Manchester City‘s last chance to end this season with a trophy is the FA Cup after they were knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid.
The Cityzens are 20 points behind Liverpool in the Premier League table and failed to reach the final of the League Cup, which means that they have to win the FA Cup to avoid a trophyless campaign.
Pep Guardiola’s side, who beat Leyton Orient in the previous round, are set to play host to Championship strugglers Plymouth Argyle at The Etihad this evening.
City must avoid following in Liverpool’s footsteps, by being knocked out by the second tier outfit, and should ruthlessly ditch Savinho from the starting XI to do so.
Why Savinho should be dropped
The 20-year-old star has only scored two goals in 36 appearances in all competitions for the club this season, and has not contributed with a goal or an assist in his two FA Cup outings.
Savinho also struggled in the club’s last outing against Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Wednesday night and should be dropped as a result of that showing.
|
Vs Spurs (H) |
Savinho |
|---|---|
|
Minutes |
89 |
|
Key passes |
0 |
|
Big chances created |
0 |
|
Shots |
6 |
|
Big chances missed |
1 |
|
Goals |
0 |
As you can see in the table above, the Brazil international was incredibly wasteful in front of goal, failing to score with any of his six shots, and missed a huge chance when he fired an unchallenged shot over from Jeremy Doku’s cross along the box.
The former Girona star also failed to create a single chance for his teammates in his 89 minutes on the pitch, which shows that he struggled badly up against Destiny Udogie.
Guardiola must, now, ditch the young gem from the starting line-up for this clash with Plymouth in order to unleash Phil Foden from the start on the right flank.
Why Phil Foden should start
The England international, who has one assist in two FA Cup games this season, has scored ten goals and provided five assists in all competitions this season for the Cityzens so far.
Whilst he has failed to hit the heights of last season, when the forward racked up 27 goals and 12 assists for City, the left-footed star has still offered a big threat at the top end of the pitch.
Foden, who former England U21 boss Aidy Boothroyd claimed wriggles out of challenges “like a little eel“, has scored eight more goals than Savinho in all competitions, which suggests that he could offer more in front of goal than the Brazilian this evening.
The 24-year-old sensation has also created seven ‘big chances’ and racked up 5.02 xA in the Premier League, but has only been rewarded with two assists. For context as to how unfortunate that is, Liverpool’s Mo Salah has 6.79 xA – less than two expected assists more – and has 17 assists to his name for the Reds.
He has been let down by wasteful finishing from his teammates but that should not take away from what the midfielder can provide on the pitch, as his statistics show that Foden can score goals and create high-quality chances on a regular basis.
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Therefore, Guardiola could improve his team’s chances of avoiding an upset against Plymouth by dropping Savinho to the bench and unleashing the City academy graduate from the start.
