Gundogan fit to start as De Bruyne returns to City XI and Foden drops to bench

After missing out on Manchester City’s win over Everton in midweek, Ilkay Gundogan (£6.1m) has made a swift return from a groin injury and makes Pep Guardiola’s starting XI this afternoon.

Arsenal are the latest team attempting to stop City’s 17-game unbeaten run, with kick-off at the Emirates at 16:30 GMT.

Gundogan featured prominently in both the transfers in and out columns in the run-up to Gameweek 24: 365,022 Fantasy Premier League managers recruited the German after his huge haul against Spurs, with 244,409 of us moving the in-form midfielder on – no doubt influenced by the yellow flag that appeared next to his name following his no-show on Merseyside.

There is other noteworthy team news from the City camp, with Gundogan one of five players who are recalled.

Kevin De Bruyne (£11.8m) makes his first start in over a month, with John Stones (£5.2m), Oleksandr Zinchenko (£5.5m) and Fernandinho (£5.4m) also back in Guardiola’s line-up.

Phil Foden (£6.1m) drops to the bench despite scoring at Goodison Park, with Gabriel Jesus (£9.2m), Kyle Walker (£6.1m), Rodri (£5.3m) and Aymeric Laporte (£6.0m) also making way from the team that took to the pitch at kick-off on Wednesday.

Sergio Aguero (£10.3m), who has not played for City since the beginning of January, is also among the substitutes for the visitors.

Having named the same team in his last two competitive matches, Mikel Arteta also makes five changes to his starting XI.

Kieran Tierney (£5.2m), Rob Holding (£4.5m), Nicolas Pepe, Pablo Marí (£4.4m) and Mohamed Elneny (£4.2m) return, with Cedric Soares (£4.6m), David Luiz (£5.4m), Gabriel (£5.0m), Emile Smith Rowe (£4.3m) and Dani Ceballos (£4.7m) dropping to the bench.

LINE-UPS

Arsenal XI: Leno, Bellerin, Holding, Pablo Mari, Tierney, Elneny, Xhaka, Saka, Odegaard, Pepe, Aubameyang.

Man City XI: Ederson, Joao Cancelo, Dias, Stones, Zinchenko, Bernardo Silva, Fernandinho, Gundogan, Mahrez, De Bruyne, Sterling.

DOUBLE GAMEWEEK 25 SO FAR…

Second-place Leicester City warmed up for their Gameweek 26 double-header with a win over Aston Villa on Sunday, a match that was notable for injuries to two well-owned FPL midfielders.

Harvey Barnes (£6.8m) recorded his second successive double-digit haul with a goal and an assist in the Foxes’ victory, which took his total to 10 attacking returns in 11 Gameweeks.

James Maddison (£7.3m) is in similarly fine form and opened the scoring at Villa Park – his 12th goal or assist in his last 14 appearances.

But the England midfielder hobbled from the field of play just after the hour-mark, having twice needed treatment from the visitors’ physios.

Missing altogether was Jack Grealish (£7.7m), who was sidelined with a reported shin problem.

While some reports suggest the Villa talisman may be absent for several weeks, manager Dean Smith said he was “hopeful” of the player’s return against Leeds.

GET IN-GAME DATA AT LIVE FPL

Check your own rank and in-play FPL stats on LiveFPL.net every Gameweek