Wigan Athletic pull off one of the biggest shocks of recent FA Cup history by knocking out Man City, with a post-match incident involving star striker Sergio Aguero adding further potential woe for Pep Guardiola’s men.
The 1-0 win, courtesy of combustible striker Will Grigg’s second-half goal, confirmed that City’s Gameweek 28 trip to Arsenal will now go ahead on Thursday March 1, four days after the same teams clash in the Carabao Cup final this Sunday.
However, despite City’s exit, the result failed to reinforce Gameweek 31, with their opponent over that round of fixtures – Brighton – already having progressed to the last eight.
With that in mind, the schedule now promotes sales of Guardiola’s charges, who now face just one bottom-half opponent in the next seven Gameweeks.
After the league match with Arsenal, City entertain Chelsea, travel to Stoke City and then have a blank Gameweek 31. That’s then followed by trips to Everton and Spurs either side of a Manchester derby at the Etihad.
Furthermore, should City progress to the Champions League quarter-finals at the expense of FC Basel, the first and second legs will be played in the midweek prior to their league encounters with Man United and Spurs respectively.
On a more positive note, Gameweek 35’s kind home match with Swansea City – set for the weekend of the FA Cup semi-finals – will go ahead unless the Swans win both their fifth round replay with Sheffield Wednesday and a quarter-final tie against either Spurs or Rochdale. Should the Welsh club fail to make the last four, playing the Free Hit Chip in Gameweek 35, rather than Gameweek 31, looks increasingly favourable.
Having said that, with City set to offer two fixtures in Gameweek 34, non-Free Hit managers can load up prior to the double and have them active and available for Gameweek 35. It therefore seems unlikely that City’s assets will be exclusive to Free Hit squads come Gameweek 35.
Last night’s defeat involved another failure to keep a clean sheet – City have managed just three shut-outs in 12 matches in all competitions since the turn of the year.
That has prompted early Gameweek 28 sales in Fantasy Premier League’s (FPL) most popular defender, Nicolas Otamendi.
Owned by 30%, the centre-half has been sold by 63,000+ managers – only three players have been moved on by more – although the trend for sales is not being seen across all City assets.
Indeed, Aguero is currently the second most purchased player of the Gameweek, with 120,000+ bringing him in on the back of a four-goal showing against Leicester City in Gameweek 27.
Those new managers would have watched post-match events with some alarm as the Argentinian striker was involved in an altercation with a Wigan fan during a pitch invasion that followed the final whistle.
There are reports in the media that his actions could lead to an FA investigation, but regardless of what the authorities decide, one City player will definitely be out for the foreseeable future.
Fabien Delph was dismissed just before half-time last night for what was deemed to be a reckless challenge on Wigan’s Max Power.
He is now suspended for three matches which means, with the Carabao Cup final also factored in, he will next be available for selection for the Gameweek 30 trip to Stoke City.
Delph was one of five players to retain their place from the side that had beaten Leicester 5-1.
Claudio Bravo returned in goal and Danilo, John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Leroy Sane and David Silva also came in.
Otamendi and Raheem Sterling had the night off, while Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker were on the bench, with both introduced after the interval.
Delph’s dismissal prompted Guardiola to bring Walker on at right-back, with Danilo swapping flanks and the ineffectual Sane making way.
The German winger is still being eased back into action following an ankle ligament injury, and it would be a surprise if Sterling doesn’t start both the Carabao Cup final and the league match with Arsenal.
The England international, who with 37.4% ownership is City’s most popular player in FPL, is just outside the top ten for sales ahead of Gameweek 28 despite producing either a goal or an assist in eight of his last 10 starts.
Based on their upcoming schedule, more City assets could well be ushered out of FPL squads in the near future.
But the defeat at Wigan and last week’s 4-0 win at Basel in the Champions League – the second leg of that tie falls between the fixtures with Chelsea and Stoke – relieves some of the need for Guardiola to rotate his key players over the next few league matches.
That might persuade some managers to stick with their City stars despite the relative severity of the schedule to come.
