Having already looked at the Blank/Double Gameweek implications from Wednesday’s EFL Cup results and draw, we now turn our attention to the wider talking points.
First up, Manchester City 2-0 Brentford.
RESULTS
| Result | Goals | Assists | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester City | Brentford | 2-0 | Cherki, Savinho | Reijnders |
SELECTION/ROTATION
| Team | Changes from GW16 starting XI | Players who kept their places (mins played) | Mins for other players |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester City | 7 | Reijnders (90), Gonzalez (66), Cherki (66), O’Reilly (65) | Trafford (90), Lewis (90), Khusanov (90), Ake (90), Savinho (90), Mukasa (90), Foden (63), Gvardiol (25), Nunes (24), Bernardo (24), Bobb (19), Gray (8) |
| Brentford | 6 | Van den Berg (90), Collins (90), Janelt (90), Jensen (81), Kayode (75) | Valdimarsson (90), Ajer (90), Damsgaard (90), Yarmoliuk (88), Schade (88), Henry (76), Hickey (15), Lewis-Potter (14), Donovan (9), Konak (2), Nunes (2) |
THIAGO INJURY UPDATE
There was no Igor Thiago (£7.2m) in the Brentford squad on Wednesday.
The striker and Jordan Henderson (£5.0m) were both left at home as the Bees travelled to Manchester, with “knocks” cited as the reason.
”Couple of knocks, Thiago, Jordan.” – Keith Andrews to Brentford’s in-house media
”They didn’t quite make this one but not not far off, so we’ll just see how they are tomorrow and then we’ll dust ourselves down and see how everyone else is, obviously after a tough 90 minutes +. We’ll focus on Wolves once we debrief this in the morning.” – Keith Andrews on Igor Thiago and Jordan Henderson in his post-match presser
To try and look on the positive side, both of these players have been carefully managed all season. In fact, neither player has started one midweek game in league or cup in 2025/26.
”Knocks” may have been a bit of a cover story, then, to spare Andrews the criticism of him favouring the mundane of Premier League security over a romantic League Cup tilt.
The problem we could have is that Andrews hosts his pre-Gameweek 17 presser on Thursday lunchtime, so he may not offer much more on Thiago than what he did after full-time.
BOBB INJURY A FURTHER BOOST TO CHERKI + FODEN?
Already without Jeremy Doku (£6.5m) through injury and Omar Marmoush (£8.3m) because of Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) involvement, Man City lost a third winger on Wednesday.
Oscar Bobb (£5.1m), one of seven players to come into the side, lasted less than 20 minutes before hobbling off.
“After 10-15 minutes, he complained about the muscular reason. Apparently it is a muscular injury in the hamstring. So, hopefully, it’s not a big one and he’ll come back soon.” – Pep Guardiola on Oscar Bobb
So, Savinho (£6.9m) presents the only real risk to Rayan Cherki (£6.5m) and Phil Foden (£8.8m) at present. The Brazilian was on the scoresheet here with a heavily deflected effort but 90 minutes for him, while Cherki and Foden had their game-time managed, potentially bodes well for the in-form latter two in Gameweek 17.
Guardiola said Cherki “had no energy” after the break; then again, he said the same about Savinho.
“In the second half, Rayan Cherki could not do again the job he should do defensively, had no energy to do it. Savinho, neither, and that’s why with impact [off the bench] from Josko [Gvardiol], from Matheus [Nunes] and especially from Bernardo help us lot to increase our rhythm.” – Pep Guardiola
Despite the tinkerer reputation, Guardiola has used fewer players (12) in his Premier League starting XIs than any other manager over the last seven Gameweeks. One of those, Doku, is now injured, while Savinho’s last league start came in October.
PEP ON O’REILLY + FODEN’S MINUTES
Foden was subbed on for Bobb and later came off himself. However, there doesn’t seem to be any injury concern for the England international. Rather, just minute management.
Foden got just over an hour in total, which is similar to what starters Cherki and Nico O’Reilly (£5.3m) were handed.
“Of course, I didn’t want to play Nico O’Reilly 90 minutes again. They play a lot of minutes and we have Saturday, a massively important game against West Ham. Similar with Phil, I didn’t want to play the minutes that he played but the injury for Oscar, couldn’t happen that.” – Pep Guardiola
CHERKI GOAL LIGHTS UP LOW-KEY CONTEST
With seven assists in as many Gameweeks, we’ve been used to seeing Cherki providing goals of late. He turned goalscorer here, however, lashing in a superb opener from a half-cleared corner.
That was among 10 shots (of a total of 15) that City had from the edge of the box or further out, with Brentford doing well enough to restrict clear-cut chances.
So too did City. The Bees had just three efforts all match, all smartly but comfortably saved by James Trafford (£4.6m). Had Abdudokir Khusanov (£5.4m) been sent off after 18 minutes for pulling Kevin Schade (£7.0m) down, and not booked, it could have been different, of course. No VAR here.
All in all, a fairly unremarkable game, which is unsurprising given the rotation and the fact that both clubs’ leading goalscorers didn’t get on the field.
GO-GO TRIPLE CAPTAINERS
Speaking of which, FPL bosses planning on handing Erling Haaland (£15.0m) the Triple Captain in Gameweek 17 would have been delighted to see him unused at the Etihad.
A week of rest on either side of a home game against a West Ham United side still without a single clean sheet under Nuno Espírito Santo? It’s all set up too nicely.
