This squad costs £113.3m, which is £13.3m over the £100m budget. If you need to trim, the cheapest swap in each position is covered below. The suggested formation is 3-4-3 or 3-5-2, leaning on a three-man City defensive stack and a front three with genuine upside.
Goalkeepers
Pickford (£5.5m, xP 4.67) is the clear first-choice here. He faces Manchester United at home and carries a form score of 3.5, with 8.8% ownership keeping him nicely differential. Tzolakis (£4.5m, xP 4.52) slots in as the budget backup with a home game against Aston Villa and a strong form score of 5.0. At just £4.5m he is the cheapest option in the squad and a sensible one if you need to free up funds.
Defenders
Gabriel (£8.0m, xP 4.87) leads the defensive line at home to Chelsea. Guehi (£6.0m, xP 4.76) and Gvardiol (£5.5m, xP 4.69) form a double City defensive pairing for their home fixture against Coventry. Gvardiol’s form score of 7.0 and Guehi’s 6.0 both look attractive. Tarkowski (£6.0m, xP 4.56) pairs nicely with Pickford at Everton but carries a form score of only 3.0, making him the most droppable of the five. De Cuyper (£4.6m, xP 4.55) is the budget option at £4.6m with a home game against Leeds and a standout form score of 8.5, the highest in this defensive group. If you want to shed money from defence, Gvardiol down to De Cuyper saves £0.9m.
Midfielders
Cherki (£7.6m, xP 5.44) is the top-scoring midfielder by xP and carries an extraordinary form score of 11.0, which is the highest number in the entire squad. He plays for City at home to Coventry. Saka (£9.5m, xP 5.35) is the premium pick home to Chelsea. Semenyo (£8.5m, xP 4.98) and Palmer (£9.6m, xP 4.96) round out the expensive end of midfield. Palmer is away at Arsenal, which is the toughest fixture of the four, but his form of 6.5 and 16.9% ownership make him hard to ignore at his price. Foden (£7.0m, xP 4.63) is the fifth midfielder and the cheapest route into the City midfield stack. His 4.1% ownership is a genuine differential. If budget is tight, replacing Semenyo with Foden saves £1.5m, though you lose xP.
Forwards
Haaland (£15.5m, xP 9.18) is the standout pick in the entire squad and the obvious captain. A home game against Coventry, 68.3% ownership, and an xP of 9.18 leave no room for debate. Havertz (£7.5m, xP 6.40) also faces Chelsea at the Emirates and posts an xP of 6.40 at just 7.5% ownership. Thiago (£8.0m, xP 6.17) rounds out the attack with a home game for Brentford against Sunderland and xP of 6.17, though his form score of 0.0 is a flag worth noting.
Captain Pick
Captain Haaland. His 9.18 xP is almost three points clear of the next forward, and a home fixture against Coventry is as good as it gets in GW3.
Bench Order
- Tzolakis (GKP, bench)
- De Cuyper (DEF, first off bench)
- Foden (MID, second off bench)
- Tarkowski (DEF, third off bench)
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