In his latest article, two-time Indian Fantasy Premier League (FPL) champion Lateriser gives his opinion on who the injured Bukayo Saka (£10.5m) can be sold for.
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A real spanner has been thrown in the works for a huge percentage of FPL managers, now that Bukayo Saka has injured his hamstring. Scout has already gone over the leading candidates to replace him and, for me, I think it’s the most important issue to address.
There are many price points that you can access and I’m assuming lots of these same managers will soon have to decide what to do with Matheus Cunha (£7.1m), once more is known about his probable ban.
A lot depends on how much you want to spend on Cunha’s replacement. More than any midfielder I’ll mention, the priorities should be Alexander Isak (£9.0m) and Nicolas Jackson (£8.3m) in that order. They are comfortably the best two mid-priced forwards and leftover funds will then dictate Saka’s substitute.
REPLACING SAKA
Anthony Gordon (£7.2m)
If you want a well-priced, mid-to-long-term pick who is fairly safe for minutes, my favourite is Gordon. His Newcastle United side is in good form and Eddie Howe has mentioned that slight adjustments have led to the team finding its feet in attack.
The Magpies sit fifth for expected goals (xG) throughout the last six Gameweeks and are visibly purring right now. Playing Sandro Tonali (£5.5m) as a deep-lying midfielder with Bruno Guimaraes (£6.1m) as the advanced, creative number eight is really doing wonders for them.
Even Jacob Murphy (£4.9m) is having a good time. While he and Isak have been grabbing the points, Gordon has somehow been dodging them but I’m fairly confident this will soon change. He has a healthy 3.02 non-penalty expected goal involvement (NPxGI) tally from these six Gameweeks and looks to be finding some of last season’s form that brought 11 goals and 16 assists.
Above: Midfielders ranked by NPxGI between Gameweeks 12 and 17
The left-sided triangle involving Gordon, Lewis Hall (£4.6m) and Joelinton (£6.0m) is excelling. While Aston Villa and Manchester United seem like a couple of tricky opponents on paper, there will still be enough space for him to shine.
After that, his fixtures are incredible for attackers. It’ll be Tottenham Hotspur – need I say any more? – Wolverhampton Wanderers, Bournemouth and Southampton.
Bruno Fernandes (£8.4m)
However, the more popular option is Fernandes as he’s a minutes monster, takes penalties and delivered two goals and two assists in his last half-dozen. He looked good in the 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth but most of his efforts came from outside the box.
As a Man United fan, I can say that every significant chance involved either Fernandes or Amad Diallo (£5.4m). My problem is he’s about to face Liverpool and Newcastle, which isn’t great. Although the run afterwards is very obliging.
A caveat, though. I believe that there’s a good chance that Amad, Alejandro Garnacho (£6.1m) and Rasmus Hojlund (£6.9m) are the first-choice front three, playing better when Fernandes is in midfield. But Ruben Amorim likes to rotate the squad and we’ll see some minutes with Bruno playing higher up.
Other contenders
These are the two safer options, so let’s move towards the cheaper, high-upside punts. There is no doubt that Liverpool currently has the league’s best attack and most of us own Mohamed Salah (£13.5m) – possibly Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.1m) too.
In my opinion, they next have the best league fixture of Leicester City at home. If you were to take a chance on brace potential during a juicy fixture, my suggestion is Luis Diaz (£7.4m). Of course, with the Colombian, you need to accept there’ll be an occasional benching and learn to just accept it. But when starting, he’s lately been getting close to 90 minutes.
If you’re someone who wants slightly more security with minutes, then I want to suggest Gabriel Martinelli (£6.7m). With Saka sidelined, game time should be fairly secure and I was a big fan of his performance on the right against Crystal Palace, once his colleague had been taken off. He clocked 1.19 expected goal involvement (xGI) and looked really threatening and sharp in that position.
Above: Gabriel Martinelli’s shots (green) and chances created (yellow) in Gameweek 17
Also, from a match-up point of view, I think Mikel Arteta will need to use his pace in upcoming high-transition games against Brighton and Hove Albion, Brentford and Tottenham. I think it’s a low-key great punt and one that very few will go for.
“He’s played there before. He did really well. He scored a goal, created an assist and is a good option to have.” – Mikel Arteta on Gabriel Martinelli playing as a right-winger
Last but not least, I think Ismaila Sarr (£5.7m) is the best pick from the cheaper price bracket. Amongst midfielders priced £10.0m or below, he ranks second for NPxGI over these six Gameweeks and has a great run of upcoming fixtures.
“Ismaila is getting better and better, and we are really delighted with his performances.” – Oliver Glasner on Ismaila Sarr
Those are certainly encouraging words from Glasner and the proof is in the pudding.
I really hope you found this article useful. Finally, this is me wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas from me and mine. Love, light and luck to you!
If you want to catch more of us, we did a podcast for The FPL Wire with Pras – who is now up to 14k – and Zophar. You can view it below.
