We look at the key Fantasy talking points from the FA Cup ties involving five Premier League clubs on Friday night: Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Manchester City, Chelsea 0-0 Aston Villa and Bristol City 0-0 Nottingham Forest.
DE BRUYNE A SUB AGAIN
Pep Guardiola once again insisted that Kevin De Bruyne (£10.6m) was “ready” to start despite restricting the Belgian to another substitute appearance on Friday.
The midfielder was introduced midway through the second half in north London, building on his Gameweek 21 cameo with more minutes.
De Bruyne, operating in ‘the hole’, wasted a glorious opportunity to break the deadlock before supplying the corner that Nathan Ake (£5.0m) eventually prodded in with minutes to go.
The big question for Fantasy managers, then, is whether De Bruyne will start the plum-looking home fixture against Burnley in Gameweek 22.
“He is ready. Ready to play.
“Sooner or later he is going to play from the beginning, but it’s not just about that. For many reasons, we want to protect him. Kevin, always you had the sense, you knew he was going to create.
“These type of games at the end, it was a little bit more open and we had that feeling. It is important he feels good after his hamstring problem. How pleased we were today again, he made an exceptional corner in the right spot. We knew it, so yeah it’s really good.” – Pep Guardiola on Kevin De Bruyne
ALVAREZ CONCERN?
If De Bruyne does get a first start of 2024 in Gameweek 22, who makes way?
It was Julian Alvarez (£7.0m) who was subbed off for the Belgium international on Friday night, with Phil Foden (£8.0m) taking up a central striker role.
While a start for Erling Haaland (£13.9m) might be a tall order against Burnley next Wednesday, the notion that Alvarez is a secure starter without the Norwegian in the starting XI has to be challenged now De Bruyne is back.
As was the case in Gameweek 21, both Foden and Alvarez blanked but went close to attacking returns. The Argentina international took too long when presented with a clean opening on 47 minutes, while it was Foden who teed up De Bruyne for his missed gilt-edged chance.
This was another match in which City’s full-backs, Kyle Walker (£5.4m) and Josko Gvardiol (£4.8m), were given license to bomb up and down the flanks like, er, full-backs. Is ‘inversion’ dead or is this merely a result of John Stones‘ (£5.3m) recent absence?
MADDISON RETURNS
Spurs had their own fit again playmaker among the substitutes against City.
James Maddison (£7.8m) made his comeback as a 73rd-minute substitute although unlike De Bruyne barely touched the ball.
His manager said after full-time that Maddison should now be in a position to start from Gameweek 22 onwards.
“Not really. I think knowing the nature of the game today, he’s trained well this week and a half but he’s missed a lot of football. We were hoping to get him some minutes tonight which he did and he should be right to go from now on, but there are another two games next week and we need him and others to pitch in.
“So yeah, it wasn’t really much of a dilemma about whether to start him or not. I just felt that just coming off the bench was going to be better for us as a team more than anything else.” – Ange Postecoglou on whether he was tempted to start James Maddison
The Lilywhites, not like their usual selves, didn’t lay a glove on City all night.
Just one shot arrived from the hosts, who drew a blank in front of goal for the very first time since Ange Postecoglou took over.
An easier test awaits against Brentford in Gameweek 22, at least.
One positive was the performance of the besieged defence, which is now back to full strength after months of being patched up. Micky van de Ven (£4.4m) was impressive in particular, and clean sheets look likelier to arrive now that he and Cristian Romero (£4.9m) are fit once more.
GOALKEEPERS IMPRESS
It was a night for goalkeepers in general.
Guglielmo Vicario (£5.3m) was solid, at least until slightly flapping (or being fouled?) at the corner that Ake stabbed in.
Even the underfire Matt Turner (£3.9m) kept a clean sheet, although that owed more to wayward Bristol City finishing than his own heroics: he didn’t have a single save to make as Nottingham Forest held their hosts to a goalless draw.
The stars of the show were Emi Martinez (£5.2m) and Djorde Petrovic (£4.5m), who repelled everything that was thrown at them at Stamford Bridge. The quietly impressive Chelsea goalkeeper made the pick of the combined nine saves, tipping a low Matty Cash (£4.7m) effort wide.
The recalled Villa right-back had two shots and created a further two chances on what has now become a rare start.
The stalemate in west London owed as much to profligacy as it did goalkeeper reflexes.
Cole Palmer (£5.8m) was one of the main guilty parties: again used a false nine, he spurned four chances, most of them excellent ones.
COLWILL NOT SERIOUSLY INJURED
Levi Colwill (£4.7m) pulled out of the Chelsea XI with an injury picked up in the warm-up but Mauricio Pochettino said after full-time that he didn’t think his defender was badly hurt.
“We don’t believe that it is so bad. It is a small issue that maybe he didn’t feel comfortable.
“We knew before maybe we wouldn’t start with him, but he was ready to play and then he felt something. But it is not a big issue and I hope that he can be in training tomorrow.” – Mauricio Pochettino on Levi Colwill’s injury
Ben Chilwell (£5.4m) didn’t start this one, as his manager hinted he wouldn’t in his pre-match press conference.
Not long back from injury, the former Leicester man got the final half an hour of the match to help aid his journey back to full match fitness.
On the injury front in Bristol, there was a big boost for Nottingham Forest as Morgan Gibbs-White (£5.7m) made a playing return as a half-time substitute.
REPLAYS HINDER BLANK GAMEWEEK 29 PREPARATIONS
Of the three FA Cup ties involving Premier League clubs on Friday, two went to a replay.
That slightly hinders our ability to forecast who may blank in Gameweek 29 (when the FA Cup clashes with the scheduled Premier League games), as those fourth-round replays won’t take place until before Gameweek 24.
Man City’s progress does mean that we are assured of at least one more Gameweek 29 fixture going ahead: Fulham v Spurs or Crystal Palace v Newcastle will be confirmed as ‘on’ depending on who prevails when the Cottagers meet the Magpies.
