The Double Gameweek 37 analysis continues with a look at the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from Brighton and Hove Albion versus Manchester City.
All the numbers you see in this article are taken from our Premium Members Area, where you can access Opta player and team data from every single Premier League fixture after full-time in each game.
A match with very little up for grabs saw Brighton secure sixth place by drawing against three-in-a-row champions Man City. Phil Foden’s (£8.0m) opener was equalised by a stunning long-range strike from teenager Julio Enciso (£4.6m), as both managers heavily rotated their starting line-ups.
Non-captainers of Erling Haaland (£12.4m) were very nearly punished with a late headed goal that would’ve finalised a double-digit return. As VAR ruled it out for shirt-pulling, such FPL managers will instead be delighted that the Norwegian only notched an assist and a final Double Gameweek 37 score of six.
MAN CITY ROTATION + INJURIES
With two cup finals on the horizon, Sunday’s 1-0 win over Chelsea was achieved without Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne (£12.2m), Jack Grealish (£7.1m) or John Stones (£5.6m). And there were plenty of changes this time, as Ederson (£5.4m) remained on the bench, Julian Alvarez (£6.1m) dropped down to it and the likes of Grealish, Ruben Dias (£6.0m) and Manuel Akanji (£5.1m) weren’t involved at all.
With a proud declaration that “we drank all the alcohol in Manchester” during the post-Chelsea title-winning celebrations, Pep Guardiola just about held in his laughter when discussing such mysterious squad absences.
“They are not fit. I don’t know what happened but, after winning the Premier League, many players got injured – three, four, five, all of them not fit. No Aymer [Laporte], no Akanji, no Ruben [Dias], no Grealish. We’ll see how they recover in the next days” – Pep Guardiola
Autosubs will be made for owners of Ederson and Grealish, as the pair played no minutes over either match. Alternatively, Riyad Mahrez (£7.5m) started both but brought in two blanks, whilst Foden had to be removed in the 51st minute because of a knock.
“Phil had a knock in the first half, he had problems in the leg, in that position the doctor tells me it’s dangerous and we don’t want to take a risk.
“John [Stones] at the end was [tight or tired?] He didn’t feel anything so it’s fine, he told me. But, of course, we didn’t want to take a risk with John – we have just one central defender. The other ones, all of them, are injured. Hopefully, can recover as soon as possible.” – Pep Guardiola
Guardiola’s line-up for the inconsequential final day trip to Brentford is already tough to predict but, with Haaland playing all 90 this time, will we get information beforehand on his game time? Not only will it affect captaincy but it could even cause a late surge in sales.
Perhaps Pep wants a strong XI to maintain rhythm going into the finals, although goalkeeper Stefan Ortega Moreno (£3.7m) has started all FA Cup games so far – more bad news for Ederson owners.
ANOTHER MITOMA BLANK
SELL BRIGHTON PLAYERS?
Because of the blanks, it’d be logical to drop Mitoma for Brighton’s tricky trip to Aston Villa – a defence that has kept a clean sheet in five of their last six home matches. Unai Emery’s side has conceded just seven times in 14 games.
As for his team-mates, it’s hard to know what De Zerbi is thinking. He made four changes this time, reducing Alexis Mac Allister (£5.6m) and Evan Ferguson (£4.6m) to cameo appearances whilst club captain Lewis Dunk (£4.8m) was an unused substitute just hours after being called up to the England squad for the first time in five years.
“I changed Lewis [Dunk] and Alexis [Mac Allister] because they cannot play 90 minutes today.” – Roberto De Zerbi
With or without potential early team leaks, FPL managers may think it’s worthwhile to replace their Brighton assets with one-off differentials such as Rodrigo (£6.3m), Eberechi Eze (£5.6m), Dwight McNeil (£5.1m) or Antony (£7.3m).
GAMEWEEK 37 LINE-UPS
Brighton and Hove Albion XI: Steele; Caicedo, Colwill, van Hecke, Estupinan; Gilmour (Mac Allister 52′), Gross; Buonanotte (Veltman 75′), Enciso (Ferguson 52′), Mitoma; Welbeck (Undav 75′)
Manchester City XI: Ortega; Walker, Stones (Gomez 84′), Lewis; Rodri, Gundogan; De Bruyne (Alvarez 57′), Bernardo (Phillips 84′); Mahrez, Haaland, Foden (Palmer 51′)
