Fantasy managers consider Salah and Mané switch

Is Mohamed Salah (£13.5m) worth the money? A question we find ourselves mulling over again ahead of Gameweek 29 after the Egyptian managed just three points in Liverpool’s 5-0 rout of Watford on Wednesday night. Around this time last season, the Reds smashed Watford 5-0 with Salah bagging four goals. What a difference a year makes!

Owners of Sadio Mane (£9.7m) and Liverpool defenders were the big winners this week. Virgil van Dijk (£6.5m), Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.3m) and Andrew Robertson (£6.8m) combined to score an unbelievable fifty-one points while Mane came away with thirteen after his brace. He’s now scored six goals in his last six appearances compared to Salah’s three.

Salah out, Mane in, could be a popular move this week. The cash saved can go a long way…

Chelsea followed up a good performance against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final with an impressive 2-0 win over rivals Spurs. The Blues seem to be turning the corner just at the right time for us fantasy managers. They face Fulham (a), Wolves (h) and Everton (a) in the next three and are likely to have a Double Gameweek 32 made up of Cardiff (a) and Brighton (h) before facing West Ham (h) in Blank Gameweek 33. They are a team we can all target regardless of our chip strategy.

Eden Hazard (£10.8m) managed just fifty-nine minutes against Spurs after completing 120 minutes in the cup final on Sunday which should see him fresh to wreak havoc in the Fulham defence at the weekend.

At just 2.7% ownership, Gonzalo Higuain (£9.5m) could be an explosive differential in the coming Gameweeks with those kind fixtures. Pedro (£6.3m) got himself on the scoresheet in Gameweek 28 and could be an option for those who are free-hitting in Gameweek 32.

David Luiz (£5.9m) registered his 12th clean sheet of the campaign and is another who is sure to be transferred in by many this week. Marcos Alonso (£6.4m) picked up all three bonus points without any attacking returns to remind us of what he can offer.

Rafa Benitez is one of the best in the business when it comes to organising a defence and making his team difficult to break down. The Magpies have kept back-to-back clean sheets and still have a favourable run of fixtures ahead. The three centre-backs, Jamaal Lascelles (£4.6m), Fabian Schär (£4.7m) and Florian Lejeune (£4.4m) are all worthy of consideration. All three offer an attacking threat as well as their clean sheet potential. Goalkeeper Martin Dubravka (£5.0m) is an awkward price but could be worth the outlay.

It will be interesting to see what effect Brendan Rodgers will have at Leicester City. Will Harvey Barnes (£5.5m) keep his place? Will Jamie Vardy (£8.8m) go on a run? Will we see the best of James Maddison (£6.6m)? Can Rodgers shore up the defence? Lots of questions that we don’t know the answers to yet so it may be best to give him a game or two in charge to assess things before investing.

The forgotten man in FPL, Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.2m) popped up with a brace midweek to bag himself sixteen points. He’s now the seventh highest-scoring midfielder in the game yet is owned by just 5.7%. The upcoming fixtures combined with Everton’s poor form before their 3-0 win at Cardiff will put managers off but we’ve seen it season after season that Siggy delivers points consistently. Don’t rule him out of your plans.

There are quite a few captaincy options for the weekend. Man City assets should do well against a leaky Bournemouth defence. Raheem Sterling (£11.3m) is likely to start the game having come off the bench against West Ham. Sergio Aguero (£11.7m) could do serious damage if Gabriel Jesus (£9.9) remains on the sidelines.

Paul Pogba (£8.9m) at home to Southampton will be trusted by plenty with the armband. He and United are in great form despite their mounting injury problems.

Chelsea’s fixture away at Fulham looks tasty for the likes of Hazard and Higuain.

Will Salah deliver in the Merseyside derby or will Mane outshine him again?

Harry Kane (£12.4m) vs Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£11.0m) will be an interesting shoot-out in the North-London derby. Will Son Heung-min (£8.9m) return to form?

There’s a great weekend of Premier League action ahead of us, enjoy it and good luck for the Gameweek.