With Gameweek 3 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) on the way, our pundits are starting to finalise their teams ahead of Saturday’s deadline.
In this article, Tom Freeman, who has five top 1k finishes to his name, discusses his transfer plans.
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INJURY CRISIS
It’s fair to say that my plans for Gameweek 3 have been disrupted by injuries.
First, I had Cole Palmer (£10.4m), who will miss the Fulham match on Saturday and has also been excluded from Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the September internationals.
Then, Bukayo Saka (£9.9m), my captain in Gameweek 2, will be out for “weeks” after picking up a hamstring injury in the win over Leeds United.
I also own Georginio Rutter (£5.9m) and Jorgen Strand Larsen (£6.5m), both of whom are flagged as doubts.
Every season, there are periods when injuries start to mount up, but this one feels particularly early!
I don’t want to Free Hit or Wildcard in Gameweek 3, so there is only one way to deal with it – take a hit or two.
In this article, I will discuss the possible scenarios and how I plan to proceed in each of those situations.
SELL SAKA, PALMER + GUIU
The midfield just wasn’t working out, so a revamp is required. I also want to upgrade Marc Guiu (£4.5m) with a future Bench Boost in mind. By selling Saka, Palmer and Guiu for minus four, I could bring in Matheus Cunha (£8.1m), Anthony Elanga (£7.0m) and Chris Wood (£7.7m).
It’s really hard to split the three United midfielders this week. In isolation, Cunha is probably my favoured option against Burnley, and crucially, he is the one I would feel most comfortable captaining in Gameweek 3.
This isn’t a one-week pick, however. Manchester United face Manchester City and Chelsea after, and I do wonder if Mbeumo is better suited to these types of fixtures, given his ability on the counter-attack. He finished the Arsenal match in Gameweek 1, having had more shots than any other player (five). He also ranked joint-top for penalty box touches (six). United could adopt a similar approach in Gameweeks 4 and 5, making Mbeumo a viable option, especially given his involvement in corners and free-kicks.
I also like Elanga, particularly if I Free Hit in Gameweek 6, since I would get this fixture run:
Leeds’ defence faced significant challenges against Arsenal last week, as they fell to a 5-0 defeat. They are also among the four worst defences for chances created from their left flank and have allowed 12 shots from set-plays this season, the joint-most of any top-flight side, which bodes well for the corner-taking Elanga.
Wood is a top asset for obvious reasons, with leaky West Ham United up next.
SELL SAKA, PALMER + STRAND LARSEN