The Gameweek 26 Scout Notes continue with Sunderland 0-1 Liverpool and Aston Villa 1-0 Brighton and Hove Albion, with Virgil van Dijk (£5.9m) is emerging as one of the main talking points.
VAN DIJK HAULS
Virgil van Dijk scored the only goal as Liverpool became the first team to beat Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in 2025/26.
The Dutch international headed in Mohammed Salah‘s (£14.0m) corner in the second half and claimed 17 points, thanks to his goal, a clean sheet, defensive contribution (DefCon) points and the maximum bonus.
Ibrahima Konate (£5.4m) also impressed at the heart of Liverpool’s defence.
“This match was pretty much perfect, the way we defended, the intensity, but also the chances we created. Maybe we should have scored more, but it’s still game by game.” – Virgil van Dijk
Liverpool in particular rank third in terms of expected goals conceded (xGC) over the last six gameweeks, with interest in Van Dijk set to increase ahead of this run of games:
WIRTZ ACCIDENT
Liverpool were by far the better team on Wednesday, with 23 shots on target.
Florian Wirtz (£8.4m) was fantastic and hit the post Hugo Ekitike (£8.9m) and Salah both missed decent chances.
“Not for the first time he was really good. But lately when he was really good he was also involved in goals and assists. I think he was very close today and maybe should have been on the scoreboard with the amount of quality he has.” – Arne Slot on Florian Wirtz
Wirtz also forced Robin Roefs (£4.9 million) in a pair of saves, with a total of five shots, the most of any Liverpool player:
Wataru Endo (£4.9 million), meanwhile filled in for the suspended Dominik Szoboszlai (£6.7 million) as a right back and performed well but later suffered an injury.
“We don’t expect a positive outcome. As I said, we have to wait and see. We expect that we won’t have him for a long time. That is not the first time with our right full-backs. We have accepted that every time. We have to find solutions to continue to perform well.” – Arne Slot on Wataru Endo
ALDERET NEWEST
Sunderland centre-back Omar Alderete (£4.1m) was forced off late in the match against Liverpool, with some reports suggesting he suffered a muscle injury.
Regis Le Bris failed to provide an update on his condition after full-time, but with the Black Cats in FA Cup action on Sunday we should find out more soon.
Among Sunderland’s other budget defenders, Nordi Mukiele (£4.6m) and the ‘out position’ Trai Hume (£4.5m) both missed half-chances and scored seven shots between them ahead of next week’s home game against Fulham.
ROGERS + WATKINS ARM
Aston Villa successfully recorded a narrow 1-0 win over Brighton on Wednesday.
Tyrone Mings (£4.3m) forced the late winner from a corner, but the performance was flat and often labored Morgan Rogers (£7.6 million) and Ollie Watkins (£8.6m) poor everywhere.
Rogers scored four shots, all inside the penalty area, but his passing frequently let him down, while Watkins touched the ball just twice in the Brighton penalty area.
To be fair, Unai Emery’s team have looked pretty ordinary at Villa Park of late, with just one goal in their last three home games against Everton, Brentford and Brighton.
It is perhaps understandable given the injuries to key midfielders Boubacar camera (£4.9 million), Youri Tielemans (£5.9 million) and John McGinn (£5.4m), but it’s clearly a situation to keep an eye on, with Leeds United next at Villa Park in Gameweek 27.
As for Brighton, they didn’t offer much offensively either Ferdi Kadioglu (£4.4m) came closest to finding the net when his effort hit the crossbar.
CASH + VAN HECKE INJURY LATEST
Matty Cash (£4.9m) missed in Gameweek 26 due to injury, with Lamare Bogarde (£4.0m) as a right-back.
After the match, Emery gave an update.
“He got injured, with a small injury. I don’t know if he will be available on Saturday. Every day is important for how he develops.” – Unai Emery on Matty Cash
Just a few seconds after the hour mark, Jan Paul van Hecke (£4.5m) went to Brighton, but it was a pre-planned transfer, having previously missed Sunday due to a minor hamstring problem.
“We know he couldn’t play for 90 minutes, so that was normal procedure. We had to take him off after 60, 65 minutes. That was the maximum of his playing time that he was capable of. That’s why we knew we had to take him off.” – Fabian Hurzeler about Jan Paul van Hecke
There was no injury Carlos Baleba (£4.5m) neither – he was sent off to avoid a second yellow card, after being shown a yellow card in the second minute.
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