Our reaction to the Gameweek 17 matches continues with this Scout Notes piece on two of Saturday’s clashes: Newcastle United v Fulham and Manchester City v Crystal Palace.
BOTMAN RETURNS, SCHAR INJURED – WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR LASCELLES?
Sven Botman (£4.5m) made the Newcastle squad for the first time in almost three months on Saturday, having completed his recovery from a knee injury.
The Dutch centre-half was named among the substitutes and eventually came off the bench in the closing stages of the Magpies’ 3-0 win over Fulham.
It was telling that he wasn’t the one sent on when Fabian Schar (£5.3m) limped off after 13 minutes, with Eddie Howe not wanting to risk fielding the returning Botman at such an early stage of the game. Emil Krafth (£4.4m) was introduced instead, taking up a full-back berth as Dan Burn (£4.4m) moved to centre-back.
Howe said afterwards that it was “early days” for Botman despite his availability.
“It’s early days for him but he’s such a big player for us. You can see when he came on the impact he had, a couple of passes that you just think, ‘He’s a high-level player’. His injury was a delicate one, we’re delighted he’s back and fingers crossed he can stay back.” – Eddie Howe on Sven Botman
Schar’s injury was a blow, the ever-present Swiss stopper then followed by Joelinton (£5.8m) in hobbling out of the action.
“I think Fabian’s is a glute problem, I don’t think it’s a hamstring. Joey’s possibly might be a hamstring.
“We don’t think they’re serious, but certainly to come off the pitch, they’re short-term problems for us that we can’t navigate easily at the moment.
“We were thinking that possibly we were through the worst of our injury situation. Now it’s reared its head again in a negative way, so let’s just see where we are tomorrow.” – Eddie Howe
We will hopefully find out just how short-term Schar’s issue is when Howe faces the media before and after Newcastle’s EFL Cup tie against Chelsea on Tuesday.
Botman being gently reintroduced, plus a fresh problem for Schar, could mean a stay of execution for Jamaal Lascelles (£4.2m). He might just be able to see owners through the favourable fixtures in the next two Gameweeks but anything beyond the winter break will be a worry, as Botman and (presuming he’s not badly injured) Schar should be fully fit and firing by the end of January.
LIVRAMENTO AT RISK
Tino Livramento (£4.3m) produced a fine display at both right-back and left-back on Saturday, walking away with maximum bonus to go with his clean sheet.
He’s been excellent in the last month or so but the worry over game-time begins now, with Burn back from injury and Kieran Trippier (£6.9m) returning from suspension in Gameweek 18.
Howe called Trippier “such an important player for us” in his post-match presser, having similarly extolled Burn’s virtues in his pre-match press conference.
A best-case scenario for Blank Gameweek 18 is if Burn is needed at centre-half alongside Lascelles, allowing both Trippier and Livramento to line up at full-back.
But the medium-term minutes risk is high, just as it is with Lascelles.
GORDON’S ALIVE
Anthony Gordon (£6.2m) shrugged off concerns over his hamstring to start for the Magpies, avoiding a blank at St James’ Park for the ninth league match in a row.
The winger was excellent again, rattling the woodwork with one effort, firing in another three shots and teeing up four chances for his team-mates – one of which trundled into the path of Miguel Almiron (£6.2m) for the winger to tap in.
Gordon is now up to fourth in the midfielders’ FPL points table.
Alexander Isak (£7.6m) wasn’t involved, with Howe choosing this match to rest him.
“He is not doing too bad. He’s been playing recently but still isn’t 100 per cent with a groin problem. We just felt today was probably the right time to rest him.
“He’s put himself on the pitch for us because Callum’s not been fit, and he’s played a lot of minutes. But he’s not 100 per cent fit, and I want to try to get him 100 per cent if physically possible. But with the further injuries we’ve had, I don’t know if that will be the case.” – Eddie Howe on Alexander Isak
Teenager Lewis Miley (£4.5m) came off the bench to score his first Newcastle goal, opening the floodgates before Almiron and Burn added gloss to the scoreline.
Should Joelinton be ruled out for a fortnight or more, then Miley has got a great chance of starting the three remaining games over Christmas.
RAUL SEES RED
This wasn’t a game to get too carried away about Newcastle’s strengths, nor was it a match to judge Fulham.
Raul Jimenez‘s (£5.3m) senseless 22nd-minute red card saw to that, with the visitors facing an uphill struggle thereafter.
The ten men of Fulham showed glimpses of the attacking form that saw them plunder 16 goals in their last four matches, posing more of a threat on the break than their paltry expected goals (xG) total of 0.29 suggests. Alex Iwobi (£5.3m) wasted the best of the Cottagers’ efforts when clean through on goal.
Jimenez’s absence for the next two league matches does raise the prospect of an even cheaper forward lining up in Gameweeks 18 and 19 for the free-scoring west Londoners. Rodrigo Muniz (£4.4m) and Carlos Vinicius (£4.7m) are the options, with Marco Silva’s team selection in Tuesday’s cup tie against Everton our best chance of a heads-up.
NO UPDATE ON HAALAND – BUT DE BRUYNE NOT CLOSE
We failed to get an update on Erling Haaland (£13.9m) after Manchester City’s two-all draw with Crystal Palace on Saturday.
City blank in Gameweek 18 anyway, and we’ll learn a lot more about Haaland’s fitness while the reigning league champions are away in Saudi Arabia this week.
City are in FIFA World Cup Club action on Tuesday and Friday, so we should be hearing plenty of Pep Guardiola in pre- and post-match press conferences.
Julian Alvarez (£6.9m) again proved to be a limited deputy in Haaland’s stead, seeing one early excellent headed opportunity well saved before disappearing from view and failing to have another shot.
Even in the striker role, he still often looks more likely to assist than score.
Guardiola gave an emphatic ‘no’ on Saturday when asked if Kevin De Bruyne (£10.2m) was close to a return.
DOUBLE GAMEWEEK HINT?
There was an interesting line or two to note from the embargoed section of Guardiola’s pre-Gameweek 17 press conference, which was released from the embargo after Friday’s deadline.
The City boss was asked about his plans for a quiet-looking January, and raised the possibility of a Double Gameweek 21 for his side – although there is still a deafening silence from the Premier League regarding a new date for this weekend’s postponed Brentford match.
“Maybe we go to Abu Dhabi [in January] to make a camp there all together, like happened in the past when we had time. But I don’t know… maybe we play that game against Brentford, maybe. But the Premier League didn’t announce, the broadcaster didn’t announce, so I don’t know right now.” – Pep Guardiola when asked if City would go abroad to do some warm-weather
FULL-BACKS HIGH
Having kickstarted the trend of inverted full-back/centre-halves, Guardiola has been operating with higher and wider full-backs more of late.
Josko Gvardiol (£4.9m) was extremely advanced from left-back against Palace, getting forward to rack up three shots in the box (more than anyone else on show) and create a further chance for a team-mate.
His marauding down the left flank has allowed Jack Grealish (£7.2m) to drift infield, from where he’s looked more like his old self – and from where he’s scored in back-to-back matches.
Above: Josko Gvardiol’s touch heatmap in Gameweek 17
It may be a horses-for-courses tactic, with Jeremy Doku (£6.6m) out and John Stones (£5.3m) being carefully managed, but it’s something to keep an eye on going forward.
City’s incredible knack of spoiling their clean sheets when utterly bossing continued on Saturday, with Palace failing to have a single shot in the box until Jean-Philippe Mateta‘s (£4.9m) 75th-minute tap-in. Michael Olise (£5.8m) then rescued a point from the spot.
That’s now just four clean sheets in 17 league matches this season, a tally matched by Bournemouth and bettered by eight others; this is despite City again being top two material for expected goals conceded (xGC).
EZE RETURNS
The cut-price Mateta, another sub-£5.0m forward to be getting run-outs of late, now has six attacking returns in just 533 minutes this season.
We await to hear how long positional rival Odsonne Edouard (£5.5m) is out for, to properly assess Mateta’s ongoing game-time prospects, but Roy Hodgson has been impressed with what he’s seen.
“The goals were good goals as far as we’re concerned. [Jean-Philippe] Mateta, who has been waiting for his chance, has grabbed it with both hands. He deserves an awful lot of credit for the way he played today.” – Roy Hodgson
And the striker now has not just Olise but also Eberechi Eze (£6.0m) providing the ammunition for him after the latter’s return to fitness as a very late substitute at the Etihad.
Dean Henderson, cheap in FPL at £4.4m, also made his Palace league bow between the sticks after being hurried back to cover for the injured Sam Johnstone (£4.6m).
Clean sheets might be in short supply in the coming months, however:
