We begin our whistle-stop Scout Notes tour around the grounds with five of Sunday’s Gameweek 38 fixtures:
GVARDIOL FINISHES AS TOP-SCORING DEFENDER
Manchester City qualified for next season’s UEFA Champions League with a 2-0 away victory at Fulham.
A superb overhead kick from Ilkay Gundogan (£6.3m), his first Premier League goal of the season, put the visitors in front, before the German was later brought down in the Fulham box.
After turning down the chance to take a penalty in last week’s FA Cup final, Erling Haaland (£14.9m) stepped up to score with Omar Marmoush (£7.4m) on the pitch at the time.
Marmoush blanked in Gameweek 38, but make no mistake, he was lively. Deployed on the right of Pep Guardiola’s attack, the Egyptian racked up a match-high six shots. He linked particularly well with full-back Matheus Nunes (£4.9m), too, who supplied the width, freeing up Marmoush to operate in the half-space.
That all meant that Josko Gvardiol (£6.5m) was asked to play a more conservative role, sometimes as a third centre-half. Still, having claimed a clean sheet and two bonus points, the Croatian has ended 2024/25 as FPL’s highest-scoring defender.
Kevin De Bruyne (£9.5m), meanwhile, made his final Man City appearance as a late substitute.
Defeat for Fulham means they have suffered 10 losses since the turn of the year, with only the bottom four faring worse.
SEMENYO TOP-SCORES IN GAMEWEEK 38
Antoine Semenyo’s (£5.7m) second-half brace handed Bournemouth a deserved 2-0 win over Leicester City.
Netting double-figures in a Premier League campaign for the first time in his career, Semenyo racked up 16 points, the most of any player in Gameweek 38.
Centre-halves Illia Zabarnyi (£4.4m) and Dean Huijsen (£4.4m) provided the assists, with the latter a parting gift ahead of his summer move to Real Madrid.
Milos Kerkez (£5.3m) might be departing too, of course, with the full-back signing off with a clean sheet and six points.
Marcus Tavernier (£5.4m), meanwhile, claimed a bonus point despite no returns, thanks in part to three big chances created and four fouls won.
As for relegated Leicester, they offered practically nothing from an attacking perspective, registering only three shots and 0.27 expected goals (xG).
WAN-BISSAKA AND BOWEN DELIVER AGAIN
Jarrod Bowen (£7.9m) extended his fine form with a goal and an assist at Portman Road, as West Ham United triumphed 3-1 over relegated Ipswich Town.
The most-bought midfielder of Gameweek 38 has now produced eight goals and five assists in 15 appearances since the appointment of Graham Potter, a period which has seen him average 6.9 points per start.
He’s also outscored every other FPL player except Mohamed Salah (£13.6m) from that point onwards (Gameweek 24).
“I thought Bowen was fantastic today, a real bit between his teeth. He was very sharp, he’s a difference maker in the final third, great goal but the way he performed today was top level.” – Graham Potter on Jarrod Bowen
Mohammed Kudus (£6.2m) came off the bench to add a third for the Hammers, having previously seen Nathan Broadhead (£4.9m) cancel out James Ward-Prowse’s (£6.1m) opener.
It’s also worth noting there was another assist for wing-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.5m), his third in four matches. Given how well he has performed under Potter, he is a budget defender to watch next year.
Elsewhere, Alphonse Areola (£4.2m) dropped out of the line-up, with reserve goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski (£3.9m) handed a start for his final game for the club.
Having conceded three on Sunday, it means Ipswich failed to keep a clean sheet in all 18 of their Premier League games in 2025.
SALAH MATCHES GOAL INVOLVEMENT RECORD… FINALLY
Mohamed Salah matched the Premier League record for goal involvements in a season (47) with a late strike at Anfield, as Liverpool drew 1-1 with Crystal Palace.
In a party atmosphere, the Egyptian slotted home from a Cody Gakpo (£7.2m) assist to total 344 points, breaking the previous record for a season by 41.
Gakpo, meanwhile, created two big chances on Sunday and has now returned in nine successive league matches on home turf.
The only blemish on an otherwise triumphant day for Arne Slot’s side was a red card for Ryan Gravenberch (£5.0m). The Young Player of the Year will miss the first Premier League game of 2025/26 as a result.
As for Palace, Ismaila Sarr (£5.5m) gave the visitors an early lead with his third attacking return in as many matches.
Conor Bradley (£4.7m) lost the ball for the opener, as Oliver Glasner’s side consistently found space down the flanks in transition. The Northern Irishman was later subbed off at the break for Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.2m), who is leaving Liverpool after two decades playing for the club.
“The goal was 100% Crystal Palace football: we lose the ball, then we go in a great counter-press and then it’s habits. T Mitchell wins the ball and he knows that our far No. 10 is free, so we scored so many goals like this, and then I expect that we are that focused because you have just time for two or three touches and T found him.
“T had an excellent game, T was fantastic today, and then he [Sarr] runs one against the keeper, but not everybody had this focus to find the free player with two or three touches, which is needed when you play against a champion. I know that it’s not the individual quality, it’s just we didn’t have this focus on everybody, but yes, the goal was fantastic, how it happened and how Ismaila finished.” – Oliver Glasner
VILLA ROBBED BUT ULTIMATELY POOR
It was a frustrating afternoon for Aston Villa at Old Trafford, as Unai Emery’s side missed out on UEFA Champions League qualification.
In truth, they did little to deserve it, having rarely threatened, particularly after Emiliano Martinez (£5.0m) had been sent off, with their six shots generating just 0.4 xG.
The red card had implications for Marco Asensio (£5.9m), too, who was hooked in first-half injury time as a result.
That said, Villa will still feel hard done by, having seen Morgan Rogers’ (£5.8m) second-half strike controversially ruled out.
“Today, we lost the opportunity, but we didn’t deserve more. We started the match today, poor in our performances, collectively and individually. It was the key moment for the sending off of Emiliano Martínez and, of course, after it, we needed to be resilient, we needed to defend, we needed to defend low block, goalkeeper, and believe in our moment to get some attacking actions, or some corners.
“We scored one goal, and normally this goal, if the referee was under his control, this moment, to wait before to whistle this action, I think it was a goal, after VAR. We watched on the TV. But we are making mistakes, the players, they are making mistakes and the referees, sometimes they are making mistakes. We have to accept it. We lost and we didn’t deserve more.” – Unai Emery
Manchester United capitalised, thanks to Amad Diallo’s (£5.3m) header and Christian Eriksen’s (£5.2m) penalty.
Bruno Fernandes (£8.4m), United’s usual taker, handed the responsibility over to his colleague, who has announced will leave the club this summer.
Prior to that, United peppered the Villa goal, with Martinez twice denying Mason Mount (£6.3m), who was the best player on the pitch.
Diogo Dalot (£5.0m) was unlucky to hit the post, too.
“It [next season] must be better, much better because it’s impossible to be worse. We need to get results but again, I think we have to be really honest with our fans. It’s going to take a while but we are going to play better and we are going to get better results.” – Ruben Amorim
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