A second-half brace from Erling Haaland (£14.6m) handed Manchester City all three points against Everton, who were without the ineligible Jack Grealish (£6.9m).
Here are our Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Scout Notes from the Etihad Stadium.
Two more for Haaland
Over 6.3 million FPL managers handed Haaland their latest armband. He rewarded their faith by bringing in another 13 points – 26, when doubled – which updates his season statistics to 23 goals in 13 matches for club and country.
It was a quick-fire double, where the first one saw Nico O’Reilly (£4.9m) perfectly place Phil Foden‘s (£8.1m) through ball onto the Norwegian’s head. Soon after, a shot from just inside the penalty area that arguably should’ve been saved.
During the international break, we said that this, incredibly, hasn’t been Haaland’s greatest FPL start. That’s still the case for points and goals, but he’s now ahead of the other seasons for box shots (33), expected goals (xG, 8.69) and expected goal involvement (xGI, 9.44) after eight outings.
Of course, the main difference between 2025/26 and 2022/23 is that, back then, he’d just netted his third league hat-trick. Despite trying hard here, Haaland couldn’t secure this season’s first. Does it come across as greedy to show some slight disappointment?
Autosubs needed for Gvardiol + O’Reilly injury fears assuaged
Having been asked about the management of Josko Gvardiol‘s (£5.9m) workload in Friday’s press conference, Pep Guardiola rested the defender here. No minutes at all ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League trip to Villarreal, and no reasons given as far as we’ve been able to find.
Although back in training, Rayan Ait-Nouri (£5.8m) and Omar Marmoush (£8.3m) didn’t take part, the latter being an unused substitute.
All this allowed 11-pointer O’Reilly to shine in his fifth consecutive league start, a period of four clean sheet rewards.
Guardiola mentioned afterwards about a knock for the left-back but O’Reilly was in training on Monday morning, so no worries there it seems.
As for Rodri (£6.3m), he looks set to miss out in Gameweek 9 again.
“I don’t think [he’ll be available vs Villarreal]. Aston Villa I don’t think so either. It’s not long but it’s muscular.” – Pep Guardiola on Rodri
Reijnders doesn’t make 60 minutes
Meanwhile, Marmoush’s return to the squad, combined with long-awaited Rayan Cherki (£6.3m) and Mateo Kovacic (£5.9m) cameos, could soon introduce popular FPL midfielder Tijani Reijnders (£5.7m) to ‘Pep Roulette’.
An afternoon of three shots inside the box and setting up one big chance ended agonisingly close to the hour mark. So he didn’t even secure a clean sheet point.
In response, sales have caused the Dutchman to drop in price throughout Monday’s early hours, as it’s now no goals and one assist in seven Gameweeks.
“We want to do good things, not just Erling [Haaland]. The wingers, the attacking midfielders and the other players have to make a step up. The chances that we create are so clear and they have to score goals. Savinho had two, Jeremy [Doku] had two, Tijjani [Reijnders] had two. They have to score at that level.” – Pep Guardiola
As part of a wider Man City issue, Haaland is their only player with more than one goal.
DefCon joy for Ndiaye + Tarkowski
As for opponents Everton, they kept their hosts at bay for a while, aided by the crossbar. Otherwise, Jake O’Brien (£5.0m) would have registered an own goal.
In fact, they could – and should – have broken the deadlock themselves.
Penalty-taking midfielder Iliman Ndiaye (£6.5m) racked up a huge 17 defensive contributions (DefCon), making it the third time he’s secured extra points for these. He’s a true all-rounder and was unlucky to blank in attack.
Above: Shown on Statsbomb, Beto missed a sitter that Iliman Ndiaye (10) set up
Pouncing on a poor Nathan Ake (£5.4m) pass, Ndiaye ran forward and drilled in a cross that Beto (£5.3m) almost tapped in. He then slipped in his teammate for a slightly wide shot that was flagged offside, but probably would have been allowed.
The Senegalese winger forced a save from Gianluigi Donnarumma (£5.7m), too.
Back to DefCon, James Tarkowski (£5.5m) reached the threshold once again, ensuring he and Bournemouth’s Marcos Senesi (£5.0m) remain league leaders in this area. Both have seven successes from eight occasions.
James Garner (£5.0m) did it for a fourth time, which only two midfielders can beat.
