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.
UCL/UEL Performances (Pre - GW7)
Liverpool
Result: (5-1 vs Porto - Liga Portugal team)
Performances: Liverpool looked like themselves again in a dominant performance. Salah kept up his wonderful patch of form and scored twice. Mane scored once, and after being subbed on in the 66th, Firmino scored twice. Curtis Jones had a fantastic game with 2 assists and the most fantasy points of any Liverpool asset (around 28, with 16 ghost points). Salah had around 27 points, Mane 14, and Firmino 23 off the bench. Jota had a quiet game with only 4.5. Robertson had a very respectable 15+ ghost points and Milner filled in well for Trent, tallying 13.5 points with an assist. Looking forward, there's a good chance that Firmino replaces Jota against Man City in GW7. Salah and Mane look like definite starters as they were subbed off in the 66th, as was Milner. With Trent possibly out until GW9, Milner should be expected to fill in at RB and take set pieces. Set Pieces: Robertson and Milner split set piece duties with Trent not playing.
Manchester City
Result: (0-2 vs PSG - Ligue 1 team)
Performances: Despite tripling PSG's shots and XG, Man City just could not finish their chances at the Parc des Princes. Outside of Rodri and Foden (after he subbed on), no City players played particularly well. Despite that, ghost-point machine Mahrez scored 18 points (all ghosts) and KDB had 9.5. Grealish and Sterling both had poor games, scoring 7 and 2 points respectively, with Grealish hooked for Foden in the 68th after being largely ineffective. Bernardo Silva scored a respectable 8 points but missed an absolute sitter that likely would have given City a different result. After being only substitutes today, Foden and Jesus look likely to start against Liverpool in GW7 but you never really know with Pep. Set Pieces: KDB and Mahrez split duties evenly for City.
Chelsea
Result: (0-1 vs Juventus - Serie A team)
Performances: Chelsea failed to break down Juventus's stout defense and create the quality chances they needed to match Federico Chiesa's brilliance. Lukaku was starved of service all night, with multiple Juventus defenders always crowding him, but still managed to score around 7 points through Key Passes and Aerials. Most of the rest of the starters had fairly poor games (in real life and fantasy-wise) particularly Ziyech and Havertz who scored around -2 and 2 points respectively. Alonso looked rather shocking in the first half and was yanked at half time by Tuchel and replaced by Chilwell. Chilwell scored 7 off the bench compared to Alonso's 2.5 from the start. I wouldn't be surprised for Tuchel to start favoring Chilwell more and more soon enough given Alonso's last 2 games. Timo Werner looks likely to start at the weekend given his lack of involvement, and CHO looks a good shout as well, performing admirably off the bench to the tune of a team-high 9 points in only 28 minutes. Set Pieces: Ben Chilwell and Marcos Alonso each took corners and free kicks while they were on the pitch.
Manchester United
Result: (2-1 vs Villareal - La Liga team)
Performances: A lacklustre United performance was saved only by a stoppage time 95' winner by Ronaldo, of course. Set up by Jesse Lingard, who came in off the bench and scored 10 points, Ronaldo snuck one past the Villareal keeper and Ole lived another day. Ronaldo had 16.5 points and Bruno his usual 16 including an assist to Alex Telles. Telles scored his first goal for United, an absolute screamer from a Bruno cross to keep the game alive for United. With Shaw not even on the bench on Wednesday, I expect Telles to once again get the nod at the weekend after a quality, 16 points performance. Sancho looked uninspiring once again scoring only 4 points and getting taken off in the 75th minute. Pogba 8 points, Greenwood 7.5. Looking to the weekend I wouldn't be surprised to see Sancho benched once again and Fred brought back into the starting XI. It may be too early, but Cavani is coming into fitness and looked good when he came on in their UCL game. Set Pieces: Alex Telles took all 4 corners and United had no free kicks.
Leicester City
Result: (0-1 vs Legia Warszawa - Polish team)
Performances: Another uninspiring performance from Leicester resulted in a Europa League loss. Brendan Rodgers played predominantly his backups in this one with the exception of his centre backs and Youri Tielemans (who only scored around 2 points). Soumare had an unusually good fantasy game scoring 9.5 points but didn't look particularly good in real life. Barnes and Maddison subbed on to try to rescue the game with 23 minutes to go and both performed admirably, scoring 7 and 4 points respectively. Implications for the weekend are that Lookman and Ricardo look very likely to start given their lack of involvement in the midweek. The same goes for Harvey Barnes and the previously benched James Maddison. Set Pieces: Dewsbury-Hall and Tielemans predominantly split duties. After subbing on James Maddison took 1 right-footed corner instead of Tielemans
West Ham
Result: (2-0 vs Rapid Wien - Austrian Bundesliga team)
Performances: The Hammers battled to a deserved win vs the Austrian side and set themselves up nicely to advance in the Europa League. Benrahma and Rice scored the 2 goals and each had 20 points plus a piece. Antonio and Bowen (off the bench) had the 2 assists and scored 12 and 8 respectively. The starting attackers Vlasic and Yarmolenko looked less convincing scoring 2.5 and 1 point respectively, both getting subbed early. Bowen looks set to start at the weekend given his absence from the starting XI. Coufal missed the game with an injury and looks a doubt for the weekend. With Ryan Fredericks out as well, Ben Johnson could start again after putting up 7 ghost points pus a clean sheet in Europa. Set Pieces: Cresswell took most of the corners and was the only one to cross them in, but Bowen, Benrahma, and Noble all took 1 each as well. Noble and Cresswell split the free kicks.
Tottenham
Result: (5-1 vs Mura - Slovenian team)
Performances: Versus a poor Mura side, Spurs took care of business and got Nuno's first win in 6 games. Kane scored a hat trick off the bench as he looks to regain his shooting boots (or at least finally got service from his teammates). Lo Celso scored, assisted, and generally looked bright to the tune of 20+ points. Bryan Gil didn't take his chance particularly well and may need to wait longer for his first EPL start. Moura looks set to feature again at the weekend. Set Pieces: Lo Celso took the majority of set pieces with Son off the field. Alli scored a penalty with Son and Kane off.
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