Mid-Fielders

Fernandinho and Rodri have been excluded from this analysis since both are not part of many FPL managers’ plans. Midfield starts in 2017-18 PL season Midfield starts in 2018-19 PL season David Silva Before the 18-19 PL season started B Silva was supposed to replace David Silva, with his minutes during the season reducing as it had reduced in 17-18 from 16-17. But KDB’s injury changed the scenario and subsequently number of starts for David Silva remained the same in 17-18 and 18-19. David Silva might have started more matches in 17-18 but missed due to personal reasons and hence was not in squad for 6 matches. What changed between the seasons was the number of consecutive starts. While he started 13 on the trot and then 7 on the trot in 17-18 he never started more than 7 consecutive matches in 18-19. Considering he missed part of 17-18 season due to personal reasons, the figure for consecutive starts might have been higher. In 18-19 Silva rarely started 2 matches when the gap was 3-4 days between the matches. He was rested in Feb when there were 3 matches in 7 days, again in April before FA semifinals, and in the Spurs match in April when it came 3 days after CL QF. KDB KDB was the fulcrum of the title winning 17-18 side. He had the most starts for City in the season and he started 32 matches on the trot. 2018-19 was a year to forget for him as his season was ravaged by the injury and any insight derived from this would be erroneous Sterling While it seemed that Sterling suddenly became much more important in the FPL community in 2018-19 season, his numbers remained almost the same for both the seasons. He had 2 more starts in 18-19, and marginally more FPL points (234 vs 229). From FPL perspective nothing much changed between the seasons. His consecutive starts also remained similar, 3 instances of more than 5 consecutive starts in 17-18, 4 such instances in 18-19. In fact, his goals and assists output decreased in 18-19 (1 less goal and 2 less assists). What changed was his place in the midfield. While in 17-18, out of 29 starts, only in 7 did he start in left wing whereas this increased to 16 in 18-19 seasons. With injury forced absence of Sane, Sterling might be expected to play majority of his matches in the LW since apart from Sterling only Bernardo Silva can play on the left. Bernardo Silva Pep usually gives times to his players to settle down in his system and slowly integrates them in starting XI. Despite a big reputation and huge fee paid for him, Bernardo Silva started only 15 games in his debut season. In the next season his starts more than doubled, and he had 31 starts. Injury for KDB had a part to play in this. This can be inferred from his position on the pitch too. He started 14 out of 15 games in 17-18 season on right wing whereas in 18-19 out of his 31 starts only 9 were on the right wing, and 21 were as attacking mid or central mid, the space occupied by KDB in the previous season (KDB had played as attacking mid/central mid in 35 out of his 36 starts). In 17-18, only once did he start 5 games on the trot, while this increased to 3 times in 18-19. With Sane injured and phasing out of David Silva necessitated due to age, Bernardo will again start majority of games and will usually start 5-6 games on the trot before being rested. The only worry for Bernardo would be Mahrez who plays exclusively on the right wing. Mahrez Like Bernardo and to an extent Sane who started 15 and 20 games in their debut seasons, Mahrez started only 14 games in 18-19. My pet theory is that it took more time for Mahrez to acclimatize to City’s system as he had been playing in a free role at Leicester for 3 years whereas in City everyone has to play as part of the system and there is no free role for anyone. Similar to Sane on the left wing in 17-18 and 18-19 season, Mahrez would start exclusively on the right wing. We expect him to start in 25-30 matches this season with starts coming in blocks of 5-8. Gundogan Very few fantasy managers are concerned with Gundogan even though Pep keeps on starting him. From 15 starts in 17-18 to 23 starts in 18-19 season Gundogan has been increasing his starts and even this season he has had 4 starts, equal to Mahrez and only one less than David Silva and Aguero. The problem for Gundogan from FPL perspective is that he is neither a prolific scorer nor an assist machine like KDB. Selecting him in our teams would mean giving up one precious Man City spot. Conclusion Manchester City midfielders will get rotated but at the same time injury permitting KDB will start in 30-35 matches, Sterling and Bernardo would start in anything between 27-33 matches and David Silva and Mahrez would be just a notch lower than this. All of them would be rested after playing 5-7 matches on the trot with rests coming thick and fast during busy festive period and CL matches. Very rarely if ever would anyone start in more than 10 consecutive matches. What does it say for 2019-20 As inferred above, expect rests for any of the Man City midfielder you keep in your team. Pick either or both of Sterling and KDB and don’t get agitated if either of them gets rested after 5-6 starts. You can also go with Mahrez, though this might cause more heartburn but his price point and expected returns might make up for it. If going for Mahrez, our suggestion would be have KDB and Mahrez in your team. High ownership for Sterling would mean this would be a high risk, high reward strategy.

Forwards

Forward starts in 2017-18 PL Season Forward starts in 2018-19 PL Season As is evident from the above table, Aguero is the main forward in this Manchester City team having started more matches in both 17-18 and 18-19. Gabriel Jesus joined in January 2017, and was supposed to replace Aguero in subsequent season. In his first half season, Jesus was in the starting XI in 8 of the 10 matches he was available for. At the season end, City started with both Jesus and Aguero in 3 of the 5 matches. 2017-18 started in the similar vein with both Jesus and Aguero starting together in 4 out of the first 5 matches. But they never played together in PL after this match. PL starts were equally shared between Aguero and Jesus in 2017-18. Both of them were rested either due to participation in mid-week CL matches or when fixture schedule was congested. None of them had a sustained spell in the side with Aguero starting 8 matches on trot being the maximum. 2018-19 saw a significant reduction in number of matches in which Jesus started. This was down to form of Jesus which Pep did not seem to find good enough. Once again both Aguero and Jesus started together in only 2 matches. Aguero started 31 matches while Jesus started only 8 matches during the season. Unlike 2017-18, Aguero had long stretches wherein he got consecutive starts. In fact, after starting 13 matches on the trot, he only missed match no. 14 due to injury and similarly he was benched due to injury after starting 9 matches on the trot. One significant change was minutes of Aguero which were being managed by Pep. As can be seen from the table PL appearances for Jesus was same for both seasons, but number of substitute appearances more than doubled in 18-19 compared to 17-18, while the starts halved. While Aguero was starting more matches, he was being substituted after 60 minutes if City were in a comfortable position. As a result while Aguero had 40% more starts, his minutes for the season increased only by 25% and his PL points total increased by 18% only. Conclusion If Pep finds Jesus to be playing at acceptable level, there is going to be rotation between Jesus and Aguero. When number of starts is divided between Jesus and Aguero, neither of them get a very long stretch of consecutive starts, with 6-7 being the norm. During congested periods and CL midweeks either of them will be rested. Aguero’s minutes will be managed throughout the season. What does it say for 2019-20 Aguero is well worth taking a risk. He will be rested every 4-5 matches and will get an extended run sometime during the season of 8-10 matches. Barring injuries for Aguero, Jesus would remain a backup forward this season. I don’t expect both to start together in more than 2-4 matches.

Defenders