With the UEFA Champions League (UCL) and EFL Cup both playing out in midweek, there’s plenty to keep an eye on from a Fantasy perspective.
In all, there are 13 Premier League clubs in action before Gameweek 5:
- Tuesday: Aston Villa, Liverpool (both UCL), Brentford, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Manchester United, Southampton (all EFL Cup)
- Wednesday: Manchester City (UCL), Brighton and Hove Albion, Tottenham Hotspur, Wolverhampton Wanderers (all EFL Cup)
- Thursday: Arsenal (UCL)
In this first midweek Scout Notes, we look back on what happened in Europe on Tuesday night.
Injuries, benchings, goals and rotation – all the main Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points will be covered.
We’ll be calling on some Statsbomb graphics for these two games, too. Don’t forget: Fantasy Football Scout subscribers can exclusively benefit from their data this season, too!
TUESDAY’S RESULTS
| Opponent | Result | Goals | Assists | |
| Aston Villa | v Young Boys (h) | 3-0 win | Tielemans, Ramsey, Onana | McGinn, Watkins, Tielemans |
| Liverpool | v AC Milan (a) | 3-1 win | Konate, van Dijk, Szoboszlai | Alexander-Arnold, Tsimikas, Gakpo |
WATKINS INJURY BOOST
A goalless game and a 60th-minute substitution: Ollie Watkins‘ (£8.9m) evening in Switzerland sounded a bit Gameweeks 1-3.
The similarities even extended to Watkins spurning a close-range chance that Morgan Rogers (£5.1m) carved out.
But Watkins is looking sprightlier than he did before the international break. He had a strike chalked off for handball here, while it was his anticipation and back-pass interception that led to an assist for Jacob Ramsey‘s (£5.5m) goal.
Watkins being taken off and subsequently pictured with an ice pack on his leg would have alarmed owners. The striker was clobbered by the Young Boys’ goalkeeper for Ramsey’s goal but did play on beyond that.
Unai Emery assuaged fears further after full-time.
“He’s working well. He played 60 minutes, he played well and I decided to change him like another player. No, he doesn’t have [an injury], he’s OK.” – Unai Emery on Ollie Watkins
DEJA CLARET AND BLUE
It was business as usual elsewhere for Villa. There were no starting XI changes, indeed, even to the point of Lamare Bogarde (£4.0m) and Lucas Digne (£4.6m) starting again at full-back. Still no start for Ian Maatsen (£4.9m), then. Bogarde was hooked at half-time, however, with Diego Carlos (£4.5m) coming on and Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) moving to right-back.
There was another set-piece goal and another away Amadou Onana (£5.1m) strike, too. John McGinn (£5.4m) and Youri Tielemans (£5.5m) combined for the first, with Onana notching from distance late on. Jhon Duran (£6.0m) even came on and found the net to continue the parallels from previous weeks – but his superbly taken strike was the second effort to fall foul of a VAR handball decision.
In further deja vu, there was more points-dodging from Rogers. There were three chances created and as many attempts of his own, as well as a couple of moments when he could have shot instead of trying to find Watkins.
With centre-halves at right-back and the workmanlike McGinn further up the wing, no surprise that Villa funnelled a lot of their attacks down the left:
Ramsey was particularly prominent as a result, carving out as many key passes and shots as Rogers.
Leon Bailey (£6.4m), whose place Ramsey took in Gameweek 4, was back fit and on the bench here.
At the other end, Villa survived an early Young Boys blitz and were barely troubled after Tielemans’ opener. A first clean sheet of 2024/25 duly arrived – save it for the Premier League, boys…
GAKPO A THREAT TO DIAZ?
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