Manchester City finally book their place in the FA Cup quarter finals as they hit five for the second match running and confirm their double Gameweek 27.
Man City 5 Huddersfield 1
A Sergio Aguero brace and fine performances from Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane broke a spirited Huddersfield at the second time of asking.
It also sparked an overnight rush to buy into the consequent double Gameweek for City, who travel to Sunderland at the weekend before entertaining Stoke City next Wednesday.
Aguero leapt from ninth to fifth for players purchased with more than 36,000 swooping in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, Sterling rose to second (from fourth) with over 28,000 investing overnight. Both John Stones and Sane also enjoyed an increase in transfers among Fantasy managers keen to exploit the short-term appeal of Pep Guardiola’s players.
And short-term it is. A blank Gameweek 28 will follow, with Liverpool at home and away matches at Arsenal and Chelsea to come after that.
The victory over Huddersfield was a very City performance – at times irresistible in attack, often incoherent in defence.
The recalled Claudio Bravo looked like a man giving up goalkeeping for Lent when he dived over a Huddersfield shot to give the visitors a shock early lead.
But when Sane equalised from a Sterling assist and Aguero scored from the penalty spot following a foul on Nicolas Otamendi, the tie was only ever going to end one way.
A Pablo Zabaleta tap-in from an Aguero cut-back before the break confirmed the primacy of their attack, although the visitors still had good chances either side of half-time as City’s defence once again failed to impress.
Sterling set up Aguero for his second and substitutes Kelechi Iheanacho and Jesus Navas combined to round off the scoring at the death as a tired Huddersfield finally capitulated.
Aguero (12.7) now has four goals and three assists from his last four starts in all competitions and his high price is clearly not an issue for some Fantasy managers.
Guardiola was certainly keen to talk him up post-match.
“It’s the best Sergio Aguero ever. Today the performance was amazing. The runs were at the right moment and the right tempo. His performance was top.”
Sterling, however, is looking particularly consistent – he has either scored or assisted in his last six matches in all competitions – and his 7.8 price tag is rather more easily afforded by those with less cash to splash.
Let’s also not forget Sane, though, whose opener took his tally to four goals and three assists in his last seven starts across all competitions. Setting you back 7.5 and with 1% ownership, the German looks well set to emerge as an enticing differential for the double.
Manchester City X: Bravo, Zabaleta, Stones, Otamendi, Clichy, Fernandinho, Sane (Navas 81), De Bruyne (Delph 75), Garcia, Sterling, Agüero (Iheanacho 79).
Subs not used: Caballero, Sagna, Fernando, Silva.
