Argentina v Saudi Arabia team news: Messi, Di Maria, De Paul start but Acuna does not

FPL GW18 Scout Picks - Final Selection

Pickford

O’Reilly
van Dijk
Keane
Saliba

Saka
Wilson
Wirtz

Thiago
Haaland
Ekitiké

Dubravka
Alderete
Miley
Le Fée

GW18 Captain Poll

Price Change Predictions

Risers

Fallers

Player	Team	Price	Progress	Tonight
Cunha	MUN	8.0m	101.2%	Very Likely
James	CHE	5.6m	98.8%	Maybe
L.Miley	NEW	4.4m	99.0%	Maybe
Mukiele	SUN	4.2m	98.4%	Maybe
Lewis-Potter	BRE	4.8m	97.2%	Maybe
O'Reilly	MCI	5.3m	93.2%	Unlikely
Chalobah	CHE	5.5m	91.8%	Unlikely
Verbruggen	BHA	4.4m	91.4%	Unlikely
Truffert	BOU	4.5m	91.2%	Unlikely
Alderete	SUN	4.0m	89.0%	Unlikely
Dalot	MUN	4.4m	84.4%	Unlikely
Rogers	AVL	7.3m	76.6%	Unlikely
Ekitiké	LIV	9.0m	75.3%	Unlikely
Virgil	LIV	5.9m	76.3%	Unlikely
Andersen	FUL	4.6m	74.3%	Unlikely
Mount	MUN	5.9m	71.0%	Unlikely
Tete	FUL	4.5m	69.6%	Unlikely
Roefs	SUN	4.8m	66.2%	Unlikely
Guéhi	CRY	5.3m	62.7%	Unlikely
Mitchell	CRY	5.0m	63.5%	Unlikely
Petrović	BOU	4.5m	60.4%	Unlikely
Van den Berg	BRE	4.5m	59.1%	Unlikely
Saliba	ARS	5.9m	58.4%	Unlikely
Trossard	ARS	6.9m	55.3%	Unlikely
E.Le Fée	SUN	4.9m	55.4%	Unlikely
Cullen	BUR	5.0m	55.2%	Unlikely
Konaté	LIV	5.4m	53.1%	Unlikely
Semenyo	BOU	7.7m	51.1%	Unlikely
Pickford	EVE	5.5m	52.0%	Unlikely
Dúbravka	BUR	4.0m	51.8%	Unlikely
Rice	ARS	7.2m	47.2%	Unlikely
Raya	ARS	6.0m	49.8%	Unlikely
Heaven	MUN	3.8m	47.6%	Unlikely
Smith Rowe	FUL	5.6m	48.6%	Unlikely
Rúben	MCI	5.7m	46.9%	Unlikely
Wirtz	LIV	8.1m	45.6%	Unlikely
Watkins	AVL	8.5m	46.1%	Unlikely
Calvert-Lewin	LEE	5.8m	44.1%	Unlikely
Kamara	AVL	4.9m	44.8%	Unlikely
A.Becker	LIV	5.4m	44.5%	Unlikely

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Player	Team	Price	Progress	Tonight
De Ligt	MUN	5.0m	100.2%	Very Likely
Udogie	TOT	4.4m	100.1%	Very Likely
Pedro Porro	TOT	5.3m	100.1%	Very Likely
Nørgaard	ARS	5.2m	100.1%	Very Likely
James	LEE	5.3m	99.3%	Maybe
Cucurella	CHE	6.2m	98.5%	Maybe
McAtee	NFO	5.1m	98.1%	Maybe
Colwill	CHE	4.8m	97.3%	Maybe
Bevan	BOU	3.9m	94.5%	Maybe
Jair Cunha	NFO	4.3m	95.2%	Maybe
Trafford	MCI	4.6m	94.5%	Unlikely
Mosquera	ARS	5.4m	93.8%	Unlikely
P.M.Sarr	TOT	4.6m	94.2%	Unlikely
Nwaneri	ARS	5.1m	94.4%	Unlikely
L.Guilherme	WHU	4.9m	94.3%	Unlikely
Fitzgerald	MUN	4.4m	90.8%	Unlikely
Hannibal	BUR	4.8m	93.2%	Unlikely
Gibbs-White	NFO	7.3m	94.0%	Unlikely
Yoro	MUN	4.3m	93.2%	Unlikely
Fer López	WOL	5.2m	92.5%	Unlikely
Tasker	BHA	3.9m	92.3%	Unlikely
Barnes	BUR	4.3m	91.7%	Unlikely
Bayindir	MUN	4.8m	87.2%	Unlikely
Robertson	LIV	5.8m	87.0%	Unlikely
Hermansen	WHU	4.3m	87.5%	Unlikely
Benitez	CRY	4.0m	87.3%	Unlikely
Aké	MCI	5.3m	86.1%	Unlikely
Johnson	SUN	3.9m	85.5%	Unlikely
Enzo	CHE	6.5m	84.8%	Unlikely
Bellegarde	WOL	5.2m	85.3%	Unlikely
Broggio	AVL	4.5m	85.5%	Unlikely
Adams	BOU	5.0m	85.0%	Unlikely
Seung soo	NEW	4.4m	79.9%	Unlikely
R.Gomes	WOL	4.4m	81.1%	Unlikely
Odobert	TOT	5.3m	84.8%	Unlikely
Van Hecke	BHA	4.6m	78.4%	Unlikely
Welbeck	BHA	6.4m	76.5%	Unlikely
March	BHA	5.8m	79.3%	Unlikely
Roberts	BUR	4.4m	78.4%	Unlikely
Bruno G.	NEW	7.0m	76.7%	Unlikely

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FPL Fixture Ticker

Watchlists

	Player	Club	Factors
No Change	Raya Martin	ARS	B
Up	Pickford	EVE	B, Vs
Down	Alisson	LIV	C, Vs
Down	Donnarumma	MCI	B, Vs, Sus
No Change	Kelleher	BRE	B, Vs
No Change	Dubravka	BUR	C, £

Last updated: 26 Dec, 2025 1:46pm

	Player	Club	Factors
No Change	van Dijk	LIV	C, Vs
No Change	Jurriën Timber	ARS	C
Up	Keane	EVE	Vs
No Change	O’Reilly	MCI	B, Vs
No Change	Marc Guehi	CRY	A
No Change	van den Berg	BRE	C, Vs
No Change	Thiaw	NEW	C
Down	Andersen	FUL	C
No Change	Milenkovic	NFO	C, Sus
No Change	van Hecke	BHA	A
No Change	Mukiele	SUN	C, £

Last updated: 26 Dec, 2025 1:50pm

	Player	Club	Factors
No Change	Saka	ARS	A
No Change	Foden	MCI	A, Vs
Up	Matheus Cunha	MUN	A
No Change	Semenyo	BOU	A
Up	Wirtz	LIV	B, Vs
Up	Grealish	EVE	B, Vs
No Change	Bruno Guimarães	NEW	B, Sus
No Change	Schade	BRE	C, Vs
Down	Minteh	BHA	C
No Change	Anderson	NFO	C, £

Last updated: 26 Dec, 2025 1:54pm

	Player	Club	Factors
No Change	Haaland	MCI	A, Vs
Up	Ekitiké	LIV	A, Vs
Up	Bowen	WHU	B, Vs
Down	Thiago	BRE	C, Vs, Inj
No Change	Mateta	CRY	C
No Change	Woltemade	NEW	B, Rest

Last updated: 26 Dec, 2025 1:56pm

GW18 Chip Poll

Dugout Discussion

22 November 2022 351 comments

FPL Marc

The first World Cup 2022 match of Tuesday 22 November takes place at the Lusail Stadium, as Argentina and Saudi Arabia meet in Group C. Kick-off is at 10:00 GMT.

Lionel Messi‘s ($10.5m) final World Cup begins with an enticing fixture which aims to boost the Golden Boot ambitions for both him and Lauturo Martinez ($8.0m), sitting alongside Angel Di Maria ($8.5m) in a front three.

Cheap Fantasy midfielder Rodrigo De Paul ($5.0m) starts, as does Papu Gomez ($6.5m) but defender Marcus Acuna ($4.5m) is only on the bench.

Several Premier League names have also been named as substitutes – Julian Alvarez ($6.5m), Alexis Mac Allister ($7.0m) and the well-owned centre-back Lisandro Martinez ($6.0m).

Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martinez ($5.5m) is selected in goal, with Tottenham Hotspur’s Cristian Romero ($5.5m) in defence.

As for Saudi Arabia, it’s just forwards Saleh Alshehri ($5.5m) and Firas Al-Buraikan ($5.0m) that are priced over $4.5m in the game, so several budget-enabling names like Abdulelah Al-Malki ($3.5m) have fairly high ownership and do start this match.

MATCHDAY 1 LINE-UPS

Argentina XI (4-3-3): E Martinez; Molina, Romero, Otamendi, Tagliafico; De Paul, Paredes, P Gomez; Messi, Lauturo Martinez, Di Maria

Saudi Arabia XI (4-3-3): Alowais; Abdulhamid, Altambakti, Albulayhi, Alshahrani; Alfaraj, Kanno, Almalki; Albrikan, Alshehri, Aldawsari

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351 Comments Login to Post a Comment

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trick9
3 years, 1 month ago
Hmmm...

I have Sane. He isn't locked yet but seems to be confirmed out for tomorrow's game. Can i transfer him out for someone who has yet to play in MD1 or is the transfer active only for MD2?
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1. DAZZ
  3 years, 1 month ago
  You can transfer an unlocked player out for an unlocked player and they will play MD1
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Mozumbus
3 years, 1 month ago
Bottomed
Is hector herera nailed
Looking to replace Khazri
Budget 5m
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1. Ask Yourself
  3 years, 1 month ago
  Is there any point lol
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  1. Ask Yourself
    3 years, 1 month ago
    I’ve used 1FT already on acuna to sosa so have a couple risky players still to come. Just gonna keep and either accept I’ll have to sub him or hope he gets something from the bench
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DannyDrinkVodka
3 years, 1 month ago
Worth using the “budget hack” to get Bruno or Gnabry for Olson? Or save the transfers for potential no shows like Musiala and Sarabia?
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1. Baps Hunter
  3 years, 1 month ago
  Isn't Bruno mid and Gnabry fwd?
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  1. DannyDrinkVodka
    3 years, 1 month ago
    Good point…..it would just be Bruno then…….doesn’t seem worth it
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    1. Baps Hunter
      3 years, 1 month ago
      With triple Arg attack having failed, I am going to WC next week, since it is basically WC3 also. Therefore I am certainly getting Bruno.
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2. Baps Hunter
  3 years, 1 month ago
  I think I'll just take a hit if Sarabia doesn't start.
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  1. DannyDrinkVodka
    3 years, 1 month ago
    Ok, but do you think Bruno is even going to outscore Olson?
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    1. Baps Hunter
      3 years, 1 month ago
      Who is Olson actually?
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      1. Paddy Gooner
        3 years, 1 month ago
        Olivia Olson from the movie Love Actually ???!!!???
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  2. Baps Hunter
    3 years, 1 month ago
    Bookies odds for Skov Olsen to get attacking return is 2.4 and for Bruno 1.73, so Bruno looks like better option. However, France plays vs Australia tonight and their mids need to ve checked.
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    1. Baps Hunter
      3 years, 1 month ago
      But if both Musiala (know nothing about his situation) and Sarabia are doubts and since you have them both, it's better to save your transfers. Bruno over Skov Olsen is not worth that big risk.
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      1. Baps Hunter
        3 years, 1 month ago
        Worst scenario would be neither starting (-6) and Olsen to overscore Bruno. Cannot recommend that.
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Original Sin
3 years, 1 month ago
I subbed off De maria and he is in bench now. Is it not possible to do De Maria-> Musiala and then sub on Musiala back to my playing 11?
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1. No Kane No Gain
  3 years, 1 month ago
  No because di maria is now locked and any transfer involving him would go through next matchday but come out of this matchday allowance.
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gooberman
3 years, 1 month ago
Dont know about anyone else but the standard of the big teams doesnt seem what it used to be.

In World Cups gone by there has always been that feeling of dread that if England have to play the likes of Brazil, Argentina, Germany etc they will get beat.

Not getting carried away and gonna suggest England will win the tournament but there just arent any teams I feel England need to fear.

Even Brazil who are the current favourites, if you look at their predicted line up on here, only really Allison, Neymar and maybe Raphinha could be considered top players. The rest are either old, ageing players or donkeys like Fred and Richarlison who dont even get into the starting line ups for their clubs.

Argentina have lost to Saudi Arabia and France have no Benzema, Pogba or Kante. I feel this is a great chance for England.
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1. fenixri
  3 years, 1 month ago
  Yea sure, lol
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2. Camzy
  3 years, 1 month ago
  Dunno what you're talking about with Brazil.
  
  Alisson
  Danilo Marquinhos Thiago Silva Telles
  Casemiro Fred
  Raphinha Neymar Vinicius Jr
  Richarlison
  
  That is a scary freaking team. Neymar and Vini are two of the most in form attackers in the world.
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  1. gooberman
    3 years, 1 month ago
    Vincious Jr isnt in the predicted line up on here. Thiago Silva is old, Fred doesn't even get into a poor Utd team and neither did Telles when he was there and they have an extremely average forward who again doesnt even make the best 11 for his club. That team isnt scary.
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  2. gooberman
    3 years, 1 month ago
    I actually find it astonishing that a team like Brazil don't have any better forward options than that clown Richarlison. Shows how far they have fallen from the great teams of old.
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