FPL notes: Haaland, Sanchez, James injured + Chelsea rotation

The round-up of key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) notes from Sunday’s Gameweek 16 matches begins with Everton v Chelsea and Luton Town v Manchester City

The numbers and graphics you see in this article are taken from our Premium Members Area. Here, you can access Opta player and team data from every single Premier League fixture.

• READ MORE: FPL notes – Fernandes, Luiz + others handed Gameweek 17 bans
• READ MORE: FPL notes – Budget goalkeepers + Palace injury-hit for City
• READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 16: Saturday’s goals, assists, bonus points + stats

HAALAND HURT – UPDATE

Saturday night rumours hinted that the much-captained Erling Haaland (£14.0m) would miss Man City’s trip to Luton. To the horror of those without Mohamed Salah (£13.1m) or Son Heung-min (£9.5m) as their vice, such murmurs were true.

Speaking post-match, Pep Guardiola is uncertain whether the Norwegian phenomenon will make Gameweek 17’s hosting of Crystal Palace.

“It’s not a fracture, just a stress on the bone, hopefully can be ready against Crystal Palace, if not then Saudi Arabia. The day after Villa he could almost not walk properly, yesterday I spoke to him saying, “I feel much better, I can walk, I have no pain,” that’s why the doctor said we have to see week by week or day by day how he is.

“We will see. Maybe Crystal Palace [he] is ready, I don’t know… I don’t think so but maybe. We will see.” – Pep Guardiola

Of course, Gameweek 18 is a blank for Man City, as they head off to the Club World Cup. So it brings a real dilemma to Haaland’s 8.8 million owners: use a transfer to cover his absence with stronger squad depth, or directly replace him with someone like Dominic Solanke (£6.6m), Ollie Watkins (£8.4m) or Darwin Nunez (£7.6m).

During a fast-paced period of relentless December matches, we’ve already had the chaos of surprise rotations and a Bryan Mbeumo (£7.0m) injury. Free transfers are precious right now – especially with Blank Gameweek 18 to navigate – so this latest twist will be extremely unwelcome to many.

Guardiola provided an update on Jeremy Doku’s (£6.7m) muscular injury too. The Belgian should be back “maybe in one week, two weeks.”

ASSIST FOR ALVAREZ

The Haaland news gave Julian Alvarez (£6.9m) the opportunity to play up front rather than further back but owners may feel disappointed with five points. Winless in four, the champions entered half-time 1-0 down after Luton’s Elijah Adebayo (£4.8m) converted Andros Townsend‘s (£5.0m) cross.

Above: Julian Alvarez’s expected assists (xA), goals (xG) and goal involvement (xGI) totals of 2023/24

Alvarez had three attempts on goal and his biggest expected goals (xG) tally since Gameweek 6 (0.47). But he also collected just three penalty area touches – five team-mates bettered this. However, Man City dug deep to overturn the deficit, thanks to the Argentine setting up Jack Grealish’s (£7.2m) winner.

Over half a million owners have been lost since Alvarez last scored – he’s goalless in seven matches. Yet the remaining 2.98 million have one more weekend to be hopeful heading into the blank.

CHELSEA DEFENSIVE WOES

Meanwhile, the other main team news from the 14:00 kick-offs involved Chelsea’s defensive switches. Those tempted to invest in their backline ahead of fixtures against Sheffield United (h), Wolverhampton Wanderers (a), Crystal Palace (h), Luton (a) and Fulham (h) may be forced to think again, as supposedly safer options like Thiago Silva (£5.0m) and Levi Colwill (£4.6m) were named on the bench.

What might save the latter’s prospects is the early hamstring problem picked up by Reece James (£5.4m) – unfortunately, it’s one more occasion where the right-back has fallen victim to an injury.

“He felt something in his hamstring. It’s not nice for him… [He’s] an important player for us, one of the best footballers in the world. We’re really disappointed. This has to change because [Malo] Gusto is also still recovering.” – Mauricio Pochettino on Reece James

It meant Colwill had enough pitch time to pick up clean sheet points until Everton’s Abdoulaye Doucoure (£5.5m) and Lewis Dobbin (£4.5m) ensured it became three successive away defeats for Mauricio Pochettino’s side. The second goal was scored past goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic (£4.5m), who had to replace Robert Sanchez (£4.7m) and his knee issue. Furthermore, Marc Cucurella (£4.8m) twisted an ankle.

“Robert Sanchez suffered a problem at Manchester United, it was an issue with his knee. He felt something during the second half, that is why he asked for the change. We must hope it is not a big issue.

“That is the same for Marc Cucurella, who twisted his ankle. We hope that these issues are not big. These are the circumstances we have been dealing with since the start and it is too much for a young team that needs to have all the elements together if we want to build something solid.” – Mauricio Pochettino

EVERTON DENY PALMER

Other surprises in the Chelsea line-up brought rests for Raheem Sterling (£7.1m) and Nicolas Jackson (£6.9m), with Armando Broja (£4.9m) starting up front. Almost 198,000 bought Sterling throughout the week, only to see his minutes immediately managed.

Popular bargain midfielder Cole Palmer (£5.4m) was the Blues’ biggest goal threat, with five attempts and two on target. It means he’s still got the league’s fifth-highest expected goal involvement (xGI, 6.75) since making his first start in Gameweek 7.

Above: Expected data between Gameweeks 7 and 16

But Palmer’s blank was compounded by picking up a yellow card for diving. His fourth booking of the season, it’s one away from a suspension and another developing concern for those with a template team.

A word should also go to Everton, who’ve now kept three clean sheets in a row. It means they possess two of FPL’s top-scoring defenders – Vitalii Mykolenko (£4.5m) and James Tarkowski (£4.4m) – plus the brilliantly cheap Jarrad Branthwaite (£4.1m).

Meetings with Man City, Spurs and Aston Villa won’t tempt FPL managers into buying. Although there were the same doubts before these successful Newcastle United and Chelsea shut-outs. Plus, they’re against Burnley next week.

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