A Manchester City squad hit by injury and illness take on Chelsea in the second of today’s two Premier League fixtures.
Kick-off at Stamford Bridge is at 16:30 GMT.
The visitors are missing six of their squad because of COVID-19 positive tests.
The unavailability of Kyle Walker (£6.1m) and Gabriel Jesus (£9.1m) we were already aware of, while social media posts from Ederson (£6.0m) and Tommy Doyle (£4.4m) all but confirmed that they too were among those self-isolating.
Ferran Torres (£6.9m) and Eric Garcia (£4.7m) have reportedly been added to that list, with the latter still struggling with injury, too.
Despite the shortage of options, Sergio Aguero (£10.3m) is still only among the substitutes for this afternoon’s fixture.
Goalkeeper Zack Steffen (£4.4m) makes his Premier League debut as Pep Guardiola makes three changes to the City side that beat Newcastle 2-0 in Gameweek 15.
Oleksandr Zinchenko (£5.5m) and Phil Foden (£6.2m) are also recalled, with Ederson, Torres and Nathan Ake (£5.4m) dropping out.
Ake is absent because of “fitness issues”, while Aymeric Laporte (£6.0m) misses out because of a tight hamstring.
Benjamin Mendy (£5.9m) is on the bench, despite his off-field misdeeds.
Frank Lampard makes five changes to the Chelsea team that drew 1-1 at home to Aston Villa last Monday.
Timo Werner (£9.2m) is recalled, while Hakim Ziyech (£8.1m) makes his first appearance since suffering a hamstring injury in early December.
Thiago Silva (£5.6m), Kurt Zouma (£5.8m) and Mateo Kovacic (£5.3m) also return to the side.
Reece James (£5.2m) is again absent through injury, while Olivier Giroud (£6.7m), Andreas Christensen (£4.7m), Antonio Rudiger (£4.7m), Callum Hudson-Odoi (£5.7m) and Jorginho (£4.7m) drop out of the starting XI.
Chelsea XI: Mendy, Azpilicueta, Zouma, Thiago Silva, Chilwell, Kanté, Kovacic, Mount, Pulisic, Werner, Ziyech.
Manchester City XI: Steffen, Cancelo, Dias, Stones, Zinchenko, Rodrigo, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Foden, Bernardo, Sterling
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Lessons learned from FPL Gameweek 17
- Everton 0-1 West Ham United
- Manchester United 2-1 Aston Villa
- Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Leeds United
- Crystal Palace 2-0 Sheffield United
- Brighton and Hove Albion 3-3 Wolverhampton Wanderers
- West Bromwich Albion 0-4 Arsenal
- Burnley P-P Fulham
- Newcastle United 1-2 Leicester City
- Chelsea 1-3 Manchester City
- Southampton 1-0 Liverpool
3 years, 3 months ago
Not having KDB this gameweek was the right move. Owners getting extremely lucky. That's the game though. Often correct decisions get punished. It's what makes FPL so unpredictable and a game we love.....and hate!!