A great brace from Morgan Rogers (£7.1m) secured three points for Aston Villa on Sunday, but an injury Bruno Fernandes (£9.4 million) eclipsed all other events at Villa Park.
Continuation of the Gameweek 17 Scout Notes, it is Aston Villa 2-1 Manchester United.
BRUNO INJURY: WHAT AMORIM SAID
Bruno retired in the 40th minute at Villa Park feeling his hamstring.
The Portuguese lasted until half time, but was replaced by Lisandro Martinez (£4.8 million).
Shortly afterwards, he was spotted stumbling across the sideline to the bench.
In an interview with Sky Sports, Ruben Amorim said:
“I think it’s soft tissue, so it will take a while. We’ll see.” – Ruben Amorim on Bruno Fernandes
Amorim later indicated that Bruno will miss “some matches” in his post-match press session.
“I don’t know, I think he’s going to lose some games, but I’m not sure.
“I don’t want to talk about it, but this is a man who is always fit and has shown that he can always recover.” – Ruben Amorim on Bruno Fernandes
And it sounds like Kobbie Mainoo (£4.6m) is out of Gameweek 18 after missing Sunday’s defeat due to a calf injury.
“I’ll see what we do. I think Kobbie Mainoo is out [against Newcastle]. Bruno is gone. So we will see and we will find solutions.” – Ruben Amorim
The official United site suggested we’d get another update from Amorim before the Boxing Day/Gameweek 18 deadline.
But Fantasy managers aren’t hanging around: Bruno is already Gameweek 18’s second best-selling player, with more than 171,000 sales.
CUNHA’S SHOTS
Matheus Cunha (£7.9m) was United’s most dangerous player again on Sunday.
The Brazilian took his goal well and encountered a mistake Matty Cash (£4.9m), and should really have added a second when he headed wide from close range.
Cunha scored another six shots at Villa Park.
In the last three Gameweeks alone, he has now had 22 attempts on goal, at least nine more than any other player:
Above: Players sorted by shots (To) in Gameweeks 15-17
The question now is: will Cunha be affected by Bruno’s likely absence, especially with United already deprived of attacking quality following the departure of Bryan Mbeumo (£8.2 million) and Amad Diallo (£6.3m) to the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON)?
The loss of Bruno would undoubtedly be significant; However, United played with more three men in midfield at Villa Park, strengthening the center of the pitch, and even after the Portuguese left they still created chances.
Besides, they will have done that Casemiro (£5.5m) back from Boxing Day suspension, and with Mason Mountain (£5.9 million) and Benjamin Sesko (£7.2m) joining Cunha in attack, they should have plenty of quality, especially against Wolverhampton Wanderers in Gameweek 19.
Cunha might also get penalties.
“I think we were the better team today. We were unlucky, even with Bruno’s injury, but during the match we were the better team even without him.” – Ruben Amorim
ROGERS FULL OF CONFIDENCE
Villa weren’t great on Sunday, but they got the job done again, thanks in large part to Rogers.
The England international is currently in electric form, scoring a brace for the second game in a row, culminating with a stunning curling effort into the top right corner.
No doubt he has also stepped up his threat to Villa in recent weeks.
Rogers scored seven shots in the win over United, including four inside the penalty area, marking his highest number of shots in a match this season.
In fact, his seven shots on Sunday represent the most he has ever scored in a Premier League match.
Above: Morgan Rogers’ shot map in Gameweeks 1-11 (left) and Gameweeks 12-17 (right)
As for Villa, only Tottenham Hotspur have exceeded expected goals (xG) by a greater margin this season, but there is a lot of excitement at the club at the moment and they will approach the upcoming clashes against Chelsea and Arsenal with optimism and confidence.
Emiliano Martinez (£5.1m), meanwhile, returned in goal on Sunday after a back injury.
And Evann Guessand (£6.2m) was a surprise inclusion on the bench after being called up to the Ivory Coast squad for AFCON on Friday.
After later joining his international teammates, he will now leave for the tournament in Morocco.
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