A four-goal blast and the season’s top Gameweek score from Sergio Aguero lights up Man City’s 5-1 win over Leicester City, bringing joy and anguish to Fantasy managers far and wide.
What a difference a week makes.
Some 16.59% of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers – close to a million overall – captained Sergio Aguero to a dispiriting two-point haul at Burnley last Saturday.
It was a decision compounded by Mohamed Salah’s double and 15 points the next day against Spurs.
Only 13.14% had handed the armband to the Egyptian, and it was clear that they weren’t going to make the same mistake when today’s deadline came around.
Salah is this Gameweek’s most-captained player, with 1,265,000+ (22.06%) hoping for big things from tomorrow’s trip to Southampton.
Some will have doubtless transferred their allegiance from Aguero, who was captained by 778,000 (13.56%) managers ahead of today’s outing.
Keeping faith in the City striker produced a season-best 21-point haul as he fired a second hat-trick in four Gameweeks – and his third of the season – in the demolition of the Foxes.
Salah is outstanding, but he’ll do well to get anywhere close to Aguero’s tally, which could be hugely significant for many overall rankings and mini-leagues.
Aguero has now scored nine goals in six Gameweeks and has 11 from his last five home matches.
Those home comforts are extreme – he’s scored 66 points in his last five matches at the Etihad Stadium, with a mere 16 from his previous five away fixtures.
Aguero is now up to 7.3 points per match, second only to that man Salah among outfield players, although his biggest haul arrives just as we’re forced to re-assess City’s assets.
Guardiola’s men now play three times before they resume Gameweek action – in Basel, at Wigan in the FA Cup and against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final.
That not only offers the risk of injury and suspension, but there’s also the added scenario where if Wigan take City to a replay – not out of the question if Guardiola fields a second string XI – then the Gameweek 28 fixture with Arsenal will be postponed.
Aguero is already attracting big interest in the FPL market – he is second for transfers in currently – but, in truth, investing now is a risk.
The reality could be that his window may have passed as Guardiola indicated in Friday’s press conference that Gabriel Jesus might only be ten days from a return.
Certainly, having been pushed into six successive 90 minutes since Jesus’ injury at Crystal Palace, we can expect some rest for Aguero once the Brazilian returns. A rotation policy will likely resume, particularly if Aguero is seen as the favoured option for European ties.
De Bruyne & Sterling chip in
While Aguero dominated, the efforts of City’s key midfield assets should not be overlooked.
Raheem Sterling was the fourth most sold player ahead of the Gameweek, with 105,000+ managers moving him out.
He punished the doubters with a goal and has now produced a goal or an assist in eight of his last 10 starts.
Kevin De Bruyne, meanwhile, provided a hat-trick of assists, moving him to 16 for the season, which is four more than any other player.
He has 45 points from his last five home matches and his 13 points today was his eighth double-figure haul of the season, six of which have come at the Etihad.
The Belgian has managed just one goal across the last nine Gameweeks, but eight assists over that spell is a decidedly pleasant second prize for his 22.9% ownership.
The only dampener on the day was City’s defence, which continues to falter.
With just one clean sheet from their last six Gameweeks now, Nicolas Otamendi – the top owned defender in the game (31.3%) – is looking increasingly vulnerable.
His plight is not helped by the fact that he started his 15th successive match in all competitions today, with a rest surely beckoning soon.
Otamendi was sold by 50,000 this week, and those sales will likely pick up now the fixtures are stiffening, with Arsenal and Chelsea up next for Guardiola’s men.
Four in four for Vardy
Leicester briefly threatened to make a match of it when Jamie Vardy scored for the fourth successive Gameweek – the first time he’s managed that since his record 11-in-a-row spree from the Foxes’ title-winning year.
And Riyad Mahrez finally made an appearance following his transfer window shenanigans, starting on the bench before coming on after 61 minutes.
The Algerian has lost 469,000 owners since his non-transfer tantrum, but Leicester’s schedule is strong enough for him to start rebuilding bridges promptly.
The Foxes play only two of the top six over the remaining 11 matches, although they will miss Gameweek 31 if they can see off Sheffield United in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
