Manchester City are on a roll and barring a major collapse, will be playing Champions League football next season.
Their club captain and best player, Carlos Tevez, has been sidelined since April 11th with a hamstring injury but returned to training last week. You know what that means? Bad news for Tottenham. And bad news for FA Cup finalists Stoke.
Manchester City have a tricky Fantasy Premier League double gameweek coming up next weekend at in-form Everton and against Champions League competitors Tottenham, but Tevez could return for one or both of those games. What does that mean for City’s fantasy studs?
Well, for starters, striker Mario Balotelli would be off penalty taking duty, and the bonus points hoovered up in the past few weeks by David Silva and Yaya Toure would surely return to Captain Caveman Carlos…
My prediction is that City will be led by Balotelli, Silva, and Toure – who bossed the West Ham game with his physicality and late Lampard-esque runs into the box, at Everton but that Tevez will return to start against Tottenham – where certainly only a draw will be needed to put one foot in next year’s Champions League door.
Looking ahead to the double gameweek and Joe Hart and Yaya Toure are your obvious selections. Next is David Silva – who will be at slight risk with James Milner and Adam Johnson potentially giving the Spaniard a rest before the FA Cup final – and finally Mario Balotelli, another even bigger risk with the potential of Tevez’s return for the home game in the double gameweek.
More on Tevez’s training status later this week. But to those on the blue side of Manchester, Champions League qualification and an FA Cup win would be the club’s best season in decades – and the man who could bump them over the top with his return next week could certainly be Tevez.
Related posts:
Silva was way better than Ya Ya Toure against West Ham. The offense went through Silva. If Tevez comes back, that will devalue Toure, as he will go back to being a box to box midfielder instead of getting forward and making runs. Silva is he only Citeh midfielder you need for the double gameweek.
Both played well but all of Silva’s chances were created by Toure’s late runs into the box or his lay-offs.
I do not think Toure will go back to being a box to box midfielder at all when Tevez returns – this is where you are mistaken. If Balotelli drops to the bench and Tevez replaces him, Toure will continue to link with Tevez as he has done this season and take countless shots on target.
De Jong and Gareth Barry are clearly the two defensive midfielders in Mancini’s lineup and that gives Toure so much freedom to roam.
Toure is also about 2.5M or so cheaper than Silva and since Kolarov and Adam Johnson took the majority of corner kicks, not Silva, last week, I think Toure is a bigger goal threat while Silva is a good bonus point / assist threat.
Toss up.
Respectfully disagree. Ya Ya is a Micheal Essien/Patrick Viera type defensive mid. Although they have their moments offensively, they are certainly not prolific. I watched Toure in La Liga and he never showed this type of offensive potential.
100% agreed re: La Liga. But that was a slower, more technical league. Toure was used in front of the back 4.
Like I said, De Jong and Barry cover that role now and Toure is MUCH further forward. Toure’s runs are lung busting into the box and he’s so cheap (from a fantasy perspective) that he’s a no brainer in my opinion for the double gameweek. His through balls and vision are great as well.