Foden Vs Cherki: The Better FPL Pick

That's the whole argument in one sentence — but let's do it properly.

Both players sit in the same City midfield, so this is a straight head-to-head with identical fixtures: COV (H), MUN (A), SUN (H), LIV (A), IPS (H) and AVL (A). That's a genuinely kind run — three promoted-or-struggling sides at home, and even the away days are the sort City historically travel to without fear. Whoever you pick from this pair, the schedule is doing them favours.

So why Foden? At £7.0m, my projection has him around the 33-point mark across those six gameweeks — call it 5-6 points most weeks, with the sort of home fixtures (Coventry, Sunderland, Ipswich) where he can go massive on his day. And here's the kicker: hardly anyone has him. About 4 in 100 managers — call it fewer than 1 in 20. That's a genuine chance to gain ground on the field if he delivers.

Cherki is the more popular pick — roughly 1 in 10 own him — and he costs £7.5m for a projection that comes in about four points lighter over the same stretch. He's not a bad player; my numbers just say you're paying more, for less, alongside more people. That's three strikes in a two-horse race.

The honest caveat: this is Manchester City, and City midfielders live with rotation. Neither of these two is what I'd call nailed for 90 minutes every week, and Pep's selections can burn you in any given gameweek. If minutes wobble, both projections wobble with them. That risk applies equally to both, though — so it doesn't change the ranking, it just means you should captain elsewhere until the minutes settle.

Trips to Old Trafford and Anfield in that run are the other wrinkle. I'd temper expectations for those two weeks and bank on the three home games as the real payoff.

The call: buy Foden, not Cherki. Cheaper, projected higher, barely owned — same fixtures, better deal. If you already own Cherki, I wouldn't burn a hit to swap, but every fresh pound going into this City midfield should land on Foden.