WELL, it was bound to happen at some stage.
With Manchester City on the brink of a treble, Game Week 34’s best XI features no fewer than TEN of Pep Guardiola’s troops.
The gaffer who benefited from an extreme approach to the tune of 167 points was Chris Taylor, a fan of the Citizens as it happens.
Let’s take a detailed look at how he topped the pile…
Dream Team bosses may have been frustrated by Rodrigo’s (£3.5m) consolation goal for Leeds against City in Game Week 33 but Ederson (£4.8m) and company more than made up for that this past week.
The champions elect kept Everton at bay at Goodison Park on Sunday before making it back-to-back clean sheets with an emphatic performance against Real Madrid on Wednesday night.
Ruben Dias (£6.8m), Kyle Walker (£4.3m) and Manuel Akanji (£4.7m) all featured in both games and registered consecutive 7+ ratings too.
The former incurred minus one point for a booking against the Spanish giants by that was more than offset by the latter’s headed goal in midweek.
Chris’ goalkeeper and three defenders combined for 68 points!
The main reason Chris eclipsed the many, many other gaffers who adopted a City-centric approach was his specific midfield selections.
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Both Riyad Mahrez (£6.4m) and Jack Grealish (£5.2m) have provided plentiful points in recent months but between them they mustered just seven points this past week, 33 fewer than the combined returns of Bernardo Silva (£3.2m) and Ilkay Gundogan’s (£3.9m).
The experienced German ran the show against the Toffees, finishing with two goals and an assist for a 20-point return while the Portugal international cashed in with two goals during that dominant first half at the Etihad in midweek.
With 126 points to his name, Gundogan is the 15th-best asset in his position overall but just the sixth-best midfielder in City’s squad, such is scale of his side’s dominance.
Erling Haaland’s (£10.2m) presence in the Team of the Week goes without saying though Thibaut Courtois’ damage-limiting saves forced the Norwegian poacher to settle for 11 points in Game Week 34.
Julian Alvarez (£4.6m) applied the cherry on top of City’s Champions League semi-final triumph with his 15th goal in all competitions this season – not bad for an understudy.
Despite relative limited minutes, the World Cup winner is the ninth-best forward in Dream Team at the time of writing.
Last but by no means least, the only man to reside outside Manchetser, Callum Wilson (£5m)!
Newcastle’s No9 bagged a brace at Elland Road on Saturday thanks to two penalties before he cashed in late against Brighton on Thursday evening with a goal and an assist in the final two minutes of normal time.
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The 31-year-old banked 27 points when all was said and done to finish the Game Week as the top performer among all assets.
Well played, Chris, good luck to you and all other gaffers ahead of Game Week 35!
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
