Arsenal v Man City team news: Absent Foden “short of full fitness”

Arsenal v Manchester City gets a modest-sized Double Gameweek 21 underway, although this is of course is these two teams’ only fixture in the current round of matches.

Kick-off at the Emirates is at 12:30 GMT.

The rumours of an absence for Phil Foden were proved correct (well done, Luke), with the midfielder not in Pep Guardiola’s matchday squad this lunchtime.

John Stones and Oleksandr Zinchenko are also missing, with all three players described as “short of full fitness” by City – which may well be thinly disguised shorthand for positive Covid-19 tests.

Guardiola’s three changes not only see Foden miss out but Jack Grealish and Fernandinho drop to the bench. Rodri, Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez come into the starting XI.

The fit-again Kyle Walker is back on the bench for City while Joao Cancelo starts despite being injured in a robbery two days ago.

Ilkay Gundogan is once again the spare part in midfield and has to be content with a place among the substitutes.

Mikel Arteta, managing ‘remotely’ after testing positive for Covid-19, makes just one change to the Arsenal side that were last in action on Boxing Day. 

Takehiro Tomiyasu returns at right-back, with Rob Holding dropping to the bench and Ben White moving back to centre-half.

Emile Smith Rowe is benched for the fifth straight league match.

Foden is the most-owned City midfielder within the top 10,000 FPL managers, sitting in over a third of these squads.

Many of us are unsurprisingly not playing our Arsenal assets this week, meanwhile, as LiveFPL’s effective ownership (a figure that factors in benchings, captaincies etc) table below shows:

GAMEWEEK 21 LINE-UPS

Man City XI: Ederson, Cancelo, Dias, Laporte, Ake, Rodri, De Bruyne, Silva, Sterling, Mahrez, Jesus.

Subs: Steffen, Walker, Gundogan, Grealish, Fernandinho, Kayky, Mbete, Palmer, McAtee.

Arsenal XI: Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Lacazette.

Subs: Leno, Smith Rowe, Maitland-Niles, Holding, Soares, Pepe, Tavares, Lokonga, Elneny.

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