Scout Notes – Otamendi in Demand

Fantasy managers flock to Man City’s goal scoring centre-half in light of yesterday’s derby winner but the fortunes of two big-hitting forwards take a turn for the worse.

Nicolas Otamendi is now up to joint-second in the Fantasy Premier League defender standings after delivering a fourth double-digit haul of the season.

The Argentine’s winner at Old Trafford took his tally to four goals for the campaign – more than any other defender – with a potential for points at both ends of the pitch proving pivotal at a time when Man City are struggling to keep out opponents.

Since John Stones limped off against Leicester in Gameweek 12, the league leaders have failed to register a clean sheet in four fixtures. And with Vincent Kompany hauled off at half-time due to injury, Pep Guardiola may be forced to field Eliaquim Mangala at centre-half until Stones is available.

Yet those problems merely cement Otamendi’s pitch-time at a point where rest and rotation is starting to hit hard right across the top-flight.

While we can expect his manager to chop and change in the final third, Guardiola simply has no alternatives to replace the Argentine right now.

And with Swansea, Bournemouth, Newcastle, Palace and Watford in five of their next six between now and Gameweek 22 on January 2, Otamendi is the number one transfer target since Saturday’s deadline, with over 71,000 FPL managers rushing to acquire his services.

Silva on the ascent

David Silva’s opener at Old Trafford – his second goal in as many matches – continued the Spaniard’s climb up the FPL standings.

Despite netting in last week’s win over West Ham, the recent trend of Silva sales continued – over 128,000 managers parted company ahead of the Manchester derby, with his price having tumbled from 8.6 in Gameweek 10 down to 8.1.

Yet a third goal of the season, allied with two bonus points, served a reminder of Silva’s potential as he climbed ahead of team-mate Leroy Sane in the City midfield pecking order, by 86 points to 85.

Having started all but one of the opening 16 Gameweeks, Silva now has three goals and eight assists – just one shy of his respective tallies in 2016/17.

Both Sane and Raheem Sterling started on either side of Gabriel Jesus in the visitors’ front three but the German’s poor recent form shows no sign of abating – another blank means he now has just a single assist in the last six Gameweeks.

Up top, Sergio Aguero’s appeal was dented further as he dropped down to the bench for the first time in four Gameweeks.

Indeed, the Argentine’s 15.8% owners were left to rely on their bench autosubs when he suffered the ignominy of failing to play a single minute of the derby win as Guardiola rolled out a striker-less formation after replacing Jesus before the hour-mark.

While this at least bodes well for his chances of starting away to Swansea in midweek, many Aguero owners have had enough – over 36,000 have parted company in the last 24 hours alone.

Lukaku toils continue

Romelu Lukaku has now scored just one goal in nine Gameweeks after yet another failure in yesterday’s 2-1 home loss.

Handed a role as a lone striker as Jose Mourinho switched from 3-4-1-2 to 4-2-3-1, Lukaku once again played from start to finish but managed just two attempts, with one on target.

It was left to Marcus Rashford – with his first strike since Gameweek 9 – to find the net, capitalising on errors from Otamendi and then Fabian Delph to score United’s solitary effort.

Sold by over 222,000 FPL managers last week, Lukaku was second only to suspended team-mate Paul Pogba for sales.

And despite a very obliging festive schedule (BOU wba lei BUR SOU eve) between now and New Year’s Day, that exodus is showing no sign of slowing – only Aaron Ramsey has suffered more transfers out over the last 24 hours.

Lukaku remains the only forward in the Premier League to have played every minute of the season so far but with Zlatan Ibrahimovic earning further pitch-time off the bench yesterday, that record seems unlikely to remain for much longer.

At the back, Victor Lindelof dropped to the bench due to the move to a four-man rearguard, with the fit-again Phil Jones also named among the subs.

Yet it was the former who replaced Marcos Rojo at the break after the Argentine sustained a first-half facial injury, with Mourinho perhaps reluctant to throw Jones into the fray after his recent injury absence.

That arguably leaves Chris Smalling as United’s most assured starter at centre-half over the congested upcoming period – the 5.4-priced former Fulham man has now been named on the teamsheet in ten successive Gameweeks.