A humdinger of a match got Double Gameweek 32 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) underway on Saturday lunchtime.
There were mixed results for FPL managers who backed Crystal Palace assets, with Eberechi Eze (£6.9m) and Ismaila Sarr (£5.8m) delivering attacking returns but Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.8m), most of the Eagles’ backline and Oliver Glasner (£0.8m) emerging with precious little.
Manchester City meanwhile scored five goals at home for the first time this season, with a certain exit-bound Belgian inspiring the comeback victory.
Picking out the FPL talking points from the Etihad, we kick off our weekend Scout Notes.
WHY GLASNER TOOK MATETA OFF
There wasn’t just a blank for Mateta but a half-time withdrawal, too.
It raised fears of an injury for the Frenchman, something Oliver Glasner quickly quelled after full-time. Nevertheless, the Palace boss didn’t sound too chuffed with his striker:
“Yes, it was a tactical decision but now I have to say it was the wrong decision. Not to take him off, just to change the system to a 3-5-2. We wanted to control the middle more, the pocket, but it didn’t work.
“I didn’t make a mistake to sub him because I think he can do better than he did first half. He lost too many duels, he lost too many balls. That’s why we thought to change something. The mistake I made was to change the system, not to sub JP.” – Oliver Glasner on Jean-Philippe Mateta’s half-time withdrawal
Little chance of seeing a 3-5-2 against Newcastle United in midweek, then, but Glasner will have Eddie Nketiah (£5.9m) back from suspension, should he feel the need to make a change up top. Perhaps, though, he’ll give Mateta a chance to fire back at his manager on the pitch.
The French forward didn’t register a single shot on Saturday but was mere feet away from tapping in Sarr’s low cross for Palace’s opener. Eze, scoring his first league goal of 2025, converted instead.
Sarr and Eze looked dangerous in the opening 30 minutes. The former blazed over from close range, while the latter was denied a second goal by a tight offside call.
The Eagles’ goal threat vanished after that, with Glasner’s ill-fated formation switch shouldering some of the blame.
IN DEFENCE OF THE DEFENCE
We’re not used to seeing Palace thumped like this. They hadn’t lost away from home since Gameweek 8, while only two clubs had conceded fewer goals (35) in Gameweeks 1-31.
There was some mitigation. Marc Guehi (£4.7m) was banned, while Maxence Lacroix (£4.5m) and Chris Richards (£4.4m) had missed chunks of training through injury.
“Maybe there are a few reasons. Maxence didn’t train the whole week, just one training. Chris Richards didn’t train for 10 days. Marc Guehi wasn’t here.”- Oliver Glasner
The lack of a natural ball-winner in front of the defence – Jefferson Lerma (£4.8m) was needed at centre-half, while Will Hughes (£4.9m) was on the bench – was also, in hindsight, a misstep.
We’ve been here before with the Eagles this season. Palace conceded five goals to Arsenal (again after some defensive disruption) in Gameweek 17. Straight after that, they went on a run of six clean sheets in 11 fixtures.
DE BRUYNE: ONE LAST HURRAH?
City were 2-0 down after Eze’s opener and Richards’ set-piece header. After Palace spurned openings to go three up, the hosts kicked into life and ended up registering a whopping 12 big chances.
Kevin De Bruyne (£9.3m) was at the heart of the comeback. Reducing the deficit with a free-kick, he would then play a pivotal role in setting up goals two and three, claiming an assist for the latter.
There should have been other returns. De Bruyne had already hit the post before his free-kick, while Omar Marmoush (£7.3m) spurned two superb opportunities that the Belgian set up. De Bruyne himself had a great chance to score on the rebound from one of Marmoush’s saved attempts.
Above: De Bruyne topped both the shot and key pass tables at the Etihad
It was a performance that raised the question: can De Bruyne be a valid FPL option for the run-in?
The long-serving midfielder himself says he’s in good physical condition, having previously struggled with a hernia.
“It’s been a hard year. You know, having a hernia wasn’t fun but I think now I would say I’m basically pain-free for the last six weeks and that’s a massive difference playing with pain or no pain. It was hard but now I feel free, I’m able to do a lot of training sessions and I feel I can do a good job.” – Kevin De Bruyne
“The Kevin we have known for many years. I know he’s struggled the last year and a half, I know he’s struggled with injuries. When he’s free without pain, then he plays completely different. The way we played helped him a lot, having incredible runners with Omar, with Gundo, with Macca.” – Pep Guardiola
The caveat with Manchester City players, of course, is always Pep Guardiola. Now more than ever, his teamsheets are difficult to anticipate. As the master of the predicted City line-ups, former Scoutcast regular Luke, said, Guardiola has gone “full-on crackhead mode“.
James McAtee (£4.6m) had never started a Premier League game for the Cityzens until Saturday. He duly took up the right-wing slot, with De Bruyne as a false nine and Marmoush on the left. Sometimes Guardiola can overthink things but this was a tactic that actually ended up working well, with McAtee and Marmoush playing narrower and running beyond the Belgian. McAtee did just that for City’s fourth goal, picked out by Ederson (£5.3m).
Looking at the busy upcoming week for City, an early guess would be that De Bruyne gets a chance to unpick the low blocks of Everton (in Gameweek 33) and Nottingham Forest (in the FA Cup semi-final). Perhaps he sits out the more intense Aston Villa game in between.
Guardiola may, of course, simply decide to drain every last drop of De Bruyne before he leaves in the summer.
EDERSON INJURY LATEST AFTER ANOTHER ASSIST
Phil Foden (£9.2m) not being available certainly helps with De Bruyne’s minutes. The England international was absent on Saturday with a knock from the Manchester derby a week earlier.
We didn’t get any update from Guardiola after full-time.
A fresh concern is Ederson (£5.3m), who departed after 71 minutes. The injury, a groin issue, seems to be an old niggly one.
“He has had some disturbance in the past two weeks, one month, and it appeared again today.” – Pep Guardiola on Ederson’s injury
Ederson’s assist for McAtee’s goal was his fourth of the campaign. Only two City players have more!
Elsewhere, another run-out at centre-half (rather than as an advanced left-back) for Josko Gvardiol (£6.2m) meant another week without a shot. He’s had just one in the last eight Gameweeks. Perhaps when some of the sidelined centre-backs return later in April, he will be unleashed again.
Gvardiol owners would no doubt have been irked to see current left-back Nico O’Reilly (£4.9m) getting forward to round off the scoring.
At least the Croatian is in the team. McAtee’s full debut meant another benching for Savinho (£6.2m), whose run of seven successive starts has been brought to shuddering halt.
