More Scout Notes for you now, reflecting on Manchester City 1-1 Everton and Nottingham Forest 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur.
MORE UNAVAILABILITY FOR MAN CITY AND SPURS
Already struggling for numbers, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur lost some more bodies before or during Gameweek 18. They now have eight and nine flagged players respectively.
At the Etihad, Kyle Walker (£5.2m) and Jack Grealish (£6.4m) missed out because of illness and muscular discomfort respectively. Pep Guardiola said he “didn’t know” whether either would be fit for the weekend.
Meanwhile, Spurs are going to be further decimated in defence.
Djed Spence (£4.4m) will be suspended in Gameweek 19 as a result of his sending off for two bookable offences. Pedro Porro (£5.5m), benched here for the third time in five Gameweeks, looks assured of a start against Wolverhampton Wanderers, as a consequence.
Elsewhere, Ben Davies (£4.3m) – on the cusp of a comeback – has had a setback and will be out for more weeks to come.
Now Radu Dragusin (£4.3m) will have to be assessed after taking a knock to the ankle against Nottingham Forest.
So desperate was the situation that the Lilywhites finished the match with Archie Gray (£4.6m) and Yves Bissouma (£4.9m) at centre-half.
We’ll round up all the latest on the injury front in our Gameweek 19 team news article later today.
TWO IN-FORM DEFENCES IMPRESS AGAIN
Joint-top of the Premier League table for clean sheets with seven apiece, the defences of Nottingham Forest and – after a slow start – Everton have been two of the success stories of this season, carrying on where they left off in 2023/24.
Forest’s latest shut-out owed to the classic combination of blocks and terrific goalkeeping. A really solid backline put their bodies on the line as ever, with Matz Sels (£4.7m) making some excellent saves – thrice denying Brennan Johnson (£6.5m) – whenever his defence was breached.
Ola Aina (£5.0m) and Nikola Milenkovic (£4.6m), now first and third for FPL points among defenders, could have hauled again. Both underscored their goal threat by getting, and this time missing, big chances.
As for Everton, there was no clean sheet this time but another solid display at the rear. Over 40% of Man City’s shots were blocked at source before they’d even had a chance to trouble Jordan Pickford (£4.9m). Even Bernardo Silva‘s (£6.3m) opener was sort of blocked, the deflection taking an unfortunate bobble past Pickford.
The England goalkeeper himself is in a rich vein of form, keeping out a penalty from Erling Haaland (£14.8m).
Everton and Forest now meet at Goodison Park in Gameweek 19. Goalless draw anyone?
MORE GVARDIOL CHANCES, PEP ON DE BRUYNE
Sitting 18th and 17th in the eight-match form table, City and Spurs will feel like they could have got better results from their respective Boxing Day matches, despite the above praise for the opposition defences.
Haaland owners’ latest ‘come back, diaper’ moment arrived when the Norwegian spurned a second-half penalty.
Bernardo meanwhile prodded wide from a good position and Josko Gvardiol‘s (£6.0m) Golden Boot assault continued when he rattled the woodwork with a header. That was one of five attempts the Croatian had.
Incredibly, he’s now had more shots in the box (23) than Morgan Rogers (£5.4m), Jamie Vardy (£5.6m) and Son Heung-min (£9.8m) this season.
This was another match in which Kevin De Bruyne (£9.5m) was benched, the Belgian not coming on until late in the game. Guardiola implied that he regretted not making a change earlier but hinted at fitness issues for De Bruyne.
“Eight important players injured, Gundo was not ready today and Kevin was not ready for 90 minutes. Maybe should have come in earlier, Kevin or maybe Gundo. But the team was playing quite decent.” – Pep Guardiola
Surely, surely this upcoming run yields some returns?
MADDISON BENCHED
Spurs’ own playmaker, James Maddison (£7.7m), was benched too. This wasn’t completely unexpected, as no other Lilywhite had started more successive games (four) in all competitions.
Son Heung-min (£9.8m) now assumes that precarious position, with five consecutive starts. Could he be the next in line for a breather?
While Spurs drew a blank here, goalscoring isn’t a worry. They had bagged 16 goals in their previous five games. Gameweek 19 will be the acid test for Wolves’ improving backline.
At the other end, though, Matheus Cunha (£7.1m) will relish the prospect of coming up against two midfielders playing at centre-back.