while Tuesday was a night of mixed fortunes for English clubs in the Champions League, Wednesday certainly turned out to be one to forget. Penalties have proved to undo Arsenal and Aston Villa’s unbeaten starts in Europe this season.

The Gunners were “tough to do” according to Mikel Arteta during the defeat in Milan.

earlier in the evening Tyrone Mings (£4.4m) made the ‘biggest mistake’ Villa boss Unai Emery says he has witnessed in his career at hand – no pun intended – Club Brugge to all three points in that draw from Belgium.

We’ve picked out the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from both matches in these Scout Notes.

WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS

TEAM SELECTION/ROTATION

MINGS ERROR ENDS VILLA’S FLAWLESS UCL START

What should have been a dream come true turned into a walking nightmare for the former Villa captain on his return from a long injury lay-off.

A Champions League debut, which coincided with a return from 14 months out from a knee injury, was overshadowed by a bizarre penalty early in the second half when Mings – apparently unaware the game had started – picked up a short played ball for him with a quick goal kick FROM Emi Martinez (£5.0 million).

The blunder was upheld by VAR, the hosts were awarded a spot-kick and Brugge’s Hans Vanaken scored what would be the only goal of the game as the Belgian side recorded their first win over an English side since February 1995.

Emery, who said the error “changed everything” after a “good” first half from the visitors, had little sympathy for the former Villa captain.

“His mistake is completely strange; It is the biggest mistake I have witnessed in my career. We can make a mistake in preparation, we work to try and control games by keeping possession and trying to stop possession and we did that fantastically in the first half.

“We lost one or two balls, but we were always in a position to recover, but this mistake is very, very strange. It only happened once in my entire life.” – Unai Emery

ROGERS HAS INJURY + WATKINS’ drought

While this was certainly the defining moment of an otherwise largely disappointing match, a bigger cause for concern should be the drought in which Ollie Watkins (£9.0 million) is found. The England international now has just one goal – against Fulham in Week 8 – in his last seven club games in all competitions.

Home ties with Crystal Palace, Brentford and Southampton between now and Gameweek 15 could help Watkins pull this streak out. First up, he will face trips to Liverpool and Chelsea in two of their next three Premier League games, as well as the visit of Juventus later this month. Not the most appetizing of fixtures for a striker whose only double-figure FPL appearances so far have come against Ipswich and Everton.

Better news for Villa and almost a quarter of Fantasy managers was that Morgan Rogers (£5.4m) seemed to stop any injury issues as a result of his early replacement in Sunday’s 4-1 drubbing by Spurs.

The budget midfielder made the starting line-up and lasted 66 minutes on Wednesday night before being replaced by Jacob Ramsey (£5.4m) with Villa chasing the game.

While that means he should be fit for Saturday night’s trip to Anfield, Rogers – like regular supersub Jhon Durán and indeed the rest of Emery’s men – was largely ineffective against Brugge. Rogers had the mitigation of being on the left flank rather than the number 10 role in which he has looked so dangerous this season.

Villa had more of the ball than their hosts but managed just one shot on target out of nine in total. Brugge, on the other hand, had seven shots on goal from a total of 13 attempts. Those declining attacking numbers saw the Villans record an xG of just 0.40 – their joint-lowest mark this season – and followed their Gameweek 10 defeat in north London, where Emery’s side also managed just one goal kick (Rogers’ opener and eventual consolation goal).

VILLA NO WIN IN FOURTH

The West Midlands club are now without a win in four, with three defeats in a row equaling their longest losing streak under Emery, and in Gameweek 11 they face the stern task of trying to topple a Liverpool side – at Anfield – who are now at the head of both parties. Premier League and Champions League after continuing its own 100% start in Europe.

Wait Pau Torres (£4.5m) to return to central defense this weekend, with Lucas Digne (£4.7 million) return for Ian Maatsen (£4.7 million).

Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) should also stick behind Villa despite a complete run-out in midweek, partnering Torres or filling in on the right flank depending on his fitness. Matty Cash (£4.4 million). Diego Carlos would seem most likely to come in if Cash’s calf injury keeps him out of Gameweek 11, as looks like that will be the case.

ØDEGAARD ​​RETURNS, RICE A NEW DOUBT

It was different circumstances for Arsenal against Inter Milan, but a similar result. the English visitors were wasteful in front of goal, awarded a penalty for handball and lost 0-1.

This time Mikel Merino (£6.0m) was the penalty man, with the summer signing adjudged to have been manhandled in the area in the dying embers of the first half, despite being unable to do anything to keep out a corner.

Hakan Çalhanoglu stepped in and took care of business on the spot. From that point on, the hosts kept the Gunners at bay despite Arsenal dominating both possession and chances.

A second penalty was called for, this time in favor of the visitors, when Merino was felt to have been punched by Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer in an attempt to claim a cross.

“I’m very proud of my players and the level of dominance we had. We have been very tough, in the sense that is obvious. Both penalties.

“If you’re going to give a penalty, the other one has to be for punching him in the head.

“There’s no wrongdoing, there’s nothing you can do in the box so they can get away with it. If he’s going to give that, the other has to be 100% a penalty.

“The way we played tonight, the team can go to Chelsea and win.” – Mikel Arteta

There was only one change at Arteta’s side that lost against Newcastle on Saturdaywith Thomas Partey (£5.0m) returns to midfield to be replaced Declan Rice (£6.3 million). The latter missed the trip to Italy entirely due to a broken finger he apparently plans to play through Gameweek 11.

That he saw Ben White (£6.2m) back in the starting line-up on the right side of the back line.

The lack of rotation meant longer shifts for most of Arteta’s preferred XI, with William Saliba (£6.0 million), Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.2 million), Bukayo Saka (£10.0 million) and Gabriel Martinelli (£6.9m) all involved from start to finish at San Siro.

Indeed, only Merino was taken off before the 82nd minute, being replaced at half-time by Gabriel Jesus (£6.8 million).

This moment stuttered Arsenal outfit and their fans, no doubt, have been waiting, however, finally during Wednesday’s defeat when Martin Ødegaard (£8.2m) took the field for the first time since August.

He was only given the last few minutes of added time and could not turn the score around, but the sight of the Norwegian back on his feet after his ankle injury is a boost for the Gunners, who have struggled for creativity recently during his spell. prolonged absence.

And while he may continue to be sidelined, Arteta will be hoping his creator-in-chief can play a bigger role in his side’s trip to Chelsea on Sunday.

CLOSED BUT NOT FIRING FOR LOADED GUNS

As it was on Wednesday, Arsenal came away from Milan with an impressive xG of 2.02 – but nothing of substance to it.

Their hosts kept them on their toes early on but created next to nothing after the interval, happy to staunchly defend their narrow advantage against an onslaught from the north Londoners.

The Gunners had more than 60% of the ball and registered 21 shots in total. However, only four of them were on target.

Five of those shots were from Kai Havertz (£8.1m), two of them forcing a reel-worthy save from Sommer and then a last-minute block from Yann Bisseck.

Jesus, Saka and Gabriel all had three tries each, with a header from the latter forcing a goal-line clearance from Denzel Dumfries.

That chance was, as we’ve come to expect from Arsenal, from a set piece.

However, despite 46 huge crosses being sent into Inter’s box, none of them resulted in goals again for a side who have also failed in two of their last three Premier League games.

Meanwhile, it was Martinelli who took the title of top creator in this tie, with six key assists and an xG figure of 0.79.

The wily Brazilian also had two strikes, the same number as Saliba, with Merino, Leandro Trossard (£6.9m) and even a late substitute Ethan Nwaneri (£4.5m) managing one each.

HAVERTZ RACING UPDATE

While Ødegaard’s return is undoubtedly a boost ahead of Sunday’s London derby, the 14% of FPL managers with Havertz in the squad will be anxiously awaiting Arteta’s pre-match presser for updates.

The German striker left the field under caution (and has since been yellow-flagged) during extra time following a clash of heads that left him with a bloody cut that required attention from medical staff.

He was seen leaving the stadium without a bandage on his head and Arteta said he would “hopefully” be fit for the weekend after receiving stitches.

“As for Kai, yes, he has a big discount. It had to come off because it needed some stitches, but hopefully it will be fine for the weekend.” – Mikel Arteta

Havertz will still have to pass concussion protocols – not that there have been any suggestions of that – if he is to feature at Stamford Bridge.

Asked about Merino’s early retirement, the Arsenal boss said:

“He was not hit. But yesterday and today he was already not feeling great.

“After looking at it, I decided to take it out because I need it 100 percent. – Mikel Arteta on Mikel Merino