Gameweek 25 was a short and fast, however, scoring gameweek with an overall average of 47 points.
Many transfers happened over the busy month and we saw a few debuts too mid-week. Manchester United and Chelsea losses were some interesting games to catch in the run of games. In this piece, we look at some lessons learnt from Gameweek 25 to prepare ourselves for Gameweek 26.
1. City continue scintillating form.
Manchester City, after losing just one game in this season, continued their fantastic form with a 3-0 win over West Bromwich Albion. A whooping 50 of the top 100 managers chose Sergio Aguero as their Gameweek 25 captain. All of Aguero’s captainers were left stranded until the Argentine found the net in the 90th minute.
His team-mate, Raheem Sterling also managed to deliver two assists with two bonus points to manage a double-figure heal. Aguero unfortunately failed to get any bonus points with just two shots from inside the box in what was a relatively quiet night.
Kevin De Bruyne was the 14-point star of the show, who scored his first goal since gameweek 18. He fired six shots against the Baggies this week- more than any other midfielder in gameweek 25.
Another FPL asset with a huge ownership in that City lineup was Nicolas Otamendi, who brought in clean sheet points for the first time in three matches. New signing, Aymeric Laporte was handed a surprise debut as John Stones missed out through illness.
Guardiola’s selection against the Clarets remains unclear, though we can presume that the Gameweek 27 home fixture three days before the Champions League tie will see some big rotation. It might be unwise to play Laporte into an away game with Burnley this weekend and hence, Kompany seems to be more likely to feature, after he was declared fit again.
2. Kane blanks while Spurs shine against United.
Embed from Getty ImagesHarry Kane was, as ever, peerless for goal threat, firing in eight shots with five of them from inside the box. But, he still blanked for the eight time at home this season.
Spurs won the match 2-0, thanks to Christian Eriksen’s strike in just 10 seconds and a Phil Jones own goal. It was a miserable night for United assets, especially Jones (owned by 16.9%) and a remarkably impressive performance for Spurs.
The gaffer’s attempts to incorporate new signing Alexis Sanchez into the side did not go really well. The midfielder was brought in by 75,000 new managers for the Spurs encounter, operated on the left flank for his league debut as Juan Mata missed out, with Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard keeping their places.
Sanchez’s night was quite underwhelming and he wasn’t really able to track back. As a result of this, Ashley Young too was horribly exposed to Spurs attacks. The Chilean also failed to fire a single shot or create a single chance for his team-mates.
Paul Pogba also struggled along with his team-mates as he was uncomfortable in a defensive role alongside Nemanja Matic in central midfield. The Frenchman was hence subbed by Mourinho at 62 minutes.
United’s disappointing misery came to an end with Marouane Fellaini being introduced from the bench, playing for nine minutes and coming off with a knee injury.
Spurs will now travel to Anfield with good confidence for what is a huge clash. United’s attack looks likely to deliver some good returns over the upcoming weeks once Mourinho finds the right way to set up a side full of stars, with strong balance.
Conclusion:
We are now less than 48 hours from the next deadline. I would suggest to take hits only if you are very sure because there would be some rotation out there. Also, we should start monitoring the new signings and how they fit in their respective position and club. With this, I now come to the end of this article. I hope you had a good read and would appreciate all suggestions and responses. Good luck to everyone and may all of you have green arrows. Cheers!
Written by Nekzad Bajan. (nekzaDd)
