The second round of the EFL Cup commenced on Tuesday evening, with eight Premier League teams in action.
As expected, the managers of those eight clubs rotated heavily for their encounters with Football League opposition.
That didn’t prevent a number of injuries being picked up by key players, however – we’ll round up all of the fitness concerns, along with the main Fantasy talking points from each game, in our Scout Notes article below.
Newport County 0-2 West Ham United
- Goals: Jack Wilshere (£4.9m), Pablo Fornals (£6.4m)
- Assists: Felipe Anderson (£6.9m)
West Ham United lost Michail Antonio (£7.0m) to a hamstring injury after just eight minutes of their 2-0 win over Newport County on Tuesday.
The in-form winger, who started up front alongside Albian Ajeti (£5.9m) in what resembled a 4-4-2, hit the turf after pulling up mid-sprint and had to be helped from the field of play by the Hammers’ medical staff.
Manuel Pellegrini said of Antonio’s condition after full-time:
We will see tomorrow [Wednesday] but he has a hamstring injury. We will see how big it is but after the medical examination, of course, we will know more.
The West Ham boss had made ten changes to his starting XI from the win over Watford, with only Issa Diop (£4.5m) keeping his place.
Felipe Anderson (£6.9m) was given a longer-than-anticipated run-out, however, replacing Antonio early on and taking up a left-wing role as Pellegrini reverted to a 4-1-4-1.
The influential Brazilian was the architect of West Ham’s decisive second goal, with his run and cross from the left finding its way to Pablo Fornals (£6.4m), who turned the ball in for his first Hammers goal in a competitive match.
Fornals, moved to a central role alongside Jack Wilshere (£4.9m) after Antonio’s departure, had earlier hit the post with a bobbling effort from inside the Newport box but was again fairly quiet.
In truth, there were few stand-out players among the Hammers’ second-string: Carlos Sanchez (£4.5m) about the best of them, although he will be of little interest to Fantasy managers.
Wilshere had opened the scoring just before the interval, pouncing on a defensive error to slot in his first goal in 600 days.
Despite Pellegrini’s side keeping a clean sheet, owners of Teemu Pukki (£7.0m) will have been further encouraged by the defensive frailties shown by West Ham – and first-team regular Diop – against League Two opposition.
Roberto (£4.5m) had to save from point-blank range from Padraig Amond, while Robert Sheehan crashed a shot against the bar and Diop almost sliced into his own goal.
Fulham 0-1 Southampton
- Goal: Michael Obafemi (£5.0m)
- Assist: Nathan Redmond (£6.4m)
Progression to the third round of the EFL Cup came at a cost for Southampton, with Nathan Redmond (£6.4m) and Michael Obafemi (£5.0m) having to be withdrawn in the second half of Tuesday’s victory over Fulham.
Ralph Hasenhuttl downplayed the severity of Obafemi’s problem but Redmond’s injury is more of a concern, particularly with Manchester United visiting the south coast on Saturday.
The Southampton winger’s injury was a freak occurrence, with Redmond jarring his ankle after shooting from distance.
Speaking after the match, the Saints’ boss said of Redmond:
Problems with the ankle. Not that swollen, that is good. Doesn’t look good but we don’t know more at the moment.
Redmond was spotted wearing a protective boot on his ankle after the match, although that can sometimes just be a precautionary measure.
Asked if Obafemi had suffered a recurrence of his troublesome hamstring problem, Hasenhuttl added:
No, I don’t think so. It was a little bit cramp he got, for the hamstring, not injured I think.
The two crocked players had earlier combined for the only goal of the game, with Redmond setting up Obafemi with a low cross from the left.
Redmond and Obafemi led the line in a 4-2-2-2, with the impressive Sofiane Boufal (£5.5m) and Moussa Djenepo (£5.4m) providing the width.
With Ryan Bertrand (£5.0m) still injured, we were treated to the unusual sight of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (£4.9m) stationed at left-back – Kevin Danso (£4.5m) moving infield to play at centre-half.
Southampton’s line-up was perhaps the strongest of the eight Premier League teams to play on Tuesday, with Hasenhuttl making ‘only’ five changes.
After withstanding some early pressure, the Saints dominated the game against their much-altered Championship opponents and had further opportunities to score – Oriel Romeu (£4.5m), Shane Long (£4.9m) and Danny Ings (£6.0m) – twice – wasting glorious chances in the second half.
Hasenhuttl hinted that he may revert to a back five for Gameweek 4, saying:
We must have a look. I have a few options and I don’t know the shape yet or how I want to play. It could be with a back five, so then I would have one less up front.
Crewe Alexandra 1-6 Aston Villa
- Goals: Ezra Konsa (£4.5m), Conor Hourihane (£5.8m) x2, Keinan Davis (£4.5m), Frederic Guilbert (£4.4m), Jack Grealish (£6.0m)
- Assists: Kortney Hause (£4.5m), Henri Lansbury (£4.5m) x3, Anwar El Ghazi (£5.5m), Grealish.
Aston Villa followed up their 2-0 win over Everton with a 6-1 demolition of Crewe on Tuesday, although it was the Villans’ fringe players who did a lot of the damage at Gresty Road.
Dean Smith made ten changes to the team he sent out at Villa Park last Friday, with only Jota (£5.9m) keeping his place.
Matt Targett‘s (£4.4m) first start of the season was an ill-fated one, however, with the former Southampton defender looking a weak link early on before a hamstring injury forced his withdrawal just before the break.
Smith said after full-time:
He felt his hamstring. We’re hoping it’s not as bad as what can be feared with a hamstring injury. We’ve whipped him off the pitch as quick as possible and we’ll have the prognosis tomorrow.
Targett was replaced by the much-hyped Frederic Guilbert (£4.4m) at left-back, with the Frenchman going on to open his Villa account by scoring the visitors’ fifth goal: a fine curling effort following a short corner.
Ezra Konsa and Kortney Hause (both £4.5m) started at centre-back and were both involved in Villa’s opening goal, with the latter’s toe-poked attempt being blocked before Konsa headed in.
We have frequently seen Villa’s two most-advanced central midfielders make runs beyond the striker in the opening three Gameweeks of the season and that tactic was again in evidence for the visitors’ second goal, with Henri Lansbury (£4.5m) beating the offside trap and squaring for Conor Hourihane (£5.8m) to tap in.
Hourihane – perhaps looking more at home further forward than he does at the base of the Villa midfield – again got into the box to nod in Anwar El Ghazi‘s (£5.5m) cross for the third goal just before the break, before Keinan Davis (£4.5m) – a midfielder in FPL but playing in his usual striker’s role here – finished off a fine run and cross from substitute Jack Grealish (£6.0m).
Following Guilbert’s goal and a Crewe consolation, Grealish rounded off the scoring when rifling in low from the edge of the box – Lansbury completing a hat-trick of assists in the process.
Teenager Cameron Archer was Villa’s only striking option on the bench and Smith offered an update on his senior forwards after the game:
Jonathan [Kodjia] will start training back with us on Thursday. We haven’t got an awful lot of options with Kodjia being missing.
I didn’t want to bring big Wes, he’d be too much of an injury risk to bring on or be tempted too.
Crawley Town 1-0 Norwich City
Norwich became the first Premier League casualty of the 2019/20 EFL Cup on a frustrating night for Daniel Farke, with the Canaries boss being booked for his touchline protests and losing Timm Klose (£4.5m) to what could be a season-ending knee injury.
Farke had made 11 changes to his Norwich side following the 3-2 defeat to Chelsea, with centre-backs Klose and Christoph Zimmermann (£4.5m) handed their first starts of the campaign after recovering from injury.
Klose’s comeback lasted all of 27 minutes, however, with a clash of knees forcing his withdrawal.
Zimmermann was making his own return from a six-week lay-off, meanwhile, and was hooked ten minutes after the break after picking up a knock to his hip.
Farke said after full-time:
It was so important for Christoph to have a game. He needs game-time and he had to play a bit longer because I had to substitute Timm Klose in the first-half.
Christoph took a hit against his hip flexor but I hope it’s not too bad. The first diagnosis is not too bad and it was good that he had his first minutes under his belt.
My biggest concern is Timm Klose. It looked horrible and our concern at the moment is his ACL which would mean his season is nearly over. That’s my biggest concern at the moment.
With Klose and Zimmermann having departed, defensive midfielder Ibrahim Amadou (£4.5m) – perhaps the pick of a bad bunch – dropped back to centre-half for the final 40 minutes.
All of that means that Ben Godfrey (£4.5m) and budget FPL defender Grant Hanley (£4.0m) are likely to be at centre-back again on Saturday when City face West Ham.
Elsewhere, Norwich’s second-string did little to impress and owners of Teemu Pukki (£7.0m) and Todd Cantwell (£4.7m) can likely rest easy knowing that their FPL assets will be back in the starting XI on Saturday.
Emi Buendia (£6.0m) came off the bench and struck the bar for the visitors, with Patrick Roberts (£5.4m) also hitting the woodwork as the hosts’ goal led a charmed life.
Crystal Palace 0-0 Colchester United (4-5 Penalties)
Crystal Palace soon followed Norwich out of the competition after losing a penalty shoot-out to League Two club Colchester United.
Roy Hodgson made ten changes to the side that won at Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday, with only budget FPL defender Martin Kelly (£4.1m) keeping his place.
Kelly was substituted for Gary Cahill (£4.5m) at the interval with Hodgson explaining after full-time that the change had been planned:
We have just the three centre-backs, with Mamadou Sakho and James Tomkins both out long-term, they are two of our very important players from last year who haven’t made an appearance as yet.
I chose Gary Cahill and Martin Kelly on Saturday and I was more than happy with their performance.
So I wanted to make certain, if I could, that those two would be fit and available for this weekend. The same applied for some others, who I wanted to make certain would be available for Saturday.
Sam Woods and Jairo Riedewald were forced to play at full-back, with Hodgson adding that his other options in those positions were unavailable:
I felt sorry for Sam Woods and Jairo Riedewald having to play full-backs. Sam Woods is an under-23 centre-back and he had to play right-back in a fairly attacking formation in the second half, when we had a lot of the ball.
Jairo Riedewald, who is a central midfielder, had to play at left-back because neither Patrick van Aanholt or Joel Ward were available.
We had injuries to Ward and Schlupp anyway, and we didn’t want to take a chance on them, with others still coming back.
The performances of the players further forward were fairly dismal, with the likes of Max Meyer (£5.5m) and Connor Wickham (£4.5m) failing to grasp their opportunities.
Christian Benteke (£5.9m) was denied by Dean Gerken and also hit the bar but the fact that Hodgson turned to rested substitutes Wilfried Zaha (£6.9m) and Jordan Ayew (£5.0m) in the second half said much about the Eagles’ goal threat.
Sheffield United 2-1 Blackburn Rovers
- Goals: Richard Stearman (£4.0m), Oliver Norwood (£5.0m)
- Assists: Ravel Morrison (£4.9m)
A much-changed Sheffield United side produced an unconvincing display against Blackburn on Tuesday, scoring from their only two shots of the game.
Richard Stearman (£4.0m) nodded in Oliver Norwood‘s (£5.0m) half-cleared corner to give the Blades an early lead before Norwood himself got onto the end of Ravel Morrison‘s (£4.9m) pass to double the hosts’ advantage with a fine finish on the stroke of half-time.
Back-up goalkeeper Simon Moore (£4.5m) saved an early penalty from the visitors’ Adam Armstrong and the rebound from Richard Smallwood, before smothering another Armstrong effort later in the half.
Sam Gallagher set up a grandstand finish when reducing the arrears on 72 minutes.
The trip to Chelsea was clearly on Chris Wilder’s mind as he made ten changes to his starting XI, with only Norwood retaining his place.
Enda Stevens (£5.0m) had to be thrown on as a first-half substitute, though, following an injury to centre-back Kean Bryan.
John Lundstram (£4.2m) was an unused substitute and will surely return to the Blades’ team this weekend.
Wilder changed his front two and gave Oli McBurnie (£5.9m) and Billy Sharp (£6.0m) their first starts of 2019/20.
The United boss had hinted on Saturday that McBurnie was pushing for a start in Gameweek 4 and his half-time withdrawal on Tuesday, with one eye perhaps on the game at Stamford Bridge, would seemingly only further his chances.
That early Bryan injury, coupled with energy-preserving substitutions for McBurnie and Norwood, led to a somewhat scrappy performance from the hosts and Wilder took full blame after full-time:
I take the blame for a disjointed performance because when you do make than many changes it’s not really the players to blame.
But we had to make the changes because everyone recognises that without doubt, the bigger issue is Chelsea on Saturday.
Bristol Rovers 1-2 Brighton and Hove Albion
- Goals: Aaron Connolly, Glenn Murray (£5.9m)
- Assists: Alireza Jahanbakhsh (£5.9m), Steven Alzate
Brighton left it late to see off League One side Bristol Rovers, with Glenn Murray (£5.9m) popping up in stoppage time to grab the winner.
The veteran striker tapped in from six yards following a cross from youngster Steven Alzate, having earlier seen a shot saved by busy home goalkeeper Anssi Jaakkola.
The Rovers custodian also denied Aaron Mooy (£5.0m), Aaron Connolly and Adam Webster (£4.5m) as the Seagulls dominated the game, with the visitors racking up 26 shots to the hosts’ three.
Connolly had turned in Alireza Jahanbakhsh‘s (£5.9m) deflected shot to put Albion in front on 55 minutes, only for the home side to equalise soon after through Tom Nichols.
Graham Potter stuck with the 3-4-3 shape he has favoured in the first three Gameweeks of this season but changed his entire starting XI.
Tuesday’s EFL Cup line-up was, therefore, perhaps an indication of who won’t be lining up against Manchester City this weekend, with all 11 starting players – including Murray and Pascal Gross (£6.5m) – completing 90 minutes.
The likes of Neal Maupay and Leandro Trossard (both £6.0m) weren’t involved at all and will surely be optimistic of their chances of starting at the Etihad as a result.
Watford 3-0 Coventry City
- Goals: Ismaila Sarr (£6.5m), Daryl Janmaat (£4.4m), Adalberto Penaranda
- Assists: Isaac Success (£4.9m) x2, Christian Kabasele (£4.4m)
Watford ended their three-game losing run with a comfortable victory over Coventry City on Tuesday.
Javi Gracia changed his entire starting XI at Vicarage Road and, like many of the managers above, his EFL Cup team selection will likely provide a handy pointer as to who will line up at St. James’ Park on Saturday.
Ismaila Sarr (£6.5m) and Danny Welbeck (£6.0m) both got their first starts of the season following their summer moves, with Sarr getting on the end of Isaac Success‘s (£4.9m) fine pass to open the scoring on 37 minutes.
Right-winger Sarr was deployed on the opposite flank to the impressive Success as Gracia switched to a 4-2-3-1, with the fit-again Roberto Pereyra (£5.9m) playing behind Welbeck in attack.
Sarr and Welbeck looked understandably rusty at times but had their moments, with the former’s pace catching the eye and Welbeck showing promising movement.
Daryl Janmaat (£4.4m) and substitute Adalberto Penaranda both fired in excellent goals after the break to complete the scoring.
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