Silverware for City and a vital win for United make it a day to remember for their respective fans, but both matches also come with Fantasy repercussions.
Pep Guardiola’s first trophy in England arrived via a resounding 3-0 win over Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final.
Goals from Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany and David Silva sealed the deal, with Claudio Bravo, Ilkay Gundogan and Danilo providing the assists.
The scoreline didn’t flatter City, while Guardiola’s line-up gave us mixed messages as to the players who might figure most prominently in the run-in.
Nicolas Otamendi and Kompany would now seem to be the preferred starters at the heart of the defence, but with all four centre-halves now fit, rotation remains a big concern for owners of the Argentine in particular.
He was sold by 117,000+ last week and with Arsenal, Chelsea, Man United and Spurs to face over the next six matches – plus a blank Gameweek 31 – his 29.6% ownership is likely to continue falling.
Yesterday’s clean sheet was something of a rarity as City have managed just one of those in the last six Gameweeks, and a hamstring injury for Fernandinho won’t help that particular cause.
The influential Brazilian limped off after 52 minutes at Wembley and Guardiola’s post-match assessment was not optimistic.
“The next games I think he will be out. We will see on Monday the extent of the injury.”
That could hand Gundogan more minutes in central midfield, although the German is not exactly a like-for-like replacement and offers less mobility and defensive protection than the dynamic Fernandinho.
John Stones could be an option in that role, however, and if that proves to be the case, that would clearly ease the rotation concerns in central defence.
The City coach continued to ring the changes in the centre of the park to underline the futility of trying to second-guess his decisions.
With Raheem Sterling missing out completely with a muscle injury, Guardiola pulled a surprise by playing Kevin De Bruyne on the flank against the Gunners, with David Silva used in a more central attacking role as Bernardo Silva dropped to the bench.
Sterling is suffering further sales as a result – he currently tops Gameweek 29’s transfers-out table. It remains to be seen if he recovers to make the squad and is thrown in at the Emirates Stadium Thursday.
Up front, Aguero scored but remains very much the homeboy in the league – all 11 of his goals since Gameweek 17 have come at the Etihad.
He has also started 11 of the last 13 matches in all competitions, so the return of Gabriel Jesus, who came on for a late cameo yesterday, will clearly have an impact on the Argentine’s minutes from now on, possibly beginning in Gameweek 29.
City entertain Chelsea just three days after that, although a 4-0 win in Switzerland means Guardiola does at least have the luxury of being able to rotate in the Champions League tie against Basel that follows in midweek.
Gunners fire blanks
Arsenal were chasteningly bad yesterday, very poor defensively and only intermittingly threatening going forward.
Arsene Wenger’s decision to revert to a back three proved ineffective, and a backline that hasn’t kept a clean sheet since Gameweek 18 was weakened further by a recurrence of the back injury that has troubled Nacho Monreal since late last year.
The 8.7%-owned Spaniard has managed just two sets of 90 minutes from Gameweek 18 onwards and lasted only 26 minutes of the final.
He is now a doubt for Thursday, with his replacement at Wembley, Sead Kolasinac, the obvious choice to continue.
Aaron Ramsey returned in midfield after missing the Spurs match, but Arsenal currently lack continuity in attacking areas – the result of the ineligibility of Henrikh Mkhitaryan for the Carabao Cup and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the Europa League.
The new signings should start against City later this week, but an improved performance from the whole side is now needed if we are to regain confidence in Arsenal’s assets.
The team certainly has a superb run-in, with just the two Manchester sides to face, and a great schedule (STK SOT new WHU) following the blank Gameweek 31.
Those Wildcarding in Gameweek 32 might wish to take advantage – particularly when the Gunners are handed their likely double Gameweek 34 – but the team will need to pick themselves up from yesterday’s lows and provide some form to go with those fixtures.
United bounce back
Romelu Lukaku and Jesse Lingard secured a 2-1 comeback win for Man United against Chelsea.
The Blues took the lead when the in-form Willian emphatically converted Eden Hazard’s clever reverse pass, only for goals in each half to turn the match around for the hosts.
It was a bittersweet win for Fantasy managers, however.
Lingard ended a run of five blanks when he headed the winner from a Lukaku cross, but his barren spell has lost him over 470,000 FPL managers, with 169,000+ getting rid ahead of Gameweek 28.
The midfielder was benched for the Chelsea match, ending a run of seven successive league starts earned by producing six goals and two assists from the previous seven Gameweeks.
His ownership has nearly halved over those five blanks, while Lukaku now sits in just over 1.1 million squads – down from a high of 3.1 million in Gameweek 7.
The Belgian was back to his very best yesterday, coolly converting Anthony Martial’s pass on the way to a 12-point return boosted by maximum bonus.
That was his first double-digit tally since Gameweek 5, but Lukaku is starting to find some solid form – three goals and two assists from his last six starts – for an otherwise forgotten Fantasy asset.
United’s schedule does involve Liverpool and Man City over their next four matches, with a blank Gameweek 31 also dampening their attractiveness.
Sales of nearly all of United’s players have been ongoing recently, with Paul Pogba losing over 200,000 managers in the last two weeks.
The Frenchman returned to the starting XI yesterday, but has now gone four Gameweeks without a goal or assist.
The Red Devils’ defensive resilience is also suffering, with only one clean sheet in four matches hampering the productivity of their most popular asset, David De Gea (43.2%).
The Spaniard did make six saves yesterday to earn four points overall, but the continued absence of Phil Jones with an injury has made him the second most sold player ahead of Gameweek 29, and the return of Eric Bailly adds further doubt to the future make-up of United’s backline.
Chelsea have similar defensive issues.
They, too, have managed only one shut-out in four matches and sales of Marcos Alonso, who has played just one of the last three Gameweeks, are continuing.
The wing-back was the fourth most sold player going into Gameweek 28, with 164,000+ cutting their losses, and a weekend trip to Man City is likely to usher more managers out of the door.
A plum home match with Crystal Palace follows, but that comes just four days before the second leg of their Champions League tie with Barcelona, so coach Antonio Conte could use the domestic fixture as an opportunity to rotate some members of his squad.
Willian could certainly be one under threat in that match.
The Brazilian maintained his fine recent form with Chelsea’s goals and now has three and as many assists from his last four starts, and one of those was a 32-minute appearance curtailed by the dismissal of Tiemoue Bakayoko at Watford.
Willian is currently the second most signed player ahead of Gameweek 29, while Hazard’s ownership has remained relatively stable around the 8% mark on the back of his own excellent form.
The Belgian’s assist and bonus point kept his tally ticking over after a burst of six goals from the previous six Gameweeks.
Chelsea’s attack was also bolstered by Alvaro Morata’s first start since Gameweek 23.
His appearance suggests that he is above Olivier Giroud in the pecking order – the Frenchman was limited to a late cameo from the bench as Conte chased the match.
The Blues’ run-in following their Gameweek 31 blank may yet promote investment in their key assets as they look to secure a top-four finish.
Granted, a Gameweek 32 home match with Spurs lessens their allure for those Wildcarding in that round of fixtures, but Conte’s men then face five bottom-half sides in the remaining six Gameweeks and also have at least one double to come.
