Essien Absence Extended As Carlo Names His Cup Lineup

Price Change Predictions

Risers

Fallers

Player	Team	Price	Progress	Tonight
Rice	ARS	7.1m	106.0%	Very Likely
Foden	MCI	8.9m	102.2%	Very Likely
Ballard	SUN	4.6m	99.7%	Likely
Truffert	BOU	4.5m	94.8%	Unlikely
Verbruggen	BHA	4.4m	93.2%	Unlikely
James	CHE	5.6m	82.4%	Unlikely
Rogers	AVL	7.2m	68.3%	Unlikely
O'Reilly	MCI	5.3m	73.9%	Unlikely
L.Miley	NEW	4.4m	73.1%	Unlikely
Dalot	MUN	4.4m	75.5%	Unlikely
Chalobah	CHE	5.5m	67.6%	Unlikely
Andersen	FUL	4.6m	71.4%	Unlikely
Mukiele	SUN	4.2m	68.8%	Unlikely
Woltemade	NEW	7.3m	62.9%	Unlikely
Petrović	BOU	4.5m	69.6%	Unlikely
Guéhi	CRY	5.3m	66.4%	Unlikely
Mitchell	CRY	5.0m	67.4%	Unlikely
Tete	FUL	4.5m	63.7%	Unlikely
Watkins	AVL	8.5m	66.8%	Unlikely
Alderete	SUN	4.0m	57.5%	Unlikely
Stach	LEE	4.8m	52.5%	Unlikely
Van den Berg	BRE	4.5m	57.6%	Unlikely
Cullen	BUR	5.0m	54.7%	Unlikely
Raya	ARS	6.0m	53.1%	Unlikely
Mount	MUN	5.9m	50.9%	Unlikely
Gravenberch	LIV	5.6m	43.8%	Unlikely
Dúbravka	BUR	4.0m	51.2%	Unlikely
Lewis-Potter	BRE	4.8m	43.2%	Unlikely
Igor Jesus	NFO	5.8m	50.5%	Unlikely
Evanilson	BOU	7.0m	49.7%	Unlikely
Flemming	BUR	5.3m	46.0%	Unlikely
Trossard	ARS	6.9m	44.5%	Unlikely
Roefs	SUN	4.8m	41.0%	Unlikely
Cash	AVL	4.9m	45.5%	Unlikely
Sánchez	CHE	4.9m	43.8%	Unlikely
Gordon	NEW	7.3m	31.9%	Unlikely
Kamara	AVL	4.9m	42.0%	Unlikely
Richards	CRY	4.6m	42.5%	Unlikely
Smith Rowe	FUL	5.6m	41.4%	Unlikely
Hincapie	ARS	5.5m	39.6%	Unlikely

Connecting to LiveFPL...

We can't connect to LiveFPL right now, check back shortly

Player	Team	Price	Progress	Tonight
B.Fernandes	MUN	9.4m	124.4%	Very Likely
Merino	ARS	6.0m	92.0%	Likely
Nallo	LIV	3.8m	100.7%	Very Likely
Anderson	NFO	5.4m	100.7%	Very Likely
Johnstone	WOL	4.5m	100.6%	Very Likely
Nørgaard	ARS	5.2m	100.3%	Very Likely
Balcombe	BRE	4.0m	100.2%	Very Likely
Coleman	EVE	4.3m	99.8%	Likely
Piroe	LEE	5.0m	98.5%	Likely
Mosquera	ARS	5.4m	100.3%	Very Likely
Bentley	WOL	4.0m	100.2%	Very Likely
McAtee	NFO	5.1m	96.7%	Likely
Tzimas	BHA	5.3m	99.5%	Likely
Tasker	BHA	3.9m	99.9%	Likely
Strand Larsen	WOL	6.2m	97.5%	Likely
Vicario	TOT	4.9m	97.6%	Likely
Kulusevski	TOT	6.4m	99.8%	Maybe
Fitzgerald	MUN	4.4m	96.0%	Maybe
Szoboszlai	LIV	6.7m	92.5%	Maybe
Jair Cunha	NFO	4.3m	96.6%	Maybe
White	ARS	5.3m	88.3%	Maybe
Neave	NEW	4.4m	98.5%	Maybe
L.Guilherme	WHU	4.9m	96.4%	Maybe
Colwill	CHE	4.8m	95.6%	Maybe
Gittens	CHE	6.1m	94.9%	Maybe
Okafor	LEE	5.5m	94.4%	Unlikely
Pedro Porro	TOT	5.3m	91.7%	Unlikely
Barnes	BUR	4.3m	93.4%	Unlikely
Bevan	BOU	3.9m	91.3%	Unlikely
James	LEE	5.3m	93.1%	Unlikely
Benitez	CRY	4.0m	91.9%	Unlikely
Foster	BUR	5.0m	90.5%	Unlikely
Udogie	TOT	4.4m	91.5%	Unlikely
Nwaneri	ARS	5.1m	91.1%	Unlikely
Fer López	WOL	5.2m	91.8%	Unlikely
Aina	NFO	4.7m	90.8%	Unlikely
Broggio	AVL	4.5m	91.2%	Unlikely
Mamardashvili	LIV	4.3m	86.5%	Unlikely
Trafford	MCI	4.6m	88.4%	Unlikely
De Ligt	MUN	5.0m	85.6%	Unlikely

Connecting to LiveFPL...

We can't connect to LiveFPL right now, check back shortly

FPL Fixture Ticker

Watchlists

	Player	Club	Factors
No Change	Raya Martin	ARS	C
No Change	Alisson	LIV	B, Vs
No Change	Donnarumma	MCI	B, Vs, Sus
No Change	Kelleher	BRE	C, Vs
No Change	Dubravka	BUR	C, £

Last updated: 20 Dec, 2025 12:40am

	Player	Club	Factors
No Change	van Dijk	LIV	B, Vs
No Change	Jurriën Timber	ARS	C
No Change	O’Reilly	MCI	B, Vs
No Change	Andersen	FUL	C
No Change	Marc Guehi	CRY	A
No Change	van den Berg	BRE	C, Vs
No Change	Thiaw	NEW	B
No Change	Milenkovic	NFO	B
No Change	van Hecke	BHA	A
No Change	Mukiele	SUN	C, £

Last updated: 20 Dec, 2025 12:42am

	Player	Club	Factors
No Change	Saka	ARS	A
No Change	Bruno Fernandes	MUN	A
No Change	Foden	MCI	A, Vs
No Change	Semenyo	BOU	C
No Change	Szoboszlai	LIV	B, Vs, Inj, Sus
No Change	Minteh	BHA	C
No Change	Bruno Guimarães	NEW	B, Sus
No Change	Schade	BRE	C, Vs
No Change	Anderson	NFO	B, £

Last updated: 20 Dec, 2025 12:49am

	Player	Club	Factors
No Change	Haaland	MCI	B, Vs
No Change	Thiago	BRE	B, Vs, Inj
Up	Ekitiké	LIV	A, Vs
Up	Bowen	WHU	A
Down	Mateta	CRY	C
Down	Woltemade	NEW	B, Rest

Last updated: 20 Dec, 2025 12:51am

Chelsea have confirmed that Michael Essien will face up to six weeks on the sidelines following the knee injury sustained whilst representing Ghana in the African Cup of Nations. Essien suffered the injury whilst in training at the tournament and returned to the club to have the problem assessed earlier this week. Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti brought us this update today, along with his lineup for tomorrow’s FA Cup tie at Preston…

”He [Essien] had a tear in the meniscus, and he has to stay out for four to six weeks,’ the manager said. ‘I hope four….In January, Essien was not here, he was at the African Cup, maybe we lose him for one month, it is not good news but I think that we will do a good job again.”

The midfielder was set to return for Chelsea’s gameweek 25 clash with Arsenal but will now sit this out, along with League games against Everton and Wolves and possibly the Stamford Bridge meeting with Man City at the end of February…

Ancelotti will have Mikel back to take up the defensive midfield role once Nigeria are eliminated from the tournament. That outcome could materialise on Monday when Mikel is due to face Zambia in the Quarter-Finals. Should Nigeria go out, he could be back in contention for Chelsea’s trip to Burnley a week on Saturday. Cameroon’s progress will likely see Mikel absent until the Arsenal fixture.

In the absence of both Essien and Mikel, Juliano Belletti is set to remain in the anchor role in midfield, making him a decent proposition as a fantasy purchase as a defender. Should he impress in the next couple of fixtures, we may even see him pin down a starting role even on Mikel’s return.

Belletti was impressive enough in last weekend’s win over Sunderland, firing in two efforts on goal in the 7-2 rout. He has denied he is about to return to Brazil in a January transfer to Flamengo as suggested by recent reports.

Ancelotti has been busy today. He also took time out to kindly confirm his eleven for the FA Cup tie with Preston. Belletti starts that one, along with Deco in for Joe Cole and Zhirkov at left-back. The Russian comes for Ashely Cole who is apparently nursing an ankle complaint.

“Ashley Cole is out because he has a problem on his ankle and won’t be ready,’ Ancelotti reported. ‘I want to leave him out to rest for the game against Birmingham.”

That doesn’t sound like a major concern for Cole owners, although we will of course bring you any latest on that situation before Chelsea’s encounter with Birmingham on Wednesday.

Download the FFScout app

FPL GW17 Scout Picks

Fantasy EFL Gameweek 21

Price Change Predictions

Watchlists

FPL Fixture Ticker

FPL GW17 Scout Picks

Fantasy EFL Gameweek 21

Download the FFScout app

Join Our Leagues

GW18 Chip Poll

Price Change Predictions

FPL Fixture Ticker

Watchlists