Hazard hat-trick and Aguero injury fears cause FPL re-think

The outcome of Chelsea and Manchester City’s Gameweek 5 matches have Fantasy Premier League managers faced with big decisions this week.

Eden Hazard‘s (£10.8m) hat-trick was a landmark incident in the ongoing discussion about whether or not it’s time to sell Mohamed Salah (£13.0m)

Meanwhile, Sergio Aguero (£11.4m) picked up a knock against Fulham and the seeds of rotation were sown by manager Pep Guardiola…

In this next Scout Notes article, we’ve got all the talking points from Chelsea 4-1 Cardiff and Man City 3-0 Fulham.

CHELSEA 4-1 CARDIFF CITY

Goals: Eden Hazard x3 (£10.8m), Willian (£7.4m)

Assists: Olivier Giroud x2 (£7.8m), Willian

Eden Hazard (£10.8m) became the key talking point of Gameweek 5 with a hat-trick in Chelsea’s 4-1 thrashing of Cardiff. The sight of him scoring three times was a tough one for those not in possession of the Belgian, but Maurizio Sarri’s quotes after the match should strike fear into anyone hoping to remain Hazard-less. The Chelsea manager believes he is not spending enough time attacking so his goal tally could continue to grow.

“I thought Hazard was one of the best players in Europe, but now I am changing my mind that he is the best. I think Hazard can improve more. I think that he can spend less energy than now at 50 or 60 metres to the opposite goal. When we have the ball in our half and he touches the ball five times or six times, so his actions it shows he spends a lot of energies and can have more energy in the last 25 metres. I think he can score 30 or 35 goals.” – Maurizio Sarri

Hazard’s displays over the last two weeks have obviously caused many with Mohamed Salah (£13.0m) and Sadio Mané (£10.0m) to ask serious questions of their Fantasy teams. Anyone who traded the Egyptian for Hazard in Gameweek 4 is at least 27 points up on the deal before considering the captaincy.

One thing that might discourage a knee-jerk reaction was that Hazard only managed four touches in the penalty area: 26 players managed more than that in Gameweek 5. But that only brings us back to Sarri’s quotes where he effectively acknowledged Hazard’s lack of penalty box time and vowed to change it.

Chelsea clearly have the personnel to allow Hazard that greater attacking licence. Even with N’Golo Kanté‘s (£5.0m) more advanced role the exploits of Jorginho (£5.2m) and Mateo Kovacic (£6.0m) in midfield have the potential to unlock Hazard’s explosive nature.

“I think he can do it, he can do it (with Jorginho and Kovacic’s help). I told him in the last two days because Eden only arrived two days ago. After the international teams, I prefer to give the players one day off. I have spoken to him in the last two days, yesterday I told him for me he can score 40 goals. But spend less energy far from the goal and play in the last 25 metres.” – Maurizio Sarri

Kovacic did have to leave Saturday’s match with a knock but it looks as if he should be fine.

“No. No. I spoke to the doctor a minute again and he said it was nothing serious.” – Maurizio Sarri

Olivier Giroud (£7.8m) made a strong case for a regular place leading Chelsea’s attack with two assists against Cardiff. It was his first start of the season but he was integral to the Blues’ play and earned plaudits from fans, journalists and Sarri alike. If he can nail down a place in this side then at £7.8m he could present another potential alternative route into Chelsea’s attack, which continues to have favourable fixtures.

“I think Olivier has played very well without scoring, but very well for the match, I think.” – Maurizio Sarri.

Pedro (£6.8m) was the winner of the competition to start on the opposite flank to Hazard but could easily lose his place again for Gameweek 6. The Spaniard failed to register any returns while Willian (£7.4m) came on to add a goal and an assist in just 22 minutes. Either he or Pedro now appear too uncertain of starts to be used as cheaper alternatives to Hazard who looks nailed on and in excellent form.

Cardiff were able to expose a weakness in Chelsea’s defence: a susceptibility to set pieces. Sol Bamba (£4.5m) was able to bundle into the net to open the scoring after a flick-on from set play specialist Sean Morrison (£5.0m).

“I think at this moment we are very dangerous in the offensive phase but we are not so solid as I want in the defensive phase. Today we knew that this opponent is very strong in the set-pieces but we were not ready to answer. We need to improve, but we are able to and can improve very quickly.” – Maurizio Sarri

It was that goal which ensured that Marcos Alonso (£6.8m) registered his first blank of the season. Interestingly, his time spent in the penalty box was less than compared to his first four appearances this season. However, he still managed to create three chances, the same number as Salah.

As Cardiff’s poor results continue, there is very little interest in the Fantasy options on offer. So most of what we can glean about the Bluebirds from this particular match will be more useful when considering Manchester City players for Gameweek 6.

Manager Neil Warnock explained that he won’t change the approach he took for this match when Cardiff City Stadium hosts the champions next week. That should be of great encouragement to anyone holding City assets.

“I don’t think we’re in awe. I thought today we set up all right and I thought second half I felt we started really well second half [against Chelsea]. Yes, we lack a bit of quality, don’t we. When you look at one of their players has cost £50-odd million to play in midfield, that’s our squad. I don’t want to go with everybody behind the ball, not have a shot. We tried as hard as we could to attack with what we’ve got against a very good team. And we’re going to do that. We’ll do that next week against Manchester City.” – Neil Warnock

Of note was the fact that FPL midfielder Danny Ward (£4.5m) started up front for Cardiff once again. If he continues to operate out-of-position he could prove a cost-effective bargain option for Fantasy managers.

MANCHESTER CITY 3-0 FULHAM

Goals: Leroy Sané (£9.2m), David Silva (£8.5m), Raheem Sterling (£11.0m)

Assists: Sergio Aguero x2 (£11.4m), Fernandinho (£5.4m)

Injuries, potential rotation and minute management has planted a seed of doubt in the Fantasy prospects of both Sergio Aguero (£11.4m) and Benjamin Mendy (£6.5m).

Manchester City’s star forward Aguero started a fifth consecutive Premier League in Gameweek 5 but was substituted before the 60-minute mark as a precaution following a first-half knock. The fact that he was able to carry on past half-time and into the second period does suggest the problem is not too serious. Furthermore, manager Pep Guardiola did not contemplate pulling Aguero off until the third goal had been scored – which effectively ended the match as a competitive affair. However, he remains a doubt for a Champions League encounter with Lyon midweek and, until we know more, for Gameweek 6 as well.

“We had a problem with Sergio Aguero getting injured and we didn’t want to take a risk. Something in the ankle. When he fell down, he felt something. He finished the first half, started the second half feeling uncomfortable. He could play, but we decided not to risk it. [Will he be fit for Lyon?] We will see tomorrow.” – Pep Guardiola

The return of Champions League football this week is almost certain to have an effect on Man City’s Premier League line-ups in the coming weeks. But for now, we might be able to rest easy on Aguero, provided he comes through this ankle problem. Gabriel Jesus (£10.4m) had started both previous home matches alongside Aguero but he was named on the bench on Saturday as Guardiola went with a 4-3-3 formation instead of a 3-5-2. That suggests that Jesus could be the one to lose his Premier League minutes, instead of Aguero, this season and that Guardiola is preparing him to lead the line against Lyon. That would give Aguero time to recover and be ready to face Cardiff next weekend.

Crucially, Aguero continues to record very strong underlying numbers that indicate he is still an important asset to own going forward. Only one forward registered more shots than him in Gameweek 5, an impressive achievement considering he was only on the field for 54 minutes. Of course, the numbers will be slightly skewed by the fact that Fulham put up next to no resistance against the champions but things still look good for Aguero’s prospects.

There were conflicting reports over the absence of Mendy from the matchday squad before Saturday’s kick-off. Some claimed that he was simply being rotated, while others reported a minor injury. Guardiola confirmed there was a knock in his post-match press conference and while he could not reveal a return date, he was speaking in terms of days, not weeks.

“Benjamin Mendy was injured – the last days he had a problem with his knee. I don’t know how many days he’ll be out for. Leaving Vincent Kompany out was just my decision.” – Pep Guardiola

The line about Vincent Kompany (£5.4m) is a useful cypher as it implies the club captain was in fact rotated, differentiating that situation from Mendy’s.

However, there will be some concern among the 37% of Fantasy managers invested in the Frenchman over the display of Fabian Delph (£5.3m). Mendy’s performances in the first four Gameweeks had led us to believe he was almost undroppable and that Delph would not provide much competition. However, the England international was one of Man City’s best players against Fulham and could potentially factor into Guardiola’s rotation plans further into the campaign.

“Benj is a different type of left back to me – I’m a midfield player playing at left back. I control reasonably well, while he is 100 miles an hour. He’s basically Usain Bolt playing left back. You could say he’s a Ferrari and I’m an Audi! We both have different attributes. I control the counter-attacks and he’s a player that overlaps and gets the ball. The manager has two fantastic options and whichever the manager needs to win the game will be selected.” – Fabian Delph

Aymeric Laporte (£5.5m) has now firmly established himself as the cheapest Man City defender most assured of a start. He has played every minute of the campaign at centre-back with John Stones (£5.5m), Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi (£6.1m) rotating around him. Interestingly, he still leads the league for total passes completed by defenders thus far. That suggests he has been instructed to fulfil the same ball-playing role handed to Otamendi last season, which could translate to bonus points soon.

David Silva (£8.5m) scored his first goal of the season against Fulham although it was from his only shot of the match. Despite some Fantasy managers making the switch from Bernardo Silva (£7.5m) to his Spanish colleague, it was the Portuguese international who was more involved in City’s play. Bernardo had more shots and created more chances than David Silva and remains £1.0m cheaper. Of course, David feels more rotation proof than Bernardo, who did not start against Newcastle in Gameweek 4. Furthermore, there is more consistency about David Silva’s position. He has played as a central midfielder in all of his appearances thus far while Bernardo has been moved from central attacking positions to right wing-back at times this campaign.

There was also an interesting line on young midfielder Phil Foden (£4.8m), who did not feature despite the pace of fixture in the second-half.

“He’s [Foden] going to play a lot of games this season. Now we start a game every three days – he’s going to play.” – Pep Guardiola

It would be fair to say that Fantasy managers were hoping for more from Man City against Fulham. The newly-promoted visitors did not put up much of a fight and arguably should have lost by a larger margin. Owners of Aguero were disappointed that his returns were limited to just two assists, even if he did pick up a knock. Of some encouragement to those still heavily invested in City’s attack is the fact that Guardiola was not happy either. In fact, he described himself as angry after the match.

“My reaction and extra expression is when they miss the simple things. That, I cannot handle in myself. So one guy has the ball and they miss the ball and an extra simple pass, an extra touch, an extra touch and after miss the pass, that is why still now I am angry. I am upset with my players and they know that. We spoke about that many times. Miss the goals or assists, a shootout, dribbling, go one against one, two against and lose the ball – it doesn’t matter, but control the ball and pass the ball simply. If they miss that, and today there was many of that, that’s why [on Sunday] I am going to show them we can improve.” – Pep Guardiola

It was an odd display from Fulham at the Etihad Stadium as they opted to put very little pressure on Man City’s attacks and insisted on leaving their three forwards high up the pitch. Ultimately, they could not damage the defending champions at all.

Three changes were made to the side with Cyrus Christie (£4.4m), Stefan Johansen (£5.3m) and Ryan Sessegnon (£6.3m) all coming in. The latter was used in a left-back role again with Andre Schürrle (£5.9m) and Luciano Vietto (£5.5m) continuing to hold down starting berths in more advanced wide positions. In the first half, at least, Sessegnon actually proved to be one of Fulham’s better defenders.

“Huge. It’s a huge benefit for him, we are talking about Ryan and I defend the opinion about this player to be part of the national team for the World Cup. Behind him is 100 games in the Championship and now it’s time to play in these places. I will repeat, the benefits are huge and he is not a small kid, he’s part of the game and part of the profession is win one, draw one and lose the game. Unfortunately, we didn’t surprise them today and if you analyse the game, Ryan play a good game and I believe it’s good for him and for his development and for his experience.” – Slavisa Jokanovic

While Aleksandar Mitrovic (£6.8m) was unable to maintain his streak of goals, Schürrle demonstrated that his eye for goal is still strong. He was dismissed as something of an outlier after registering 11 efforts on goal in Fulham’s 4-2 win over Burnley last month but he has continued to impress with his shot count. At the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, he fired off the same number as Aguero, although all of them came outside of the penalty area.

Marcus Bettinelli (£4.5m) kept his place in goal for the third match in a row. He looks set to retain that berth even after conceding three goals.

“I play only with one, you ask me about him or Fabri. I use all three players, Sergio Rico in League Cup and Fabri in two first games. Marcus is on the goal, they need to compete and work hard and my job is to choose what I believe is the best option. It was good when we play in these places he has many jobs and we made some kind of the mistakes and he didn’t be involved so much. We have conceded 12 goals at the beginning of the Premier League and this is not good news for us. We must find a way to be more solid and stronger and faster and stop this kind of the situation. In this way, we attack good and have some chances for an offensive transition. It’s normal for City to take off possession but this conceding of goals is concerning.” – Slavisa Jokanovic

READ MORE GAMEWEEK 5 SCOUT NOTES

• Spurs 1-2 Liverpool
• Bournemouth 4-2 Leicester
• Chelsea 4-1 Cardiff
• Huddersfield 0-1 Crystal Palace
• Man City 3-0 Fulham
• Newcastle 1-2 Arsenal (coming soon)
• Watford 1-2 Man United (coming soon)
• Wolves 1-0 Burnley
• Everton 1-3 West Ham

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