It’s the end of the international break and in a merciful release, it’s the last one of the season – which means we are entering the home stretch of the Premier League campaign.
John Stones and Bukayo Saka were the most high-profile casualties from an injury-ravaged England camp, though the Manchester City defender only left the squad as a precaution and Saka is recovering from Covid-19.
There are still plenty of selection headaches for FPL managers this weekend, with Trent Alexander-Arnold yet to return from a hamstring injury and facing a race against time to be fit for the 10 April title showdown with Manchester City.
Patrick Bamford is also likely to miss most of the business end of Leeds’ season having been ruled out for around six weeks.
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Here are i‘s picks this week:
Edouard Mendy (Chelsea)
Aaron Ramsdale’s continued absence will leave FPL managers searching for a replacement and Mendy’s Chelsea face Brentford, who have failed to score in five of their 10 matches against the traditional “big six” since winning promotion. The Blues stopper has 11 clean sheets so far this season – only Alisson, Ederson and Ramsdale have more.
Price: £6.1m Points: 102 Gameweek 31 fixtures: Brentford (h)
Joao Cancelo (Man City)
Alexander-Arnold’s replacement will be the priority for those who have leant on the Liverpool right-back in recent weeks and Cancelo is the second-highest scoring defender points-wise (after Alexander-Arnold) with 162. The 27-year-old may not have the same reputation going forward but he does have six goal contributions in the league this season.
Price: £6.9m Points: 162 Gameweek 31 fixtures: Burnley (a)
Ben White (Arsenal)
White isn’t a particularly well-kept secret and hasn’t been since his summer move from Brighton, when his £4.5m price tag made him an instantly appealing budget option.
Price: £4.5m Points: 103 Gameweek 31 fixtures: Crystal Palace (a)
Eric Dier (Tottenham)
The consensus was that Dier was unfortunate to miss out on an England return but at least he has remained unscathed, particularly when Tottenham centre-back partner Cristian Romero endured a wasted trip to South America having seen his appeal against an Argentina ban turned down. Dier is the best value defender in terms of pounds to points under £5m and faces a Newcastle side who haven’t scored in their last two games.
Price: £4.6m Points: 93 Gameweek 31 fixtures: Newcastle (h)
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Mitchell’s Crystal Palace form has earned him an international breakthrough alongside Eagles team-mate Marc Guehi. Despite his 90 points in FPL this season, he is still largely being ignored by the bulk of selectors with just 1.2 per cent picking him in their teams.
Price: £4.5m Points: 90 Gameweek 31 fixtures: Arsenal (h)
Francisco Trincao (Wolves)
Trincao comes with a huge note of caution as his loan spell at Wolves has largely been disappointing, but he sprung into life against Leeds with a goal on the verge of half-time. Only Son Heung-min scored more FPL points from the midfield last gameweek.
Price: £5.6m Points: 52 Gameweek 31 fixtures: Aston Villa (h)
Christian Eriksen (Brentford)
Eriksen missed the Bees’ last Premier League game with Covid, but made an emotional return to Denmark duty with a goal against the Netherlands in midweek. He has re-energised Thomas Frank’s attack and while he’s only registered the one assist so far, he has played the second highest number of key passes and played more passes into the final third than any other Brentford player.
Price: £5.5m Points: 8 Gameweek 31 fixtures: Chelsea (a)
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James Maddison (Leicester)
Maddison may not have been the most fashionable choice over the last 18 months but his performance in the European Conference League against Randers has kickstarted a revival and he’s now scored eight goals and assisted another three in the league this season.
Price: £6.8m Points: 118 Gameweek 31 fixtures: Manchester United (a)
Kai Havertz (Chelsea)
Regardless of what’s happening off the pitch at Chelsea, Thomas Tuchel has done an admirable job of maintaining their focus on it and Havertz has been the key man during that period, with four goals in their last three games. The Germany international continued where he left off in midweek too, finding the net against Israel.
Price: £7.9m Points: 85 Gameweek 31 fixtures: Brentford (h)
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Rodrigo (Leeds)
Jesse Marsch’s arrival has done little to stem the sense of chaos at Leeds (if anything it’s got even worse) but Rodrigo has been among the goals in their mini-revival with two in his last two appearances.
Price: £6.2m Points: 64 Gameweek 31 fixtures: Southampton (h)
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Richarlison (Everton)
I know, I know. Richarlison is firmly down in the lower echelons of wished-for FPL forwards, but he has an almost identical points return to Romelu Lukaku, who costs almost £4m more. It is also worth taking advantage of Everton’s double gameweek, rather than Burnley’s, as the Clarets begin it by hosting Manchester City.
Price: £7.5m Points: 64 Gameweek 31 fixtures: West Ham (a), Burnley (h)
How i‘s Gameweek 30 picks performed
- Jose Sa (Wolves) – 1
- Gabriel Magalhaes (Arsenal) – 8
- Conor Coady (Wolves) – 1
- Sergio Reguilon (Tottenham) – 2
- Harvey Barnes (Leicester) – 5
- Christian Eriksen (Brentford) – N/A (did not play)
- Son Heung-min (Tottenham) – 15
- Bukayo Saka (Arsenal) – 11
- Philippe Coutinho (Aston Villa) – 2
- Harry Kane (Tottenham) – 13
- Ivan Toney (Brentford) – 2
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