Erling Haaland (£15.3m) blanked for the first time this season as Newcastle United once again raised their game for a home encounter with Manchester City.
We summarise the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) takeaways from that match in our next Scout Notes.
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- READ MORE: Scoreboard: Saturday’s goals, assists, bonus points + stats
HAALAND “INJURY” UPDATE
Before we get the readers in too much of a flap, some reassurance. Erling Haaland completed 90 minutes at St James’ Park, despite concerns before the interval that he was limping.
The picture at the top of this article shows the damage: a bloodied Achilles and a tattered sock.
Pep Guardiola said after the match that he would assess the striker ahead of Tuesday’s clash with Slovan Bratislava.
“Yeah, he has some knocks, we will see in the next days.” – Pep Guardiola on Erling Haaland, in his press conference
The City boss was more flippant in an interview with the BBC, suggesting there’s no major concern.
“Yeah, Premier League.” – Pep Guardiola on Erling Haaland picking up some knocks, in an interview with the BBC
Haaland’s first blank of 2024/25 was sealed by his late header being saved, one of five attempts he had. None were really clear-cut opportunities. He would surely have had a big chance in the first half, though, had the disappointing Ilkay Gundogan (£6.5m) not tried to chip Nick Pope (£5.0m) from 40 yards when City had a two-on-one.
Above: Ilkay Gundogan’s attempted chip
HOW CITY SET UP WITHOUT RODRI – INCLUDING LEWIS ADVANCED
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2 months, 23 days ago"Their Opta xG of 0.91 (1.04 with Statsbomb) was the first time they’d dipped below 2.0 xG since Gameweek 1."
Off course this happens when most WCers bring Haaland in this GW, lol.