Four clubs have a Double Gameweek 33 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) – Arsenal, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Manchester City.
In this Scouting the Doubles, we take a closer look at Pep Guardiola’s side.
City went into this season as four-in-a-row Premier League champions, but for various reasons, it’s proved a difficult campaign.
Despite that, City are still battling to make it into the top five and thereby reach the UEFA Champions League, ensuring motivation shouldn’t be an issue during the run-in.
THE FIXTURES
With a top-five finish set to clinch qualification for next season’s Champions League, Tuesday’s home clash with Aston Villa is crucial, given that Unai Emery’s side currently sit just one point behind City in seventh.
A trip to Goodison Park precedes it, a fixture which will pose different questions for Guardiola’s side.
It certainly isn’t a straightforward ‘double’, given Villa and Everton’s form.
Above image from SoccerSTATS
That said, City do have one of the better post-Gameweek 34 runs, facing none of the current top seven teams in their final four fixtures.
It therefore lifts the appeal of their players, particularly if you plan to use the Free Hit chip in the upcoming ‘blank’.
ROTATION RISK?
Guardiola has a reputation for tinkering with his starting XI.
Now more than ever, his teamsheets are incredibly hard to predict, so of course, the Spaniard is capable of making surprise selection calls, especially in periods of fixture congestion.
Looking at the upcoming schedule for City, we could see possible rotation ahead of the FA Cup semi-final.
You’d think qualifying for next season’s Champions League will remain the priority, however.
- Saturday 19 April: Everton (a), Gameweek 33
- Tuesday 22 April: Aston Villa (h), Gameweek 33
- Sunday 26 April: Nottingham Forest (n), FA Cup
- Friday 2 May: Wolverhampton Wanderers (h), Gameweek 34
“The most important thing is this club plays Champions League next season and hopefully we can bring that.” – Kevin De Bruyne
“SOME SPIRIT IS BACK”
City aren’t quite there yet, but they did superbly to come back from 2-0 down to triumph over Crystal Palace in Gameweek 32.
Prior to that, there were back-to-back clean sheets against Manchester United and Leicester City.
The defence still looks a bit wobbly, but generally, the underlying numbers are decent enough.
| xG rank (last six) | xGC rank (last six) | xG rank (season) | xG rank (season) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Man City | 6th | 5th | 4th | 9th |
“I’m optimistic to finish well this season. Some spirit is back. The spirit is there. The spirit will sustain us.” – Pep Guardiola
WHO ARE THE MOST-OWNED MAN CITY PLAYERS IN THE TOP 10K?
| Player | Position | Ownership % (top 10k) |
|---|---|---|
| Marmoush | Forward | 87.48 |
| Gvardiol | Defender | 77.33 |
| Savinho | Midfielder | 13.69 |
| Foden | Midfielder | 12.06 |
| Ederson | Goalkeeper | 2.66 |
| Dias | Defender | 1.55 |
| Khusanov | Defender | 0.62 |
| Lewis | Defender | 0.45 |
| Doku | Midfielder | 0.15 |
| De Bruyne | Midfielder | 0.11 |
We don’t need to tell you that Omar Marmoush (£7.6m) and Josko Gvardiol (£6.2m) are the most popular Fantasy options in this team.
These ownership figures, which can be found on LiveFPL, are correct as of last Saturday’s deadline.
BEST MAN CITY PLAYERS TO BUY IN FPL
