On Thursday, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest were in Europa League action, with Crystal Palace on Conference League duty.
- READ MORE: Wednesday – Gabriel knock, Arteta on rotation + Rodri’s fitness
- READ MORE: Wednesday – Gordon on pens, Livramento + Wissa updates
- READ MORE: Tuesday – Alisson/Ekitike injury updates + why Salah was a sub
- READ MORE: Tuesday – Pedro ban details, Kudus rest + Richarlison boost
Here we take a look at how all three got on, assessing their matches from a Fantasy Premier League (FPL) perspective.
RESULTS
| Team | Opponent | Result | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aston Villa | Feyenoord (a) | 2-0 win | Buendia, McGinn | Kamara |
| Nott’m Forest | Midtjylland (h) | 2-3 defeat | Ndoye, Wood (pen) | Gibbs-White |
| Crystal Palace | Dynamo Kyiv (a) | 2-0 win | Munoz, Nketiah | Pino (x2) |
SELECTION/ROTATION
| Team | No. of starting XI changes made from GW6 | Players who kept their places (mins played) | Notable mins for other players |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aston Villa | 5 | Konsa (90), Rogers (90), Guessand (90), Cash (86), McGinn (86), Watkins (71) | Bizot (90), Pau (90), Buendia (71), Malen (19), Digne (13) |
| Nott’m Forest | 5 | Sels (90), Anderson (90), Milenkovic (90), Williams (90), Morato (90), Ndoye (90) | Gibbs-White (90), Hudson-Odoi (90), Igor Jesus (75), Murillo (28), Wood (15) |
| Crystal Palace | 2 | Henderson (90), Richards (90), Guéhi (90), Lacroix (90), Wharton (90), Muñoz (88), Kamada (69), Pino (69), Mateta (45) | Sosa (76), Nketiah (45), Sarr (21) |
BUENDIA AND MCGINN IN FORM
Aston Villa rotated several players for their successful trip to Feyenoord.
John McGinn (£5.4m) has now netted in three consecutive matches in all competitions, while Emiliano Buendía (£5.3m), who scored and assisted within 10 minutes of coming on at half-time of Gameweek 6, repaid the faith of Unai Emery with another goal in Rotterdam.
“He knows how we are building the team and how we are building tactically. His position is clear. He has capacity to assist and score goals.” – Unai Emery on Emi Buendía
With Youri Tielemans (£5.9m) out for around three weeks, Buendía appears to have taken over the creative duties.
A combination of both his playmaking ability and McGinn’s willingness to shoot appears to have addressed the overdependence on Morgan Rogers (£6.9m) and Ollie Watkins (£8.7m). That said, despite starting this game, neither Rogers nor Watkins continued to look like shadows of their former selves.
BIZOT AS SECOND KEEPER?
The star performer in this match was Marco Bizot (£4.4m), pulling off a string of first-half saves to keep Feyenoord at bay. He stepped in late to replace Emiliano Martinez (£5.0m), who reportedly had a calf injury, although there’s speculation of ongoing disgruntlement regarding the latter’s failed move to Manchester United.
“We had to be ready. We are trying to work tactically, individually and try to focus everyone. The goalkeeper [Marco Bizot] was fantastic, he is a very good guy and goalkeeper and he is accepting his role.
“When we had six players out like we did today, the other players responded fantastically. It was fantastic how the goalkeeper replaced Emi Martinez.” – Unai Emery on Marco Bizot
Whatever the reason, there’s no longer such a yawning chasm between the standard of Martinez and his deputy, a marked upgrade on Robin Olsen. The Dutchman could be an interesting differential at home to Burnley.
HURT MURILLO CONTINUES FOREST’S WOES
Things are going from bad to worse for Nottingham Forest under Ange Postecoglou, now on four defeats and two draws since replacing Nuno Espirito Santo in the dugout.
Losing 3-2 at home to FC Midtjylland, even the Forest fans were singing about him getting sacked in the morning.
Prized assets last season, their defenders are now a complete no-go, not keeping a single clean sheet so far. They’ve shipped 13 goals in Postecoglou’s six games in charge.
To compound matters, Murillo (£5.4m) came off hurt after just 28 minutes and is a doubt for Gameweek 7. This follows his two-match absence for getting hurt in the Arsenal defeat.
“I’m not sure. I haven’t seen him, so I’m not really sure what’s wrong with him.” – Ange Postecoglou on Murillo injury
WOOD COMING GOOD
However, at least Forest are grabbing goals. Chris Wood‘s (£7.4m) owners will be pleased to see him score during a 15-minute cameo in which he had two others disallowed by VAR.
In Gameweek 6, only two players had a higher expected goals (xG, 0.78) tally without scoring and only Erling Haaland (£14.4m) bettered his six shots. In fact, Manchester City’s monster is the sole forward to take more throughout the whole season.
“I just felt it was going to be a good game for Igor [Jesus]. Nothing against Woody, it was just that having the ability to run beyond was going to help us. Igor has that, but he is also a good finisher. He has shown that already.
“He is such a willing worker but he has quality to back that up. He has settled in really quickly. I am pleased that he got his goals but we will still need Woody. He is a big part of this team.“ – Ange Postecoglu
One suspects Wood has done enough to keep his place ahead of Igor Jesus (£5.8m), someone who has been knocking on the door with recent promising displays. Being rested should indicate that Wood will lead the line on Sunday, especially as opponents Newcastle United don’t tend to leave big spaces to run in behind.
MUNOZ ON THE MONEY
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace played a strong team for their solid win over Dynamo Kyiv. Tyrick Mitchell (£5.0m) and Ismaïla Sarr (£6.4m) were the two to make way, as Daniel Muñoz (£5.6m) and Eddie Nketiah (£5.4m) made it 2-0.
With defensive contribution (DefCon) points swaying FPL managers towards centre-backs, this reminds us that there is always an exception to the rule. Muñoz is so insanely attacking as a wing-back that he remains a strong contender.
“It looks like teams [in Europe] react more to the way we are playing, so in the Premier League every team plays its style, their system, once or twice it happens that the opposition changes their system, and now we’ve two opponents with Fredrikstad and Kyiv, and both teams started in a different system than we expected.” – Oliver Glasner
MATETA SUBSTITUTION ‘PLANNED’
Nketiah’s second goal in as many matches was noteworthy, as was his coming on at half-time for Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.5m). But manager Oliver Glasner claimed that this was always the plan, who he’s described as being “fatigued” in recent matches.
“We could do everything today we planned to do: it was planned to play JP [Mateta] one half and Eddie Nketiah one half, it was planned to play Daichi [Kamada] and Yéremy [Pino] about 60 minutes, and play Justin [Devenny] and Isma [Sarr] about 30, that everybody stays in shape, stays in rhythm.” – Oliver Glasner on the Mateta substitution
Less planned was playing with 10 men, thanks to the dismissal of defender Borna Sosa (£4.9m). Yet this enabled young midfielder Rio Cardines (£4.4m) to make a brief debut.
“The players know I don’t give gifts. Minutes are not gifts, you have to deserve it, and he deserved it, so today was the right moment. A very positive day for us.” – Oliver Glasner
PINO OOZES CLASS
In attack, Yéremy Pino‘s (£5.9m) two assists furthered his cause for inclusion as a budget midfielder. The Spain international enters as the Eberechi Eze (£7.6m) replacement and is looking excellent so far.
All of a sudden, FPL managers are spoilt for choice when it comes to Palace assets. They’re now unbeaten in 19 matches in all competitions and boast excellence in all areas of the pitch.
Sarr scored on his return from injury in Gameweek 6 and received a 21-minute run-out in this match. He looks ready for the trip to Everton, plus Pino looks to have elite quality and Mateta remains an exceptional front man.
Indeed, the forward received his first call-up to the French national team ahead of this match. Glasner said such recognition was richly deserved, but could mean he’ll start using Nketiah more frequently to avoid burnout.
“It’s fully deserved. We got the information just before we left for the stadium. I’m really delighted for him. Now is no time to celebrate, now is the time to stay focused. But, of course, it’s more the feeling, the satisfaction, that he worked so hard – I know he wanted this.” – Oliver Glasner
And that’s before we even get to the defenders. Yet another clean sheet means Palace have already secured five of them in all competitions.
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