A late Brighton and Hove Albion equaliser stopped Wolverhampton Wanderers from securing their first win, before Erling Haaland (£14.5m) settled the clash between Brentford and Manchester City.
Here are our Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Scout Notes from these two Sunday afternoon encounters.
Happy father Haaland won’t stop scoring
Pep Guardiola’s 250th Premier League victory came from the Norwegian forward, extending his freakish early-season form to 18 goals in 11 for club and country.
Haaland loves the opening Gameweeks. The first six Premier League matches from all four seasons (24 overall) have seen him score an astonishing 36 times. Yet Sunday brought his first-ever Gameweek 7 success.
On 70 points, Haaland has now overtaken Mohamed Salah (£14.4m) in terms of price and ownership. Rather sweetly, he attributes this to the happiness of being a father since December.
“You can say so, I’ve never felt better than I do now. So yeah you can say so. I think it’s about preparation first of all, getting ready for the games. You can be physically ready but you need to be mentally ready as well. And to be honest I think with a kid, it makes me even better because I actually disconnect more than ever.
“I don’t think of football at all which sometimes when you’re younger you think of this and that and maybe worry a little bit about things. But when I go home I relax even more so I think I need to give a shoutout to my son!” – Erling Haaland, when asked if this is the best form of his career
The ninth-minute goal was actually Haaland’s sole shot of the afternoon. Assisted by Josko Gvardiol‘s (£5.8m) long ball over the top, he showed great strength to create himself a powerful shot, bringing joy to seven million FPL managers and 5.5 million captaincies.
As for Gvardiol, the centre-back seems to be attempting this pass quite often these days, something to look out for. Alongside a successful clean sheet, last season’s leading FPL defender bagged 12 points in west London.
Blanks for Foden + Reijnders
Remarkably, Haaland became the first non-Phil Foden (£8.1m) player to net for Man City at the Gtech Community Stadium.
All six goals from their previous four visits belonged to the attacking midfielder, and he tried his best to grab another by taking five shots. A cutback led to Foden’s biggest chance but, finding some space inside the penalty area, his effort ended way wide.
Above: StatsBomb showing one of Phil Foden’s best opportunities
Highly-owned colleague Tijani Reijnders (£5.8m) had an arguably better opportunity when meeting Nico O’Reilly‘s (£4.9m) floated cross with a stinging close-range volley. He was denied by Brentford stopper Caoimhin Kelleher (£4.5m).
The Bees tried to thwart Man City by playing a back five and taking lots of long throws. They nearly equalised mere seconds after Oscar Bobb (£5.5m) was touched inside the box, breaking free to put Igor Thiago (£6.1m) clean through on goal.
But the Brazilian was unable to score his fifth league goal and was replaced soon after.
Hamstring injury for Rodri
However, Man City fans had another brief worry when key player Rodri (£6.4m) had to come off early. He missed most of 2024/25 with a knee injury, and this time it’s his hamstring.
While it’s enough to keep him out of Spain’s upcoming internationals, early words suggest he mightn’t even miss Gameweek 8.
“It is muscular (hamstring), so two weeks or three weeks. Of course, I don’t want to lose him even a little bit, but it is a pity because he is such an important player. We tried to take care of him, but it is what it is.” – Pep Guardiola on Rodri’s hamstring problem
Other good news saw summer signing Rayan Cherki (£6.3m) return to the matchday squad following a thigh issue. He was an unused substitute.
With Omar Marmoush (£8.3m), Rayan Ait-Nouri (£5.8m) and Abdudokir Khusanov (£5.4m) to follow from Gameweek 8, the rotation might ratchet up a notch.
Even without Marmoush and Cherki in the starting XI, the hitherto in-form Jeremy Doku (£6.6m) found himself benched here.
Agbadou + Rutter benched, Mitoma out
At Molineux, Emmanuel Agbadou‘s (£4.5m) owners were disappointed to see the defender benched for the second time in a row. Head coach Vitor Pereira responded to five defeats by reverting to a back four in the last fortnight, and both league matches since have ended with late 1-1 heartbreak.
Looking better since this change, don’t expect Agbadou back in the XI for Sunderland (a) and Burnley (h).
Opponents Brighton moved Georginio Rutter (£5.7m) out of the line-up. He came on for Carlos Baleba (£4.8m) at the break and found time for three shots, while Maxim De Cuyper (£4.4m) played the final 20 minutes.
Winger Kaoru Mitoma (£6.4m) missed out altogether because of a knock suffered against Chelsea.
Strand Larsen remains goalless
Wolves’ boss Pereira received a 20th-minute red card for angrily kicking the ball away in frustration, but his players responded by immediately breaking the deadlock.
Marshall Munetsi‘s (£5.4m) volley was saved well by Bart Verbruggen (£4.4m), but the ball unluckily went in off the latter on its way down from the crossbar.
Speaking of which, Jhon Arias (£5.2m) skied an eight-yard sitter early in the second half, then Jorgen Strand Larsen (£6.4m) placed a right-footed shot against the post. The forward ended last season with seven goals and two assists in his final nine outings, but doesn’t yet have anything in the league.
Predictably, such misses proved costly when Jan Paul van Hecke (£4.4m) headed home a corner, meaning Wolves are still without a 2025/26 win.
Yankuba Minteh (£6.0m) wasn’t part of the goal, ending his three-match streak of attacking returns. He’d recently risen in price, but none of the four chances created were labelled as ‘big’.
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