Arsenal and Manchester United were in Champions League action on Tuesday night with contrasting results.
Mikel Arteta’s side won 3-0 thanks to three quickfire second-half goals from Jurrien Timber (£6.5m), Eberechi Eze (£6.2m) and Bukayo Saka (£9.6m), while the Red Devils lost 2-0 at Atletico Madrid, conceding the first goal in the opening minute.
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.
GOALS/ASSISTS
| Team | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | Timber, Eze, Saka | Madueke, Saka, Havertz |
| Man Utd | – | – |
SELECTION/ROTATION
| Team | No. of starting XI changes made from GW6 | Players who kept their places (mins played) | Mins for other players |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | 5 | Raya (90), Konsa (90), Gabriel (90), Rice (90), Lewis-Skelly (90), Madueke (65) | Timber (78), Merino (65), Guimaraes (90), Gyokeres (65), Eze (85), Havertz (25), Odegaard (25), Saka (25), White (12), Dowman (5) |
| Man Utd | 5 | Lammens (90), Yoro (74), Martinez (90), Tielemans (66), Fernandes (80), Mbeumo (90) | Dalot (90), Heaven (80), Santos (90), Baleba (66), Rashford (66), Zirkzee (24), Amad (24), Mount (24), Cunha (10), Maguire (10) |
ARSENAL
- Mikel Arteta made five changes to the side that beat Leeds United in Gameweek 6 and, like Saturday, made a triple-substitution with just over an hour gone.
- Though Arsenal took the lead through Timber just before those changes, the substitutes made a significant impact, with Saka producing the assist for Eze’s strike before converting himself from Kai Havertz’s (£7.5m) superb pass. Martin Odegaard (£6.8m), Havertz and Saka injected energy and quality into Arsenal’s play – all three can be expected to start against Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
- Saka now has four goals in all competitions, as a result of taking up more advanced central areas this season. Arteta said he was benched because of illness rather than any issues with form.
“He wasn’t feeling too good yesterday and today because he had a sort of illness; he wasn’t ready to start, but he was really keen to contribute to the team if it was needed. He came on, had a real impact, with real quality.” – Mikel Arteta on Bukayo Saka
- Bruno Guimaraes (£6.7m) brought some much-needed creativity to Arsenal’s midfield, and his willingness to shoot on sight is a breath of fresh air for this team. He had five shots against Lille, two of which were on target, and the highest expected goals (xG) of any player (0.62). After scoring twice as a substitute in recent league matches, the Brazilian is knocking on the door for another start against Nottingham Forest.
- As on Saturday, Noni Madueke (£6.2m) was given another start, this time on the right, with Saka rested, and he produced the assist for Timber’s opener, albeit that goal was really all about the Dutchman’s individual skill. In the absence of Christos Tzolis (£6.3m), Arteta seems to be giving Madueke as many minutes as possible.
“I said when you talk about players being ‘clinical’, sometimes that means scoring five in every 100. It’s about generating volume, more actions and getting him into the good positions, because he will decide matches. He had a really big contribution a few days ago, today he had a contribution in the last final pass as well, and that’s it. We need to get players to that level to be decisive in every game if possible.” – Mikel Arteta on Noni Madueke
- Eze started on the left against Lille and scored a nice (slightly deflected) goal. His numbers were almost as good as Bruno’s, with five shots, three on target, 12 touches in the box and an xG of 0.50.
- Arsenal were again solid at the back. Lille had no shots on target, and Timber was superb going forward. As well as a sublime goal, he also created two chances and led the way for expected assists (xA) with 0.37. Such is his goal threat that he may well start ahead of Ben White (£5.4m) against Forest.
- Myles Lewis-Skelly (£5.4m) also acquitted himself well. Deputising at left-back, he created a team-best three chances, but Riccardo Calafiori (£5.9m) will be back for the trip to the City Ground. The freak injury to Piero Hincapie (£5.2m), whom Arteta said will be out for some time, means the Italian is less at risk of rotation in the Premier League.
“Piero is improving, but it looks more significant – I think it will be a matter of weeks, but we don’t know exactly how many.” – Mikel Arteta on Piero Hincapie
- Viktor Gyokeres (£7.1m) endured another frustrating evening. He had only 12 touches of the ball before being replaced by the superior Havertz.
MAN UTD
- Michael Carrick made five changes to the side that drew with Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday. He also had Matthijs de Ligt (£4.9m) back on the bench after injury.
- However, their suspect defence was breached in under a minute by Pablo Barrios, after Alex Baena outpaced Diogo Dalot (£4.8m) when racing on to a routine long ball before squaring to the scorer.
- Substitute Ademola Lookman made the match safe 11 minutes from time after Leny Yoro (£4.8m) was sent off after a VAR review.
- United were not actually as bad as the scoreline suggests. They produced nine shots, four of which were on target, compared to Atletico’s 11 and five, but succumbed to their third defeat in five winless matches.
“It is a tough enough place to come and to get the start we had obviously puts us in a more difficult situation, but I thought we grew into the game. We had four big chances, big opportunities and the game can look very different. They were really good opportunities as well, they weren’t just little half ones.” – Michael Carrick
- Bruno Fernandes (£11.9m) looked a pale shadow of his former self out on the right, where he was indecisive, although he did manage three shots on goal and was unlucky to see an audacious effort from range come back off the bar. The Portuguese was shuffled to the flank to enable Youri Tielemans’ (£5.8m) creativity to thrive as a No 10, but the Belgian was largely ineffectual.
- United’s defence has been suspect for some time and, although the Andrey Santos (£4.7m) and Carlos Baleba (£4.9m) pairing offers promise of a better protective shield, Carrick’s side cannot currently be relied upon for clean sheets. The scoreline could actually have been much worse had Atleti not had Johnny Cardoso’s goal disallowed for a handball in the build-up, or if Julian Alvarez’s shot had not struck the post.
- Carrick was hoping Marcus Rashford (£6.9m) would cause problems with his pace, which he did in flashes, but he fluffed his lines when played in by Lisandro Martinez (£4.9m) and faded before being replaced by Joshua Zirkzee (£5.3m), who floated around on the periphery.
- Bryan Mbeumo (£7.9m) also might have scored early on, but was twice denied by Jan Oblak. You get the feeling that while Benjamin Sesko (£7.0m) is out with a shin injury, if Mbeumo or Bruno aren’t firing – and they each missed a big chance in Madrid – then Man Utd are going to struggle for goals. On the plus side, the visitors did create chances, as Carrick was at pains to point out.
“There’s probably not many teams that would come here and have those chances against them [Atleti], so we’ve done a lot of things good tonight. The game was really close and in the balance, take away that first minute which is a goal – obviously a major part of it – but take away that and we were right in the game going through the second half and I thought there was a really big finish for us.
“We tried a little bit something different [tactically], I thought some of the in possession and playing through the pitch – we created the opportunities from it – was good at times. We feel the game was there for us, is the biggest thing, we could have and should have got more from it.” – Michael Carrick
- An incendiary post-match interview by Martinez also warrants a mention. In a remarkable public outburst, the United defender gave both barrels to the club’s directors, accusing them of a dereliction of duty.
“We did a fantastic season last season and now we expect more from the top, more players to compete because many teams bring many players as well. Atletico have an amazing team and they deserved to win today.
“I expect more [investment]. 100%. I expect more from our technical director [Jason Wilcox]. I have to be honest, as players we have to do more but it is also important when you make a strong squad to be ready for this kind of night. Tonight it is easy to [blame] the coach, easy to say the players but also we have to see other areas.
“You can’t keep changing, changing, changing the manager. What about other areas? I can’t say more. Last season we did everything, we created the base to create an amazing team.” – Lisandro Martinez
- It is not so much that Martinez’s opinion is wrong, but the fallout from such a brazen attack on United’s senior management could well prove damaging. Carrick may now feel compelled to discipline one of United’s better performers, and if he does, it will do little to improve either team morale or United’s clean-sheet prospects.
