Dugout Discussion

Aguero, De Bruyne start for Man City as Sterling, Cancelo on bench for Double Gameweek 26 opener

Sergio Aguero (£10.3m) and Kevin De Bruyne (£11.8m) both start for Manchester City in their first Double Gameweek 26 fixture at home to West Ham.

Aguero makes his first appearance in a City starting XI since Gameweek 6 – in the reverse fixture against the Hammers – while De Bruyne made his full injury return by starting in the 1-0 win at Arsenal in Gameweek 25.

Ferran Torres (£6.9m) is another longer-term absentee making an injury comeback, which means a host of FPL assets find themselves on Pep Guardiola’s bench.

Raheem Sterling (£11.6m), Gabriel Jesus (£9.2m), Phil Foden (£6.1m) and Bernardo Silva (£7.4m) are all out of the XI, as is Joao Cancelo (£6.1m).

Rodri (£5.3m) is also on benchwarming duty as Fernandinho (£5.4m) earns a second consecutive league start, anchoring a midfield three also featuring De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan (£6.2m).

Aymeric Laporte (£6.0m) drops out of the starting line-up after beginning in the Champions League, as FPL managers’ favoured duo of Ruben Dias (£6.1m) and John Stones (£5.2m) are flanked in defence by Oleksandr Zinchenko (£5.5m) and Kyle Walker (£6.1m).

On his rotated side, Guardiola told BT Sport ahead of kick off:

Many games, we have two days recovery. We have a fantastic squad. Everyone deserves to play, all doing incredibly well, fresh legs and a very good mentality.

On West Ham, the Man City boss added:

Looks like they will play five at the back, previous seasons they did it as well, we knew it. They can do normal shape but they’ve done five at back at Old Trafford. The ideas are the same, good runners up front, two incredible holding midfielders. We try to impose our game.

Fabianski is absent for the Irons

Lukasz Fabianski (£5.0m) is the big name missing from West Ham’s starting line-up, with the Poland keeper ruled out due to a training-ground injury.

“Unfortunately one of the players just stood on Lukasz’s arm yesterday (in training). It’s swollen up, he’s just not been able to extend his arm. It’s a real blow, he’s been in really good form.” – David Moyes

Ireland international Darren Randolph (£4.3m) is between the sticks for the Hammers, behind a back five of Ben Johnson (£3.9m), Aaron Cresswell (£5.8m), Craig Dawson (£4.5m), Issa Diop (£4.3m) and Vladimir Coufal (£4.7m).

Declan Rice (£4.7m) and Tomas Soucek (£5.3m) will hope to add to the spoiling effect of Moyes’ five-man defence, behind a front three of Jesse Lingard (£5.9m), Pablo Fornals (£5.9m) and Michail Antonio (£6.5m).

Manchester City XI (4-3-3): Ederson; Zinchenko, Dias, Stones, Walker; Gundogan, Fernandinho, De Bruyne; Torres, Aguero, Mahrez.

West Ham United XI (5-2-2-1): Randolph; Johnson, Cresswell, Dawson, Diop, Coufal; Rice, Soucek; Fornals, Lingard; Antonio.

1,312 Comments Post a Comment
  1. My heart goes Salalalalah
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    That hurts as a Dias owner

    1. DandyDon
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Much less than for the Cancelo owners though!

  2. Sim Simma
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    ⚽ Team News 📰
    WBA: Johnstone, Furlong, Townsend, O'Shea, Bartley, Gallagher, Maitland-Niles, Pereira, Phillips, Yokuslu, Diagne
    Subs: Button, Ivanovic, Peltier, Livermore, Sawyers, Diangana, Grant, Robson-Kanu, Callum Robinson

    BHA: Sánchez, Dunk, Burn, White, Veltman, Groß, Connolly, Mac Allister, Bissouma, Trossard, Maupay
    Subs: Steele, Lallana, Alzate, Pröpper, Moder, Jahanbakhsh, Zeqiri, Welbeck, Tau

    1. FPL Daniel
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      ANN

    2. tiger
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Dunk to follow the defenders DGW scoring spree

    3. Big boy Bowen
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Cheers!

    4. Jafooli
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Zeqiri & Tau benched 🙁

    5. badgerboy
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Still no Lampety.

    6. Forza
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Thanks. Looking forward to seeing how Johnstone blunders my first GK CS since GW 16.

  3. FPL Daniel
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Anyone with the Stones and Dias combo ? I was tempted but went Cancelo instead 🙁

    1. DMP
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Me.

    2. @persecuted_by_mods
        3 years, 1 month ago

        Had it since the last double

      • JBG
        • 5 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        I've had Cancelo for a while so...

      • Random Name
        • 8 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        Me, I saw cancelo as too much of a rotation risk for his price point so went with stones instead. Dias was a must

      • COLLIN QUANER
        • 7 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        Yes

      • Paul Psychic Octopus
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 13 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        Yep. Moved the captain's armband late on from Dias to Son, which no doubt I will regret.

      • borat
        • 7 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        Me but no KDB.

      • Salah’s Sonnet
        • 12 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        Yup!! o/

      • Arteta
        • 8 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        Yeeeah! 😎

      • Better off with a pin and a…
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 11 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        Yep. For weeks now.

    3. The Riders of Mohan
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Amazing year goals by defenders

      1. The Riders of Mohan
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        *for

    4. The Senate
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      I’ve got Johnstone and Sanchez, so the next match will definitely be finishing 1-1

    5. Jafooli
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Any Cancelo, Sterlo, Silva owners out there?

      1. DMP
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 8 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        No. Only Ruben Dias, Stones and Gundo (to score in a few minutes).

    6. Scholes Out For Summer
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Lingard to help out United and score a screamer

    7. Egg noodle
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Stones. Check
      Dias. Check
      Gundo. Next

      1. DMP
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 8 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        This.

    8. Big boy Bowen
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Pereira haul to make up for this horror show 😎

      1. MoSalad
        • 10 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        With you on this

    9. mwa1t
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      All of my rivals also have Dias+Stones, so annoying

      1. Gizzachance
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        Same, I have cancelo ster an gundo !

    10. Dybala10
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Stones and Dias being absolute heroes again.

    11. Salah’s Sonnet
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      So glad to have kept Stones & Dias on WC, Cancelo would of ruined this great feeling

    12. JONALDINHO
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Looks like KDB has ruined Gundo as an asset.

      1. Forza
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        Gundogan could've smashed it in if Stones wasn't there.

    13. FourLokoLeipzig
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Relived nobody above me in my ML is still rocking the Dias and Stones double-up... but I wish I had one of them instead of Joao “due” Cancelo!

    14. Magic Zico
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Come on Gundo!

    15. The Red Devil
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Starting to think triple city defence might be a good option going ahead, opens up a spot in midfield

      1. Hulk Smash
        • 8 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        If Gundogan's streak is over you might well be right.

      2. RamaJama
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 11 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        Cancelo, Stones, Dias and you have 2 playing most games

      3. mezza
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        I’ve had it for a long time now - missed all the Gundo hauls but have climbed the ranks a lot with it.

    16. jammie26
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Dias and stones owner. A pleasing start to the gameweek.

      1. Jo Melon
        • 3 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        Yep. Antonio spoiled it a bit.

      2. RamaJama
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 11 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        Same. Just annoying they made to concede

    17. Salarrivederci
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      As a Gundogan and Cancelo owner this is not the best start

    18. royaljoe
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Freehit Cancelo in with no dias or stones. stones in my main team 🙁

      1. RamaJama
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 11 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        They’ll play next and others benched

    19. Paul Psychic Octopus
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Both commentators banging on about Lingard's performance.

      I think he's been bang average at best - hanging on to the ball too long, not spotting runners, misplacing passes.

      1. @persecuted_by_mods
          3 years, 1 month ago

          Very harsh. Nobody has even landed a glove on city in ages, West ham have done well and lingard has too

      2. Party time
          3 years, 1 month ago

          Late to the party but Stones

          Juuuuhhuuuuuuu

        • Essan
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 12 Years
          3 years, 1 month ago

          Dammit! Stones has pinched some of Dias's BPs ......

          Oh, wait, I have both 😀

        • The Invincibles
          • 11 Years
          3 years, 1 month ago

          Did Stones to Cancelo as a luxury wildcard transfer, why!

          1. Salah’s Sonnet
            • 12 Years
            3 years, 1 month ago

            You were lured and tricked 😉

        • Alisson WondHaaland
          • 8 Years
          3 years, 1 month ago

          Why are people complaining that Stones points are lucky? By that logic you dont deserve the points for any cheap players you've ever owned

          1. tiger
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 12 Years
            3 years, 1 month ago

            People are strange...

            1. Zogzeg
              • 11 Years
              3 years, 1 month ago

              ... when you're a stranger

              1. tiger
                • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                • 12 Years
                3 years, 1 month ago

                Faces look ugly

                1. Zogzeg
                  • 11 Years
                  3 years, 1 month ago

                  ...when you're in Hull

          2. Wild Rover
            • 13 Years
            3 years, 1 month ago

            Nobody is saying it’s lucky

          3. Ajax Hamsterdam
            • 9 Years
            3 years, 1 month ago

            Exactly. Sorry bunch

        • Random Name
          • 8 Years
          3 years, 1 month ago

          All those people that claimed Stones + Dias was a casual's pick but we're sitting here with 16 pts and they're in the dust with Cancel0 pts

          1. Ajax Hamsterdam
            • 9 Years
            3 years, 1 month ago

            21 actually

        • Danno - Emre Canada
          • 9 Years
          3 years, 1 month ago

          3 city players, Gundo, Sterling and Cancelo hahaha, well aware of the risks hahahha

          1. Ajax Hamsterdam
            • 9 Years
            3 years, 1 month ago

            Will pay off next game I'm sure

            1. Danno - Emre Canada
              • 9 Years
              3 years, 1 month ago

              Hope so cheers, Sterling hattrick I’ll take ha

        • Arteta
          • 8 Years
          3 years, 1 month ago

          Antonio unstoppable after I decide to sell him. Typical.

          1. Arteta
            • 8 Years
            3 years, 1 month ago

            2 in 2 and more to come.

            1. Salah’s Sonnet
              • 12 Years
              3 years, 1 month ago

              Nah not imo

          2. Salah’s Sonnet
            • 12 Years
            3 years, 1 month ago

            Be injured again next game, much better off without him, glad I sold

        • seewhyaxe
          • 7 Years
          3 years, 1 month ago

          Sigh why no Raz appearance yet

        • Bobby Digital
          • 6 Years
          3 years, 1 month ago

          Grab another Dias!

        • Jafooli
          • 12 Years
          3 years, 1 month ago

          Foden looking lively since he came on?