While we usually try to avoid saying someone has “punished his sellers” on these pages, it’s difficult to argue that Declan Rice (£7.1m) didn’t do it on Saturday.
A 50% injury flag, coupled with many Fantasy managers rejigging their Arsenal triple-up to accommodate Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.6m), saw Rice become the most-sold player of Gameweek 20:
| Name | Team | Transfers out |
| Rice | ARS | 688,604 |
| Thiago | BRE | 361,623 |
| Foden | MCI | 335,843 |
| Chalobah | CHE | 291,124 |
| Semenyo | BOU | 280,894 |
He responded by not just being passed fit and starting but by scoring his first goals since Gameweek 10.
This was his first-ever Premier League brace, doubling his season’s goals tally and helping him register his joint-biggest ever Fantasy Premier League (FPL) haul of 17 points.
RICE: TWO SHOTS, TWO GOALS
Mikel Arteta left it late to decide on including Rice – and it was a close-run thing.
“Every hour for him was important to be able to be available today. We didn’t know for how long. So in the manner that he competed, played and on top of that scored two goals, I think it was outstanding. And a really big message for the team.
“He was so disappointed not to play against Villa. He really wanted it. He tried in the morning, it was nowhere near a possibility. He wanted to train the next day, it wasn’t a possibility. Until the last minute, I asked him, how are you feeling? He said, I’m in. And he showed that he was big time in.” – Mikel Arteta on Declan Rice
Open-play goal threat has been the one thing really lacking from the otherwise peerless all-rounder Rice. He’s proved himself as a direct free-kick specialist, trusty corner taker and DefCon/bonus point amasser in recent months.
The goals haven’t, or hadn’t, really flowed until Saturday. Just two in the first half of 2025/26, and just five Premier League strikes in all of 2025. His minutes-per-shot (M/S, below) average is somewhere between James Garner (£5.1m) and Marshall Munetsi (£5.3m) this season:
The point is, though, that he’s already competitive as a Fantasy pick even without the goals. If Rice can boost his so-so shot numbers (in only one match in 2025/26 has he had more than one effort in the box), then the sky’s the limit.
Above: Rice’s heatmap in Gameweek 19, with the two goals circled in green
Arsenal’s top points-scorer of 2025 is off to a flyer in 2026.
SAKA BENCHED… BUT WHEN WILL IT HAPPEN AGAIN?
Despite a generous Tuesday-Saturday-Thursday turnaround in Gameweeks 19-21, Arteta wasn’t taking any chances with Bukayo Saka (£10.3m).
He and Leandro Trossard (£7.0m) dropped to the bench, with Noni Madueke (£6.8m) and Gabriel Martinelli (£6.8m) taking their places. Madueke was especially lively, carrying the ball well down the right.
“It’s really important, especially because the ones that come in, they did really well.” – Mikel Arteta on being able to rotate
Arteta has shown less reluctance to hand Saka a breather, particularly of late. There will still be times when he starts three matches in a week – note the trio of successive starts at the end of November. The Gameweek 14 benching against Brentford, indeed, came straight after this run, the fourth match in 11 days.
The more winnable the fixture, or the less prestigious the competition, the greater chance of a rest.
Looking ahead, the hope would be that Saka gets the games against Portsmouth, Inter and Kairat off. Arsenal are already qualified in the Champions League, so those latter two matter naught.
If so, the next problem Premier League match could come in Gameweeks 25/26 (after the EFL Cup semi-final second leg), but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Saka at least came off the bench to grab an assist, stretching his run to one blank in 10 Gameweeks (if we take the liberty to include DefCon points as a return!). No one on show created more chances (three), either.
Martin Odegaard (£7.8m) now has attacking returns in three successive Gameweeks, too. He teed up Rice for Arsenal’s first.
GABRIEL ALMOST MATCHING HAALAND
Rice may mop up the headlines but one Arsenal player is head and shoulders above all the others this season.
Gabriel’s points-per-start average is right up there with Erling Haaland‘s (£15.1m):
He bolstered that average on Saturday, netting yet another goal and banking more DefCon points.
A wayward pass from the Brazilian cost his teammates a clean sheet early on; further chagrin for FPL managers who own other Arsenal defenders but not him.
Jurrien Timber (£6.4m) looks set to join Gabriel in banking DefCon points after the refresh:
Timber has hit DEFCON in the update!!#FPL
— Tom Hadley FPL (@FPL_TomHadley) January 4, 2026
IRAOLA ON KROUPI
A Gabriel gift presented Evanilson (£7.0m) with his third strike of the season.
The Brazilian is not the Bournemouth that many FPL managers care about, of course; that would be bench fodder Junior Kroupi (£4.6m).
He lashed in Bournemouth’s second goal from distance on Saturday, taking his tally to a very impressive six for the season. That’s twice what Evanilson has.
Unfortunately, his manager doesn’t seem to value goalscoring above all other line-leading attributes. He’s mentioned previously about what Evanilson brings to the frontline; he seems more lukewarm on Kroupi.
“With, Junior, we have to find out where we can use him better, because it’s true that when we put Enes [Unal] and Junior [on as substitutes against Arsenal], they came together almost like two nines. You have Junior’s finishing, that is amazing, but from that moment till the end, I think Arsenal have control of the game because they control the middle.
“You lose one player in the middle so you cannot almost recover the ball as high. You don’t create things. So, in games where we put him straight away as a nine, also we haven’t had the best of the results.” – Andoni Iraola on Junior Kroupi
WILL SEMENYO STILL BE A BOURNEMOUTH PLAYER IN GAMEWEEK 21?
Antoine Semenyo (£7.7m) picked up his fifth booking of the season on Saturday. Fear not, owners, the cut-off point for yellow card accumulation has now passed, so there’s no one-match ban for him.
The winger got through 90 minutes against the Gunners, having a couple of cracks from distance, flashing a few crosses across the area, but ultimately blanking.
The question is: will Semenyo still be in the black and red come Gameweek 21? An easier test awaits then, against an inconsistent Tottenham Hotspur.
Iraola said he expected that to be the case when speaking on Friday, and he doubled down on that after full-time.
“Yes, I expect the situation hasn’t changed [about him starting on Wednesday]. So, he is our player, I expect him to play against the Spurs. Yes, there’s a lot of noise around around him. I understand. But this is the situation right now.” – Andoni Iroala on Antoine Semenyo
