Despite blanking in his previous three league matches, Erling Haaland (£15.4m) was Triple-Captained by 308,736 Fantasy Premier League managers for Manchester City’s home game against struggling Southampton. He duly made it 1-0 after five minutes but only scored six points, which, in all honestly, wasn’t a great result considering the fixture.
Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) was sold by almost two million managers ahead of Gameweek 9 but started and scored, registering nine FPL points. It wasn’t an ideal afternoon for his Arsenal side overall, though, as they twice gave away a lead over title rivals Liverpool in a 2-2 home draw and also experienced more injury woe.
As ever, we will go over the main FPL talking points from the weekend.
Arsenal injuries rack up
Mikel Arteta won’t have made any new friends among FPL managers as, from his comments in midweek, it looked as if it wasn’t looking good for Saka’s chances of starting against Liverpool.
But the winger did start and played 85 minutes, so it looks like he is fully fit. However, starting Arsenal defenders Gabriel (£6.3m) and Jurrien Timber (£5.5m) were both subbed off after picking up injuries, though it’s possible the latter may just have been cramp.
Arsenal play in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, against Preston North End of the Championship, so we may get an update from the manager on their situations. As we know though, Arteta doesn’t have a great record of being informative about his injured players, so we may have to look elsewhere for updates. We should at least find out if they are likely to be long-term absences or not.
If Gabriel is only going to be out for a few weeks and you have a strong bench to cover him over the next two, I would advise keeping him. Arsenal play Newcastle United (A) and Chelsea (A) next, which aren’t great games for clean-sheet purposes anyway and then we have the November international break. From Gameweek 12, their fixtures get favourable again and you will likely want him back by that point.
However, if you want or need to sell the Brazilian, Josko Gvardiol (£6.1m) of Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur’s Pedro Porro (£5.5m) look the best direct replacements around the same price point. If you want to go cheaper, Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.5m) of Wolverhampton Wanderers is looking like a great value pick — although it is worth noting he is on four yellow cards, so is another booking away from a one-match suspension.
Nine games in, Gary O’Neil’s side haven’t won or kept a clean sheet in the Premier League yet this season, but Ait-Nouri has scored three goals and two assists. The Algerian wing-back is one of the most attacking defenders in the league and will continue to pick up attacking returns.
Wolves also have great-looking fixtures all the way through Gameweek 17 — they play Crystal Palace (H), Southampton (H), Bournemouth (H), Everton (A), Ipswich Town (H) and Leicester City (A) in their next eight outings.
Up front, Matheus Cunha (£6.5m) is also looking excellent value at his price due to that run of upcoming games. Cunha has four goals this season and played the full 90 minutes in six of the past seven league matches. His minutes look good and the Brazilian is also Wolves’ likely penalty-taker.
What to do with Haaland…
The Norwegian may be the league’s 11-goal top scorer but there is no escaping the fact he has one in the past four league games, a run of: Newcastle, Fulham, Wolves and Southampton, the latter two currently being bottom and second-bottom of the table respectively.
City’s fixtures stiffen up a bit over the next four, as they come up against Bournemouth (A), Brighton & Hove Albion (A), Spurs (H) and Liverpool (A).
It is worth noting Haaland did rack up his highest xG (expected goals; 2.33) figure of the season in the league this gameweek, so if you Triple Captained him then you were extremely unfortunate not to get more. He missed some real gilt-edged chances.
I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer on whether to sell him or not. I am certain he will score well going forward, but whether he is worth £15.4m is another question.
There is definitely merit in switching him to Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (£12.6m) if you have at least two free transfers — his fixtures are great over the next three, as they play Brighton (H), Aston Villa (H) and Southampton (A).
I wouldn’t advise taking hits to get rid of Haaland and would only consider it if you could do it for free.
Is Wood a must-buy?
Nottingham Forest’s Chris Wood (£6.4m) has been in scintillating form, scoring seven goals so far — Haaland is the only player designated as a forward in FPL to have scored more goals than his eight in the league.
He does look like the best budget forward this season and with West Ham (H), Newcastle (H) and Ipswich (H) in the next four games, he will be a popular buy. Wood has been overperforming and although he won’t keep up the same rate of scoring, he is still a fine option, especially with the fixtures coming up. However, he was seen getting treatment on the bench after being substituted against Leicester on Friday, so hold fire if you do plan to buy him.
Forest go to Arsenal and City in Gameweeks 12 and 14 respectively, but if you have eight good attackers, it shouldn’t be an issue as you can bench Wood for their tougher games.
If he is declared fit, then the New Zealander is a great buy as he’s a long-term hold — the fixtures are nice, he is nailed in the starting XI and is the penalty taker for his team.
Spurs assets
Tottenham’s captain and talisman Son Heung-min (£9.9m) missed out in his side’s 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace yesterday through injury. The South Korean midfielder wasn’t included in their Europa League squad last week either and head coach Ange Postecoglou said he had some ‘soreness’.
But if Son is fit, he is an easy keep as Spurs have successive home games against Villa and Ipswich next in the league. We should get an update before Wednesday when they are at home against City in the last 16 of the Carabao Cup. Postecoglou is generally honest with injury updates, so we should get some definitive news.
If Son looks to be out for longer, then Saka would be the best affordable replacement. While Arsenal’s fixtures aren’t great in the next two with those trips to St James’ Park and Stamford Bridge, he is an inevitable transfer-in at some point over the coming weeks. As mentioned above, Arsenal’s fixtures are great from Gameweek 12 onwards.
If you have a few free transfers then, of course, Salah is also an option and a fine buy.
Meanwhile, owners’ patience with striker Dominic Solanke (£7.7m) will be wearing thin as the ex-Bournemouth man has failed to score in the past three games despite some decent fixtures and Spurs hitting seven goals in that time. His underlying stats are slightly concerning, too, as he’s only registered an xG of 0.13 in those three outings against Brighton, West Ham and Palace.
It’s too small a sample size to draw any real conclusions, as his xG for the season so far is decent at 3.6.
If you own Solanke, I would definitely give him these next two at home to Villa and Ipswich, then reassess.
(Top photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)
