Burnley peg back Man City on a day of frustration for both the league leaders and an army of Fantasy managers.
The more philosophical will have shrugged off City’s 1-1 draw at Turf Moor as ‘just one of those days’, but those who had stocked up on City’s attack were left surveying the Fantasy wreckage of so much expensive talent bringing in meagre returns.
Three of Gameweek 26’s most popular purchases, Sergio Aguero (89,000+), Raheem Sterling (97,000+) and Kevin De Bruyne (92,000+), toiled for precious little reward against Sean Dyche’s men, with Sterling guilty of a particularly glaring miss.
That came when City were 1-0 up and in total control of a match in which they had 20 shots to their opponents’ eight, creating a chance every 4.7 minutes as they went.
Left-back Danilo, back in the side in place of Oleksandr Zinchenko, scored the goal when he curled home a Bernardo Silva pass; reward for a strong attacking performance from the defender, who had more attempts on goal than all but one player.
Sterling was the one man to better the Brazilian’s four shots, and the key attempt of his five on the day involved missing an open goal from three yards out.
That changed the mood in the stadium, inspiring a Burnley revival which culminated in Johan Berg Gudmundsson’s equaliser from a Matthew Lowton assist.
The Icelander has only scored twice in the league this season, but both have come in the last five Gameweeks as he continues to provide notable value, at 5.0, to the select band of 44,817 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers currently enjoying his services as their fifth midfielder.
Enjoyment was a considerably rarer commodity among owners of City’s stars.
Aguero blanked for the first time in four Gameweeks to deliver just two points for the 940,000 (16.5%) who captained him. That included 39 of the top 100 FPL managers, while 28% of the 17,900 who played their Triple Captain chip used it on the Argentine.
A fixture with Leicester City follows for Aguero which, crucially, comes at home as the forward has now gone four away matches without a goal.
De Bruyne has been equally underwhelming on the road, with just a single goal and assist from his last seven away days.
Sterling might have ended the match as the scapegoat, with Pep Guardiola bringing him off soon after his miss, but he has blanked only twice in nine Gameweek starts. The other was in the loss at Liverpool.
Of more concern should be City’s increasingly brittle backline, which has kept just one clean sheet in five.
John Stones remained sidelined – this time with a knee injury sustained in training – but that didn’t mean that Aymeric Laporte’s 93,000+ new owners reaped the reward as Guardiola partnered Vincent Kompany with Nicolas Otamendi at centre-half.
But whatever the combination, City’s defensive stock is on the slide as matches with Arsenal and Chelsea draw ever nearer.
In fact, trying to guess Guardiola’s teamsheet across all positions for the Leicester City match will be a tough task as the Gameweek 27 encounter comes just three days before their Champions League Round of 16 clash with Basel.
It remains to be seen how City approach that encounter, though having dropped points at Burnley, it could now be that Guardiola abandons any thoughts of rest and rotation.
As for Burnley, it was a predictably busy day for keeper Nick Pope (8.8%). Having produced just two save points from his previous five starts, he earned two more today, making six stops – more than any other goalkeeper in the Gameweek.
That was his best tally since Gameweek 17 and helped him to a bonus point made it 16 for the season now, ranking top among keepers.
The Clarets have kept only one clean sheet in eight matches, but an injury to Phil Bardsley, who was substituted at half-time, might well put Lowton back on our radars.
The defender’s assist caught the eye, as could his 4.3 price tag in the light of Burnley’s short-term schedule (swa SOT EVE whu) and a run-in that involves only matches with Chelsea and Arsenal of any major concern.
