Rashford double increases interest ahead of United fixture-swing

Chelsea 1 Manchester United 2

Goals: Michy Batshuayi (£6.6m) | Marcus Rashford (£8.4m) x2

Assists: Willy Caballero (£4.8m) | Daniel James (£6.1m), Fred (£5.3m)

A Marcus Rashford (£8.4m) double did the trick for Manchester United in an intriguing Carabao Cup clash at Stamford Bridge.

Both managers rotated their squads for the fourth round tie, but neither went to extremes, with Frank Lampard changing six players for the hosts and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer just the four for United.

As a result, some key Fantasy Premier League transfer targets were handed extended run-outs.

Rashford played 80 minutes and Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic (£7.1m) 70. The pair are currently in the top ten for Gameweek 11 transfers-in, while Anthony Martial (£7.6m), who came on for the final 24 minutes last night, is also attracting plenty of new backers.

Of the three, it was Rashford who stole the show.

Having missed a penalty in Gameweek 10’s 3-1 win at Norwich, the England international made no mistake from the spot to open the scoring in west London after Daniel James (£6.1m) was clipped by Marcos Alonso (£6.3m).

A superb individual goal by Michy Batshuayi (£6.6m) levelled the tie. The striker flicked goalkeeper Willy Caballero‘s (£4.8m) clearance over Harry Maguire (£5.4m) and then ran half the length of the field before blasting the ball home.

Not to be outdone, Rashford then produced a long-range free-kick for the ages following a foul on Fred (£5.3m). The forward’s knuckle-ball efforts are occasional, and generally awful, affairs, but this one was a 35-yard strike of purity and venom that dipped late and decisively past Caballero.

Lampard felt that Chelsea deserved more from the match, but for all their possession (65%), they managed just the two shots on target to the visitors’ three.

Having not won on the road since March, the victory was United’s third away from home in a week and provided further confirmation that their key players are surely worth a look as they head into a long run of decent fixtures.

Saturday’s trip to Bournemouth marks the start of a ten-match schedule in which only a Gameweek 15 and 16 double-header involving Spurs and Manchester City looks particularly problematic.

Rashford, with close to 100,000 new owners this week, is the main target, and with good reason. He’s scored twice and provided an assist over the last two Gameweeks and Solskjaer seemed to confirm his striker’s status as penalty taker – both he and Martial missed spot-kicks at Norwich – post-match.

“He’s got a great mentality and a great character. I told him this morning ‘if we get a penalty, you take it. Just make your mind up where you’re going to put it and hit it as sweet as you like’.” – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Penalties seem to be a bit of a thing for United these days. Their last three victories have involved them, and since Solskjaer’s first game in charge last December, they have taken and scored more spot-kicks (17 and 12) in all competitions than any other Premier League team.

Rashford was replaced by Ashley Young (£5.4m) for the last ten minutes last night and both the forward and centre-half Maguire have now been flagged with possible injuries.

But Solksjaer didn’t seem unduly worried about the fitness of either.

“We’re playing football, it’s not basketball. Some of them are sore, but you should be absolutely down on your knees after a game of football, because it’s worth it when you win a game. They are quick healers and let’s hope they’re ready for Saturday.” – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

The manager opted for three centre-halves at Stamford Bridge, an increasingly familiar tactic which could make Marcos Rojo (£4.8m), who started last night and in Europe last week, a budget way into a fairly solid defence, especially for more taxing away fixtures.

Further up the pitch, James was sporadically dangerous and Martial looked lively when he came on. Both probably should start at Bournemouth, with midfielder Martial particularly attractive as a Fantasy option if he is used as a striker.

Pulisic was the big disappointment on the night.

The American has been bought by more than 90,000 FPL managers on the back of his Gameweek 10 hat-trick at Burnley, but he was a peripheral figure against United.

One of his competitors for an attacking slot, Callum Hudson-Odoi (£6.0m), also started and similarly failed to impress, missing a golden chance along the way, while the team’s most popular transfer target, Tammy Abraham (£7.8m), was given only 12 minutes as Batshuayi’s replacement.

That should mean the England man will return to the starting XI when Chelsea travel to Watford on Saturday.

Chelsea XI: Caballero, James, Zouma, Guehi, Alonso, Gilmour (Mount 70′), Jorginho, Kovacic, Hudson-Odoi, Batshuayi (Abraham 78′), Pulisic (Pedro 70′).

Subs: Abraham, Pedro, Giroud, Mount, Azpilicueta, Cumming, Lamptey.

Manchester United XI: Romero, Lindelof (Martial 66′), Maguire, Rojo, Wan Bissaka, McTominay, Fred, Williams, Lingard (Pereira 67′), James, Rashford (Young 80′).

Subs: Jones, Mata, Martial, Grant, Andreas Pereira, Young, Garner.

Liverpool 5 Arsenal 5

(Liverpool win 5-4 on penalties)

Goals: Shkodran Mustafi (£5.2m) own goal, James Milner (£5.3m), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (£6.2m), Divock Origi (£5.3m) x2 | Lucas Torreira (£4.8m), Gabriel Martinelli (£4.5m) x2, Ainsley Maitland Niles (£4.9m), Joe Willock (£4.9m)

Assists: Oxlade-Chamberlain, Harvey Elliott (£4.5m) | Mesut Özil (£7.2m), Bukayo Saka (£4.5m) x2

The tie of the round was a pulsating, error-strewn affair of spectacular goals, an intriguing Mesut Özil (£7.2m) sub-plot and limited Fantasy relevance.

Both managers swapped out their entire teams for the match, bringing in that classic Carabao Cup combo of first-team fringe players and promising youngsters.

And Özil.

The former Germany international has been frozen out by Gunners boss Unai Emery this season, but times are now so hard for the manager that a partial defrosting occurred at Anfield.

A very Özil performance ensued, involving 65 minutes of the sort of languid guile and craft that has been missing from much of Arsenal’s midfield this season, reaching Peak Özil with a byline flick for Ainsley Maitland-Niles (£4.9m) to tap in that the German ended up admiring while draped over an advertising hoarding.

If both manager and player can somehow park their egos, Özil could re-emerge as a serious Fantasy option for the rest of the season. That’s an if as big as the pair’s sense of self-worth, although Emery was pleasingly open when asked post-match about the likelihood of Özil featuring again in the near future.

“Yes he will feature. We have a match on Saturday and we will look at the possibility to use him again alongside other players.” – Unai Emery

Özil has plenty of previous for impressing when there’s either talk of a transfer or he feels the need to prove something, so watch this space.

Aside from that sideshow, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (£6.2m) scored an absolute screamer to confirm his eye for a goal. But he’s unlikely to hold down a starting spot consistent enough to warrant Fantasy investment.

The same can be said for a number of fellow starters last night, including Divock Origi (£5.3m), who scored twice, James Milner (£5.3m), who proved ever-reliable from the penalty spot in both normal time and during the shoot-out, and Naby Keita (£5.8m), who had to be substituted after 55 minutes with a muscle issue.

The one player who might get consistent pitch-time in the league, defender Joe Gomez (£5.2m), did not have his cause helped by having to marshal a backline of Milner and two youngsters whose combined age only just beat the veteran’s 33 years of square-jawed toil on this planet.

Similarly for Arsenal, striker Gabriel Martinelli (£4.5m) again impressed, although his two-goal tally on the night should have been double that and he won’t be dislodging the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£11.1m) from the starting XI anytime soon.

And Joe Willock (£4.9m), who scored a screamer of his own last night, and Bukayo Saka (£4.5m), who provided two assists, are also unlikely to be anything other than bit-part players in the league when the squad is at full strength.

In fact, in terms of Fantasy relevance, Kieran Tierney (£5.4m) only coming on for the last seven minutes and Nicolas Pépé (£9.3m) being an unused substitute were two of the more clear-cut indicators of Arsenal’s line-up for the Gameweek 11 visit from Wolves.

Meanwhile, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp provided an injury update on Keita after the final whistle.

“If Naby’s injury is not so serious, which I hope, then it was a nearly perfect night. He felt a little bit. I saw it, he slipped when he lost the ball. He slipped away, I saw him limping afterwards.” – Klopp

Liverpool XI: Kelleher, Williams, Gomez, van den Berg, Milner, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Chirivella 81), Lallana, Keita (Jones 55), Elliott, Origi, Brewster.

Subs: Adrian, Jones, Kane, Larouci, Chirivella, Clarkson, Kourmetio.

Arsenal XI: Martinez, Bellerin, Mustafi, Holding, Kolasinac (Tierney 83), Torreira (Ceballos 72), Willock, Maitland-Niles, Özil (Guendouzi 65), Saka, Martinelli.

Subs: Tierney, Papastathopoulos, Ceballos, Lacazette, Pépé, Guendouzi, Macey.

Aston Villa 2 Wolves 1

Goals: Anwar El Ghazi (£5.5m), Ahmed Elmohamady (£4.2m) | Patrick Cutrone (£5.7m)

Assists: Henri Lansbury (£4.4m)

A jam-packed Villa Park saw the home side edge past a youthful Wolves line-up to book their place in the quarter-finals.

Aston Villa manager Dean Smith made nine changes to the team that lost to Manchester City in Gameweek 10, with only Douglas Luiz (£4.5m) and Trézéguet (£5.3m) keeping their places, while his Wolves counterpart, Nuno Espirito Santo, went two better and swapped out his entire team.

With the visitors already veterans of midweek action thanks to their extended run in the Europa League, it was no surprise to see their coach giving youth its chance and, presumably, he felt little regret at a loss which alleviates the prospect of even more fixture congestion.

Villa were deserved winners on the night anyway, dominating possession (71%), attempts (20-7) and shots on target (5-2).

Anwar El Ghazi (£5.5m) opened the scoring to continue his solid start to the season, which has included a goal and three assists from his last four starts in the league, before Patrick Cutrone (£5.7m) levelled for the visitors.

The Italian striker has been a hard-working, if rather blunt, instrument up-front for Wolves since his summer move.

His goal last night should act as a confidence-booster, but with only one strike in eight league matches to his name, he remains well down the forward’s pecking order at Molineux.

Villa’s captain for the night, Ahmed Elmohamady (£4.2m), scored the winner, flicking home a free-kick from Henri Lansbury (£4.4m).

Dean Smith’s side are currently in a good place, with two wins and a draw from their last four league outings, although their short-term schedule doesn’t make many of their assets attractive Fantasy options.

As for Wolves, they’re unbeaten in five domestically, including a fine Gameweek 8 win at Manchester City, and their next six fixtures offer good chances to extend that run.

None of their key assets was in action last night, however.

Aston Villa XI: Steer, Elmohamady, Konsa, Hause, Taylor, Lansbury (McGinn 81), Luiz, Hourihane, Trézéguet, Davis (Kodjia 50), El Ghazi.

Subs: Chester, McGinn, Wesley, Nakamba, Guilbert, Nyland, Kodjia.

Wolves XI: Ruddy, Vallejo, Bennett, Kilman, Sanderson, Bruno Jordao (Taylor 71), Perry, Vinagre, Campbell (Ashley-Seal 68), Cutrone, Neto (Cristovao 77).

Subs: Patricio, Ashley-Seal, Samuels, Rasmussen, Taylor, Cristovao, Richards.