, it has to be.” – Pep Guardiola on Nico O’Reilly
Elsewhere, fellow full-back Matheus Nunes (£5.3m) banked the assist for Cherki’s opener, his eighth of the campaign, the most of any defender.
Antoine Semenyo (£8.2), however, was poor. He got into some very decent positions, but his first touch/final ball frequently let him down.
EZE OFF THE LEFT
Mikel Arteta made two alterations to his line-up for this encounter. Martin Odegaard (£7.8m) returned in place of Gabriel Martinelli (£6.8m), while Kai Havertz (£7.3m) was preferred to Viktor Gyokeres (£8.8m) up top.
Eberechi Eze (£7.2m) consequently started off the left, which added more technical quality to Arsenal’s play.
In a front-footed display, Gabriel Magalhaes (£7.1m) – who was lucky to avoid a red card – came within the width of the post to make it 2-2, while Eze earlier struck the crossbar with a superb effort.
Prior to that, a rare Gianluigi Donnarumma (£5.6m) error gifted Havertz the equaliser. The German international had plenty of other opportunities, too, missing a one-on-one, before sending a header inches over the bar.
In total, Havertz missed four Opta ‘big chances’, with five shots in total.
Arsenal have now lost their last four matches in a row in domestic competitions, but the title is still a long way from being over, a real positive from a Fantasy perspective, as both teams simpy need to keep on winning.
Finally, William Saliba (£6.1m) and Martin Zubimendi (£5.0m) should both gain defensive contribution (DefCon) points in the next FPL refresh:
GIBBS-WHITE SUPERB
Morgan Gibbs-White (£7.5m) stepped up when his team needed it on Sunday, as Forest extended their unbeaten run to seven matches in all competitions.
With a hat-trick in Gameweek 33, the England hopeful has now produced 10 attacking returns in 14 matches since the turn of the year, amassing 91 points, the most of any player except Bruno Fernandes (£10.3m).
In that time, he’s been directly involved in 62% of Forest’s goals when on the pitch.
“He deserves that. This is just my opinion. He deserves it because he has the quality and he has the qualities of a leader. When things are not happening in the way we want, when the team is struggling in the game, a lot of players in this moment prefer to hide and don’t want the ball. This is not Morgan; he wants the ball and he wants the responsibility. He wants to score goals and assist.
“When I told him that, when we are attacking, I wanted him to play in the pocket but, when we defend, he must defend on the side, it was not a problem for him. He understands the game. He has the spirit. When I was watching the first half, me and my staff were talking about how Morgan was not in his best conditions today. In the first half, the team didn’t find him in the right spaces.
“I asked them to go prove our quality and our spirit. He has a lot of talent in the pockets, a lot of character and team spirit, and he leads the team. He is a fantastic player for us. And not only speaking about technically and tactically, but also about character.” – Vitor Pereira on Morgan Gibbs-White
An injury doubt before the match, Chris Wood (£7.1m) was fit to start at the City Ground, but it was substitute Igor Jesus (£5.8m) who put the icing on the cake, grabbing his fourth attacking return in six matches.
Elsewhere, Elliot Anderson (£5.6m), who missed Thursday’s win over Porto after the death of his mother, returned to the Forest line-up and was superb, nearly banking DefCon.
BURNLEY COLLAPSE
As for ‘doublers’ Burnley, they played pretty well in the first half, with Martin Dubravka (£4.0m) barely tested.
Sitting in a low block, they even took an unlikely lead, with Zian Flemming’s (£5.3m) ninth league goal of the season putting them ahead at the break.
They soon imploded, however, ahead of Wednesday’s home encounter against City, when relegation could potentially be confirmed.
“We’ve failed this season, that’s clear for everyone to see. We’ve fallen short. The levels of what we need to bring week after week haven’t been there. Today summed that up – the inconsistencies and the frailties in the final 30 minutes. We’ve got a lot of scars over this season and that’s weighing heavy on us.” – Scott Parker
MURILLO + HUDSON-ODOI INJURY LATEST
There were a couple of injury updates to report, too.
Murillo (£5.2m), who had previously hobbled off in Europe last week, had to make way.
“I don’t know. He needs to do a scan. Talking with him, I don’t think it’s serious. We’ll see.” – Vitor Pereira on Murillo
In a further blow, Callum Hudson-Odoi (£5.7m) could miss the rest of the season.
“It is a serious injury. It was very bad news for us. He had a scan and now it is trying to understand if it is possible for him to recover before the end of the season.” – Vitor Pereira on Callum Hudson-Odoi
