Millions of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers are affected by recent injuries picked up by Antoine Semenyo (£8.3m), Dominik Szoboszlai (£6.8m) and now Bukayo Saka (£9.6m).
When Enzo Maresca and Andoni Iraola spoke to the media on Monday, it was confirmed that Semenyo’s knee problem will keep him out for eight weeks and that Szoboszlai’s hamstring recurrence needs to be carefully handled.
Then, in Munich, Saka went down with a quad injury. It “doesn’t look good at all”, according to Mikel Arteta.
All three midfielders – each of them owned by 10% of FPL managers – are therefore on the chopping block.
So, who are the best replacements?
ALREADY WELL OWNED
First things first, Morgan Rogers (£8.0m), Cole Palmer (£9.7m) and Pascal Gross (£6.2m) are three names to address.
All three, especially Rogers and Gross, are already massively owned by FPL managers. These are the ownership figures in the top 10k:
For the purposes of this piece, we’re going to assume that many of you already own at least two of the above and are well schooled in their merits.
It’s not a great entry point for Gross anyway, with Liverpool and Manchester City away up first.
As for Rogers and Palmer, a better run of fixtures:
The penalty-taking Palmer, indeed, is the top projected scoring midfielder of the next six Gameweeks – even if his current underlying data is so-so:
So, who are the other best sub-£10.0m replacements to consider?
MORGAN GIBBS-WHITE (£7.9m)
Gibbs-White missed Gameweek 7, but Oliver Glasner has since passed him fit for Friday’s trip to Ipswich Town.
“He’s ready. He trained the entire week and so, no issues.” – Oliver Glasner, on Wednesday
Nottingham Forest don’t know how to score at home, but their talismanic penalty taker is certainly doing everything he can.
He’s created 16 chances in his latest three appearances, six of them ‘big’ ones. Nobody in the league beats that half-dozen throughout the whole campaign!
Also, Gibbs-White ended 2025/26 spectacularly, scoring nine goals in his final nine starts.
So, while that Coventry City blank disappointed many, he’s still a fantastic FPL asset. The main setback is that, post-Ipswich, Forest have one of the toughest six-game runs:
Still, Bournemouth and Chelsea haven’t exactly been watertight this season, while Hull are regressing now after a superb start.
BRYAN MBEUMO (£7.8m)
Another to recently drop in price, Mbeumo is actually in great form, netting four times in six matches.
Furthermore, he’s the best midfielder for attempts (24), close-range efforts (19), shots on target (10), big chances (eight) and – like last season – expected goals (xG, 3.95). Only centre-forwards Erling Haaland (£15.7m) and Thierno Barry (£5.7m) are outdoing him in each.
Used up front in Manchester United’s latest couple of 1-1 draws, internal fears that Benjamin Sesko (£6.9m) will remain sidelined for several more months could boost Mbeumo’s FPL appeal.
In our look at Rate My Team’s (RMT) projections for Gameweek 8 attacking returns, the Cameroonian sits joint-second.
KEVIN SCHADE (£6.2m)
Once 2025/26 was all said and done, Schade ended joint top with Mbeumo for midfielder big chances (22).
He’s lagging behind this season (just three) but despite that, the German is on 40 points. Netting three goals and two assists, he is outdoing his 2.27 expected goal involvement (xGI) by some margin.
Were it not for his 52nd-minute injury at Villa Park and subsequent Gameweek 7 cameo, Schade would have leapfrogged to the joint-third best midfielder based on appearance points alone.
Up next, Hull City away, followed by an even worse six-game schedule than Forest, according to the Fixture Ticker:
However, given that Schade’s returns came in trickier tests (such as Leeds away and Chelsea at home), tougher fixtures may not be all that bad news.
Like Gibbs-White, no midweek European football is a boon.
MARCUS TAVERNIER (£6.2m)
If you like favourable fixtures, Bournemouth begin their enticing run in Gameweek 9.
And, right now, you’d have to label Sunday’s trip to Man United as a great fixture too. The Red Devils are still without a clean sheet.
Matching Mbeumo and Saka’s 10 shots on target is Tavernier, whose four goals were all from close range. He even features on the ‘Assists Imminent’ table. Interestingly, last season’s third-worst finisher compared to non-penalty shot quality (Shooting Goals Added/SGA, -2.98) is now the third-best (+1.37).
Has he worked on this, or is it a hint that this good spell is unsustainable? Before his weekend strike past Sunderland, the shot-less Gameweeks 5 and 6 started to halt the momentum.
Other concerns include his three yellow cards, possible minutes management around Europa League games, and the status of two players who might be ahead of him for penalties. Justin Kluivert (£5.9m) is back – a converter of six in 2024/25 – while Junior Kroupi (£7.3m), taker of two late-season kicks, might make Gameweek 8’s squad.
JOHAN MANZAMBI (£6.0m)
When predicting upcoming transfer trends, summer arrival Manzambi could very soon be part of the ‘template’.
Unable to start until Gameweek 5, his subsequent three starts have delivered four attacking returns, from 14 shots and seven chances created. Oh, and in between was a Champions League goal and assist versus Fenerbahce.
Combine this with Aston Villa’s exciting fixture swing, and Rogers’ replacement may become an FPL gem:
The only asterisk is that a knock kept him out of Wednesday’s Viking FK encounter, with Unai Emery unsure whether he’ll make the weekend hosting of Manchester City. Keep an eye out for more information.
OTHER CONTENDERS
Beyond these are a bunch of alternatives.
Now back from suspension, Phil Foden (£6.8m) is on fire, following an Ipswich Town goal with a Champions League hat-trick (and assist) versus AEK Athens.
We know from last season’s purple patch between Gameweeks 13 and 16 – a time of six goals and four successive double-digit scores – that Foden can explode like this. However, early September’s win over Coventry was another timely reminder that he’s not a nailed-on starter.
“Yeah, we need to pay attention [to players’ workloads]. No doubt. This is the reason why we did some changes against Ipswich. That’s why we need to do some changes [against AEK], to try to manage all the players in the best way, try to keep them fit.” – Enzo Maresca on rotating players, from Monday
Perhaps teammate Jeremy Doku (£7.5m) is a marginally safer pick, now that there’s no Semenyo.
Elsewhere, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£6.6m) has set up the joint-third most chances (17) and kept 19 for himself. Given that he has Arsenal away this weekend, he’s probably more one to consider from Gameweek 9 if you can navigate Gameweek 8 without buying a Saka/Szoboszlai/Semenyo replacement.
Harvey Barnes‘ (£6.1m) owners received one goal and three assists across the latest five matches, but Newcastle United – as a team – are very concerning. The good fixtures are soon coming to an end, too, so there are better medium-term options out there.
Surprisingly high on RMT, Mohammed Kudus (£6.5m) set up James Maddison (£6.2m) on Monday and should be good for minutes during Savio‘s (£6.5m) absence. The fixtures are on his side, too:
Martin Odegaard (£6.8m), assist machine Declan Rice (£7.3m) and understudy right-winger Noni Madueke (£6.2m) are other ways to cover Arsenal’s attack when they face Hull and Newcastle in Gameweeks 10/11 – although the fixtures around it aren’t great at all. Assuming Saka is out for a while and Viktor Gyokeres (£7.0m) continues to play second fiddle up top, could Odegaard be the one who inherits penalty-taking duties? He’s taken them in the past, but then so has Kai Havertz (£7.5m). Odegaard has already taken over other dead-ball duties from Saka; the Norwegian was on corners from the right against Bayern.
Finally, a thought. The very cheap Jack Rudoni (£4.9m) has consecutive goals to his name, including a penalty. Downgrading Saka/Semenyo to a benchable, cheap fifth midfielder and upgrading a forward spot is one play. Could Alexander Isak (£9.0m) actually be the best premium replacement for the injured £8.0m+ midfielders?
WHAT RATE MY TEAM THINKS
Here are the projected points for all sub-£10.0m midfielders over the next six Gameweeks. These figures will be further tweaked after the pre-match press conferences on Thursday and Friday.
