No surprise that Saturday’s ‘Sky Blue’ derby went the way of Manchester City – but a win by a solitary goal was not quite in the Fantasy script.
Nor was a benching for Phil Foden (£7.0m), a pre-match withdrawal from Nico O’Reilly (£6.5m) or a blank from Rayan Cherki (£7.8m).
Even Erling Haaland (£15.5m) Triple Captainers, who at least got something from the game, will no doubt feel short-changed with nine points.
Here are our Scout Notes from a narrow home victory at the Etihad.
O’REILLY INJURY
O’Reilly had been named in Enzo Maresca’s starting XI but the England international was pictured grimacing and holding his back not long before kick-off, eventually disappearing down the tunnel.
He didn’t re-emerge, and his place in the line-up was taken by Enzo Fernandez (£6.9m).
It doesn’t sound too serious, at least. With a press conference to come on Monday, ahead of City’s trip to Porto, we can also expect further updates from Maresca.
“Nico felt something in his back. Doesn’t look something serious, but he was not able to play.” – Enzo Maresca on Nico O’Reilly
ENZO DEBUT
“The reason why Enzo was [originally] on the bench was just because he arrived two days ago. I know how frustrating it has been for Enzo the last two or three weeks, so the idea was to give him some minutes. In the end, he played from the start.” – Enzo Maresca on benching Enzo Fernandez in the first place
So, in came Fernandez.
Nominally stationed alongside Elliot Anderson (£6.4m) in the engine room, the Argentine international was allowed to get forward more as his midfield partner stayed at home and played metronome:
It was, indeed, a similar role for Enzo to the one he had under Maresca at Chelsea. Inside the winger in a ‘3-1-6’, playing in the pockets, and getting into the box.
“It’s much more easy when [you have] a player that you already shared time together. They know exactly what you want. Enzo, we know each other very well, I know how good he is and I know that he is going to help the team win games.” – Enzo Maresca on Enzo Fernandez
Enzo and Antoine Semenyo (£8.5m) combined for Haaland’s goal, with the latter providing the assist.
It was once again more touchline hugging from the Ghanaian. His chance creativity and crossing is way up under Maresca – but he’s shooting with less regularity and hasn’t had a single ‘big chance’ yet. At least he has the ‘xMins’ on his side…
CHERKI SUBBED OFF – BUT UNLUCKY TO BLANK
A whopping 2.1 million FPL managers brought in Cherki ahead of Gameweek 3. Almost inevitably, he blanked. He was subbed off relatively early, too, midway through the second half.
The premature withdrawal wasn’t really a reflection of his display.
While he didn’t hit the heights of Gameweek 2 (no one in sky blue did), he did thread through two very scorable chances for Haaland. Carl Rushworth (£4.5m) denied the Norwegian, who probably should have done better.
In between those two opportunities, the Frenchman thumped the woodwork with an effort of his own.
Still an encouraging display from Cherki, then, but the worry is always going to be if Maresca feels the same. Even when he’s at the heart of City’s attacking play, you always feel like you’re clockwatching.
WHAT NOW FOR FODEN?
At least Cherki started. Foden’s 380,000 new owners had to content themselves with a second-half cameo.
The England international nearly scored, scuffing an effort that was easily hacked off the line, but otherwise didn’t get into the game.
It was maybe telling that Foden replaced Cherki in the ’10’, having spent the first two Gameweeks on the right flank. With City now well stocked with wingers, is it a straight battle between Foden and Cherki in the ‘hole’?
Maresca certainly thinks Foden is better centrally, but he didn’t shut the door on other roles.
“I think Phil’s best position is in the middle but he’s doing an effort to help the team because in the first two games, we don’t have an option in the wide area.
“No doubt that Phil’s position in the middle is much better but I’m very, very happy with Phil from day one. He’s working very good. Even when he has played wide in the last two games, he was good. You can see that, inside the pitch, he’s much better, but in the end, Phil is going to play in different positions because he is good – and good players can play in different positions.” – Enzo Maresca on Phil Foden, taken from the embargoed section of Friday’s presser
CRITICISM FOR NDIAYE…
Indeed, could Foden come back in on the right in Gameweek 4? Antoine Semenyo (£8.5m) swapped flanks and was used there on Saturday, with Iliman Ndiaye (£5.9m) making his City debut on the left.
But after Ndiaye’s performance attracted some (constructive) criticism from Maresca, you do wonder if the City boss could reverse that decision at Old Trafford.
“Ili [Ndiaye] had just two sessions with us. He needs to understand how to move. Most of the time he was moving in the wrong way, wrong position, but again, he needs to learn, and for sure, he will learn.
“When Marc Guehi had the ball, he was dropping a lot, and we don’t need that. We need him in the last third, so he can a little bit more higher. That space was more for Josko Gvardiol to go there. It was the same thing on the other side, when Khusa[nov] had the ball, sometimes Antoine [Semenyo] was dropping.
“But again, it’s normal. With time, they’re going to learn the way we want them to play.” – Enzo Maresca
…AND PRAISE FOR ANDERSON
There’s little chance of Anderson not playing in Gameweek 4.
The one man staying put when every other midfielder and forward – as well as Josko Gvardiol (£5.6m) – got beyond him, he made more successful passes (146) than the entire Coventry side (140).
Such a role may, in theory, aid his DefCon potential. But he didn’t hit the required threshold on Saturday, and on only four occasions last season did he last 90 minutes and rack up fewer than the 11 defensive contributions he posted against Coventry.
Still, you’d imagine he’ll be kept busier by Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m) and co next weekend.
“Really impressed. Not just about today. I think he was very good against Palace, also very good against Bournemouth [consdidering] he was one week with us. We [only] changed him for cramp.
“But the best thing about Elliot is the day to day. He is asking how he can learn.
“He wants to be better – this is the main thing for any player.” – Enzo Maresca on Elliot Anderson
HAULAND
“Better than a blank” will probably be the rueful assessment from Haaland Triple Captainers.
It should have been greater than nine points, however.
The Norwegian racked up more expected goal involvement (xGI) than any Premier League player on Saturday. An xGI of 1.54 has actually been marked up since we posted the Scoreboard:
In fact, not since Gameweek 4 of 2025/26 – almost a year ago – has Haaland’s non-penalty xGI been better than that.
The right decision, maybe, but an unlucky outcome.
COVENTRY’S BACK FIVE: THE WAY TO GO FOR LAMPARD?
As the rolling xG graphic above shows, Coventry were well in this game.
Yes, Man City probably should have buried them at several stages.
But Frank Lampard’s side hung in there, and in the end, had as many big chances (three) as their hosts.
Taiwo Awoniyi (£5.5m) spurned a glorious one-on-one chance early on, while Gianluigi Donnarumma (£5.5m) did superbly to thwart Jack Rudoni (£5.0m) and substitute Ellis Simms (£5.0m).
At the back, Lampard brought in Ethan Pinnock (£4.5m) as an extra centre-half and went with a 5-4-1/3-4-3.
“There was a real organisation to the team. Ethan [Pinnock] came in and was great, he had poise and gave us confidence as a team. The shape of the team, that we changed, looked really strong.” – Frank Lampard
“In games like this, it’s definitely an option for us because it stops spaces for players running through the lines.” – Frank Lampard on the formation
DEFCONS FOR THOMAS – AND NEARLY AN ATTACKING RETURN
Above: Players involved in Manchester City v Coventry City sorted by total shots (Tot)
Fantasy EFL managers know all about the goal threat of Bobby Thomas (£4.0m). He even outshot Haaland on Saturday, and while the efforts were of lower quality (all from set plays), it shows he has the potential to nab a goal or three in 2026/27.
He almost had an assist when flicking on for Rudoni’s chance.
DefCon points arrived for the second time this season, and it would have likely been a 100% record had he not gone off with cramp in Gameweek 2.
