Why Raphinha was subbed, Pep’s rotation reasons and ‘gung-ho’ Watford: FPL notes

We round up the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from Saturday’s Gameweek 25 fixtures.

The graphics below are taken from LiveFPL, Ragabolly’s excellent and ever-expanding website, and our own Premium Members Area.

GOALS, ASSISTS AND BONUS

INJURIES AND BANS

Jack Grealish (£7.5m) missed out on Manchester City’s win over Norwich City, with the club website only confirming that he was “unavailable”.

Initial journalist reports suggested Grealish might be out for a month but Guardiola said pre-match that his midfielder could even be back in midweek – although did stress that further assessment would be required on what the City boss said was a recurrence of an issue the player struggled with at Villa in 2020/21.

“He’s injured. A little bit what he had last season at Villa, less of course. Training after Brentford he wasn’t good, we make a test, he wasn’t ready today. Hopefully ready for Tuesday.” – Pep Guardiola on Jack Grealish

Marcelo Bielsa said he wasn’t sure about the severity of the injury that forced Stuart Dallas (£4.9m) out of Leeds’ defeat to Everton, meanwhile.

Edinson Cavani (£8.4m) wasn’t part of the Manchester United squad to face Southampton because of a groin injury, which may bode well for Cristiano Ronaldo’s (£12.5m) chances of starting on Tuesday, too.

“I decided to start with Cristiano today in the home game. Edi, unfortunately, had to pull out after training last night. It was some groin problems. He had treatment the whole night and the whole morning but, in the end, he just said he’s not available.” – Ralf Rangnick

You may have seen a red flag appear on Conor Gallagher (£6.2m) but that is not injury or ban-related: the Chelsea loanee is ineligible to face his parent club in the first half of Palace’s Double Gameweek 26.

FPL TALKING POINTS

RAPHINHA NOT INJURED… JUST POOR

One player not included in the above injury round-up is Raphinha (£6.5m), whose half-time substitution led to concerns about the Brazilian’s fitness.

The good news is that he’s uninjured but for the second game running, the talismanic winger was well short of his usual best and for him to be deemed expendable at the interval showed just how poor he has been since returning from international duty with Brazil.

“I decided that [Daniel] James should take over his role on the right and Tyler [Roberts should take over] James’s role in the centre. No, he’s not injured.” – Marcelo Bielsa on Raphinha’s half-time substitution

There’s a Double Gameweek 26 coming up for Leeds so existing owners are probably unlikely to sell but any new Fantasy suitors may have been put off by Raphinha’s last two displays, not to mention the two fixtures – Manchester United and Liverpool – themselves being far from straightforward.

More eye-catching since the resumption in play has been Rodrigo (£6.2m), who almost followed up two assists in midweek with a goal at Goodison Park, twice hitting the woodwork. He has created six chances and had four shots in the last two Gameweeks.

THE UNITED EXODUS BEGINS

“Smithers, I’m beginning to think that Ralf Rangnick was not the brilliant tactician I thought he was.”

While the results of Manchester United’s Double Gameweek 25 fixtures probably wouldn’t have stopped sales anyway, the FPL exodus will only intensify as a result of the Red Devils’ 1-1 draw with Southampton on Saturday.

A lively game that saw United impress only in fits and starts, the end result was another set of underwhelming returns for their most-popular players: Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.5m) failed to tap into an empty net as he again flattered to deceive, with he and Bruno Fernandes (£11.7m) now blanking in seven of their nine appearances under Rangnick. That double-digit Gameweek 22 haul for the Portuguese schemer is now beginning to look like an anomaly.

A typically wobbly Harry Maguire (£5.4m) and the United defence conceded yet again, meanwhile, to leave them with just one shut-out in eight games.

Like a cuckolded partner trying to convince themselves that their unreliable, serial cheat lover is deserving of another chance, the Gameweek 26 clash with a leaky Leeds does look attractive on paper – but we also thought that about fixtures against Norwich, Burnley, Newcastle, Wolves and now Southampton, with little return on our outlay.

As for Saints, they’re a team on the up. A total of 16 goals have been scored in their last eight games (and it was a far from straightforward schedule) and their upcoming fixtures are excellent; if we were to get a Double Gameweek against Newcastle thrown in there, that would only add to the appeal of Armando Broja (£5.3m) and co.

“We have up front now two strikers who have fantastic quality and can score goals and the rest is working hard for them. We have a good balance, a good goalkeeper, everything is fantastic at the moment.” – Ralph Hasenhuttl

GORDON’S ALIVE

Jacob Ramsey (£4.7m) has garnered a lot of attention for his value-for-money performances of late but also quietly impressing in the budget midfielder pool is Anthony Gordon (£4.5m), who now has five attacking returns in as many starts and is performing at a level that the Liverpool Echo say makes him “undroppable”.

His goal against Leeds was massively lucky – a strike from Richarlison (£7.3m) that clipped his heels and went in – but he’s generally in the thick of things attacking-wise, registering 15 shots and 10 chances created in his last six appearances, and is on a share of set-piece duties. His assist on Saturday, indeed, was a corner that Michael Keane (£4.8m) headed in.

Above: Gordon’s total of five shots on Saturday was the joint-most of Gameweek 25 so far (above images from the Premium Members Area)

Everton have been Jekyll-and-Hyde since Lampard took charge, with two emphatic wins in league and cup sandwiched by a poor defeat to Newcastle.

Here Lampard set his troops up in a 4-4-2, with Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£7.9m) up top and Donny van de Beek (£5.7m)) operating as part of the central midfield two. The on-loan Dutchman almost had an assist when his deflected pass for Calvert-Lewin found its way to goalscorer Seamus Coleman (£4.9m), but zero shots and one key pass suggests he’s not going to be a budget FPL gem from the double-pivot.

STERLING HAT-TRICK AS PEP ROTATES HEAVILY

The expected rotation happened at Carrow Road on Saturday evening as Aymeric Laporte (£5.8m), Joao Cancelo (£7.2m), Kevin De Bruyne (£12.2m), Rodri (£5.5m) and John Stones (£5.2m) were all rested and left unused on the visitors’ bench ahead of Manchester City’s trip to Portugal on Tuesday.

“I have done all my career after playing three days ago and playing three days later, I don’t like to play the same players the same games. The players who pay I have full confidence.” – Pep Guardiola

Looking further ahead to try and anticipate when this mass rotation could happen again, Gameweek 29 might be one to watch as it falls after a Manchester derby and the return leg against Sporting Lisbon. However, the schedulers have been kind in putting the trip to Palace on a Monday night, five days after that second-leg round-of-16 Champions League tie (with thanks to Legomane for the below graphic):

Longer-term, of course, if the title is sewn up well in advance, then we’ll see rotation really ramp up as priorities shift to the cups – as happened last season.

As for the on-field events at Norwich, Raheem Sterling (£10.7m) missed a penalty and got booked but more than compensated with a hat-trick and an 18-point haul.

Sterling has now started 12 of City’s last 14 league matches, with his versatility allowing him to play on either flank or through the middle and giving him more routes into the starting XI.

Norwich have been much improved in 2022 but after a spirited start against the champions-elect, were comfortably swatted aside by City. Phil Foden (£8.0m), again playing through the middle, finally ended a mini-drought with his first attacking return of the calendar year but Bernardo Silva (£7.4m) blanked for the eighth time in nine matches.

WATFORD TOO ‘GUNG HO’…

Watford blanked for the third successive match under Roy Hodgson, which doesn’t bode well for the likes of Emmanuel Dennis (£6.2m) and Joshua King (£5.9m) for the Hornets’ upcoming Double Gameweek.

Surely the former Palace boss, who again started with four central midfielders across the middle of the park on Saturday, will turn to a more attacking shape in a bid to eke some goals out? Maybe not: the veteran head coach thought that he and his side were too “gung ho” in their attempts to peg Brighton back, with Ismaila Sarr (£5.7m) and Joao Pedro (£5.4m) also thrown on.

“We had the [Dennis] shot that smashed off the crossbar, it didn’t produce the save from the goalkeeper, but that was very, very close to going in the goal. And secondly, if anything I would expect you to criticise us for being too gung ho by putting four out and out attackers on the field and playing with only two central midfielders. I would have thought that’s more of a valid criticism than saying we were too conservative.” – Roy Hodgson

Opponents Brighton, playing the first of two Double Gameweek 25 matches, were typically solid, with Robert Sanchez (£4.6m) only having to make one save. Neal Maupay (£6.5m) made it seven attacking returns in eight starts with a goal teed up by Tariq Lamptey (£4.5m) but Leandro Trossard (£6.0m) didn’t get on the field, with perhaps his and Alexis Mac Allister’s (£5.3m) recent battle with Covid-19 in Graham Potter’s thoughts when naming the pair as substitutes.

PALACE’S POOR AWAY FORM CONTINUES

Crystal Palace have still only won one away match this season after drawing a blank at Brentford, a team who had previously kept only one clean sheet since Gameweek 5.

Scoring at less than a goal a game on their travels, the Eagles are fourth-bottom for minutes-per-xG on the road.

One of their Double Gameweek 26 matches is away (at a more defensively dogged Watford), while their home fixture in that round is against new world champions Chelsea.

Another reason to be wary of the Eagles’ attacking assets is the rotation risk up top, with another two changes made in west London on Saturday. Odsonne Edouard (£6.5m), the most-bought FPL player of Gameweek 24, was brought back into the side and did very little, while the in-form Michael Olise (£5.4m) made way on the right flank. Only Wilfried Zaha (£6.8m) looks secure in attack, as a result.

“Do I really have to go into this decision as to why I chose this player over another one?

I don’t want to go into details but I make a decision and I think this is nothing to do with Michael’s performances in the games that he has played – I think he did quite really well.

In the other side, he started two games and I think I just wanted to bring some fresh legs because I knew how hard and difficult it would be and how hard the front players needed to work. With Jordan’s experience, it’s one of the reasons why I made that decision.” – Patrick Vieira on his decision to bench the in-form Michael Olise