Manchester City maintained their perfect Premier League start on Saturday, but were handed several injury scares.
Here are our Scout Notes from the Etihad Stadium.
MARESCA ON HAALAND…
Erling Haaland (£15.7m) limped off and went straight down the tunnel after Man City’s 3-2 win, not even stopping to clap the fans.
Prior to that, the Norwegian appeared to take a heavy knock after kicking the bottom of Jack Clarke’s (£5.3m) boot.
Enzo Maresca eased any injury fears after the match, saying that he had been told by Haaland himself that he was “okay”.
He received similar assurances from Mateo Kovacic (£5.3m) and Matheus Nunes (£5.9m), who both had to be withdrawn in the second-half.
“I asked all of them. Mateo [Kovacic] said he was okay, Matheus [Nunes] said he was okay, Erling [Haaland] said he was also okay.” – Enzo Maresca
In his post-match presser, Maresca was asked if Haaland had a knee problem, rather than his foot.
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask him. He said that he was okay. So hopefully it’s nothing serious.” – Enzo Maresca
… AND SEMENYO/O’REILLY
The injury sustained by Antoine Semenyo (£8.3m) ‘could’ be more serious, however.
The Ghanaian winger was also spotted limping at the end of the match.
“The only one we need to wait on was Antoine [Semenyo] and we will see.” – Enzo Maresca
As for Nico O’Reilly (£5.3m), it sounds like he is still struggling with a back problem, after he was replaced just after the hour mark.
“Nico [O’Reilly], it’s still his back. If you remember against Coventry in the warm-up [when he withdrew from the starting XI], it’s the same problem.” – Enzo Maresca
Even if they aren’t injured, rests will surely be handed out to some of the above names when Man City entertain AEK Athens in the Champions League on Tuesday. That match precedes Saturday’s early kick-off at Aston Villa.
MARESCA ROTATES
Away from the injuries, there was widespread rotation in the Man City starting XI, as Maresca made six alterations from midweek.
Abdukodir Khusanov (£5.4m), Josko Gvardiol (£5.8m), Elliot Anderson (£6.3m), Enzo Fernandez (£6.9m), Rayan Cherki (£7.9m) and Semenyo all dropped to the bench.
In came Nunes, O’Reilly, Ayyoub Bouaddi £5.5m), Kovacic, Phil Foden (£6.8m) and Iliman Ndiaye (£5.8m).
Image from BBC Sport
Cherki, one of the most-bought players of Gameweek 7, didn’t even make it onto the pitch.
Gvardiol meanwhile has now been benched in successive Gameweeks.
HAALAND HAUL/FODEN “ONE OF THE BEST”
As for the on-pitch action, it was uncomfortable at times for City, and in the end, much closer than they would have liked.
However, they got the job done to maintain their 100% start to the Premier League season.
Foden netted the opener from Jeremy Doku’s (£7.4m) cross, before Haaland scored a brace to make it eight goals (and no blanks) in his last six Premier League games.
He was only denied a hat-trick by a tight offside call, with five shots, all inside the box, overall.
Still, 13 points – particularly for the 664,627 FPL managers who Triple Captained him – is a tidy return.
As for Foden, he took his goal well to end his drought.
“With Phil [Foden] I said many times, I know him from years ago, for me he’s one of the best Premier League players. And since day one it’s my duty to help him to again be one of the best players. I’m very happy for his goal, and hopefully it can be just the beginning of many goals and good performances.” – Enzo Maresca
“Definitely due one, I missed quite a few big chances this season. It’s been eating me alive so good to score today…” – Phil Foden
IPSWICH BACK THREE
Gary O’Neil deployed a 3-4-2-1 formation for the first time this season in this match, having previously used a 4-2-3-1.
Jacob Greaves (£3.9m) subsequently came into the starting XI, with Abdoul Ouattara (£4.0m) and Leif Davis (£4.0m) as the wing-backs.
Overall, it worked pretty well.
“I’ve used that a lot, actually. I’ve used that exact set-up three times against Manchester City. We beat them at home using it at Wolves, we lost in the 95th minute to a corner the following season and then we went close with it today.” – Gary O’Neil, via the Ipswich Star
Daizen Maeda (£5.3m) scored almost immediately after Foden’s opener and caused plenty of problems.
“We played Daizen [Maeda] a little bit higher today than normal. Normally, we’d have him down a bit or on the outside. Manchester City obviously play a very high line and we knew that we would maybe be able to hurt that with Daizen and Emi’s [Emersonn] speed, especially if we could get one of the full-backs out.
“For the goal, we managed to get Nico O’Reilly jumping to Abdoul [Ouattara]. Abdoul puts a fantastic ball in the space for Daizen and he used his speed and physicality before a good finish.” – Gary O’Neil, via the Ipswich Star
Ouattara supplied the assist, marking back-to-back attacking returns for the (£4.0m) defender.
Substitute Zian Flemming (£5.5m) later netted a late penalty.
Notably, Ipswich have now scored 11 times this season, the fifth-most of any side. They also rank fourth for open-play expected goals (xG).
Sasa Lukic (£4.9m) meanwhile missed out with a minor groin issue. He should be back for Friday’s home match against Nottingham Forest.
