Continuing the Double Gameweek 33 Scout Notes is a Fantasy Premier League (FPL) round-up of Manchester City v Aston Villa.
- READ MORE: Wood ends goal drought + why Elanga was subbed off
- READ MORE: Slot on Trent, Salah unlucky + Leicester relegated
- READ MORE: Saka + Muniz injuries, Arteta on rotation, £4.1m Sessegnon
The numbers and graphics you see in this article come from our Premium Members Area. Here, you can access Opta player and team data from every single Premier League fixture.
MUCH FPL MISERY
Around 1.5 million managers captained Omar Marmoush (£7.7m) for his two matches, with 117,000 trusting him as Triple Captain. Yet he’ll go down in FPL infamy as both occasions were depressing blanks, accumulating no more than one shot on target and one big chance.
There were some half-hearted claims that the Egyptian was robbed of an assist for this opening goal, when his left-sided cross was diverted into a central Bernardo Silva’s (£6.1m) shot that Emiliano Martinez (£5.0m) couldn’t hold onto. But it was never likely to be given.
- READ MORE: Why did Marmoush not get an assist?
Marmoush did eventually put the ball past Martinez late on but it was immediately ruled offside. There was also disappointment for Kevin De Bruyne’s (£9.4m) new owners.
700,000 decided to take a romantic punt on the Belgian for his recently announced farewell tour but, despite playing 177 minutes across the two matches, he also failed to deliver anything. These latest 10 corners and six chances created didn’t assist, though he did pick up a bonus point.
Making things worse, this night of blanks and bookings brought yellow cards to Morgan Rogers (£5.7m) and Josko Gvardiol (£6.3m). No clean sheets either.
RASHFORD V WATKINS
However, this huge match in the race to secure Champions League football could’ve been so different had Marcus Rashford (£6.7m) scored after 17 seconds. With minimal effort, he was through on Man City’s goal but his strike instead clipped the post.
He almost one-upped Ollie Watkins (£8.9m), having seen his centre-forward rival break Saturday’s deadlock after 33 seconds. The latter starred against Newcastle United, taking out his frustrations regarding Unai Emery’s European lineups by scoring and assisting.
Yet Watkins was back on the bench here, witnessing Rashford have four big chances and 1.40 expected goals (xG). The latter equalised at the Etihad with a controversial penalty given against Ruben Dias (£5.4m), even though the defender got his toe to the ball.
Then, after an hour, Rashford took the same ball around a stranded Stefan Ortega (£5.2m) but hit the side netting.
Watkins replaced him for the final stages – coming on alongside Marco Asensio (£6.2m) – but could only secure his own yellow card, making it zero points for the night.
With Villa and Man City missing Blank Gameweek 34 due to their FA Cup semi-finals, owners of such players will need to judge their potential for Gameweeks 35 to 38. This incredible top-five race remains tight but we’re no closer to knowing who’ll start more often: Rashford or Watkins. That massively dents the FPL appeal of both.
NO MINUTES FOR FODEN OR SAVINHO
Pep Guardiola named no wingers in this starting XI and, predictably, his team struggled to carve out big chances that could win the match. Then, he threw on Jeremy Doku (£6.2m).
In the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time, the Belgian accelerated past Axel Disasi (£4.2m) and played a pass across goal for Matheus Nunes (£4.9m) to tap in a dramatic, unexpected winner.
It sparked huge celebrations in Manchester but Phil Foden (£9.1m) and Savinho (£6.2m) could only do it from the sidelines. Neither were called upon here, just like the England international wasn’t used on Saturday at Everton.
Last season’s second-highest FPL points scorer has played 71 of Man City’s last 540 minutes.
“I’m not playing the wingers because now, lately, I’m open with the full-backs. That’s the reason why. The moment he learns to play inside, because I think he has the quality to do it, he will play inside. Always I have played nine years with the wingers high and wide, one against one, but lately for the reasons, for stability, for many reasons, we need more control or whatever, we play with full-backs wide. So that’s why he’s maybe playing less but not because he’s playing bad.” – Pep Guardiola on Jeremy Doku
