If you want City attacking coverage, the first options you look at should be Agüero and Sterling.
This is because these two players are genuine captaincy options, unlike the other City attackers.
We will now compare and contrast the stats of Agüero and Sterling.
Last season, Agüero fired off 1 shot every 20.8 minutes, and created 1 chance every 70.2 minutes. This was comparable to the season before, where he took 1 shot every 20.9 minutes, and created 1 chance every 49.0 minutes. He also missed 10 big chances, hit the woodwork 8 times and created 6 big chances.
In contrast, Sterling took 1 shot every 36.0 minutes, and created 1 chance every 40.1 minutes. Like Agüero, these numbers were similar to the season before last, where Sterling fired off 1 shot every 29.7 minutes, and set up a chance every 46.1 minutes. He missed 8 big chances, hit the woodwork 3 times and created 12 big chances.
Looking at these stats, Agüero wins out in the shooting department, but Sterling wins out creatively.
Let’s now analyse the rotation trends of Agüero and Sterling last season.
Agüero was rested in only 2/33 games he was available for last season. These games were Crystal Palace (H) (which was his first game back from injury so it was more about being eased back into action), and Wolves (H). Both of these games were in the space of a month over the Christmas/New Year period.
Sterling was rested in 7/38 games he was available for last season. These games were Huddersfield (H), Burnley (H), Watford (A), Everton (H), Everton (A) and West Ham (H). The first two of these games game within the opening 9 GWs. The major worry here is that these ‘rotation’ games, especially the first three, were all games in which FPL managers would have wanted to put the ‘C’ on Sterling.
Now, we must examine the FPL returns of these two players.
Sterling scored at 0.084 PPM last season and 0.089 PPM the season before, while Agüero scored at 0.082 PPM last season and 0.086 PPM the season before.
Both consistent performers, Agüero returned in 60% of games, while Sterling returned in 59% of games.
Moreover, Agüero averaged 6.6 PPG against top 6 sides, and Sterling averaged 6.1 PPG against top 6 sides.
Similarly, Agüero averaged 8.6 PPG vs bottom 6 sides, and Sterling averaged 8.4 PPG vs bottom 6 sides.
Do you see a trend here? The stats of Agüero and Sterling are almost identical, and neither is clearly better than the other.
The only category in which Sterling convincingly beats Agüero is in games per double digit score, where the Englishman returned a double digit haul every 3.8 games last season, while the Argentine only managed a double digit haul every 6.7 games.
Also, Sterling has provided 67 FPL returns over the past two seasons, while Agüero has provided 59 returns over this period. So, Sterling provides more returns, and due to the fact he is a midfielder, he gets an extra point per goal.
Due to this, if we could only have one, it would be Sterling.
