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If ever a weekend demonstrated the folly in making early Fantasy Premier League decisions it was the one just gone.
On Saturday morning, a full week before the Gameweek 28 deadline, the two-most bought players in the game were Jean-Philippe Mateta and Matheus Cunha, both of whom will now play no part in it.
Mateta suffered a nasty laceration to his ear that required 25 stitches after a shocking challenge from Millwall’s keeper in the FA Cup and will miss Crystal Palace‘s fixture against Ipswich Town at the very least; thankfully, the injury wasn’t any worse.
Cunha’s impending absence, on the other hand, is entirely his own doing. The Brazilian scored a wonderful goal against Bournemouth but tarnished his brilliance with a brainless red card. ICYMI, think Joey Barton vs Manchester City circa 2012 but less snarly.
A trio of highly-owned Newcastle United assets are also either doubtful or definitely ruled out of their fixture at West Ham. Alexander Isak came off as a precaution in the loss to Brighton & Hove Albion, Anthony Gordon saw red for a similarly needless act of aggression to Cunha, and Lewis Hall missed out entirely due to an ankle injury.
TL;DR don’t make early transfers unless you have an exceptional reason not to.
This week’s deadline is at 11am on Saturday, 8 March:
Gameweek 28 team
Alisson Becker (Liverpool) – £5.5m
Daniel Munoz (Crystal Palace) – £5m
Marc Cucurella (Chelsea) – £5.1m
Gabriel Magalhaes (Arsenal) – £6.3m
Mo Salah (Liverpool) – £13.8m
Christopher Nkunku (Chelsea) – £5.7m
Dominik Szoboszlai (Liverpool) – £6.4m
Bryan Mbeumo (Brentford) – £8m
Yankuba Minteh (Brighton) – £5m
Eddie Nketiah (Crystal Palace) – £5.9m
Beto (Everton) – £5m
Goalkeeper
Alisson Becker (Liverpool)
Trent Alexander-Arnold is an undeniably more exciting pick from Liverpool‘s back five than Alisson is.
However, with the Reds playing Paris Saint-Germain in a Champions League double-header and Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final before the international break, Alexander-Arnold may be a rotation risk against Southampton (cue a 20-point haul).
Alisson is a safer pick for those wanting Liverpool defensive coverage for a game that looks primed for a clean sheet. Despite only playing 20 games, the Brazilian is joint-third for clean sheets (with nine) among goalkeepers.
Price: £5.5m Points: 87 Gameweek 28 fixture: Southampton (h)
Defenders
Daniel Munoz (Crystal Palace)
An assist in Crystal Palace’s 4-1 thumping of Aston Villa in Gameweek 27 ensured that Daniel Munoz has provided four attacking returns (one goal, three assists) in his last five Premier League matches.
The Colombian was also on target in the FA Cup win over Millwall last weekend and that goal, while not scored in the Premier League, highlighted why he is such a great FPL asset; a clinical finish from the six-yard-box that a striker would be proud of.
Munoz has been posting great returns for a while now. He suffered from Palace’s poor form at the start of the season, but since Gameweek 13, the wing-back is second only to Alexander-Arnold for the most points scored by a defender.
Price: £5m Points: 106 Gameweek 28 fixture: Ipswich (h)
Marc Cucurella (Chelsea)
Without wishing to blow our own trumpet too loudly, in last week’s tips we backed Marc Cucurella as the best pick from Chelsea‘s backline and he went on to score more points (15) than any other defender.
The Spanish left-back’s prospects for this weekend look equally encouraging given the Blues are in action against another relegation-threatened side in woeful form.
Leicester City have failed to score in nine of their last 12 league matches and have drawn a blank in four in a row.
Price: £5.1m Points: 76 Gameweek 28 fixture: Leicester (h)
Gabriel Magalhaes (Arsenal)
It has been absolutely ages since Gabriel last scored a Premier League goal – against West Ham on 30 November, to be exact – but maybe this will be the weekend that he ends that drought.
Manchester United have conceded 12 set-piece goals, the third-worst record in the division behind Wolverhampton Wanderers (17) and Southampton (16). Gabriel, meanwhile, has had 20 shots in the box, the fourth-best record among defenders.
The Red Devils have also failed to score in half of their last four league fixtures, which bodes well for Gabriel’s clean sheet prospects too.
Price: £6.3m Points: 109 Gameweek 28 fixture: Man Utd (a)
Midfielders
Mo Salah (Liverpool)
Has there been a more straightforward captaincy decision in a single gameweek all season than Mo Salah at home against Southampton?
If, for whatever reason, you’re planning on betting against Salah for this one, here are some stats to make you re-assess your decision:
- Salah has 111 more FPL points than any other player
- He has scored the most goals (25) and assisted the most (17)
- Only Brentford (with 30) have scored more home goals than Liverpool (28)
- No team has conceded more goals than Southampton (65)
Price: £13.8m Points: 291 Gameweek 28 fixture: Southampton (h)
Christopher Nkunku (Chelsea)
Our decision to select Pedro Neto as our Chelsea differential of choice in last week’s tips paid off handsomely as the Portuguese supplied a goal, an assist and 11 points in the thrashing of Southampton.
However, Neto was slightly fortuitous (or clinical, depending on your viewpoint) to deliver two attacking returns given that they came from just one shot and one chance created.
Christopher Nkunku also produced a goal and an assist and while he only earned one extra point than Neto, his underlying numbers were more impressive.
The Frenchman had four shots, created two chances and had a higher xG than his teammate. Both are great options this weekend against a Leicester side in freefall, but Nkunku shades it.
Price: £5.7m Points: 53 Gameweek 28 fixture: Leicester (h)
Dominik Szoboszlai (Liverpool)
Every active FPL manager owns Salah at this point – with the possible exception of fanatical Everton fans – so doubling up on Liverpool’s attack for this fixture looks like a great way to gain rank on others.
The in-form Dominik Szoboszlai gets the nod after stepping up his output lately. Nine of the Hungarian’s 12 attacking returns (five goals, seven assists) have come in the last 11 gameweeks, including three in his last two fixtures.
Since Gameweek 17, when Szoboszlai’s FPL form started to pick up, he ranks fourth among all midfielders for shots on goal, only behind Salah, Cole Palmer and Eberechi Eze.
Price: £6.4m Points: 110 Gameweek 28 fixture: Southampton (h)
Bryan Mbeumo (Brentford)
We have multiple picks from Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Liverpool this week on the basis that all three play at home against the bottom three, Leicester, Ipswich and Southampton respectively.
Targeting those teams is obvious given their struggles, but another side that has been defensively suspect on the road is Aston Villa. Only Leicester, Wolves and Southampton have conceded more away goals than Villa (28) this season, which is level with Ipswich.
Having a Brentford attacker in place, therefore, looks like a good idea. There is virtually nothing to separate Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa – they have 11 and 10 attacking returns at the Gtech respectively – but the former just gets the nod as he is the first-choice penalty taker.
Price: £8m Points: 171 Gameweek 28 fixture: Aston Villa (h)
Yankuba Minteh (Brighton)
Brighton have responded well to suffering their heaviest Premier League defeat ever at Nottingham Forest by winning their next five games in all competitions.
Yankuba Minteh has been key to their resurgent form. The Gambian winger has started all five of those wins, scoring three goals (two against Chelsea in the league and one against Newcastle in the FA Cup) and providing one assist.
Although Fulham are an excellent side under Marco Silva, they don’t tend to keep many clean sheets. They have kept only two since Gameweek 12 and they were against the bottom two clubs Leicester and Southampton.
Price: £5m Points: 72 Gameweek 28 fixture: Fulham (h)
Forwards
Eddie Nketiah (Crystal Palace)
A move across the river hasn’t yet worked out for Eddie Nketiah, but two goals in his last two games should give the Crystal Palace striker a welcome confidence boost ahead of Saturday’s fixture with Ipswich.
Nketiah’s header to seal victory over Millwall on Saturday was naturally overshadowed by the Mateta injury, but it was a sublime finish that suggested he is capable of filling in for the popular Frenchman.
Speaking to The i Paper last week, before Mateta’s unfortunate injury, Dan Cook of the HLTCO podcast said: “Heaven forbid if he [Mateta] were to get injured for two or three months I think Nketiah would still score goals because of the chance creation in the team.”
Owned by fewer than one per cent of managers, Nketiah could be a shrewd short-term differential.
Price: £5.9m Points: 33 Gameweek 28 fixture: Ipswich (h)
Beto (Everton)
As alluded to in the intro, the forward positions are a mess right now with Mateta and Cunha unavailable and Isak also seemingly not fully fit.
With the pool of in-form forwards dwindling, Beto gets the nod after enjoying a purple patch for Everton under David Moyes.
Beto drew a blank in his last outing against Brentford, but found the net in his four previous appearances, scoring five times in total.
Price: £5m Points: 58 Gameweek 28 fixture: Wolves (a)
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