Manchester City win a third straight match 2-1 in a hit and miss affair for Fantasy Premier League managers.
So much pre-match Fantasy talk centred on whether Pep Guardiola would risk Leroy Sane, one caution away from a suspension, and rest Raheem Sterling after starts in six successive matches, including four Gameweeks.
In the end, they both played and promptly blanked against West Ham.
The German managed more shots (five) than any team-mate and he did at least avoid seeing yellow, so will be available for Gameweek 16’s Manchester derby.
But Sane’s last four league matches have now produced just one assist – modest returns for his 22.3% ownership.
Sterling (19.3%) missed one big chance and blanked for only the third time in ten appearances, but that hasn’t put off potential suitors, with more than 39,000 bringing him in for Gameweek 16 compared to 22,000+ getting rid.
Sane, however, is currently the third most sold player, with close to 60,000 moving him out. This follows over 338,000 sales ahead of Saturday’s deadline as Gameweek 15’s most sold player.
David Silva (16.2%) is also continuing to suffer losses. His winning goal on Sunday, from a Kevin De Bruyne assist, helped the Spaniard to two bonus and a haul of nine points.
Silva created more chances (five) than any City player against West Ham and fired in four shots as well. He has started all but one match this season in the league and, priced at 8.2, is now the cheapest route into the City attack.
But all that has failed to stop a consistent slide in ownership – he was the third most sold player going into Gameweek 15 (140,000+)- and a steady drop in price, which has now sunk by 0.4 since Gameweek 10.
Even the ever-present De Bruyne is not immune to the exodus as Fantasy managers seem to be selling City midfielders to fund moves to the two big scorers from the weekend, Eden Hazard and Philippe Coutinho.
It’s a risky strategy, although City’s immediate schedule (mun swa TOT) and the perma-doubt created by Guardiola’s rotation policy could have much to do with it.
Striking problems grind on
Sergio Aguero has started every home league match when available this season, and that run continued yesterday.
Unfortunately for his 19.3% ownership, it meant a second successive blank at the Etihad as well.
This was particularly chastening for the 8.8% of managers who made the Argentine the fourth most-captained player of the weekend and, much like his midfield team-mates, the sales are in full flow.
More than 38,000 have moved Aguero out, making him the fifth most sold player thus far.
The 14.5% who own Gabriel Jesus are equally twitchy – just over 33,000 have got rid – with the striker reduced to another bit-part performance from the bench.
The Brazilian has started just three of the last six Gameweeks as Aguero continues to take the lion’s share of the forward duties, although he’s still managed two goals and three assists from his reduced rations.
But with big-ticket midfielders starting to dominate the Fantasy landscape, Aguero (11.7) is suddenly struggling to justify his premium price, while Jesus’ (10.4) pitch-time continues to limit his potential.
Otamendi to the rescue
Jesus marked yesterday’s 45-minute run-out with the assist for Nicolas Otamendi’s equaliser.
The Argentine (17.8%) is the most popular player in a defence that’s struggled for solidity since the injury to John Stones.
City have now kept just one clean sheet in six, compared with six in the first nine Gameweeks, and only Otamendi’s clear goal threat is keeping him ticking over.
A third goal of the season earned the centre-half maximum bonus and an 11-point haul. But his scores since last netting in Gameweek 9 – 0, 1, 0, 0, 2 – are a stark reminder of the side’s sudden fragility at the back.
Since Stones’ absence from Gameweek 13, City have still looked secure from open play. But opponents are beginning to pray on their uncertainty at dead-balls. City have conceded 56.6% of their chances at set-pieces over their last three Gameweeks. This stood at 37.1% from Gameweeks 1-12 with Stones alongside Otamendi.
Vincent Kompany was benched yesterday as he is on four cautions for the season and that meant that Eliaquim Mangala was drafted in to face the Hammers.
The City defence need to address the fragility at set-pieces, a factor that Jose Mourinho will doubtless seek to exploit in the Gameweek 16 derby.
Otamendi’s owners will be thankful of Sunday’s tally but also concerned that the defender won’t always be able to produce an attacking return to paper over the cracks.
Hope for the Hammers?
David Moyes oversaw a spirited, but ultimately doomed, performance from his new charges as Michail Antonio was initially handed a lone striker spot, with Manuel Lanzini in support, in a 3-5-1-1 formation.
The team responded well to the challenge and were a threat both on the counter and from set-pieces, one of which led to Angelo Ogbonna’s opener from an Aaron Cresswell cross.
But nobody’s going to be investing in a team that has to host Chelsea and Arsenal over the next two Gameweeks, with the home crowd unlikely to be quite so enamoured with Moyes’ defensive tactics.
After that, however, the Hammers have just two tough fixtures from Gameweeks 18-30.
Moyes’ men are a work in progress, but their assets might just appear on our radars if the new manager can build on the (slight) progress to date.
6 years, 4 months agoPip Coutinho!