Pep Guardiola’s Treble winners begin the defence of our league title with a trip to Burnley on Friday 11 August, with kick-off at Turf Moor scheduled for 20:00 (UK).
We last faced Vincent Kompany’s side in March’s FA Cup quarter-final tie at the Etihad Stadium, where an Erling Haaland hat-trick and further goals from Julian Alvarez (two) and Cole Palmer secured a fine 6-0 win and a place in the last-four.
However, against a Clarets side who won the Championship with a mightily impressive 101 points last term, victory in Lancashire will be far from a formality.
City enter the fixture also looking to bounce back from last Sunday’s narrow penalty shootout defeat to Arsenal in the Community Shield after a 1-1 draw at Wembley Stadium.
Palmer opened the scoring with a sublime curling effort, before the Gunners equalised on the cusp of full-time when Leandro Trossard’s low shot deflected past Stefan Ortega Moreno.
In the shootout, Kevin De Bruyne hit the crossbar and Rodrigo’s spot kick was saved while the Londoners scored all four of their attempts.
And with the 2023/24 season looking set to be another exciting and thrilling campaign, FPL managers have plenty to ponder before the curtain raises this weekend.
Read our latest FPL Scout Report ahead of Friday 11 August’s 18:30 (UK) deadline below.
CITY STARS
Haaland’s value of £14.0m makes him one of the most expensive players in FPL history.
With the forward found in 86.5% of teams, however, a double-up on City players could be a wise tactic for our visit to Burnley.
John Stones (£5.5m) has already scored during pre-season thanks to a new role.
Moving into midfield when Guardiola’s team are in possession, the centre-back looks well-placed for more attacking returns this term.
He also has strong potential for clean sheets with four promoted sides from the last two terms among our first six Gameweeks.
ONE TO WATCH
Burnley’s new signing Zeki Amdouni (£5.5m), meanwhile, was the top scorer in the UEFA Europa Conference League last season with seven goals.
DIFFERENTIALS
Elsewhere, Jarrod Bowen and Dejan Kulusevski (both £7.0m) are low-owned, midfield assets who have a good fixture in Gameweek 1 and a productive pre-season under their belts.
West Ham United’s Bowen visits Bournemouth on the back of three goals and three assists in pre-season.
Kulusevski faces Brentford having assisted twice in Tottenham Hotspur’s recent pre-season friendly against Shakhtar Donetsk.
