Fantrax EPL: Gameweek 3 Midweek Cup Key Takeaways

While Fantrax EPL only directly involves games from the EPL, the players we all roster play other games outside of the league, believe it or not. Whether it's international matches or domestic and European cup games, other matches can often impact and indicate future EPL performances. In this special feature, we cover cup performances, set piece takers, and what they might mean going forward.

EFL Cup Risers & Fallers (Pre - GW3)

This week we'll be covering the Carabao/EFL Cup early round fixtures. We will keep it short and to the point to be the most efficient with your time and ours.

Risers (Players Whose Fantasy Fantasy Value May Have Gone Up):

Aaron Wan-Bissaka: Excellent on both sides of the ball, even at left back. 12ish ghost points, some great last ditch defending, some danger going forward. He's surely starting for the Hammers soon and looks capable at ghosting still (including against Prem sides like Bournemouth).

Iliman Ndiaye: A lovely solo goal, a very active performance, 13 ghost points, and a great case to make his first Prem start for a previously faltering Everton side. Watchout Doucoure managers.

James Milner: See O'Riley below. Better chances to keep his spot & set pieces with O'Riley set to miss time. Carlos Baleba may also be in for increased minutes (particularly if Gilmour leaves) and had an excellent game with 13+ ghosts.

Simon Adingra: When he gets the minutes, he keeps producing. Another goal w 5.5 ghost points. His manager may prefer Mitoma & Minteh on the wings for now, but Adingra is making it harder and harder for him to be ignored. Sarmiento & Enciso also had excellent games (and split corners) but the former came off injured.

Crystal Palace Attack inc. Daichi Kamada: Banged in 4 goals vs Norwich (on 1.8 xG) after scoring 1 (on 2.5xG) in the last 2 Prem games (vs Brentford and West Ham). Yes weaker competition. Kamada in particular was impressive with 1 goal, 1 assist, & 13 ghosts (4 key passes). He looks good value to win back his starting role (lost to Edouard last weekend) for the upcoming Chelsea game. Subbed off at 70 to hopefully rest his legs. Mateta was also excellent with 2 goals & 1 assist, including a great overheader kick. Eze 1 goal, 1 assist, 13 ghosts. Remains TBD if they sign further attacking help, heavily rumoured to be close to Nketiah.

Jota Silva & the Forest debutantes: Goal and lively performance from Silva against Newcastle. 8.5 ghosts. Taken off at 60 mins. Could be coming for CHO or Elanga's lunch money soon. Sosa also brighton the opposing wing, took corners and free kicks. 9ish ghosts. Impressive RWB game from 18yo Eric da Silva Moreira (8.25 ghosts). Moreno solid too (6 ghosts)

Cameron Archer & the Southampton youngsters: Archer had 2 goals & 7 ghosts and thrived on a game with heavy service. Has a good shot at starting in the Prem when they go 3 attackers or even 2 if Armstrong/Brereton's form turns sour. 20yo Mateus Fernandes got his debut, had 1 goal, 1 assist, took a corner, and had 13.5 ghosts. Ugochukwu & Dibling (took most corners) were also impressive. All 3 have a shot at breaking into the Prem midfield.

Goncalo Guedes & Daniel Podence: Guedes scored 2 (plus 5.5 ghosts), Podence assisted 1 (plus 12 ghosts inc. 5 key passes), and O'Neil said in his post-match presser that he expects both attackers will stay in the squad this year after being out on loan all of last season. That's absolutely somewhat to do with a lack of finances and ability to buy/sell for Wolves but more power to the attackers. They'll likely be backup options unless injury or form brings them more minutes. Chiquinho & Sarabia had similarly impressive attacking games playing Burnley. TBD if any can unseat Bellegarde or Gomes or Larsen for more starting Prem minutes, but it feels pretty doable on their current form.

Jordan Ayew: Impressive first start for Leicester. 1 goal (a great hit), 1 assist, 6.5 ghosts playing through the middle in a 2nd choice attack. He could overtake Cordova-Reid for the starting winger role or at least backup all 3 attacking positions going forward.

Joachim Andersen: Steady defensive performance, lovely, trademark long ball for an assist, 5+ ghost points, and a clean sheet. Pushing for Prem starts over Bassey (or Diop) quickly.

Ricardo Pereira: After being left out 2 games in a row (in favor of James Justin and Kristiansen), Pereira popped off with a whopping 20+ ghosts (6 key passes, all open play, 1 penalty drawn, 1 tackle, 2 interceptions, 4 aerials won, 2 clearances). The captain for the night played the attacking fullback role that Cooper may not opt to use often in a leaky defense in the Prem, but perhaps in the easier games, he'll be an IRL & fantasy stream.

Jake O'Brien: Finally got a start, looked steady and could have finally earned Dyche's trust in a time period where Branthwaite and Tarkowski are potentially out hurt. The Everton defense could be in better shape though cause Coleman (and Garner) are back to play RB.

Pedro Lima: One to watch if Semedo misses more time. 18yo looked more than capable at RB. Assist, 5 tackles, 2kp, 13.5 ghosts, and quite dangerous positions. He could unseat Doherty as the backup RB rather quickly. Likely relevant in years to come.

Fallers (Players Whose Fantasy Fantasy Value May Have Gone Down):

Matt O'Riley: After a glowing speculative review in transfers part 5, the Danishman came off after 10 minutes with an ankle injury from a nasty sliding challenge. Optimistically, he went straight into the Brighton XI for the cup match but was subsequently subbed out and had to be helped off the field. Hurzeler said in the post match-presser that his ankle doesn't look good, he'll be scanned to determine the severity, and O'Riley left the stadium on crutches. Twitter docs speculate it'll be 8-10 weeks with ankle surgery potentially needed.

Abdoulaye Doucoure: See Ndiaye above. He's coming for his job. Iroegbunam played quite well too & Garner is fit again, so less chance he moves back in the mid instead.

Crysencio Summerville & Niclas Fulkrug: Got their chance to impress & squandered it. James Hill shut down Summer and he ended on 0 ghost points in 74 minutes. Little service provided but Fullkrug looked slow and out of sorts (but did manage 8 ghosts). They didn't get any closer to the Prem starting XI.

Chelsea Backups: Particularly the defenders were poor and mistake-prone against Servette (a Swiss side) inc. Badiashille, Tosin, and Disasi. KDH failed to impress once again too (2.5 ghosts).

Ipswich: Unlucky to lose on pens after a 2-2 game (1.6 xG vs .3 xGA) but still not a good look against a League 2 side, even playing a lot of B team guys and debutantes. Didn't reflect particularly well on O'Shea, Kalvin Phillips, nor Ben Johnson on the defensive side. O'Shea still won 6 aerials and finished on 11.25 ghosts though, he just may need to wait longer to crack the Prem starting XI. Jack Clarke looked the liveliest but only finished around 5.5 ghosts.

Other Notes

-Estupinan, Verbruggen, Lamptey, Garner, Coleman, Ferguson & Cheick Doucoure made their returns from injury.

-New signings Cuenca, Berge, O'Brien, Lindstrom, Skipp, Ayew, Okoli, & Sessegnon got their starting debuts

-Mavididi took and made a pen

-Lindstrom took lefty corners instead of James Garner

-Enzo, Nkunku, & Madueke split corners in Palmer's absence, and Nkunku took and scored a pen.

-Madueke had 11.5 ghosts, Nkunku 10.5, and Mudryk 5.25.

-Backup LB and lefty Conor Townsend and Jack Taylor (righty) off the bench split corners. None for Jack Clarke who could use them to be relevant

-Ogbene was yanked at half but likely just due to watching his minutes after only arriving at the club recently

-Carvalho took corners (in the absence of Jensen & Mbeumo). 6.5 ghosts, mediocre performance.

-Harrison Reed & Harry Wilson took sets for Fulham in the absence of Pereira

-Hughes took lefty sets with Wharton not on the field

-Chadi Riad got hurt and Glasner says he's likely to miss the weekend. Clyne or Ward likely slots in for him

-Joe Willock got hurt and Howe says it looks bad. Tonali came back and played an hour and looked good. Joelinton, Longstaff & Bruno G likely the starters at the weekend

-Barnes started and played 90 so Murphy likely to start at the weekend.

-Marc Guehi started among speculation that he might be bought by Newcastle

-Chiedozie Ogbene was not in the squad for Luton's cup loss, with manager, Rob Edwards saying he's in advanced discussions with Ipswich for a transfer.

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