The Dugout Gazette

The Dugout Gazette, 23 October

Welcome back. A quiet midweek, at least by volume: one Premier League game, one in the Championship, and full rounds in League One and League Two. Nothing at all on Thursday. What it lacked in numbers it made up for in consequences, because both of the lower divisions changed shape at the top. Here is everything that happened from Monday to Thursday.

The Midweek Briefing

The Premier League gave us one match. Tottenham finally won a league game, and they did it the hard way after Coventry equalised early in the second half. Maddison marked his first start in 536 days with a 25-yard opener, Marmoush scored his first goal since arriving on loan from Manchester City in a moment Coventry are still furious about, and substitute Ben Davies settled it in stoppage time. Spurs climb off the bottom, Coventry drop to 17th.

The Championship gave us one match too. Wolves were four minutes from a top-six place at Molineux before Terry Devlin rescued Portsmouth. One point instead of three, and Wolves stayed seventh.

The real midweek belonged to League One and League Two, where both divisions played a full round on Tuesday night. Stockport went top of League One with a fourth straight win, Huddersfield hammered Peterborough, and Salford took advantage of both of their closest challengers losing.

The Results Board

Premier League, Monday 19 October

  • Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Coventry City

No Premier League fixtures on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

Championship, Tuesday 20 October

  • Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 Portsmouth

No Championship fixtures on Wednesday or Thursday.

League One, Tuesday 20 October

  • AFC Wimbledon 0-3 Mansfield Town
  • Blackpool 2-0 MK Dons
  • Bromley 0-4 Leicester City
  • Burton Albion 0-0 Bradford City
  • Cambridge United 2-2 Wycombe Wanderers
  • Doncaster Rovers 0-2 Stockport County
  • Huddersfield Town 4-1 Peterborough United
  • Luton Town 2-1 Barnsley
  • Notts County 2-0 Sheffield Wednesday
  • Oxford United 2-1 Wigan Athletic
  • Stevenage 3-0 Plymouth Argyle

League One, Wednesday 21 October

  • Reading 1-0 Leyton Orient

League Two, Tuesday 20 October

  • Barnet 1-3 Swindon Town
  • Bristol Rovers 1-2 Salford City
  • Cheltenham Town 4-2 Fleetwood Town
  • Chesterfield 1-1 Colchester United
  • Crawley Town 2-3 Shrewsbury Town
  • Exeter City 2-0 Crewe Alexandra
  • Gillingham 1-1 Port Vale
  • Northampton Town 0-1 Tranmere Rovers
  • Rochdale 2-2 Grimsby Town
  • Rotherham United 2-2 Newport County
  • Walsall 3-0 Oldham Athletic
  • York City 1-1 Accrington Stanley

Nothing in either division on Wednesday or Thursday.

Key Decisions

Stockport win from a set piece and a save. Mamadou Jobe broke the deadlock at Doncaster six minutes after half-time, heading in from a corner. Kyle Wootton made it two straight after, following in once Tommy Simkin had saved Oliver Norwood's penalty. Doncaster managed four shots all night. County have now won four league games in a row and conceded one goal in five. That is a promotion side's profile: not spectacular, hard to score against, and ruthless in the ten minutes after the interval.

Huddersfield make their statement in one burst. For an hour it was a tight game at the John Smith's, with Ilias Bronkhorst's early opener separating the sides. Then Joe Taylor scored twice in a spell either side of Harry Leonard's reply, and Bali Mumba completed a 4-1 win over Peterborough. The Terriers put four past a team that had 56 per cent of the ball, which is the kind of ruthless efficiency that wins automatic promotion.

Salford profit from everyone else slipping. A 2-1 win at Bristol Rovers is a decent result. It became an excellent one because Barnet lost at home to Swindon and Crewe lost at Exeter. Salford lead League Two on 25 points, four clear of both. The caveat is real, mind: Barnet have two games in hand. Salford have breathing space, not daylight.

Wolves let the top six slip. Jordan James put Wolves ahead at Molineux on 62 minutes and one point from the top six was theirs. Devlin struck with four minutes left. Win that game and Wolves jump above both Stoke and West Brom. Draw it and they stay seventh, and the difference between those two outcomes over a season is usually the difference between the play-offs and mid-table.

Table And Form Notes

Premier League, after matchweek 7

  • Manchester City 21
  • Arsenal 18
  • Brighton 16
  • Chelsea 13
  • Liverpool 12

City have a perfect record. Brighton are third on 16 and have scored more than anyone else in the division. Fulham and Nottingham Forest sit on 5 in the bottom three with Sunderland on 4. Spurs' win on Monday took them off the bottom.

Championship, after 11 games

  • Swansea City 23
  • West Ham United 22
  • Birmingham City 20

Swansea still lead, with West Ham a point behind and Birmingham fourth on 20. It is a three-way race that is still finding its shape.

League One, top three

  • Stockport County 22
  • Huddersfield Town 22
  • Bradford City 21

Bradford drop out of the automatic places after the 0-0 at Burton, with Oxford's 2-1 win over Wigan keeping them in the chasing pack. Bradford, Mansfield and Cambridge are all unbeaten in their last five, which tells you this division is being decided by who refuses to lose rather than who wins prettiest.

League Two, top three

  • Salford City 25
  • Barnet 21
  • Crewe Alexandra 21

Walsall are fourth on 19 after a 3-0 win over Oldham, Cheltenham fifth. Crawley are bottom after a home defeat by Shrewsbury, with Northampton in the bottom two after Tranmere won at Sixfields.

The Weekend Noticeboard

Premier League, matchweek 8. The clocks go back on Sunday, so the afternoon games shift an hour earlier in UK time.

Friday 23 October

  • Ipswich Town v Nottingham Forest, 20:00

Saturday 24 October

  • Aston Villa v Manchester City, 12:30
  • Arsenal v Everton, 15:00
  • Coventry City v Fulham, 15:00
  • Chelsea v Tottenham, 17:30

Sunday 25 October

  • Crystal Palace v Newcastle, 14:00
  • Hull City v Brentford, 14:00
  • Liverpool v Brighton, 14:00
  • Manchester United v Bournemouth, 14:00
  • Sunderland v Leeds, 16:30

Brighton at Liverpool is the pick of the weekend. Brighton are third, have won their last four, and have scored more goals than anyone else in the division. Arsenal host Everton with Bukayo Saka a doubt after a thigh problem, and Chelsea against Spurs is a London derby between a Chelsea side in form and a Spurs side that has just remembered how to win. Manchester United host Bournemouth with Michael Carrick still in charge despite a seven-game winless run and a 4-1 Champions League defeat at Como on Wednesday. Reports say he takes the game, but the club are clearly doing their homework on alternatives.

Championship

Friday 23 October

  • Bolton Wanderers v Middlesbrough, 20:00

Saturday 24 October, 12:30

  • Charlton Athletic v Norwich City
  • Portsmouth v Millwall
  • Sheffield United v Derby County

Saturday 24 October, 15:00

  • Blackburn Rovers v Wrexham
  • Cardiff City v Birmingham City
  • Lincoln City v Burnley
  • Preston North End v West Brom
  • Queens Park Rangers v Swansea City
  • Stoke City v Bristol City
  • West Ham United v Southampton
  • Wolverhampton Wanderers v Watford

League One, Saturday 24 October

12:30

  • Luton Town v Leicester City
  • Huddersfield Town v Wigan Athletic

15:00

  • AFC Wimbledon v Wycombe Wanderers
  • Blackpool v Mansfield Town
  • Bromley v Peterborough United
  • Burton Albion v Leyton Orient
  • Cambridge United v Plymouth Argyle
  • Doncaster Rovers v Sheffield Wednesday
  • Notts County v Stockport County
  • Oxford United v Bradford City
  • Reading v Barnsley
  • Stevenage v Milton Keynes Dons

League Two, Saturday 24 October

12:30

  • Bristol Rovers v Swindon Town
  • Cheltenham Town v Newport County
  • Northampton Town v Colchester United

15:00

  • Barnet v Oldham Athletic
  • Chesterfield v Crewe Alexandra
  • Crawley Town v Tranmere Rovers
  • Exeter City v Fleetwood Town
  • Gillingham v Grimsby Town
  • Rochdale v Accrington Stanley
  • Rotherham United v Shrewsbury Town
  • York City v Port Vale

Monday 26 October

  • Walsall v Salford City, 20:00

Three games to circle: Notts County v Stockport County, where the leaders go to a side with one win in five; Luton v Leicester, the biggest test of Leicester's four-goal midweek; and Walsall v Salford on Monday night, fourth against first.

The Fantasy Desk

FPL Gameweek 8. The deadline is tonight at 17:30, so this is a last call rather than a leisurely think.

Captaincy

The projected points model has two City players at the top and it is hard to argue with either. Haaland is on 58 points already, form of 9.5, and 77 per cent of managers own him, so captaining him is the low-risk, hold-your-rank move. Foden is the alternative at 7.0 projected points and only 2.1 per cent owned, which is the aggressive version of the same bet.

If you want to go elsewhere, Mbeumo (6.6 projected, form 8.0) and Cherki (6.5, 38.3 per cent) are the next two. Rogers is on 6.4 with a good Chelsea fixture and nearly half the game owning him already.

Differentials

  • Jordan Henderson, Chelsea, £4.9m, form 10.5, 1.2 per cent owned
  • Neto, Chelsea, £6.5m, form 10.0, 2.8 per cent
  • Iwobi, Fulham, £5.4m, form 7.5, 1.2 per cent
  • Dara O'Shea, Ipswich, £4.0m, form 7.0, 2.7 per cent
  • Jack Rudoni, Coventry, £4.9m, form 6.5, 0.4 per cent
  • Bruno Guimarães, Arsenal, £6.7m, form 6.0, 2.4 per cent

Henderson at £4.9m is the standout of that list. Form of 10.5 at that price with a home fixture is the sort of cheap enabler that lets you spend elsewhere.

Transfers

Tavernier is the most bought player in the game this week with a net 267,567 transfers in, which is what a good fixture and a midfield price of £6.2m does. Groß and De Cuyper at Brighton are both heavily bought, Cherki and Rogers behind them. If you are chasing a green fixture, O'Shea and Ouattara at Ipswich are £4.0m defenders with form above 6.5, and João Pedro has 129,384 net buys ahead of Chelsea's derby.

Team news worth knowing

  • Szoboszlai, Liverpool, hamstring, out. He is in 18.3 per cent of teams, so this is the week's biggest headache.
  • Semenyo, Manchester City, knee, out. 11.2 per cent owned.
  • Saka, Arsenal, thigh, 50 per cent chance.
  • Pedro Porro, Tottenham, expected back on 24 October.
  • Elanga, Newcastle, expected back 25 October.
  • Janelt, Brentford, suspended until 31 October.
  • Martinez and Reece James, both Chelsea, out.
  • Marmoush, Spurs, calf, 75 per cent. Rashford, United, hip, 75 per cent. Brobbey, Sunderland, hamstring, 75 per cent.

One warning on Villa: Ollie Watkins is no longer there, having joined Al Hilal permanently. If he is still in your squad, that is a dead spot.

The Manager's View

Read the midweek results again and notice how many of them turned on a single decision or a single moment.

Wolves lost a top-six place to a goal four minutes from time. Stockport won because a penalty was saved and they reacted first to the rebound. Spurs won because a substitute struck in the fifth minute of stoppage time. Salford's lead grew without them kicking a ball, because two other clubs lost. None of those things were about who played the better football. They were about who handled the moment.

That is the part of management that never shows up in a highlight reel. You pick the bench, you decide who takes the penalty, you choose whether to hold a lead or chase a second, and the table is built out of those calls over 46 games rather than out of any single performance.

It is also the reason a management game lives or dies on its decisions feeling real. If a late equaliser costs you a place in the table and you can trace it back to the substitution you made ten minutes earlier, the game has done its job.

Final Whistle

One stat from midweek deserves a second look. Leyton Orient had 23 shots and eight on target at Reading and lost 1-0 to a Paddy Lane goal just after half-time. Leicester had 75 per cent of the ball at Bromley and won 4-0. Two teams dominated possession and territory, and only one of them got anything.

Control is not the same as points. Keep that in mind this weekend when Notts County host Stockport and Luton host Leicester, because both of those games will probably be decided by whoever is sharper in the eighteen-yard box rather than whoever sees more of the ball.

The Dugout is a text-based football management game coming soon on Android and Apple. One payment of £5.99, no subscriptions, no in-app purchases, and a free demo so you can try before you buy. Come and tell us what you think of the midweek results in the Discord: https://discord.gg/RbuS4XREQ