Martinelli benched as Nketiah comes in for Arsenal

Gabriel Martinelli‘s (£4.5m) recent form was not enough for him to hold onto a place in the Arsenal starting line-up for Gameweek 26.

The centre-forward has averaged 4.75 points per game over his last four starts, better than any of his colleagues, but Mikel Arteta has seen fit to name the youngster on the bench.

Instead, the Arsenal manager has opted to hand Eddie Nketiah (£4.3m) a first start for the club since returning from a loan at Leeds United.

The young Englishman spearheads the Gunners’ attack, supported by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£10.8m) and Nicolas Pépé (£9.1m) in the wide areas and Mesut Ozil (£7.2m) in the number 10 role.

Meanwhile, there are several changes for Newcastle, as Steve Bruce names new signings Danny Rose (£5.3m) and Valentino Lazaro (£5.5m) at left and right-back respectively, the latter, an FPL midfielder, deployed in reverse-out-of-position.

The Fantasy interest in Newcastle’s defence remains largely on the low side but those discussed as budget differentials recently in Jamaal Lascelles (£4.2m) and Federico Fernández (£4.4m) are both in the starting line-up.

Arsenal XI: Leno; Saka, D Luiz, Mustafi, Bellerin; Ceballos, Xhaka; Aubameyang, Ozil, Pépé; Nketiah.

Newcastle United XI: Dubravka; Rose, Clark, Lascelles, Fernandez, Lazaro; Almirón, Bentaleb, S Longstaff, Saint-Maximin; Joelinton.