European Scout Notes – Wednesday

Harry Kane blows hot at Wembley, Manchester City hit four at Feyenoord, and the goals continue to follow Liverpool, but they have to settle for a draw with Sevilla.

Here are the notes from a stirring night of Champions League action.

Spurs look right at home

A Harry Kane double and an opening goal from Son Heung-min earned Spurs a thrilling 3-1 win over Borussia Dortmund that should, finally, curtail the tiresome talk of a ‘Wembley hoodoo’.

It should also spark a huge wave of interest in Kane ahead of the visit of Swansea City for Saturday’s late kick-off.

So far, the majority of the Fantasy Premier League money has been spent on team-mates Ben Davies and Christian Eriksen, making them Gameweek 5’s top two transfers-in.

But Kane’s form is surely now irresistible.

He’s now scored twice as many goals (four) in five days than Swansea have managed all season – great news for those backing Spurs’ assets at both ends of the pitch.

As a result, the transfer take-up of Kane seems to be gathering momentum, with more than 106,000 managers finding the 12.4 required to secure his services.

For now, rotation is not an issue for such a key player at Spurs, but Mauricio Pochettino could break a few hearts elsewhere.

The form of Son, who has started just one league match this season, caught the eye last night.

For those wishing to read into a manager’s substitutions, both Kane and Son were taken off by Pochettino. That could suggest that the latter will figure in Saturday’s clash.

With Dele Alli surely assured of a start against Swansea as he serves a three-match European ban, the Spurs boss may conceivably manage the minutes of the 25.4%-owned Eriksen. Certainly, while we don’t think his start is under threat, a withdrawal around the 70-minute mark – like he did in the Gameweek 4 clash with Everton – could be on the cards.

The full debut of Serge Aurier, playing at right wing-back, also puts pressure on Kieran Trippier, who has started the last three league matches. He will be expected to retain his start for the Swans’ visit but will clearly be under threat from then on.

Pochettino was certainly pleased with Aurier’s showing.

“He was fantastic. I’m very happy with his performance, he showed real quality.”

But the 8.1% of managers who own Jan Vertonghen should have few worries about their man’s forthcoming domestic involvement – the Belgian was sent off for two yellow card offences last night, meaning he’ll miss Spurs’ September 26 trip to Apoel Nicosia.

That match is bookended by Premier League fixtures at West Ham and Huddersfield Town.

A changing of the Guardiola?

Man City saw off Feyenoord 4-0 with almost embarrassing ease – and with 10 of the team that started against Liverpool on Saturday.

John Stones joined the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi at the top of the Champions League scoring charts with two of the goals in Holland, and while that will be a temporary issue, some of Pep Guardiola’s players are currently permanent fixtures in the side.

Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva, who provided two assists last night, Rotterdam goalscorer Gabriel Jesus, Fernandinho and Nicolas Otamendi have started every match thus far this season.

Kyle Walker provided the assist for Sergio Aguero’s excellent second goal in Holland and has started all but the one match he was banned for following his dismissal against Everton, while the Argentinian striker has still managed 286 minutes despite dropping to the bench at Bournemouth.

The perceived wisdom is that Man City assets can’t be trusted to produce for their premium prices because of Pep’s lust for tinkering.

As a result, only four of them are currently owned by 10% or more of FPL managers, whereas Man United, Spurs and Chelsea all have six players in that category.

But there seems to be a core group of players for whom pitch-time is perhaps less of an issue than we might have bargained for.

Rotation, for the top sides, is a matter of course – particularly when the triple whammy of domestic duties, a busy European programme and international call-ups is in play during the early months of the season.

Based on the evidence so far, Man City players are no more, or less, susceptible to this as stars from any other major team.

And Guardiola’s men are increasingly in the richest of form. Unbeaten in five straight matches in all competitions, they’ve dropped points in only one fixture (when reduced to ten men), kept three clean sheets and scored nine goals, without reply, in the last five days alone.

Their next six fixtures include a Gameweek 7 trip to Chelsea. Other than that, it’s wat CRY STO BUR wba – the sort of run likely to increase momentum, not stall it.

Guardiola has already shown a capacity for compromise this campaign, starting both Jesus and Aguero in four of the five matches to date.

The pair have responded with 23 and 21 points respectively, and both were on the scoresheet again in Holland last night.

Not entirely merry across the Mersey

There seem to be two things we can rely on when watching Liverpool so far – Jurgen Klopp will go ballistic on the sidelines every now and then and there will be goals.

Aside from the 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, every other match has produced at least four, with the Reds’ 2-2 draw against Sevilla last night another case in point.

Whether the three-match domestic ban for Sadio Mane changes all that remains to be seen.

He played the majority of the match against the Spaniards and the two obvious contenders for his Premier League place, Philippe Coutinho and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, were given little time to make their respective cases as a result.

Coutinho’s 15-minute cameo merely served to show how rusty spending the summer attempting to move to Barcelona can make you, while Oxlade-Chamberlain’s 89th minute introduction was good for the appearance bonus alone.

Goalscorers Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah again impressed, although the former blotted his copybook by missing a penalty that could put his spot-kick duties in jeopardy.

With skipper Jordan Henderson potentially in the mix to assume that role, it remains to be seen if Firmino surrenders responsibility following Wednesday’s failure. As the second most owned forward in FPL, it would come as a major blow to his Fantasy stock should that be the case.

In defence, Liverpool were the wrong side of generous once again.

Statistically strong but dreadfully prone to individual error, Dejan Lovren made a horrible mess of a regulation clearance to gift Sevilla the lead. Meanwhile, Joe Gomez’s late dismissal for a second yellow card could have a major impact on the Fantasy charms of Trent Alexander-Arnold.

The two young right-backs have alternated starts in the league thus far, with Alexander-Arnold rested last night presumably in preparation for Saturday’s visit by Burnley.

His 4.5 price tag, 2.2% ownership and share of set-piece duties all make the defender an attractive, if risky, proposition for the Reds’ relatively kindly short-term schedule of BUR, lei, new.

But with Gomez now suspended for Liverpool’s second Champions League group match – a long and arduous trip to Spartak Moscow on September 26 – the chances of Alexander-Arnold starting the domestic matches either side of that European encounter now look decidedly slim.

Alberto Moreno, on the opposite flank, had a superb match going forward against Sevilla, capping it with an assist for Firmino’s leveler.

He, too, costs 4.5 and is minimally owned. But having started four of the Reds’ last five matches, he will also struggle to feature in all three of the Leicester/Spartak Moscow/Newcastle matches that precede October’s second international break.

Andrew Robertson could be another to get the nod against Burnley in Gameweek 5.