Six goals in the first five Gameweeks have Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers scrambling to buy and captain Erling Haaland (£14.3m) – even with question marks surrounding his fitness.
This weekend’s visit of Burnley begins a great short and (eventually, with the exception of perhaps Gameweeks 11-12) long-term fixture run for Manchester City:
So, it could be worth doubling or even tripling up on assets from Pep Guardiola’s side.
With so many options to choose from, the question then, of course, becomes which, if any, other City players besides Haaland are worth considering?
It’s that very point that we aim to provide some clarity on in this article.
TIJJANI REIJNDERS
With him being behind only Haaland for FPL points and total ownership, Tijjani Reijnders (£5.6m) feels like a natural place to start.
The Dutchman has played every single minute of league action for Guardiola so far, suggesting he’s currently as close to “nailed” as one can hope to be under the ever-tinkering Spanish manager (we know, no one is completely safe…).
Above: Man City players sorted by minutes played this season
Against Arsenal on Sunday, it was Reijnders who set up Haaland’s opener, his second assist of the week (after creating one of City’s midweek Champions League goals against Napoli). It was his third FPL attacking return in five matches.
Recent history suggests this may not be a mere ‘flash in the pan’. A single-season career-high 10 goals in Serie A for AC Milan last term hinted at what was to come from his box-breaking role, and nine shots (six of them from within the opposition’s penalty area) in the league so illustrate a player who loves to bomb forward from central midfield whenever possible. He came close to scoring from inside the box against Napoli, too.
Above: Man City players sorted by total goal attempts (Tot) this season
Now come the caveats.
Firstly, he’s not going to get defensive contribution (DefCon) points as regularly as other cheap midfielders. He shouldn’t even have bagged them in Gameweek 5, as his defensive contributions were marked down from 12 to 11 after the Gameweek had been closed!
His minutes per shot (50) and per chance created (74) averages are really not that good, either. Yes, he’s £5.6m, so you’re not going to get Haaland levels, but even among sub-£6.0m midfielders, he’s way down the list:
Above: The top four sub-£6.0m midfielders, plus Reijnders for context, for minutes per xGI (min. 300 minutes)
But the improving fixtures should boost those averages; we’re still very much in small-sample territory where one ‘big chance’ is going to shoot you up the table.
And with more questions surrounding most, if not all, of his City teammates, he may be the pick of the bunch outside of Haaland – particularly with his next three fixtures being of similar difficulty to that Gameweek 1 Wolves match, when he registered his most penalty box touches (five) and final-third touches (30) of 2025/26 so far.
At his price, Reijnders is also going to help facilitate moves for more expensive picks in your FPL squad. Barring any major uptick in rotation, which would appear less likely until some more midfielders return from injury, he’s also probably a comfortable long-term ‘hold’, too.
JOSKO GVARDIOL
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