Arsenal edge past West Ham as a popular Fantasy asset is handed a first run-out in three matches, while Manchester City need penalties to see off Leicester City. Here’s the notes on last night’s Carabao Cup ties and what it could mean for a certain Gameweek in February.
It’s indicative of Arsenal’s underwhelming season that their two most owned players in Fantasy Premier League are defenders.
Nacho Monreal leads (14.6%) the way, with Sead Kolasinac a mere 0.5% behind him.
Only Monreal and midfielder Aaron Ramsey have scored more than the Bosnian’s 76 points, but that hasn’t stopped coach Arsene Wenger benching him for the last two league matches as the Gunners have returned to a flat back four.
The situation had prompted over 80,000+ managers to part company, making him the fifth most sold player heading into Gameweek 19.
The wing-back’s inclusion in Arsenal’s starting line-up for the 1-0 win over West Ham in the Carabao Cup quarter-final will most likely trigger even more sales.
Wenger has long used the competition as a chance to start fringe players and blood youngsters, and so it was again last night, with Kolasinac’s presence the one notable exception.
Add in the fact that the player who has been preferred to him in the Gunners’ backline for the past two league matches, midfielder Ainsley Maitland-Niles, wasn’t even in yesterday’s squad and the Bosnian’s immediate future is looking rather bleak.
Arsenal kick off Gameweek 19 with a visit from Liverpool on Friday and then play a further three matches in a week from December 28, so rotation will be inevitable.
How many of those matches feature Kolasinac is considerably less clear.
Giroud Blow for Gunners
One player almost certain not to play at all over Christmas is forward Olivier Giroud.
The Frenchman has been involved in Arsenal’s last five league matches, but limped off with a hamstring injury last night, with Wenger admitting post-match that the forward was now likely to miss the festive period.
“It looks like that. We have to wait. Nowadays you do the scan 48 hours after the injury. That will happen on Thursday, then we’ll have a precise kind of grade on what his hamstring is. When you listen to him, the pain is quite big, but the grade is not always linked with the intensity of the pain.”
The news, on the face of it, has little Fantasy relevance – Giroud is in just 1.3% of FPL squads, after all.
Nonetheless, it could be good news for Alexandre Lacazette, who was another of Wenger’s regulars afforded the night off.
The Arsenal boss had made it clear that Giroud would be starting more matches as the fixtures began to pile up, only for injury to now scupper that particular plan.
Lacazette has managed 90 minutes on just two occasions this season but, with Giroud set to sit on the sidelines, his 10.5% ownership will be hoping his pitch-time is a little more secure ahead of a home clash with Liverpool and trips to Palace and West Brom.
However, Danny Welbeck’s return to the scoresheet gives Wenger an alternative should he look to manage Lacazette’s minutes.
The 7.3-priced striker, who scored from a Mathieu Debuchy assist, has started just one of his side’s last 13 league fixtures and has been involved from the bench in the last six.
But the recent switch to 4-1-2-3 could allow him to play across the front three positions and also offer an alternative to Alex Iwobi down the Gunners’ right.
Hammers keep it tight
David Moyes made six changes for the trip to the Emirates, with strikers Chicharito and then Andy Carroll failing to stake a claim for a league start ahead of the rested Michail Antonio and Marko Arnautovic.
Not that the forwards had any service – in a generally dour match, the two sides managed just the one shot on target between them and the Hammers fired in only one attempt all night.
The visitors clearly suffered from the absence of Manuel Lanzini, who served the first of a two-man suspension for “successful deception of a match official”.
Arnautovic, though, emerged from the bench to shrug off the calf complaint that saw him replaced late on at Stoke.
With two goals in his last three league outings, interest in the Austrian could rise ahead of a weekend visit from Newcastle.
Defensive resilience is at the heart of West Ham’s revival under Moyes, and that at least continued at the Emirates. Angelo Ogbonna, Winston Reid and James Collins were named in the back-three, with Aaron Cresswell and Arthur Masuaku utilised as wing-backs. Joe Hart was given a run-out between the posts, with Adrian handed the night off.
Moyes’ side have conceded just once in their last four in all competitions now, including clashes with Chelsea and two against Arsenal.
With a very favourable schedule all the way up to Gameweek 30, including a double Gameweek 22, their ever-improving defence is bound to earn further investment. Indeed, Ogbonna and Cresswell are among the top six defenders for transfers in since last weekend.
A tale of two cities
There was a palpable sense of what might have been as Leicester City lost on penalties to Man City.
Pep Guardiola, chasing glory on four fronts, understandably rested the majority of his main Manchester men, while his Leicester counterpart Claude Puel perhaps surprisingly kept his big guns in reserve and only threw them on when the Foxes had to chase the tie.
Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy were introduced after 57 minutes and Demarai Gray on 71, the changes turning the match and the latter pair combining in the seventh minute of stoppage time to force a further 30 minutes of action.
Gray was fouled by City sub Kyle Walker – on for the injured Eliaquim Mangala – in the area and Vardy duly converted the penalty.
But the striker, and Mahrez, then missed from the spot in the penalty shoot-out as the league leaders finally went through.
Guardiola’s most notable inclusions on the night were Gabriel Jesus (10.6%), Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva.
All three played the full 120 minutes, with Jesus’ pitch-time at the King Power likely to be good news for Sergio Aguero’s chances of starting at home to Bournemouth on Saturday.
Injury and City’s wealth of midfield options have pushed Gundogan to the fringes this season, but the personal issues keeping David Silva from the squad represent an opportunity for the German international to play a more regular role.
He started and shone in Gameweek 18’s 4-1 win over Spurs, scoring, providing an assist and grabbing two bonus points in an all-action 13-point display.
And he continued his fine form last night when he set up the opening goal for summer signing Bernardo Silva.
Gundogan costs just 5.3 and is owned by a mere 0.4%, although some 11,000+ new managers have come on board ahead of Gameweek 19, effectively doubling his ownership.
City’s currently all-conquering season, their fixtures (BOU new cry WAT) and his form make the midfielder a potentially fantastic low-cost differential, depending on David Silva’s situation.
The fact that Gundogan, along with Yaya Toure, both played out 120 minutes on Tuesday could suggest that Silva’s return is imminent.
The rest of City’s all-star starters were rested at Leicester, with Walker the only regular defender called into action, albeit due to Mangala’s head injury after 81 minutes.
That could have an impact on selection for Saturday’s visit by Bournemouth. If Vincent Kompany fails to recover in time, Guardiola could use Danilo or even Fernandinho as a makeshift centre-half.
However, the take-home from last night’s results could have a knock-on effect later down the line.
The Carabao Cup final is due to take place on February 25 – the weekend of Gameweek 28.
That week, Arsenal are scheduled to play Man City, while Chelsea are up against Man United.
If both Chelsea and Man United progress to the last four this evening, depending on the semi-final draw, there could be a scenario where all four are faced with a missing fixture in Gameweek 28.
This would occur should any of the four sides progress to the final and avoid their current Gameweek 28 opponents for the Wembley showdown.
