We begin our EFL Cup round-up with the five Premier League clubs who were in action on Tuesday.
Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Newcastle United saw off Championship opponents to progress, while Sunderland prevailed in the all-top-tier clash with Hull City.
We’ll bring you up to speed with all you need to know from a Fantasy perspective, from minutes played and injuries to any wider talking points.
RESULTS
| Team | Opponent | Result | Goals | Assists | Leading DefCons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bournemouth | Lincoln City (h) | 4-0 win | Christie x3, Rayan | Gannon-Doak, Brooks, Diakité, Jebbison | Cook (17), Christie (12) |
| Crystal Palace | Middlesbrough (h) | 3-0 win | Strand Larsen x2, Kamada | Mingueza, Chilwell, Strand Larsen | Hughes (16), Ahanor (12), Mingueza (10), Tomiyasu (10), Chilewell (9), Disasi (8) |
| Hull City | Sunderland (a) | 0-1 loss | – | – | Coyle (9) |
| Newcastle United | Millwall (a) | 1-0 win | Willock | Hall | Botman (16), Barnes (11), Schar (8), Ramsey (8) |
| Sunderland | Hull City (h) | 1-0 win | Talbi | Meunie | Ahoka (16), Rigg (14), Hume (11), Ta Bi (9) |
SELECTION/ROTATION
| Team | No. of starting XI changes made from GW3 | Players who kept their places (mins played) | Mins for other players |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bournemouth | 8 | Hill (90), Silva (82), Kluivert (62) | Di Gregorio (90), Soler (90), Diakite (90), Cook (90), Christie (90), Gannon-Doak (78), Brooks (78), Rodriguez (78), Toth (28), Tavernier (12), Rayan (12), Jebbison (12), Juanlu (8) |
| Crystal Palace | 8 | Disasi (73), Pino (73), Timber (59) | Benitez (90), Tomiyasu (90), Ahanor (90), Chilwell (90), Mingueza (90), Hughes (90), Strand Larsen (73), Osorio (59), Wharton (31), Kamada (31), McNeil (17), Lerma (17), Gozo (17) |
| Hull City | 8 | Coyle (90), Gourna-Douath (60), Mendy (45) | Phillips (90), Herrington (90), Hjerto-Dahl (90), Cho (90), Thomas (90), Targett (76), Crooks (60), Vaz (60), Egan (45), Mouzakitis (30), Gelhardt (30), Slater (30), Stroud (14) |
| Newcastle United | 3 | Hornicek (90), Botman (90), Hall (90), Gonzalez (90), Willock (90), Barnes (90), Wissa (66), Dedic (45) | Schar (90), Ramsey (83), Murphy (66), Livramento (45), Elanga (24), Fernandez-Pardo (24), Miley (7), Steur (1) |
| Sunderland | 11 | – | Ellborg (90), Hume (90), O’Nien (90), Alderete (90), Ahoka (90), Rigg (90), Ta Bi (90), Talbi (86), Fofana (79), Isidor (79), Methalie (65), Meunier (25), Browne (11), Tutierov (11), Proctor (4) |
SCOUT NOTES
CRYSTAL PALACE
- Pierre Sage was one of three Premier League managers to make eight changes, and even those who kept their places were taken off relatively early.
- How much we can take from this match is up for debate, then, but some recurring themes are emerging regardless of personnel: some good attacking play, but some chasms opening up for the opposition going in the other direction. Middlesbrough had double the number of shots (16-8), with the Eagles looking suspect defensively, especially before the break.
“We made a better second half in the play because in first half, we didn’t take too much initiative. I think the first time we played, it was the first goal, and we are able to play like this. Sometimes I don’t understand why we do it not too much.” – Pierre Sage
- Jorgen Strand Larsen (£6.0m) was the star of the show, nodding in two headers and assisting Daichi Kamada‘s (£5.0m) brilliant chipped goal. Strand Larsen also teed up for Yeremy Pino (£5.5m) for a big early chance, while Will Hughes (£4.5m) wasted the striker’s through-ball in the second half. It’s not quite happened for Strand Larsen at Palace yet and, even after this excellent performance, there are still no guarantees he’ll start the appealing Gameweek 4 fixture against Ipswich Town. Positional rival Eddie Nketiah (£5.5m) missed out on Tuesday with the injury he picked up at the weekend but the former Arsenal man may be back in training by the week’s end.
“I just have to manage the freshness [of Jørgen], because he played 45 on Fulham, 60, 65 today, and we play on Saturday.
“I think he will be able to start [against Ipswich Town], but we will see what happens, because Eddie Nketiah will be able to train maybe tomorrow or after tomorrow.” – Pierre Sage, via the Palace website
- After the wing-back hat-trick (of sorts) in Gameweek 4, there was more joy from out wide. Ben Chilwell (£4.5m) and Oscar Mingueza (£4.5m) took up the roles in midweek, each supplying a crossed assist for Strand Larsen.
- It was interesting to see Kamada in a ’10’ role again, this time from the bench. He’d established himself as a central midfielder under Oliver Glasner but was fielded further forward on Saturday and again last night. That’s two returns in two games for him now.
- Pino, one of the starting ’10s’, had the only other two Palace shots in the box aside from Strand Larsen’s brace.
BOURNEMOUTH
- Again, a Premier League cup side mostly made up of reserves – but while the other top-flight B teams laboured against Championship opposition, Bournemouth blew theirs away. The Cherries racked up a whopping 36 shots, with Lincoln’s 20th-minute double-chance their only two efforts of the game.
- Marco Rose has started three different central midfielders in the league but a fourth, Ryan Christie (£5.0m), got his chance against the Imps and stole the headlines. Christie, who has never scored more than two league goals in a season, bagged a hat-trick, making a near-post dash to open the scoring before adding two more strikes from set-piece scrambles. Those were among seven shots – a game-best – that the Scot had on a stat-padding evening.
- Justin Kluivert (£6.0m) was one of three survivors from the weekend but if this was Rose’s attempt to play him into form, it didn’t really work. A couple of sliced attempts were his major contribution, and he didn’t create a single chance before departing in the second half. He’s not really got started this season.
- Rayan (£6.4m), who himself has had a bit of a slow start to 2026/27, at least opened his account for the new campaign. The Brazilian came off the bench to add the Cherries’ fourth goal.
- James Hill (£5.5m) and Antonio Silva (£5.0m) were the other two players to keep their places from Gameweek 3. Hill, interestingly, played at right-back, getting forward plenty. One of his four shots hit the woodwork, while at least one of his four chances created should have been converted into an assist. Alvaro Rodriguez (£6.0m), still a work in progress up front, nodded perhaps the best of them wide.
HULL CITY
- Once more, this was mostly a second-string side named by Sergej Jakirovic. One of the three survivors from Gameweek 3, Nobel Mendy (£4.0m), came off at half-time, but that was a planned withdrawal to manage minutes.
“That was [always] the plan, yeah.” – Sergej Jakirovic on substituting Nobel Mendy at half-time
- Another player to keep their place was Lewie Coyle (£4.0m). Positional rival Brooke Norton-Cuffy (£4.0m), earmarked for a midweek start, missed out as a precaution but a scan has now come back clear, and the deadline-day signing has already resumed training. Tim Iroegbunam (£5.0m) and Paddy McNair (£4.0m) were likewise not risked but aren’t injured.
- Both Coyle and John Egan (£4.1m) suffered knocks during the game but Jakirovic said they were “okay” after full-time.
- This was almost just an exercise in match-fitness-building for the Tigers, as six of the seven outfielders coming into the starting XI were summer signings. The other was the fit-again Matt Crooks (£4.5m), who was given an hour on his return from injury.
- Robinho Vaz (£5.0m), a potential positional rival to Oli McBurnie (£5.5m), was among the starters. While he was a handful up top, and had a shout for a penalty, you could visibly see how far off he was in terms of match fitness.
“There is a lack of fitness. After 30 minutes, he dropped with his energy.
“This is now our task, to improve his fitness, but not just his – all the players who joined us later.” – Sergej Jakirovic on Robinho Vaz
- As well as the lack of match sharpness, there were not many back-ups who really caught the eye. Teenager Lucas Herrington (£4.0m) again looked decent at centre-half, while left-winger Sorba Thomas (£5.5m) was on direct free-kicks and corners, had Hull’s only shot on target (from said direct free-kick), and created their only shot in the box of the game, a big chance spooned over by substitute Joe Gelhardt (£5.0m). Thomas for Elliot Stroud (£5.0m) is a change we could see happening in the coming weeks.
- Other than that, there was nothing much to worry the first XI, which has remained mostly unchanged in an unbeaten three Gameweeks.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
- With Newcastle not in Premier League action until next Monday, and having a six-day breather between cup and league, Matthias Jaissle opted to go strong for the clash at the Den. Malick Thiaw (£5.0m) and Anthony Elanga (£6.1m) were given rests but the other change, Jacob Ramsey (£4.9m) for Lewis Miley (£5.5m), was one he may have made regardless, based on Gameweek 3 performances.
- Despite the strong XI, and Millwall being injury-hit, this was a bit of a grind. Newcastle did boss the attacking stats (25-9 on shots, 63%-37% on possession and 1.77-0.50 on xG), but the Magpies didn’t create an Opta-defined ‘big chance’ until Joe Willock‘s (£5.0m) late winner. There were scares at the other end, too, with the hosts hitting the woodwork, and causing problems from set plays and crosses.
- Willock had the most attempts (five) of anyone on show, while his xGI total of 0.60 was also top of the pile. In keeping with previous games, we often saw him as the attacking spearhead, with Yoane Wissa (£6.2m) dropping deeper. Wissa finished with half the number of penalty touches (3 v 6) as Willock, and just two shots, but the DR Congo international was admittedly taken off relatively early.
- Willock is clearly the placeholder for Mathias Fernandez-Pardo (£6.0m), who we again saw as a substitute. It sounds like he’s still a while off from starting, however.
“We need to be careful with such a young player who didn’t play now for a long time over 90 minutes. So, therefore, we see him almost like in a pre-season at the moment. We take that slowly and step by step. If there’s time to start, we will start with him.” – Matthias Jaissle on Matias Fernandez-Pardo
- Elsewhere, there was yet another attacking return for a Newcastle full-back as Lewis Hall (£5.1m) got forward to tee up Willock. No one created more chances than the left-back (four), who was again on corners.
- It was not so good news on the other side, however. Amar Dedic (£4.5m) failed to emerge after the break, with the fit-again Tino Livramento (£4.9m) taking his place.
“Both, actually. Amar felt a little bit on his hamstring. So, we didn’t want to take there any risk, but it was also planned that Tino gets a bit more minutes than last time.” – Matthias Jaissle on whether Tino Livramento’s half-time introduction was planned or enforced
“Hopefully, nothing serious with Amar. He felt a little bit, so we didn’t want to take any risks there, [so he we got him off] straight away.” – Matthias Jaissle to BBC Radio Newcastle
SUNDERLAND
- Regis Le Bris went one further than all of the above managers and changed his entire starting XI. In fact, the only Gameweek 3 starter who featured in any capacity was Thomas Meunier (£4.5m), who came off the bench in the second half. A rest for the regulars, then, and not much we can read into what was essentially a ‘B team’ game as a result.
- Chemsdine Talbi (£5.4m) was the pick of the reserves, operating in ‘the hole’ – where Enzo Le Fee (£5.9m) is usually stationed – rather than on the flanks. He nearly scored a super solo goal before the break but did get on the scoresheet midway through the second half, breaking clean through and nonchalantly chipping the Hull ‘keeper. Talbi wasn’t named in Sunderland’s UEFA Europa League squad but, after much transfer speculation, the Black Cats seemed to have closed the door on his departure. Could he get the odd run-out as a ’10’ in the Premier League, then, if Le Fee is overworked in Europe?
- Of the new boys, Jules Ahoka (£4.5m) caught the eye. The bargain-bin FPL midfielder looked the part in the engine room, racking up 16 DefCons. He showed an eye for goal, too, firing off a couple of shots from distance and hitting the post from a corner. There’s the small matter of trying to get past Granit Xhaka (£5.5m), Noah Sadiki (£5.0m) and probably even Chris Rigg (£4.9m), but he’s one to keep an eye on, given the Fantasy price.
- Big-money buy Malick Fofana (£5.5m) had his full debut but an expected goal involvement (xGI) of 0.13 betrays the fact that it was a fairly quiet game from the exciting wide-man. He’ll probably need a few weeks before he’s up to speed.
- Trai Hume (£4.5m) started at right-back here before switching over to the opposite side. Having lost his place as an ‘out of position’ winger in Gameweek 3, a 90-minute run-out against Hull probably doesn’t bode well for the weekend.
- Le Bris revealed after the game that another winger, Romaine Mundle (£4.9m), would be out for “months” after having knee surgery.
