The newly prolific Raheem Sterling makes the difference as Manchester City cruise to a 1-0 win at Newcastle.
A third straight double-digit haul from the Manchester City winger took Pep Guardiola’s side to 18 league wins in a row and Sterling to second in Fantasy Premier League’s (FPL) scoring charts.
The England international scored his 13th goal of the season, and his fourth in three Gameweeks, as City edged a very deep-lying Newcastle.
Kevin De Bruyne provided a ninth assist of the campaign – a league-high tally – and missed a couple of chances to score himself, while Sergio Aguero hit the woodwork twice in the first half.
But it was Sterling’s night. Again.
The midfielder has featured in every match since Gameweek 10, starting the last 10, and has produced either a goal or an assist in eight of them.
Despite such consistency of both starts and performance, he was captained by only 168,406 (or 3.0%) for Gameweek 20, as maximum bonus took him to 11 points and 36 across his last three stellar performances.
His ownership has increased by more than a million over the last six Gameweeks and his price has now risen to 8.8 as a further 64,000+ managers have made him Gameweek 21’s fourth most popular signing.
Captained by 229,000+ (4.1%) last night, De Bruyne has started every league match this season and has now produced points in seven of the last ten Gameweeks to emerge as the go-to option for Sterling owners looking to double-up on the City midfield.
Frustration elsewhere for City attack
Despite starting a fourth straight match for the first time this season, Aguero continues to disappoint.
He has now blanked in four of his last six starts – a big blow to the 340,000+ (6.1%) who handed him the armband and then endured 76 fruitless minutes from their man.
For once, he wasn’t replaced by his erstwhile strike partner Gabriel Jesus as the Brazilian was already on the pitch.
Jesus, who was sold by more than 93,000 heading into the Newcastle match, replaced the injured Vincent Kompany after ten minutes as coach Pep Guardiola switched to a 3-5-2 in which Fernandinho dropped back into defence.
But these are tough times for managers hanging onto City strikers, with those standing by Jesus suffering the most.
Since his last goal in Gameweek 12, he’s started just twice, not featured at all a further two times and the three assists he’s managed have not been enough to dissuade more than 336,000 FPL bosses to sell him and move on.
Midfielders David Silva and Leroy Sane both enjoy ownerships close to the 900,000 mark, but neither is proving to be a reliable source of points at present.
The Spaniard was again absent from the squad last night, with reports that he was back in his homeland for personal reasons as yet unconfirmed.
The fact that even the club’s official website failed to give a reason for his absence would suggest it wasn’t a tactical move on Guardiola’s part, however.
Sane, meanwhile, has apparently dropped down the pecking order in recent weeks.
Having started eight matches in a row from Gameweek 6, the German has been named on the teamsheet in just four of the subsequent seven and was given just seven minutes from the bench at St James’ Park.
He was sold by 86,000+ ahead of Gameweek 20 and although he could be on for starts at Crystal Palace and then home to Watford, nothing can be taken for granted when it comes to Guardiola and rotation.
Another Clean Sheet for Otamendi and co
The league leaders moved level with Chelsea and Man United for clean sheets by grabbing their tenth of the campaign.
At the heart of that defensive resolve is Nicolas Otamendi (6.3).
FPL’s most popular defender, with 29.8% ownership, the Argentine has helped City keep a league-best six clean sheets on the road and his two bonus points last night took him to 14 for the season.
An eight-point tally took him into third among FPL defenders on 102 points, just eight off Marco Alonso at the summit.
Second only to the Chelsea wing-back for transfers in this Gameweek, Otamendi’s security of starts was underlined once again last night as Kompany limped off early, while John Stones is still unavailable.
Elsewhere at the back, Fabien Delph missed out for the first time since Gameweek 6 as he was deemed to be “not fully fit”, making him an early doubt for the Palace match on New Years’ Eve.
Danilo took Delph’s place on the left as a result and mirrored Otamendi’s output after also claiming two bonus points.
Benitez keeps his powder dry
If Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez’s plan was to rest key players while trying to keep the scoreline respectable last night, then it was job done.
City were never forced into top gear against their hosts, but the fact that it was the first time since Gameweek 7, against Chelsea, that the league leaders have failed to score two or more goals was tribute to the Magpies’ organisation.
Benitez watched his side reduced to just two shots on target from 22% possession, although Otamendi did have to clear one effort off the line.
But he was able to preserve key men Matt Ritchie, who was rested, and Dwight Gayle and Christian Atsu, who were given limited second-half minutes, for the rather more winnable fixture that is the visit of Brighton on Saturday.
Newcastle’s most owned player in FPL, goalkeeper Rob Elliot (23.4%), was again benched by the vast majority of his 1.3 million managers.
Those who risked him were rewarded with what was probably a better than par total of three points, thanks to the surprisingly low final score and an extra point gained from the five saves he made.
