In the final part of our EFL Cup round-up, we pick out the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from the remaining four ties involving Premier League sides.

Eliminated Leicester City were the odd ones out as Arsenal, Brentford, managerless Manchester United and Southampton progressed.

RESULTS, GOALS + ASSISTS

TEAM SELECTION/ROTATION

WHITE CONCERN, TIMBER SHAKES OFF INJURY

If there’s one thing Arsenal could do without right now it’s more defensive injuries. But unfortunately, that is exactly what they have got as it emerged that Ben White (£6.3m) has sustained an unknown problem which prevented him from playing against Preston. 

Not content with depriving their defensive ranks of Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.2m), Takehiro Tomiyasu (£4.8m), Riccardo Calafiori (£5.8m) and Kieran Tierney (£4.3m) now the injury gods may have struck down Arsenal’s Swiss army knife of a defender.

At least everyone else appears to have emerged unscathed – and there were welcome returns for Jurrien Timber (£5.5m) and Oleksandr Zinchenko (£4.8m), who both started. Timber went off against Liverpool in Gameweek 9 but it seems as though he was suffering from cramp, while Zinchenko made his first start since August after being sidelined with a calf injury.

“That was planned. We have a lot of issues in the backline, we wanted to share the minutes because we lost Gabi, we lost Ben [White] as well, on top of the other players so we have to make sure that we wanted to be competitive and we have to make sure as well that we protect players because we have a lot of games coming up now.” – Mikel Arteta on the half-time substitutions of Jurrien Timber and Mikel Merino

The big question is, who will partner William Saliba (£6.0m) in central defence at Newcastle if White and Gabriel are both out? Either Timber will play at centre-back, with Zinchenko or Miles Lewis-Skelly (£4.5m) at left-back and Thomas Partey (£5.0m) on the right. Or Timber will stay on the left and Jakub Kiwior (£4.8m) will play alongside Saliba, with Partey on the right.

JESUS ENDS HIS DROUGHT

With second-half substitute Kai Havertz (£8.2m), who scored a thumping header, being flogged like a carthorse, Gabriel Jesus (£6.8m) may get some game time in December. A goal and assist here would do his confidence the world of good.

“His first since January I think so it’s been a long time. That’s going to, I think, unlock that thing mentally, and move on, I think he had a good performance tonight.” – Mikel Arteta on Gabriel Jesus

“I think it’s going to unlock that for him, he looks really happy. He’s performing, that attitude is there always, but he need that feeling that he can put the ball in the back of the net.” – Mikel Arteta on Gabriel Jesus

It was a dominant display by Arsenal, who might have scored six or seven. They had 18 shots on goal, 10 of which were on target, and Raheem Sterling (£6.7m) should have scored twice.

Ethan Nwaneri (£4.5m) is knocking on the door for a first-team start in the Premier League. The 17-year-old was the star of the show at Deepdale and might have had a hat-trick. He scored a beautiful goal, curling left-footed into the top corner à la Arjen Robben, had another shot saved and also hit the bar late on. With Martin Odegaard (£8.2m) still out, Arsenal are missing a touch of that creativity Nwaneri provides – and it may only be a matter of time before Mikel Arteta takes him off the leash. 

“It’s unbelievable but he does it in training almost every day, he’s got this quality, this personality, he’s there to make things happen, he doesn’t care who he’s got around him, he needs to make the decision for himself, he does it and he scored a fantastic goal tonight.

“He did it yesterday in training so we’re used to that. He’s a big talent, he’s got the right attitude, he’s got the right players and context around him and we need to make sure that we put brick by brick in the right order but we have some player here.” – Mikel Arteta on Ethan Nwaneri

Fernandes and Garnacho shine ahead of Chelsea visit

In his first match as caretaker manager, Ruud van Nistelrooy couldn’t have wished for a better result to boost the confidence of Manchester United ahead of the visit of Chelsea on Sunday. A side that has struggled for goals all season (the last round’s 7-0 thrashing of Barnsley excepted) United played as though a weight had been lifted from them, pouring forward at will and seemingly scoring with every attack.

Casemiro (£4.3m) opened the floodgates with a glorious dipping long-range strike after Bruno Fernandes (£8.2m) had dummied Alejandro Garnacho’s (£6.3m) pass, and he added a second when he reacted quickest to his initial effort coming back of both posts. 

Garnacho, who has been threatening a goal for some time now, finished expertly from Diogo Dalot’s (£5.1m) marauding run. Although there was an element of fortune about both of Fernandes’ goals – the first was a wickedly deflected free-kick, the second coming from a sloppy backpass from Caleb Okoli (£4.0m) – the Portuguese is running hot.

Garnacho and Fernandes might both have scored again and were the pick of the hosts’ players on the night. The Portuguese was at the heart of everything that was good about United, pulling the strings in midfield and carving out passes for the lively Garnacho, who was a constant threat with his pace and skill. 

Both of these players are worthy of consideration for managers in Gameweek 10, when the visit of Chelsea promises a goal glut. The Blues’ front-footed approach combined with van Nistelrooy’s commitment to attacking football and the suspect defending of both sides should make for an open contest – and one for which defenders of each side should be given a very wide berth.

As van Nistelrooy said before the match:

“The most important thing is passion, energy, play together and get the crowd going, have a night of great football. We were knocked down but that is what United is all about, getting back up, fighting and playing attacking football.” – Ruud van Nistelrooy

DEFENSIVE SHORTCOMINGS REMAIN

What can’t be ignored is the fact United shipped two very sloppy goals and might have conceded more. This was in part due to their unconvincing reserve goalkeeper Altay Bayindir (£4.4m), who flapped a cross into the path of Bilal El Khannouss (£4.9m) for Leicester’s first goal, but the second strike came as a result of abject defending. A simple free-kick curled into the area, somehow rebounded off a combination of Casemiro, Mattijs De Ligt (£5.0m) and Dalot to gift Conor Coady (£4.0m) an easy strike.

When it comes to keeping goals out, United’s injury situation is not helping matters. Luke Shaw (£4.9m) remains a big miss, while the absences of Harry Maguire (£4.9m), Leny Yoro (£4.3m), Tyrell Malacia (£4.4m) and Kobbie Mainoo (£5.2m) undoubtedly exacerbate their soft-centredness. 

Van Nistelrooy said his team selection was in part dictated to by injuries. 

“It has to do with the squad, we’re very thin, we have some injury problems and big games coming up so we had to look at that as well and get the fittest and strongest team tonight” – Ruud van Nistelrooy on his team selection

Whether that means there are concerns over Christian Eriksen (£5.4m) remains to be seen. The Dane, Andre Onana (£5.0m), Noussair Mazraoui (£4.6m) and Rasmus Hojlund (£6.9m) were the only players taken out of the line-up that lost to West Ham in Gameweek 9.

Given that Bayindir is the designated cup keeper and Mazraoui and Hojlund appeared as substitutes we can assume that they were just rested.

On the plus side, United looked more solid when Jonny Evans (£4.4m) and Mazraoui came on in the second half – and indeed no goals were conceded in the second 45 – albeit against a heavily rotated Leicester side which posed even more of a negligible attacking threat once the flurry of substitutions took hold. 

The major takeaway then from this match is that until some major players are back, van Nistelrooy’s gung-ho approach might be United’s best way of getting results. So, consider Fernandes and Granacho – and don’t expect clean sheets from the defenders.

BRENTFORD CONCEDE AGAIN

There is not much to report on the injury front from this match, which came too soon for Kristoffer Ajer (£4.5m). He should be fit to face Fulham in Gameweek 10, and help shore up the Bees’ porous backline. 

This cup tie was largely dominated by Brentford until a mistake by Mark Flekken (£4.5m) gave the ball away to Djeidi Gassama who beat him from long range, and brought Sheffield Wednesday back into the match.

With an unfavourable fixture swing to come in Gameweek 14, it’s probably best to steer clear of Brentford goalkeepers and defenders. They are making costly mistakes and relying on their attackers to get them out of trouble.

On that note, Yoane Wissa (£6.0m) got some more valuable minutes. He came on as a second-half substitute and was unfortunate not to get an assist as Kevin Schade’s (£5.2m) strike from his lay-off was well-saved. The DR Congo international remains a serious contender for the budget forward slot, following his brace in Gameweek 9. Schade also scored a nice opener but is probably not going to get a start while Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo (£7.7m) are lighting up the Premier League.

SAINTS LET ANOTHER LEAD SLIP

Southampton assets are probably not top of anyone’s shopping list at the moment, but they did at least muster a 3-2 win over Stoke to be rewarded with a quarter-final tie against Liverpool for their troubles.

They almost snatched defeat from the jaws of victory – again – when letting slip a two-goal lead before grabbing a late winner through defender James Bree (£3.9m). And even then they had Yukinari Sugawara (£4.5m) to thank for a crucial goalline clearance from Million Manhoef which could have taken the match in a very different direction.

At the other end of the pitch, Adam Armstrong (£5.2m) takes a good penalty. But the Scot isn’t getting regular minutes at present so not much to see here.