Ace/Waste of Space: Man City’s go-to winner will shock many

Manchester City had their best season yet in the Champions League in what turned out to be Manuel Pellegrini’s Etihad swansong, though their Premier League campaign flirted with top-four disaster. Which players exemplified the two faces of City last season?

As we continue our statistically insightful journey through the 2015/16 campaign, the News.Ladbrokes team has once again uncovered a hero and a villain, dredging up yet more unexpected results.

Firstly, a quick reminder how the aces and their waste-of-space colleagues are decided; any player to have started at least 15 games across all competitions will qualify as potential candidates.

The man with the best overall win percentage is our nominated ace and the player involved in the highest percentage of defeats walks away with the unwanted accolade.

ACE – Wilfried Bony

Yes, City fans, you read this write. Although the former Swansea striker has made the same impact as an autumn leaf dropping on the road since his January 2015 move, Bony somehow proved a winning ingredient last season.

Obviously the misfiring Ivorian was understudy to the prolific Sergio Aguero and his game time was far more limited – he started 18 times compared to 42 in all competitions – but for all his wastefulness in front of goal he had a knack of being on the winning side.

Perhaps the fact that eight of his 13 Premier League starts came against sides that finished in the bottom half of the table is the biggest contributing factor.

City fans will dearly hope Bony contributes more than the eight goals in 34 total appearances next season.

WASTE OF SPACE – Martin Demichelis

Having followed Pellegrini for Malaga in summer 2013, Demichelis never fully endeared himself to the Etihad faithful.

Always capable of a rash challenge, the Argentine veteran was always vulnerable to forwards with pace and after a brief 2014/15 renaissance, he slipped down the pecking order ahead of the season just gone.

Good job really, as across the 17 games he started, seven ended in defeat. That’s a loss percentage of 41. To put that into context, not one other City player got into the 30s.

The 35-year-old was released by the club in June.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.