We continue our analysis of the Gameweek 30 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) action in our Scout Notes series.
The focus here is on Southampton v Manchester City and Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest.
Any numbers you see in this article are taken from our Premium Members Area, where you can access Opta player and team data from every single Premier League fixture.
“UNBELIEVABLE” HAALAND
We’re only just a week into April, yet Erling Haaland (£12.2m) has already scored 30 Premier League goals, a quite frankly ridiculous achievement given that Man City still have nine more games to play.
His figures are drawing comparisons with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, which Pep Guardiola touched on after full-time.
“Erling knows the other two guys dominated in two decades – not just one or two years, two decades, scoring and winning titles and doing absolutely everything. I think football is a better place mainly thanks to Cristiano and Messi. For our business, the attraction of these two guys competing helped us.
Erling is just 22-23 years old, arriving in the toughest league in the world – I can talk because I’ve been in other leagues – and what he is doing is remarkable. The numbers he has right now at his age are unbelievable. Unbelievable.” – Pep Guardiola on Erling Haaland
The Norwegian returned to the Man City first XI at Southampton after missing Gameweek 29 through injury, grabbing a brace and rewarding his 586,000 new owners with a 12-point haul.
He was subbed off immediately after scoring his second on 69 minutes, an excellent bicycle kick, with Man City’s UEFA Champions League midweek clash with Bayern Munich in mind.
“He never complains after [being taken off]. He respects me a lot. After Burnley he was injured and couldn’t play against Liverpool so we know him and have to take care of him. He can score important goals and win games. He is going to play 90 minutes but with this amount of games every three days and you have another weapon in Julian [Alvarez], who is always ready. That’s why it is a big boost for us.” – Pep Guardiola on Erling Haaland
GREALISH IN, RASHFORD OUT?
Jack Grealish (£7.0m) had another excellent performance on the south coast, scoring and assisting for the second match running. The in-form playmaker proved key in breaking down Southampton’s backline, creating two chances, with his post-World Cup points tally now up to 78.
In that time, he’s started 13 of Man City’s 15 league matches, including the last 11 in a row. Like Haaland, he went up £0.1m overnight and looks set to be a popular replacement for owners of Marcus Rashford (£7.3m), if he is indeed ruled out.
Elsewhere, Kevin De Bruyne (£12.1m) supplied his 15th and 16th assists of the season, at least five more than any other FPL player, while Julian Alvarez (£6.0m) – Haaland’s replacement – found the net for a second successive game with a 75th-minute penalty.
Defensively, Guardiola chose to start with four centre-backs, with John Stones (£5.4m) once again tasked with moving into midfield in possession. However, he was withdrawn on 56 minutes, with Man City losing their clean sheet after he departed.
VILLA EXTEND RUN
Aston Villa have now scored in all 17 of their Premier League games under Unai Emery, having comfortably beaten Nottingham Forest 2-0 on Saturday.
In fact, from Gameweek 15 onwards (Emery’s first game in charge), only Arsenal, Man City and Brighton and Hove Albion have scored more.
Goals from Bertrand Traore (£4.9m) – who came on for the injured Leon Bailey (£4.4m) – and Ollie Watkins (£7.6m) secured a fourth consecutive Premier League win, with the latter now up to 11 attacking returns in 11 matches, a run that has seen him average a whopping 7.2 points per start. For context, Rashford is on 7.3 in that time, with Haaland’s figure standing at 7.0.
Having gone two league games without scoring at Villa Park, Watkins was delighted to find the net again on home turf.
“Obviously, I want to score more goals at home, in front of the home fans, in front of my family. People coming to support me, it’s much better scoring at home. But obviously my away form, and our away form, has been really good. But I want to score in every game possible. It took me a while here but I got there in the end.” – Ollie Watkins
MORENO’S INFLUENCE
Alex Moreno (£4.4m) has now made six Premier League starts in a row for Aston Villa. The attack-minded full-back was initially rotated with Lucas Digne (£4.6m) upon signing from Real Betis in January, but has now started to establish himself as first choice.
We’re seeing his influence grow, which is backed up by his impressive underlying numbers.
In his last six matches, Villa have kept four clean sheets, with his 10 created chances and six successful crosses in that time top 10 totals among all FPL defenders. His 22 penalty box touches, meanwhile, is a league-leading figure in his position.
Above: Alex Moreno’s touch heatmap – last six matches
As for Villa, a shutout was always on the cards given that Nott’m Forest have only scored five goals away from home all season, yet they defended well, with the visitors rarely testing Emiliano Martinez (£5.0m).
“At home we are taking clean sheets, three times in the last three matches, and we’ve scored six goals, and we are winning. We played well, I think we can do better. But I think we were passionate in our play.” – Unai Emery
