Wednesday team news: Saka absent, Haaland + De Bruyne benched

Gameweek 31 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) continues with five matches taking place this Wednesday evening, so here’s the team news.

The headlines belong to some big absentees. While Erling Haaland (£14.3m) and Kevin De Bruyne (£10.4m) drop to Man City’s bench, there’s no Bukayo Saka (£9.0m) at all in Arsenal’s squad. FPL autosubs are ready to come in.

Saka was said to be “fine” after limping off the pitch on Sunday. His boss Mikel Arteta added “we’ll see whether he is in the best condition to start or not,” so to see him completely out is a surprise. He’s one of five Arsenal changes, with Declan Rice (£5.5m), Jakub Kiwior (£4.4m) and Gabriel Jesus (£7.7m) reduced to the sidelines.

Gabriel Martinelli (£7.6m) joins them there, although FPL managers get some relief by seeing Gabriel Magalhaes (£5.3m), William Saliba (£5.8m), David Raya (£5.1m) and Martin Odegaard (£8.5m) all start.

As for Haaland and De Bruyne, it could be a case of managing game time knowing that they’ll be in Saturday’s early kick-off. Phil Foden (£8.1m) starts along with Julian Alvarez (£6.4m), Jeremy Doku (£6.4m) and Jack Grealish (£7.2m) but there’s no Ederson (£5.5m), Kyle Walker (£5.3m), John Stones (£5.3m) or Nathan Ake (£5.0m).

Meanwhile, we already knew that Aston Villa would be without star forward Ollie Watkins (£8.8m), full-back Matty Cash (£4.6m) and the banned John McGinn (£5.3m). Their six changes include a benching of Leon Bailey (£5.6m) and Pau Torres (£4.6m), with Emiliano Martinez (£5.3m) pulling out late due to illness.

Heavily affected by injuries, Luton are at least able to field highly-owned Alfie Doughty (£4.6m). They’ve made three changes from the weekend.

Elsewhere, Brighton welcome Joao Pedro (£5.2m) back into their line-up, having been out since Gameweek 23. Their four changes demote full-backs Pervis Estupinan (£4.9m) and Tariq Lamptey (£3.9m) to the bench. Opponents Brentford are unchanged from the 1-1 draw with Manchester United. This means Sergio Reguilon (£4.4m) isn’t straight back into the XI after suspension, with Bryan Mbeumo‘s (£6.7m) minutes still being controlled.

GAMEWEEK 31 LINE-UPS

Arsenal XI: Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Odegaard, Partey, Smith Rowe; Nelson, Havertz, Trossard

Subs: Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, Kiwior, Rice, Jorginho, Vieira, Martinelli, Jesus, Nketiah

Luton Town XI: Kaminski; Kabore, Mengi, Hashioka; Onyedinma, Mpanzu, Barkley, Doughty; Townsend, Clark; Morris

Subs: Krul, Shea, Berry, Piesold, Johnson, Ogbene, Chong, Nelson, Woodrow

Brentford XI: Flekken; Zanka, Ajer, Collins; Roerslev, Jensen, Janelt, Yarmoliuk, Lewis-Potter; Wissa, Toney

Subs: Strakosha, Reguilon, Baptiste, Onyeka, Damsgaard, Ghoddos, Ji-soo, Mbeumo, Maupay

Brighton and Hove Albion XI: Verbruggen; Veltman, Dunk, van Hecke, Igor; Baleba, Gross; Buonanotte, Lallana, Adingra; Joao Pedro

Subs: Steele, Estupinan, Lamptey, Offiah, Peupion, O’Mahony, Moder, Enciso, Welbeck

Manchester City XI: Ortega; Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Rodri, Bernardo; Doku, Foden, Grealish; Alvarez

Subs: Carson, Stones, Gomez, Bobb, Kovacic, De Bruyne, Nunes, Susoho, Haaland

Aston Villa XI: Olsen; Konsa, Diego Carlos, Lenglet, Digne; Zaniolo, Douglas Luiz, Iroegbunam, Rogers; Diaby, Duran

Subs: Gauci, Alex Moreno, Pau Torres, Tielemans, Chambers, Kesler-Hayden, Kellyman, Bailey