Coventry City emphatically registered their first Premier League home win in 25 years on Monday.
A 4-1 win over Newcastle United means it’s now back-to-back victories for the Sky Blues, who move out of the drop zone.
Matthias Jaissle’s troops could have gone fourth with a win on Monday evening – but instead, the porous Magpies are left licking their wounds down in 11th.
Here are the main FPL talking points from the game.
£4.0M DEFENDER THOMAS HITS DEFCON HIGH
Bobby Thomas (£4.0m) had banked defensive contributions even before the half-time whistle on Monday.
The 8.8%-owned centre-half went on to register a whopping 22 clearances, blocks, interceptions and tackles (CBITs). That’s the highest total of any player in a Premier League match this season.
It takes Thomas up to eight DefCon points for 2026/27. Had he not come off early in Gameweek 2, he very likely would have been level with Murillo (£5.5m) in the table below:
Not a bad fifth substitute to have in your locker, and someone with a very decent fixture run coming up:
Thomas, incidentally, was on course for a double-digit haul – thanks to some goalline clearances boosting his bonus points standings – before Newcastle grabbed their consolation.
£4.9M MIDFIELDER ON PENS
Elsewhere on Coventry watch, cheap forward Sidiki Cherif (£5.0m) started his first Premier League match. He responded with a 12-point haul, winning the hosts’ early penalty before lashing in his side’s second goal from a Milan van Ewijk (£4.0m) long throw.
Substitutes Ellis Simms (£4.9m) and Stephen Mfuni (£4.0m) added gloss to the score late on.
Getting the ball rolling, however, was Jack Rudoni (£4.9m).
The attacking midfielder got the nod to take the Sky Blues’ early spot kick, despatching it confidently. It was an interesting choice of taker; the 25-year-old had never scored a penalty before.
Last season, Haji Wright (£5.3m), Brandon Thomas-Asante (£5.0m), Victor Torp (£5.3m) and Matt Grimes (£4.9m) all stepped up from 12 yards. Torp netted a penalty in the EFL Cup earlier this season, too.
Even Rudoni hinted after full-time that he wasn’t first choice.
“As soon as [Cherif] went down, I wanted it. A few penalty takers weren’t on the pitch. I said to the lads, ‘This one is mine’.” – Jack Rudoni, quoted by BBC Sport
Torp wasn’t on the field for this one, although we don’t expect him to be starting much in 2026/27 anyway. Wright is currently injured.
If Rudoni does get to stay on penalties, he can add them to his other set-piece duties. He’s also Coventry’s leading player for big chances (four) and chances created (nine) this term.
Above: Jack Rudoni is Coventry’s top player for expected goal involvement (xGI), even without penalties
A STRANGE GAME
This was an odd match, with Newcastle enjoying 67.5% of possession, registering double the shots (19-9) and having more big chances (3-2). Coventry had the early lead, of course, so the onus was on the visitors to attack.
The fourth goal, scored by Simms, was absolutely crucial. Sven Botman (£5.0m) had reduced the arrears to 2-1 with a piledriver, and Coventry were on the ropes.
This wasn’t actually the worst attacking Newcastle performance. They created plenty but, unlike in previous weeks, left their shooting boots at home.
Harvey Barnes (£6.1m) blanked but registered an encouraging three shots and four chances created, seeing one well-hit first-half effort saved and another go wide. Mathias Fernandez-Pardo (£6.0m) – who the jury is still out on – rounded the ‘keeper but saw his shot blocked by Thomas. Joe Willock (£5.0m), who registered a game-high five attempts, was also wild with his shooting.
Then there was the dithering or poor choices. Fernandez-Pardo dummied a low cross from close range with no one behind. Jacob Murphy (£5.9m) chose to knock back across the box from yards out rather than go for goal. Substitute Bazoumana Toure (£5.8m) shot when he shouldn’t and didn’t when we should have.
An off-day in front of goal, then, but no major source of panic – although Yoane Wissa (£6.1m) once again saw little in terms of goalmouth action. He had as many penalty box touches (two) as late sub Dan Burn (£4.8m) and even departed early.
Rather, the main concern is at the other end of the field…
DEFENSIVE QUESTION MARKS PERSIST
First things first, this was not a 4-1 game.
Coventry scored with two low-xG efforts from the edge of the box and an Ellis strike that took a big deflection. Rudoni’s penalty accounted for over half of the hosts’ expected goals:
But even acknowledging the slightly freakish result, this was again not a good advert for the Newcastle defence. Lukás Hornícek (£5.0m) was wobbly and gave away the penalty, while Simms’ strike was a horror show, from Lewis Hall (£5.3m) and Joelinton (£5.4m) both losing possession to Malick Thiaw‘s (£5.0m) weak attempted block.
Sharif could have added two more, while Thomas-Asante also struck the woodwork.
No team has conceded more Premier League goals than Newcastle (13) this season. The Magpies are also now 18th for expected goals conceded (xGC, 10.53).
INJURED NEWCASTLE PLAYERS RETURN
Could Jaissle change this around at the back? While Botman did very nicely in FPL terms here (a goal and, for the fourth time this campaign, DefCon points), his partnership with Thiaw hasn’t convinced all season. Burn returning from injury here could spell trouble for him.
Hall is less of a concern. He’s got a few routes to points and is very likely not going to face any challenge to his place before the November break, after which he can probably be jettisoned when the fixtures turn:
Newcastle also recovered Joelinton, Amar Dedic (£4.5m) and Will Osula (£5.8m) last night, all of whom, like Burn, came off the bench. The impact of Osula’s return on Wissa and Fernandez-Pardo is something to monitor.
Another sub, Toure, had to come off himself after taking a blow to the knee.
“Let’s see, it’s too early now to say anything. Hopefully, it’s nothing serious.” – Matthias Jaissle on Bazoumana Toure
