Rashford turns heads as FPL managers search for cheap strikers

The budget options of both Manchester United and Cardiff City may have crept onto the radars of many Fantasy Premier League managers after Gameweek 16.

In this latest Scout Notes article we’ve run the rule over the key players from Saturday’s matches at Old Trafford and the Cardiff City Stadium.

Manchester United 4-1 Fulham

Goals: Ashley Young (£5.7m), Juan Mata (£6.2m), Romelu Lukaku (£10.7m), Marcus Rashford (£6.8m) | Aboubakar Kamara (£4.3m)

Assists: Rashford, Young, Mata

Red card: Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (£4.4m)

There was a wealth of budget options making a name for themselves at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon. Ashley Young (12), Juan Mata (13) and Marcus Rashford (14) were the big points scorers for Manchester United in this game, which was over as a contest by half-time. Meanwhile Aboubakar Kamara scored from the spot having been fouled by Ander Herrera (£5.0m) to make it two goals in his last two appearances. However, while United impressed going forward, it’s just two clean sheets in sixteen games now for David De Gea (£5.7m) and co.

As per usual, there were personnel problems for Jose Mourinho, who had to do without the services of Eric Bailly (£6.0m), Victor Lindelof (£4.8m), Anthony Martial (£7.5m) and Alexis Sanchez (£10.0m) because of injury. Things got worse for the United boss when Luke Shaw (£5.0m) suffered a setback in the warm-up and Chris Smalling (£5.7m) hobbled off before the sixty-minute mark to be replaced by Marcos Rojo (£4.9m). Paul Pogba (£7.8m) was an unused substitute.

Young opened the scoring with a fine solo effort, his first goal in over a year. It’s unlikely to result in managers rushing to bring him in given his price and United’s inability to shut teams out, though. Young’s fellow full back, Diogo Dalot (£5.3m) was very impressive, touching the ball on thirty-four occasions in the final third and creating two big chances in his second consecutive start. One to watch.

Mourinho on Dalot in his post-match press conference:

“I’m not a scout, I have no chance to do that. I can do it with Dalot because he is Portuguese. I can control that market pretty well. He’s a player with fantastic potential.” – Jose Mourinho

In the absence of Martial and Sanchez, Rashford and Mata were the stellar performers. Mourinho singled the Spaniard out for praise after the game:

“Juan is Juan. The quality, the brain, they are always there. An honest man, a club man. When he plays, he plays for the team. When he doesn’t play, he still fights for the team. He’s one of these guys that we all respect and we all know that Juan is Juan. That is the best way to describe him.” – Jose Mourinho

Mangers who are still searching for a Marko Arnautovic (£7.0m) replacement should consider Rashford after this performance. He could have had an even bigger points haul, registering six goal attempts, four of them on target. Aside from Liverpool (away) in Gameweek 17 and Spurs (away) in Gameweek 22, United have as good a fixture run as any side right up to February. If he can show some consistency, he could prove to be great value this season.

Lukaku’s tap-in was his first competitive goal at Old Trafford since March which tells you all you need to know about him as an FPL option. He’s not worth the £10.7m outlay at present but could we see a revival from the Belgian over the Christmas period?

After the game, Mourinho was asked if he would rest players against Valencia on Wednesday:

“Yeah, we need too. We go to Valencia, there are people that need to rest, there are people that need to play. It’s a question of trust, a question of justice too, so if I say Romelu Lukaku plays, obviously he deserves to play. If I say a kid that is working every day like a tiger and is not playing much like Andreas Pereira is going to have a start, I’m going to make changes in the team, because we managed to qualify.”

After four consecutive starts, Calum Chambers (£4.2m) missed out for Fulham due to injury. FPL managers have been eyeing him up as a potential out-of-position budget defender having seen him play in midfield for Fulham in recent weeks. When asked about the reason for his absence, Ranieri had the following to say:

“Chambers suffered a little problem and was in London. He didn’t travel with us. I hope he will be ready to be back next week.” – Claudio Ranieri

With the game as good as over at half time, Ranieri reacted by making a double substitution replacing Aleksandar Mitrovic (£6.7m) and Tom Cairney (£4.8m) with Kamara and Luciano Vietto (£5.5m).

The early substitution may have been a blessing in disguise for Mitrovic owners given the fact that he’s on four yellow cards. The Serbian will be a popular transfer in this week with West Ham (home), Newcastle (away), Wolves (home) and Huddersfield (home) his next four opponents. The four yellows will put off some of the potential buyers but those managers who put their faith in him to behave himself on the pitch could be rewarded over the coming weeks.

The red card for Zambo Anguissa seemed a bit harsh. He received a second yellow in a tangle with Rashford. Watching the replay, it looks as though he did very little wrong with Rashford possibly the player who should have been booked for wrestling the Fulham man to the ground.

Ranieri when asked about the decision:

“I want to speak about all the game, not just about the decision of the referee. Referees can mistakes, managers can mistakes and players can make mistakes. That’s football. I like to see the first half was only Manchester United. They played so well with their powerful qualities. Everything. We didn’t realise what happened. It was a warm up for us. Second half was much better with desire and to try and do our best. We scored a goal and that moment there was a fall, but I didn’t see it on pitch. I watched after on video. My player touched the ball only and the referee gave the second yellow card. At that time it changed the match because the first minute of the second half was much better for us. We showed what we need to do if we want to stay in the Premier League. I told my players the first half is to be relegated, the second half we can survive. It’s very clear our match today. We have to react, think about it and we have to have desire to be in the Premier League next season as nobody gives a gift.”

Manchester United XI (4-2-3-1): De Gea; Dalot, Jones, Smalling (Rojo 59’), Young; Matic, Herrera; Rashford (McTominay 84’), Mata, Lingard (Fred 73’); Lukaku.

Fulham XI (4-2-3-1): Rico; Odoi, Ream, Mawson, Bryan; Seri, Zambo Anguissa; Schürrle (Cisse 73’), Cairney (Vietto 46’), Sessegnon; Mitrovic (Kamara 46’).

Cardiff City 1–0 Southampton

Goal: Callum Paterson (£5.3m)

Assist: None

Cardiff picked up their third home win on the bounce thanks to Callum Paterson’s fourth goal of the season, but it was defeat for Ralph Hasenhuttl in his first game in charge of Southampton. The Bluebirds’ make-shift striker capitalised on a dreadful attempted back pass by centre back Jannik Vestergaard (£4.6m) to score what proved to be the winner.

It was Cardiff’s first clean sheet since Gameweek 3 which saw defender Sol Bamba (£4.5m) and goalkeeper Neil Etheridge (£4.5m) pick up bonus points. Bamba’s centre-back partner Sean Morrison (£4.7m) continues to show great potential. He should have added a goal to his clean sheet, missing a free header from close range. He registered ten touches in Southampton’s box which highlights his threat from set pieces.

Josh Murphy (£4.8m) came back into the Cardiff starting XI, with Warnock less concerned about his defensive shortcomings against the Saints, while Nathaniel Mendez-Laing (£4.8m) made his first start since Gameweek 1. They flanked Paterson in a 4-3-3 formation. Murphy put in an impressive display despite failing to return fantasy points. His pace and trickery caused the Southampton defence problems throughout but his decision-making in the final third let him down.

Cardiff boss Neil Warnock explained the reasons for his team selection post-match:

“I went for Mendez-Laing and Murphy today because I thought we could get in behind in areas, where we could utilise Paterson and we did. They replaced their right-back [Yan Valery] at half-time because of Murphy’s threat, so I thought I made a good decision in playing them.” – Neil Warnock

Paterson has been ignored by many this season due to the fear that he’ll lose his place when the strikers are fit but Warnock seems to have complete faith in him to lead the line. He registered four shots in the box against the Saints. He’s owned by just 1.4% of managers.

“I don’t honestly know what we’d do without Callum Paterson, to be honest. You’ve only got to look at the stats to see the amount of ground Callum covers and he’s just a tremendous lad because he’ll play anywhere and do anything for me. In the old-fashioned days, I used to say that he’d run through a brick wall for me. But, if I asked Callum he probably would.” – Neil Warnock

Victor Camarasa (£4.6m) was excellent again, creating four chances for his team mates. He’s a great option for the fifth midfield spot in our teams with set piece responsibility as well as Warnock saying last week that the Spaniard will take the next penalty Cardiff are awarded.

Hasenhuttl was without three key players due to injury for his first game in charge, full backs Ryan Bertrand (£4.8m) and Cedric Soares (£4.4m) and striker Danny Ings (£5.4m).

Jan Bednarek (£3.9m) played ninety minutes. If he can nail down a place in the starting XI under the new manager, he will be a budget-friendly enabler who can be used to fund transfers elsewhere in our teams. It’s hard to see too many clean sheets for him in the short term though with Arsenal (home), Manchester City (home) and Chelsea (away) in the next five games.

Southampton did play some good football (they had 63% possession) particularly in the final third with Stuart Armstrong (£5.1m) and Nathan Redmond (£5.2m) both having strong penalty shouts turned down.

After the game, Hasenhuttl rued the defensive mistakes which cost his side the game:

“It is very hard to accept that we didn’t take a point but with these mistakes you don’t deserve it. We had two good days of training, two hard days, but maybe it’s not enough at the moment. I always said either we win or we learn and today we learned.” – Ralph Hasenhuttle

Cardiff City XI (4-1-4-1): Etheridge; Ecuele Manga, Morrison, Bamba, Bennett; Mendez-Laing (Hoilett 67’), Gunnarsson, Arter (Ralls 90’), Murphy (Harris 85’); Camarasa; Paterson.

Southampton XI (4-3-3): McCarthy; Valery (Stephens 46’), Bednarek, Vestergaard, Targett; Højbjerg, Oriol Romeu (Ward Prowse 81’); Redmond, Lemina, Armstrong; Austin (Gabbiadini 75’).

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