We cover the matches at Brighton and Hove Albion, Chelsea and Liverpool in our latest Scout Notes article.
POCH: “WE WERE FANTASTIC IN EVERY ASPECT”
Cole Palmer (£6.2m) scored his 21st Premier League goal of the season on Sunday, as Chelsea ran riot at Stamford Bridge.
The playmaker is now four behind Erling Haaland (£14.2m) in the race for the Golden Boot, although owners who backed him with the armband will be disappointed he couldn’t add to his early strike.
Instead, Noni Madueke (£5.3m) scored and assisted, while Nicolas Jackson (£6.9m) added a second-half brace to complete a 16-point return.
The pair could have had more, however, combining for 14 shots and 2.41 expected goals (xG).
Chelsea once again utilised a 4-2-3-1 formation, but when in possession, Marc Cucurella (£4.8m) would invert into central midfield, allowing Conor Gallagher (£5.2m) to push further forward.
The tactic is clearly working and Chelsea are an attractive team to watch these days, with 28 goals scored in 10 league games since the start of March.
The Blues were also boosted by the return of several first-team players to the bench – Levi Colwill (£4.6m), Malo Gusto (£4.3m), Axel Disasi (£4.9m), Raheem Sterling (£6.8m) and Christopher Nkunku (£7.2m) – beefing up their squad in time for Double Gameweek 37.
“I am so pleased, so happy. It continues the same feelings from Thursday and keeps up the momentum. The performance was fantastic in every aspect and the players deserve big credit to play again after a few days at this level. Massive credit to them.
“Noni’s [Madueke] assist to Jackson shows that we have learned and we are smart. The penalty situation against Everton, we received lots of criticism, but a young team always needs to make mistakes and feel the situations to improve. If we are able to improve, it is because we are smart and intelligent people. Today was great. It was a great action from Noni to show how the group are starting to believe and feel between them.
“It is always a process that takes time. You never know if it is going to take one month, six months or a year. The most important thing is they are starting to set the principles to feel and live like a group of players to create those links to compete. I am so pleased about that because we are a part of the process to help them grow and mature and to improve in every aspect.
“It is the first step, a massive step, but it is a step that we wanted to reach. From there, it is to involve the other aspects, like tactical evolutions and different things. We can improve from there but without the principles or without the things we have started to show, being competitive in this way, it is impossible to evolve in another aspect.” – Mauricio Pochettino
As for West Ham United, after shipping five at Stamford Bridge they have now conceded 70 goals across the season, with only Burnley (74), Luton Town (78) and Sheffield United (100) boasting a worse defensive record.
Sunday’s display was littered with poor performances and Jarrod Bowen (£7.6m) aside, who hit the bar three times, they seem on the beach.
“People want us to play with our best players, which we’re trying to do, but it’s exposing other areas of the pitch. Maybe we haven’t quite got the right organisation, and the players don’t work quite right in such a strict structure. Over the last three years I think there’s been a really strict structure here, but it’s got us good results and it’s got us European football. Today, our structure was so poor, players were out of position, and they didn’t do their jobs well enough.” – David Moyes
ANGE ON RICHARLISON/EMERSON TARGETED
It took the arrival of Richarlison (£6.8m) and James Maddison (£7.8m) from the bench on the hour mark for Tottenham Hotspur to make any kind of impact on Sunday.
Prior to that, they were a shambles, with Liverpool repeatedly looking to overload and target Emerson Royal’s (£4.3m) side of the pitch.
In the end, it got so bad for the Brazilian that Oliver Skipp (£4.5m) was called upon to play in an unfamiliar left-back role.
“We’re playing him out of position and it’s kind of the way our season has gone. Whenever we’ve had injuries, invariably we’ve had them in the same part of the pitch. Both our left-backs are out and it’s kind of forced him out there. It’s not great for him and he’s up against a pretty good player in Mo [Salah]. Again, that’s something we have to deal with.” – Ange Postecoglou on Emerson Royal
On this evidence, Manchester City will have a field day against Spurs in Double Gameweek 37, although the team did look much better balanced with Richarlison up front and Son Heung-min (£9.9m) on the left.
Indeed, Richarlison scored and assisted, while Son’s late strike earned him seven points.
“We always tend to finish strong and I think the subs benefit from the hard work of the other guys. I thought Richy [Richarlison] was really good with his presence and then the other guys coming on I thought added something for us. We got a couple of goals and could have had a couple more.
“Richy started on Thursday night but he has been out for a fair while so we were never going to play him in back-to-back games. It was always about trying to get him on the pitch for the last half hour today irrespective of how the game was going.
“Look, at 4-0 do you think you can win? No, but I still felt we could get something out of the game as I knew we’d finish strong because of the work we’d done. It’s fair to say before he came on we never looked threatening at all whenever we got into those areas. Him coming on, I thought Sonny improved on the left and Brennan on the right just gave us a bit more of a presence.” – Ange Postecoglou
SALAH RETURNS
Mohamed Salah (£13.4m) returned to Liverpool’s starting XI on Sunday, offering FPL managers a timely reminder of his qualities.
The Egyptian was on it from the start, hitting the top of the bar before finishing well for the opener.
He later added two assists, had a goal ruled out at the death and also put an effort wide from almost point-blank range.
Those missed opportunities cost him bonus, but irrespective of that, Salah will be hard to resist in Gameweek 38, Jurgen Klopp’s final game in charge.
“Mo [Salah] was outstanding, he played a really good game. His side with Harvey [Elliott] was good. I was pleased for him. None of the boys want to play not great, why would they? Mo showed what he is capable of.” – Jurgen Klopp on Mohamed Salah
Captain Virgil van Dijk (£6.6m), who was an injury doubt, also started, but this was a match largely dominated by attacking players, with the exception of Andrew Robertson (£6.5m) of course, who has now scored in successive Gameweeks.
Cody Gakpo (£7.6m) was particularly impressive, providing the assist for the opener and heading in the third.
The only disappointing thing for Liverpool is the manner in which they conceded the goals, offering hope to Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) owners in Gameweek 37, although there are concerns.
BELOW-PAR VILLA/INFLUENTIAL ADINGRA
A tired-looking Aston Villa fell to a 1-0 defeat at Brighton on Sunday.
Unai Emery’s side played the first leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League semi-final on Thursday and were visibly jaded here, attempting just two shots and an xG of 0.06.
Stand-in ‘keeper Robin Olsen (£3.9m) stopped it from being worse with a string of fine saves (seven in total), but Albion were dominant from start to finish.
In a further blow, Morgan Rogers (£5.0m) hobbled off in the first half.
“This week has been more difficult, a tough week. Now it’s important to rest and recover some players, to recover some energy and go to Athens and then Villa Park trying to enjoy the moment we have in front [of us]. We competed well but it wasn’t enough today to get some points. Even when we were in minute 75, I was thinking maybe this draw is fantastic for us because today we are not at full energy” – Unai Emery
As for Brighton, Joao Pedro (£5.2m) headed home the winner after his late penalty was saved by Olsen.
The Brazilian is able to shift positions in Brighton’s fluid set-up but he mainly played as a no. 10 here and linked very well with Simon Adingra (£5.0m), who was a constant threat on the left flank.
The youngster gave Villa right-back Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) a torrid time, winning the penalty and racking up four shots. He also created five chances for his team-mates.
Pascal Gross (£6.1m) had an earlier effort ruled out for offside by VAR, meanwhile.
By the way, Aston Villa require three points from two games to secure UEFA Champions League football in 2024/25, with Liverpool up next.
