FPL Fixture Focus: Should we invest in Man City assets?
As the 2021/22 title race heats up, it might be worth having a couple of Man City players in your FPL team.
Man City form
The only teams to defeat Pep Guardiola’s team are Tottenham (twice) and Crystal Palace. Before their Gameweek 23 draw at Southampton, they had won a remarkable 12 consecutive league matches.
Last season’s champions must just have a strange problem with Palace, Spurs and Southampton. Unable to win any of their six games versus these, City have won every other match except the draw at Liverpool.
Man City fixtures
Using Fantasy Football Scout’s Season Ticker, we can see that the league leaders have a lot of enticing opponents to come.
Ranked by difficulty, the ticker believes they have the third-nicest run of those without a Double Gameweek 33. Although the likes of Newcastle, Burnley and Southampton play twice, Man City’s singular game at home to Brighton would be dangerous to ignore.
They have one game-in-hand against Wolves (a), moved because of their FA Cup semi-final on Gameweek 33 weekend. Should they defeat Liverpool and reach the final, their Gameweek 37 meeting with West Ham (a) will also move, although likely into the vacant midweek slot a few days later depending on whether the Hammers reach the Europa League final.
Therefore, whilst Newcastle (H) and Wolves (a) will probably be their Double Gameweek 36, a swap might take place.
FPL assets
Attacking full-back Joao Cancelo is still their most-owned player and one of FPL’s best assets this season. However, he has been sold almost 1.5 million times over the last three Gameweeks. This was almost certainlty due to their lack of Double Gameweeks and non-appearance in the last round of games but it’ll be interesting to see how many flock back to Cancelo, especially now that Trent Alexander-Arnold is hurt.
As seen in our look at the season’s best defenders so far, Cancelo is almost essential. The fourth-highest scoring player of the season, he plays for a side with 17 clean sheets and has taken the most shots on goal amongst all defenders.
He ranks as the second-best defender for expected goals (xG), expected assists (xA) and expected goal involvement (xGI). Yet an interesting alternative could be centre-back Aymeric Laporte. Over £1m cheaper than Cancelo, his xG of 3.97 is more than any other defender thanks to netting three goals.
Meanwhile, the real question is in midfield. Just who on earth do managers choose for this fixture run? Bernardo Silva is a safe starter but barely produces attacking returns and ranks fifth amongst Man City midfielders for xGI. Phil Foden is usually deployed as a false nine but only has two attacking returns from his last eight games. Then there’s the expensive Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling, alongside the inconsistent minutes of Riyad Mahrez.
In the six matches since returning from African Cup of Nations duty, Mahrez comes third for Man City xGI.
Community chatter
FPL GOAT wants to be on Man City assets immediately.
Furthermore, Paddy Keogh is feeling very tempted by Mahrez.
