FPL Gameweek 18 round-up: Sunday review, injury news and the things we learned

Our Scoreboard series rounds up the key goings-on from Sunday’s Gameweek 18 fixtures, from injury news to stats analysis.

With the swift turnaround between Fantasy Premier League (FPL) deadlines, the Scoreboard articles will take the place of the usual Scout Notes throughout December.

The graphics below are taken from LiveFPL, Ragabolly’s excellent and ever-expanding website, and our own Premium Members Area.

GOALS, ASSISTS, BONUS

INJURIES AND BANS 

Thiago Alcantara (£5.3m) missed this afternoon’s fixture with Tottenham Hotspur after a suspected positive Covid-19 test, with the midfielder now isolating.

In addition, Jordan Henderson (£5.1m) was also absent with illness. The England international registered a negative test for Covid, but was unavailable due to feeling unwell.

“One more positive test with Thiago, Jordan Henderson is the only one with proper symptoms but not Covid. He has a cold so we sent him home.” – Jurgen Klopp on some of his missing players

Elsewhere, Andrew Robertson (£7.1m) was sent off in Gameweek 18 and will now miss Liverpool’s next three matches. That raises the appeal of a short-term move for Kostas Tsimikas, who costs just £3.7m in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), though it is worth noting that the ban also includes domestic cup competitions. As a result, Robertson will only miss two Premier League matches, against Leeds United and Leicester City.

Chelsea revealed they had a request to postpone today’s Premier League match at Wolverhampton Wanderers rejected. The Blues were already without Romelu Lukaku (£11.5m), Timo Werner (£8.6m), Callum Hudson-Odoi (£5.3m) and Ben Chilwell (£5.7m) due to positive Covid-19 tests, with further cases confirmed on Saturday and Sunday, leaving them with just six substitutes in Gameweek 18, which included two goalkeepers.

“I don’t know if it was close to not happening. We were struggling with the preparation because we had several consecutive days with positive Covid tests and then we travelled together for three hours with the team, we had dinner together we had another positive test with Jorginho. 

People are worried because they were on the same bus and had the same dinner. Obviously, it was not enough to postpone the match and we had to play but you cannot demand 100% focus otherwise it would be stupid to normally focus if you can do this without being calm. It was everything else but calm.

Today in the morning at 08:30 they knock on the door and have another test nobody knew about, so do we wake players up who want to sleep a bit longer? OK.

I gave my opinion and you can do with it what you want. I can’t compare to other games, it is just our situation. It is not safe. We talk about protecting players and a safe environment but it is not safe. I would be not surprised if the next test shows up and we have more positives. How should it stop if we sit in the bus and have dinners and just stay together like nothing happened?

I don’t care so much about the next games I just care about the next tests and the health of the players. Today we let Kovacic play 30 minutes one day after 10 days of Covid. We make him play, who takes responsibility for that? We have Kante one training session, Chalobah with two training sessions and maybe another injury. It is like this. We need to keep on going if they say we need to keep going.” – Thomas Tuchel on the Covid situation

In addition to the above, Trevoh Chalobah (£4.7m) and Hakim Ziyech (£7.3m) also picked up injuries.

“Trevoh, hopefully it is just painful. At the moment, it is very painful. We still have hopes that it is not serious, but we need to wait for further examination.

For Hakim, I don’t think it’s bad. He got hit on his nerve on the calf. It was tight. He was limping and we had to take him off.” – Thomas Tuchel

Meanwhile, at St James’ Park, Bernardo Silva (£7.6m) and Rodri (£5.5m) both picked up their fourth bookings of the campaign, meaning they are now just one further caution away from a ban, while Isaac Hayden (£4.5m)  will miss the visit of Manchester United in Gameweek 19 after his fifth yellow card of 2021/22.

Eddie Howe was dealt a further blow with the news that Federico Fernandez (£4.3m) and Jamal Lewis (£4.2m) have longer-term injuries.

“I think they’re going to be longer term so we won’t expect them back for the foreseeable future. Jamal’s was a strange one early in the game against Liverpool. It was a big blow for us and Fede looks like he’ll be around the same length of time.”

Jonjo Shelvey (£5.3m) and Javier Manquillo (£3.9m) also missed Gameweek 18, with muscle tightness and illness, but not believed to be Covid, respectively.

“Manquillo was a late drop out due to illness which was a big problem for us. Jonjo has played a lot of football in a short space of time having missed a long period. We just felt we had to be careful with him for this game. We hope he’ll be back soon.”

GAMEWEEK 18 TAKEAWAYS

ALEXANDER-ARNOLD OUTSCORES SALAH AGAIN

A depleted Liverpool side, who were without their entire first-choice midfield and Virgil van Dijk (£6.7m), looked vulnerable on Sunday, as they conceded two goals and gave up 2.46 xG at Tottenham Hotspur. However, that didn’t stop Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.3m) from outscoring Mohamed Salah (£13.1m) for the seventh time in eight Gameweeks, a period which has seen him produce 74 points, compared to the Egyptians 58.

SALAH V ALEXANDER-ARNOLD GAMEWEEKS 11-18:

CANCELO SHINES BUT ANOTHER BLANK FOR BERNARDO

Following today’s 4-0 win at St James’ Park, it’s now eight Premier League wins in a row for Manchester City. During that period, they have scored 24 goals and conceded just three, in a run of form which sees them arrive at Christmas top of the tree.

Joao Cancelo (£6.8m) has been one of the players of the season so far, and showed why in Gameweek 18 with a whopping 18-point haul. However, it was a day to forget for Bernardo Silva owners, after he blanked for a second successive match. Pep Guardiola’s side have scored 11 goals across their last two matches, with the Portuguese midfielder managing just three points.

“I didn’t rotate today, I decide the best team, we need a different base for the players and now we have seven days until the next game. Hopefully Leicester are getting better with a lot of Covid cases so I will take a decision on the team.” – Pep Guardiola on his decision to bench Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Ilkay Gundogan in Gameweek 18

SON AND KANE BACK ON THE FPL RADAR?

The drought is over, but it could have been so much more for Harry Kane (£12.1m) on Sunday. The England captain – who’s only Premier League goal this season was two months ago at Newcastle – rifled a shot into the bottom corner to give Spurs a surprise lead over Liverpool. It was a peak-Kane finish, but there were further opportunities to add to his tally, as he ended the match with six shots in the box – including two big chances – and nine penalty box touches.

Harry Kane’s xG shot map v Liverpool in Gameweek 18

In their first game in two weeks after a Covid outbreak, there were plenty of positives for Antonio Conte to take forward, ahead of an appealing run of fixtures which could bring both of today’s goalscorers – Son Heung-min (£10.3m) and Kane – back onto the FPL radar.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Gameweek 19-22 schedule

THE IMPORTANCE OF KANTE

With N’Golo Kante (£4.9m) back in the starting XI, Chelsea produced their first clean sheet since Gameweek 12 on Sunday. In the five games the French midfielder missed, Thomas Tuchel’s side conceded eight goals, as they clearly missed the protection he offers their backline.

However, against Wolverhampton Wanderers, they restricted their opponents to just one shot in the box and 0.29 xG, though it is worth noting that they did at times ride their luck.

As a result of today’s underwhelming draw at Molineux, Chelsea are now six points behind leaders Man City, after a run of two wins in six Premier League games.

COVID LATEST – PREMIER LEAGUE CLUBS SET TO MEET ON MONDAY

After six Premier League matches were called off in Gameweek 18, Premier League clubs will meet on Monday to discuss the growing Covid crisis.

Even the clubs who were able to complete their fixtures this week have been affected by Covid, with Chelsea naming only six players on the bench at Wolves, while Liverpool were missing the likes of van Dijk, Fabinho (£5.4) and Thiago, something Jurgen Klopp touched on after today’s game:

“We play now on Wednesday, Sunday and Tuesday. That is impossible. We do not have the players. We could maybe have another case or two. We have to think about it, we cannot just push it all through.

First of all, take away the second semi-final of the Carabao Cup. Just play once, wherever you play it I don’t care. The 26th and 28th of December is really not possible. We would prefer to play but we need some help. If we carry on we cannot carry on as usual.

If we don’t play anymore and have a break I am fine. But I know the problem. When do you want to play the games? It is not that easy to fit them in. We said before Coronavirus that it was a bit busy and now it gives us a proper punch.” – Jurgen Klopp on his side’s upcoming schedule

A report on The Athletic tonight suggests that an entire round of fixtures (Gameweek 20) may be postponed, though that is of course speculation at this time.