Kevin De Bruyne (£12.0m) requires assessment ahead of Manchester City’s Double Gameweek 32 meeting with Aston Villa.
The premium midfielder was forced off as Pep Guardiola’s men crashed out of the FA Cup at the semi-final stage on Saturday.
Unfortunately for his 17.7% ownership, Manchester City’s manager was not overly positive in his post-match comments.
“He has pain now. Tomorrow we are going to make a test with the doctors but it doesn’t look good.” – Pep Guardiola
After Wednesday’s trip to Villa Park, Manchester City are not in Premier League action again until Gameweek 34 because their involvement in the EFL Cup final means they have no fixture in Blank Gameweek 33.
Ilkay Gündogan (£5.8m), Phil Foden (£6.0m) and Riyad Mahrez (£8.1m) were the key restees in attack for the Citizens on Saturday, the former pair appearing in the second half to no avail.
With neither playing more than 42 minutes, Gündogan and Foden look likely starters at Villa Park on Wednesday.
John Stones (£5.2m) was an unused substitute as Ruben Dias (£6.2m) paired with Aymeric Laporte (£6.0m) at centre-back.
Meanwhile, Chelsea also picked up an injury in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final, although arguably of less importance than Manchester City’s.
Thiago Silva (£5.6m) came off with a knock in the 88th minute, replaced by Kurt Zouma (£5.3m). Andreas Christensen (£4.7m) missed the tie with a muscle injury while César Azpilicueta (£5.9m) and Antonio Rüdiger (£4.7m) played 90 minutes.
Ben Chilwell (£5.8m) also featured for the whole game with Marcos Alonso (£5.7m) an unused substitute.
Ahead of facing Brighton on Tuesday night, key attackers Mason Mount (£7.2m), Hakim Ziyech (£7.9m) and Timo Werner (£9.2m) were treated to late rests between the 70th and 79th minute on Saturday, although the former did look somewhat uncomfortable as he left the field.
Kai Havertz (£8.2m) and Christian Pulisic (£8.3m) were both used as second-half substitutes.
Meanwhile, there were future Blank and Double Gameweek implications from Chelsea booking a place in the FA Cup final.
That match is currently scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 15, which, as things currently stand according to the Premier League website, clashes with Gameweek 37, when Chelsea host Leicester (who are in FA Cup semi-final action against Southampton today).
However, Fantasy managers should keep an eye on latest fixture developments over the coming days considering recent stories in the media. Multiple sources are reporting the penultimate round of matches will be pushed back to the midweek of that week (May 18 and 19) to allow for fans to attend after future chances to the United Kingdom’s coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions.
This could, in turn, push Gameweeks 35 and 36 later into the month of May. Chelsea are currently set to face Manchester City (away) and Arsenal (home) respectively across those two rounds.
Chelsea XI (3-4-2-1): Kepa; Rüdiger, T Silva, Azpilicueta; Chilwell, Jorginho, Kanté, R James; Mount (Pulisic 70′), Ziyech (Emerson 79′); Werner (Havertz 79′).
Manchester City XI (4-2-3-1): Steffen; B Mendy, Laporte, Dias, Cancelo; Rodri, Fernandinho; Sterling, De Bruyne (Foden 48′), Torres (Gündogan 64′); Jesus.
3 years, 8 days ago
So if Ryan plays well could end up with no playing keeper next week (Leno Forster)- and unlikely to know pre deadline- could move Forster to Ryan (4.1) as insurance - or move Leno to Patricio- what are thoughts?