City and Chelsea defences top of the FPL watchlist ahead of fixture swing

We continue our Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Gameweek 6 write-ups with analysis of Chelsea v Manchester City and Brentford v Liverpool.

For a summary of all seven of Saturday’s games, click here, while the footer at the bottom of this piece will direct you to our detailed Scout Notes on the other Gameweek 6 action.

CHELSEA 0-1 MANCHESTER CITY

• Goal: Gabriel Jesus (£8.6m)
• Assist: Joao Cancelo (£6.1m)
• Bonus: Cancelo x3, Jesus x2, Kyle Walker (£5.5m) x1

CITY DEFENDING OUTSTANDING

It’s five clean sheets on the spin for Manchester City, who didn’t look like conceding at all against Chelsea: the Blues have the lowest expected goals (xG) total of any side in Gameweek 6 so far.

There was no Ederson (£6.0m) masterclass or last-ditch defensive heroics, just tireless, aggressive pressing higher up the pitch – N’Golo Kante (£4.9m) being out-Kanted – that reduced the Blues to just 40% possession and four attempts in or around the box, all of them predictably blocked.

Many of us will be considering City defenders from Gameweek 8 onwards but who would back against them shutting Liverpool out next weekend? Pep Guardiola’s side have conceded only two ‘big chances’ all season and just five shots on target – that’s eight fewer than any other side.

Following his assist at Stamford Bridge, Joao Cancelo (£6.1m) is now top among FPL defenders for points this season. Ruben Dias (£6.1m), who like Cancelo is an ever-present starter in 2021/22 and who was the defender least at risk of rotation last year, is joint-second.

Above: City set up in a 4-4-2 of sorts against Chelsea, with Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne as ‘false nines’. Indeed, while Foden was most effective in his off-the-ball work, it was Jack Grealish and Gabriel Jesus who carried more of the goal threat, with 11 penalty box touches and one big chance apiece.

CHELSEA – A ONE-OFF BLIP

The rather meek surrender to City shouldn’t, and almost certainly won’t, deter FPL managers from Chelsea investment ahead of their forthcoming favourable fixture run.

This loss was a one-off, a match in which Thomas Tuchel got his tactics – a defence-first 3-5-2, rather than the usual 3-4-2-1 – and perhaps personnel wrong in hindsight.

A shot-less Romelu Lukaku (£11.7m) was mostly isolated and quickly swarmed upon when he did get possession, while this was a great advert for the absent Mason Mount (£7.4m) given how Chelsea struggled to knit midfield and attack.

“When we reached Romelu the attack was already half over because there were not enough people, there was simply no belief and connection. So this was a team problem, not an individual problem.” – Thomas Tuchel

Their three centre-halves, and the returning Edouard Mendy (£6.0m), were their usual excellent selves, however, and even City’s winner only came about when the hosts’ goalkeeper was wrong-footed by a deflected Gabriel Jesus (£8.6m) shot.

Lukaku and at least one Chelsea defender will be many Fantasy managers’ plans for the medium term – and we’ll have plenty more Blues coverage in the run-up to the Gameweek 7 deadline.

JAMES, MOUNT, GUNDOGAN INJURY UPDATES

One player who might not be involved in Gameweek 7 is Reece James (£5.6m), who limped off with an ankle injury after less than half an hour.

We’ll get another update from Tuchel ahead of the Champions League tie with Juventus in midweek, with the Chelsea boss saying after full-time on Saturday:

“I don’t know about Reece [James] at the moment. He twisted his ankle and it was very painful for him. I have no other news on him at this stage but let’s see how he is in the next few days.” – Thomas Tuchel

Thiago Silva (£5.4m), who came on for James, would have started according to his manager had he not suffered some “issues” in training the day before.

Meanwhile, Mount’s involvement against Southampton this weekend looks to be a closer call:

“I absolutely don’t know, we have to see [whether he’ll be fit to face Juventus]. In the end it will be a matter of hours as to whether he makes it or not.” – Thomas Tuchel on Mason Mount

We won’t see Ilkay Gundogan (£7.2m) before Gameweek 8, however, with Pep Guardiola saying on Monday:

“Ilkay [Gundogan] is out until after the international break.” – Pep Guardiola

Chelsea XI: Mendy, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger, James (Thiago Silva 29), Kante (Havertz 60), Jorginho (Loftus-Cheek 76), Kovacic, Alonso, Lukaku, Werner.

Manchester City XI: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Laporte, Cancelo, Rodri, Silva, De Bruyne (Mahrez 80), Jesus, Foden (Fernandinho 87), Grealish (Sterling 87).

BRENTFORD 3-3 LIVERPOOL

• Goals: Ethan Pinnock (£4.6m), Vitaly Janelt (£5.0m), Yoane Wissa (£5.9m) | Diogo Jota (£7.7m), Mohamed Salah (£12.6m), Curtis Jones (£5.0m)
• Assists: Ivan Toney (£6.3m), Pontus Jansson (£4.6m)| Jordan Henderson (£5.0m), Fabinho (£5.4m), Andrew Robertson (£7.0m)
• Bonus: Janelt x3, Henderson x2, Jones x1

PLENTY OF POSITIVES

This match was a good advert for many things but Liverpool’s attack and Thomas Frank and his adaptability were the main winners.

It didn’t seem like a six-goal thriller on paper, with the two sides coming into Gameweek 6 boasting a combined seven clean sheets and having conceded on just three occasions in total.

But Liverpool gave Brentford a defensive lesson on the Bees’ first real ‘elite’ test of the season, with David Raya (£4.6m) performing heroics – especially from a close-range Diogo Jota (£7.7m) chance and to prevent a Pontus Jansson (£4.6m) own-goal – to keep the Reds down to three goals.

Jurgen Klopp’s side, who saw Mohamed Salah (£12.6m) spurn two glorious chances either side of his 53rd-minute volley, finished Gameweek 6 with the second-highest expected goals (xG) tally of the round.

The team in first? Brentford.

Frank has shown excellent tactical nous this season, from using Ivan Toney (£6.3m) as a deeper link-up man on the opening day to here going direct a lot more against Liverpool.

And they were well worth their point, with the increasingly impressive Toney bullying the visitors’ backline and claiming a fourth attacking return in as many Gameweeks with an assist for Brentford’s first goal.

“A wild, wild game. Offensively, I am really happy. I think in moments we played some of the best football we’ve played so far this season; we created top chances against a really well organised side. They were very good, but obviously we struggled tonight with their long balls. I was not too happy with how we started the game and that’s how we conceded the goal, a little bit. It was a situation where we could have been more organised.” – Jurgen Klopp

Centre-halves Ethan Pinnock (£4.6m), who was substituted with a hip injury, and Jansson yet again chipped in with attacking returns and remain among the top 10 highest-scoring FPL defenders of the season.

“He got a knock on the hip but we expect it to be a minor thing. We will assess him in the morning.” – Thomas Frank on Ethan Pinnock

FIRMINO RETURNS

Jota owners would have been pleased for their long-overdue attacking return after the near-misses of recent weeks but less delighted to see Roberto Firmino (£8.8m) back among the substitutes.

The Brazilian was actually thrown on alongside Jota, Salah and Sadio Mane (£11.9m) but it’s so often three from four under Klopp, and the week-to-week uncertainty seems set to begin.

Brentford XI: Raya, Ajer, Jansson, Pinnock (Zanka 43), Canós, Onyeka (Baptiste 68), Nørgaard (Wissa 78), Janelt, Henry; Toney, Mbeumo.

Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Fabinho, Jones (Firmino 67), Salah, Jota, Mané.