While Tuesday was a night of mixed fortunes for English clubs in the Champions League, Wednesday certainly ended up being one to forget. Penalties proved to be the undoing of both Arsenal and Aston Villa’s unbeaten starts in Europe this season.
The Gunners were “harshly done by,” according to Mikel Arteta, during their defeat in Milan.
Earlier in the evening, Tyrone Mings (£4.4m) committed the “biggest mistake” Villa boss Unai Emery says he has witnessed in his career to hand – no pun intended – Club Brugge all three points from that tie in Belgium.
We’ve picked out the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from both fixtures in these Scout Notes.
WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS
| OPPONENT | RESULT | |
|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | v Internazionale (a) | 0-1 loss |
| Aston Villa | v Club Brugge (a) | 0-1 loss |
TEAM SELECTION/ROTATION
| STARTING XI CHANGES FROM GW9 |
PLAYERS WHO KEPT THEIR PLACES (MINS) | OTHER MINS FOR SELECTED PLAYERS |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | 1 | Raya (90), Saliba (90), Gabriel (90), Partey (90), Saka (90), Martinelli (90), Havertz (90), Timber (82), Trossard (82), Merino (45) | White (90), Jesus (45), Zinchenko (8), Nwaneri (8), Ødegaard (1) |
| Aston Villa | 5 | Martinez (90), Konsa (90), Tielemans (90), Watkins (80) Rogers (66), McGinn (58) | Maatsen (90), Kamara (90), Bailey (90), Carlos (80), Mings (66), Durán (32), Ramsey (24), Torres (24), Buendia (10), Nedeljković (10) |
MINGS MISTAKE ENDS VILLA’S FLAWLESS UCL START
What should have been a dream come true turned into a walking nightmare for Villa’s ex-captain on his return from a long injury lay-off.
A Champions League debut, coinciding with a comeback following 14 months out with a knee injury, was overshadowed by a bizarre penalty conceded early in the second half when Mings – seemingly unaware that play had commenced – picked up a ball played short to him via a quick goal kick from Emi Martinez (£5.0m).
The blunder was confirmed by VAR, a spot-kick was awarded to the hosts, and Brugge’s Hans Vanaken slotted home what would end up being the game’s only goal as the Belgian side recorded their first win over an English team since February 1995.
Emery, who said the mistake “changed everything” after a “good” first half by the visitors, had little sympathy for the former Villa captain.
“His mistake is completely strange; It’s the biggest mistake I witnessed in my career. We can make a mistake in the build-up, we work to try to control the games through keeping possession and trying to stop the possession and we did that in the first half fantastic.
“We lost one or two balls, but we were always in the position to recover, but this mistake is very, very strange. It’s only happened one time in all my life.” – Unai Emery
ROGERS SHAKES OFF INJURY + WATKINS’ DROUGHT
While that certainly was the defining moment of an otherwise largely underwhelming match, a greater cause for concern should be the drought within which Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) finds himself. The England international now has just a single goal – vs Fulham in Gameweek 8 – across his last seven club matches in all competitions.
Home ties against Crystal Palace, Brentford and Southampton between now and Gameweek 15 could help Watkins snap that streak. First, he’ll first to contend with trips to Liverpool and Chelsea in two of his next three Premier League matches, as well as the visit of Juventus later this month. They’re not the most appetising of fixtures for a striker whose only double-digit FPL hauls so far have come against Ipswich and Everton.
Better news for Villa and nearly a quarter of Fantasy managers was the fact that Morgan Rogers (£5.4m) appeared to waylay any injury concerns following his early substitution in Sunday’s 4-1 thrashing by Spurs.
The budget midfielder made the starting line-up and lasted 66 minutes on Wednesday evening before being replaced by Jacob Ramsey (£5.4m) with Villa chasing the game.
While that means he should be fit for the trip to Anfield on Saturday night, Rogers – as well as usual super-sub Jhon Durán, and indeed the rest of Emery’s troops – was largely ineffective against Brugge. Rogers had the mitigation of being out on the left flank, rather than in the number 10 role where he’s looked so dangerous this season.
Villa had more of the ball than their hosts but managed to put just a single shot on target of their nine in total. Brugge, by contrast, had seven shots on target from a total of 13 attempts. Those dwindling attacking numbers saw the Villans rack up an xG of only 0.40 – their joint-lowest mark this season – and follow the Gameweek 10 loss in north London where Emery’s side also managed a sole shot on target (Rogers’s opening, and ultimately consolation, goal).
VILLA WINLESS IN FOUR
The West Midlands club are now winless in four, with three straight losses equalling their longest losing streak under Emery, and in Gameweek 11 are faced with the stern task of trying to topple a Liverpool team – at Anfield – who now sit top of both the Premier League and the Champions League after continuing their own 100% start in Europe.
Expect Pau Torres (£4.5m) to be back in central defence this weekend, with Lucas Digne (£4.7m) coming back in for Ian Maatsen (£4.7m).
Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) should also remain in Villa’s backline despite a full midweek run-out, paired with Torres or filling in on the right flank depending on the fitness of Matty Cash (£4.4m). Diego Carlos would appear likeliest to come in if indeed Cash’s calf injury keeps him out of Gameweek 11, as it appears will be the case.
ØDEGAARD RETURNS, RICE A NEW DOUBT
It was different circumstances for Arsenal against Inter Milan, but a similar outcome. the English visitors were wasteful in front of goal, conceded a penalty for a handball, and lost 0-1 as a result.
This time Mikel Merino (£6.0m) was the man penalised, the summer signing adjudged to have handled in the area in the dying embers of the first-half despite there being little he could do to avoid a flick-on from a corner.
Hakan Çalhanoglu stepped up and handled business from the spot. From that point on the hosts kept the Gunners at bay despite Arsenal dominating both possession and chances.
There were calls for a second penalty, this time in the visitors’ favour when it was felt that Merino had been punched by Inter goalie Yann Sommer as he tried to claim a cross.
“I am very proud of my players and the level of domination we had. We were very harshly done by in the sense that is obvious. Both penalties.
“If you are going to give a penalty, the other one has to be because he punches him in the head.
“There is no deflection, nothing you can do in the box so he can get away from it. If he is going to give that, the other has to be 100% a penalty.
“The way we played tonight, the team can go to Chelsea and win.” – Mikel Arteta
There was only one change to Arteta’s side that lost against Newcastle on Saturday, with Thomas Partey (£5.0m) moving back into midfield to replace Declan Rice (£6.3m). The latter missed the Italy trip entirely due to a broken toe which he apparently intends to play through in Gameweek 11.
That saw Ben White (£6.2m) back in the starting line-up, on the right side of the backline.
The lack of rotation meant more long shifts for most of Arteta’s preferred XI, with William Saliba (£6.0m), Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.2m), Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) and Gabriel Martinelli (£6.9m) all involved from start to finish at the San Siro.
Indeed, only Merino was taken off before the 82nd minute, being replaced at half-time by Gabriel Jesus (£6.8m).
The moment this stuttering Arsenal outfit and their fans have no doubt been waiting for, though, finally arrived late on during Wednesday’s loss, when Martin Ødegaard (£8.2m) took to the field for the first time since August.
He was only handed the final few minutes of added time, and couldn’t turn around the result, but the sight of the Norwegian back up and running after his ankle injury is a boost to the Gunners, who have struggled for creativity recently during his prolonged absence.
And while he may continue to be eased back in, Arteta will hope his creator-in-chief can play a more significant role in his side’s trip to Chelsea on Sunday.
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR FOR LOAD-SHARING GUNNERS
As it was on Wednesday, Arsenal came away from Milan with an impressive xG of 2.02 – but nothing of substance to show for it.
Their hosts kept them on their toes early but created next to nothing after the half-time interval, happy to steadfastly defend their narrow lead against an onslaught from the north Londoners.
The Gunners had more than 60% of the ball and tallied 21 shots in total. Only four of them were on target, however.
Five of those shots were from Kai Havertz (£8.1m), two of them forcing a highlight reel-worthy save from Sommer and then a last-ditch block by Yann Bisseck.
Jesus, Saka and Gabriel all had three attempts apiece, with one header from the latter forcing a goal-line clearance by Denzel Dumfries.
That chance was, as we’ve come to expect from Arsenal, from a set-piece.
Yet despite a whopping 46 crosses being pinged into Inter’s box, none of them led to goals once again for a side that has also blanked in two of their last three Premier League fixtures.
Meanwhile, it was Martinelli who took the title of top creator in this tie, with six key passes and an xG figure of 0.79.
The crafty Brazilian also had two shots, the same number as Saliba, with Merino, Leandro Trossard (£6.9m) and even late substitute Ethan Nwaneri (£4.5m) managing one apiece.
HAVERTZ INJURY UPDATE
While the return of Ødegaard is undoubtedly a boost ahead of Sunday’s London derby, the 14% of FPL managers with Havertz in their squad will be left anxiously awaiting Arteta’s pre-match presser for updates.
The German forward left the field gingerly (and has since been yellow-flagged) in injury time following a clash of heads that left him with a bloody cut that required attention from the medical staff.
He was seen exiting the stadium without any head bandaging and Arteta said he will “hopefully” be ready for the weekend after receiving stitches.
“Regarding Kai, yeah, he’s got a big cut. He needed to come off because he needed some stitches, but hopefully, he’s going to be okay for the weekend.” – Mikel Arteta
Havertz will still need to pass concussion protocols – not that there were any suggestions of that – if he is to feature at Stamford Bridge.
Quizzed on Merino’s early withdrawal, the Arsenal boss said:
“He was not concussed. But yesterday and today he was already not feeling great.
“After, when I looked at him, I decided to take him off because I need him 100%.” – Mikel Arteta on Mikel Merino
