Dugout Discussion

De Bruyne and Mahrez benched for EFL Cup final

Gameweek 28 has already reached its conclusion but there is another significant match taking place this afternoon between two Premier League sides.

Manchester City and Aston Villa meet in today’s EFL Cup final, with kick-off at Wembley at 16:30 GMT.

City and Villa, along with Arsenal and Sheffield United, blanked in Gameweek 28 as a result of their involvement in today’s final.

Man City v Arsenal and Aston Villa v Sheffield United remain unscheduled at the time of writing.

Pep Guardiola has made eight changes from the side that beat Real Madrid in midweek, with Kevin De Bruyne (£10.7m) and Riyad Mahrez (£8.4m) among the substitutes.

Sergio Aguero (£11.9m) and Raheem Sterling (£11.7m) start in attack.

City have another cup match, against Sheffield Wednesday, still to come before they take on their cross-city rivals in Gameweek 29.

Dean Smith has made three changes to the Aston Villa side beaten by Southampton last weekend, with Orjan Nyland (£4.3m), Bjorn Engels (£4.4m) and Ahmed Elmohamady (£4.2m) recalled.


Man City XI: Bravo, Walker, Stones, Fernandinho, Zinchenko, Rodrigo, Gundogan, Foden, D Silva, Sterling, Aguero.

Aston Villa XI: Nyland, Guilbert, Engels, Mings, Targett, Nakamba, Elmohamady, Luiz, Grealish, El Ghazi, Samatta.

785 Comments Post a Comment
  1. kamdaraji
    • 14 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    is Digne and Traore to Sarr and Chilwell worth a -4?

    1. potatoace
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Prob not chilwell. He's not been great.

    2. kamdaraji
      • 14 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      ok might just do Traore>Sarr then

    3. farmerfat
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      I owned Chilwell for most of the season. Really frustrating for his price. Would spend a bit extra to get Doherty or Alonso

      1. kamdaraji
        • 14 Years
        4 years, 1 month ago

        Digne>Alonso is also an option

  2. Bubz
    • 10 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Kun injured?

    1. g40steve
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Studs in knee

  3. Niho992
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Villa losing here and they still playing ''Park the bus'' tactic...

  4. Jet5605
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Any risk on doing the Lord > Doherty now seeing as Wolves have no midweek game or should I wait in case someone else gets injured?

    Guaita
    TAA / Robbo / Williams
    Salah / KDB / Barnes / Traore
    Vardy / Jimi / Ings

    Button / Cantwell / Webster / Lund

  5. Rainer
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Classic Kun limp.

  6. FOO FIGHTER
    • 4 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Aguero off. Took a bad knock on the chin.

  7. Bubz
    • 10 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Would it be mad to do Ryan —-> Leno?

    Cant see a keeper under 5m to bring in for him

    1. Hazz
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Pope even with the fixtures lol

    2. TorresMagic™
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 14 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Pope?

      1. Bubz
        • 10 Years
        4 years, 1 month ago

        Not sure I can bring myself to bring him back in 😆

    3. Holmes
      • 10 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Dubravka is an option, especially if he gets a game in GW31

      1. Bubz
        • 10 Years
        4 years, 1 month ago

        Good shout

    4. AC
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Yes it would be mad

    5. RAFA THE GAFFA
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Dubravka when were dumped out the cup on Tuesday

  8. ZLATAN'S PONYTAIL
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Should I be WCing soon? Want Auba but feels like I'll need at least 2/3 moves to get there
    Guaita Henderson(Palace)
    Rico TAA Doherty Simpson Baldock
    Traore Cantwell Mane Salah Bruno
    Ings Jimenez DCL
    +3.6ITB

    1. Lets jump straight into it.
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Ings > Auba
      Mane > Barnes/Armstrong/ Martial/ Grealish/ Bruno? etc etc
      Rico > upgrade

      3.6 ITB needs to be put to work!

      1. ZLATAN'S PONYTAIL
        • 8 Years
        4 years, 1 month ago

        Thanks mate

        The -8 doesn't make me happy but maybe it's needed

  9. Slitherene
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Who scores more in the next 3??

    DC-L (che, LIV, nor)
    Jimenez (BHA, whu, BOU)

    1. ZLATAN'S PONYTAIL
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Jim

  10. ⭐ Bemba_Da ⭐
    • 13 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Wow

  11. _Ninja_
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 13 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Villa hit the post

  12. g40steve
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Post Villa

  13. diesel001
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Bravo big save to stop Villa equalising!

    1. Pukki Party
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Who saved it?

  14. Buck The Trent
    • 12 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Would you do Ings, Soy to Jota, Doherty (-4) with a view to BGW31?

    1. ZLATAN'S PONYTAIL
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Yup

  15. FOO FIGHTER
    • 4 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    So close for Villa

  16. Rainer
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Lucky cheats.

  17. Don Kloppeone
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Feel like I escaped a far worse fate this GW in the end with a score of 34 (-4) and a 10k rank drop from 93k to 103k.

    Hope wasn’t too bad for rest of you!

  18. FOO FIGHTER
    • 4 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    One last push Villa. DO IT!!!

  19. fc_skrald
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Was Aurier good today? Thinking about changing him to Alonso. I can also keep Aurier and get Alonso by selling Robertson and if I do that I might as well take a chance with Sarr also.

    a. Aurier -> Alonso
    b. Robertson + Hayden -> Alonso + Sarr

    McCarthy
    TAA, Robertson, Doherty, Aurier
    Salah, KDB, Grealish
    Ings, Jiménez, Aubameyang

    Martin, Cantwell, Hayden, Lascelles
    2 FT, 1,1 million in the bank

  20. Sailboats
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    What a save

  21. Maddi Son
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Everton probably score against Chelsea don't they? So banking on Alonso getting more attacking returns. Hard to resist bringing him in this week, but wondering if it's sensible to wait until GW32. Toughy

  22. Yank Revolution
    • 12 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Looks like another City trophy, dammit.

  23. OverTinker
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Pope
    TAA Saiss Stephens
    Mane Salah KDB Grealish
    DCL Jimi Ings

    button - Holgate -Lascelles - Dendo

    3.1 in the bank and 1 FT

    1. Easy Save
    2. Grealish to Bruno
    3. Saiss to Doherty
    4. Anything else

    1. Lets jump straight into it.
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      2

  24. Robson-Canoe
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Tempted to do 2 transfers this week that look a bit sideways:
    A) Martial to Bruno
    B) Vardy to Auba

    Should I do none, just one of them or both for -4?

    1. Yank Revolution
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Id do A now and wait on B to see if Vardy is healthy enough to play.

  25. fplking14
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Anyone know why Traore is flagged?

    1. Yank Revolution
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Same shoulder again

    2. Holmes
      • 10 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Shoulder pop up

  26. Yank Revolution
    • 12 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Im going to be at my best rank since GW 6 (when I was @ 228 K)...need to keep climbing!

  27. OverTinker
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Bravo on max BAPs

  28. Rainer
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Well done, Villa!

  29. DantheManinaPan
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 10 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    If you were wildcarding this week, who would you really want?

    1. Holmes
      • 10 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Doherty, Jimenez, Jota
      Dominic
      Dubravka

      1. DantheManinaPan
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 10 Years
        4 years, 1 month ago

        Triple Wolves! Interesting...

        Also intrigued by Dubravka...

    2. _Ninja_
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Pope, TAA, Doc, Alonso, Bruno, Auba

      1. DantheManinaPan
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 10 Years
        4 years, 1 month ago

        Makes sense. Are we 100% about Alonso's gametime though...?

    3. pingissimus
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Pope Ederson
      TAA Robbo Doherty Taylor Kiko
      Mo KdB Sarr Bruno Rich
      Auba Jota DCL

      1. DantheManinaPan
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 10 Years
        4 years, 1 month ago

        Looks string that, but out of my budget I think

        1. DantheManinaPan
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 10 Years
          4 years, 1 month ago

          Strong* 😆

    4. Am sorry to say again it�…
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Dubravka
      Doherty
      Fleck
      Jota, DCL, Auba

      1. DantheManinaPan
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 10 Years
        4 years, 1 month ago

        Why Jota over Jimenez? - I think I'd rather go for the added security of starts.

        Also intrigued to see how much you like Dubravka and Fleck...

    5. DantheManinaPan
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Cheers all!

  30. Niho992
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 1 month ago

    Lol to Villa. They attack last 3 minute. Didnt deserve trophy. Get out to the championship !

    1. Gnu
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Oh Trollboy, why don't you leave this to the adults and go play with your toys.

      1. Niho992
        • 5 Years
        4 years, 1 month ago

        Obsessed one is back !!!

        1. Maddi Son
          • 6 Years
          4 years, 1 month ago

          Could go play with the worms in the garden?

    2. ⭐ Bemba_Da ⭐
      • 13 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Tactics almost worked. I'm sure being in the game going into the last ten minutes was their plan

    3. FOO FIGHTER
      • 4 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      City should not have had a corner for their second goal.

      Luck of the draw = City.

      1. DeadStarComing
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 13 Years
        4 years, 1 month ago

        Villa should have been down to 10. Even luck.

      2. Niho992
        • 5 Years
        4 years, 1 month ago

        nobody cares they won trophy

    4. Rainer
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Attack back all game and lose 4/5-1, or that?

      Tactics worked well, they get ET on another day.

      Worked with what they have and went very close:

    5. Citizenkane91
      • 9 Years
      4 years, 1 month ago

      Yes, beating City at their own game, where they are the best in the world, would not lead to a worse result...

      Got to play at the intersection of your strengths and your opponents flaws