news-engine

It was reported on Friday that Yankuba Minteh (£6.0m) will be sidelined for two to three months with a leg injury he sustained in last Saturday’s friendly against Roma. For Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers, this could have a significant knock-on effect. Fabian Hurzeler’s side have a decent run of matches in the first seven Gameweeks, bar clashes with Chelsea and Arsenal. Given Aston Villa’s injury plight, the curtain-raiser against Unai Emery’s side doesn’t look bad, either: The Athletic believes that “there are no plans to sign a replacement” for Minteh, which, combined with Kaoru Mitoma‘s (£6.0m) injury, should ensure starts for Diego Gomez (£5.0m). Last season, the Paraguayan began 25 of 28 available matches from Gameweek 6 onwards, scoring five times. He costs even less than the popular, cheap Pascal Gross (£5.5m). Another interesting consequence is that FPL defender Maxim De Cuyper (£4.5m) could be used further up the pitch. He alternated between left-back, left-winger and being a substitute in 2025/26. But, despite such limited minutes, the Belgian found time for two goals and three assists. The league’s number one defender for big chances created (nine) also came sixth for expected goal involvement (xGI, 5.95). GOMEZ STARTS DE CUYPER STARTS Minteh + Mitoma both started 9 matches 2 5 One of them started 27 matches 22 10 Neither did 2 matches 2 2 Gameweek 38 was one of two matches where neither Minteh nor Mitoma started. Hurzeler then chose Gomez and De Cuyper as his wingers. FPL managers may see this duo continue, as the young duo Zadok Yohanna (£5.0m) and Ibrahim Osman are very inexperienced. Perhaps they’ll be saved for continental action. Additionally, an attacking De Cuyper probably locks in left-back Ferdi Kadioglu (£4.5m). Dont really get that assumption. Konsa isnt this straight into a top defensive teams starting 11 If a top center back was available he would start a bidding war. I think they want him for depth. BTW Calafiori owner De Cuyper isn't nailed for Brighton. Kadioglu often plays down the left and with Brighton also having to juggle European fixtures in the first couple of gameweeks, I'd avoid De Cuyper (and most Brighton players) for the season start The 4.5 pool is littered with okay but not great options. Most of them are good to pick for the first couple of weeks though. Shaw is okay for the first week (maybe the 2nd week if Utd haven't signed anyone by the deadline). Similar with Hume in that he's more likely to start the fixtures now than later on in the season. Ajer is probably the best long term option to leave him in your team until whenever you wildcard. Rodon is also a decent shout at that price for someone medium to long term. Rotation wise they both work well enough. I'm edging towards BB2 as I feel I will score more from my bench that week and it's set up a little better to take on GW4 and GW5. With either team, the plan is to roll until GW4 and use 2 transfers then to bring in a Palace and Chelsea player. Will assess in GW6 whether it's worth wildcarding or using the transfers built up to shuffle the team Trying this again after stupid response last time. If we are going no Raya or Gab, thinking may as well swerve Arsenal defense altogether, maybe pick them up later when we know who is nailed/ Saliba back etc. Just go for Defcon players across the back, in the 5 to 5.5 range and beef up the midfield. I don’t mind this but I am completely opposite with 3 Arsenal players to start but only as I will WC 4. At which point the DC defenders and mids will have to come in to accommodate other players I want. There is no doubting the value of DC players but it’s about trying to find cheaper ones this year. On Arsenal you could say the fixtures are bad at the start GWs 2 and 3 but 4 to 7 look tasty. Not as good without Saliba but still the best defence by a mile. Hope this ain’t a stupid reply 🙂 Great reply thanks, as always depends on chip strategy and I would more inclined to no brainer pick if we knew who was nailed/good minutes. Konsa could yet be an option if he moves, probs be in everyone's team. I feel Raya and Gabriel are overpriced and not fantastic value but there's value in the Arsenal defenders priced at 5.5 - especially with Timber and Saliba injured medium to long term. I still expect Arsenal to keep more clean sheets than most even with their injuries. I agree with your strategy, it’s exactly what I am doing. No Saliba and Timber makes that defence weaker, and it only takes one goal to say goodbye clean sheet. They may have been the best defence last season, but now they are the hunted rather than the hunters. Opposing managers have had time to break down their team and look for weaknesses, and missing two of their best defenders is one of them. That could be a likely scenario, the other thing is they don't score a lot of defcons (except Gab, but mainly cs and some attacking returns) and a second machine may do better as not reliant on cs or attacking returns. Ok will trying to keep this short. Current team below it’s all attack the promoted teams for 3 GWs then WC 4 O’Reilly can be VVD etc a lot of picks are obviously still dependent on last pre season games Only plan is a hit in GW3 before the WC Mbeumbo Pedro and Brobbey To Isak Watkins and a 4.5 Verbruggen Kinsky O’Reilly Mosquera Calafiori Shaw Ajer Mbeumbo Wirtz Semenyo Tzolis Norgaard Haaland Pedro Brobbey Attack of promoted teams GW1 BB - 6 GW2 - just the 2 utd players GW3 - 6 Take a break for looking at options or it might work? I'm not sure I'd take a hit a week before I wildcard. If I can put out a playing XI that week, I'd just roll the transfer and have that carried over after the wildcard where the extra transfer will be valuable later on. GW3 is not that great either for one week punts and it's not worth a hit for - especially if you're gonna change the whole team the following week anyway. For your team, I think I'd rather have Gvardiol over O'Reilly and use the 1.0 to upgrade Norgaard to a 6.0 player Thanks. I get the point of hey don’t go crazy taking a hit the week before a WC but the plan is attack and go diff for 3 weeks. I can’t see how anyone would have Watkins unless on a FH in 3. Anyway of course there won’t be any injuries or fires and this plan will stay intact. Gvardiol is a good idea just need to see him start CS. I would probably then get Lammens in and might even keep 0.5 in the bank if Norgaard looks like a starter each week. Any other 'old timer' fpl players conflicted between choosing attacking wing backs vs. boring reliable defcon defenders? The game has undoubtedly changed but I want to pick the likes of Williams, Palestra and Porro. However they would need a lot of attacking output to match the defcon equivalents. Tricky isn’t it? I still have a little of the old instinct to back the full-backs (World Cup was a nice throwback) but as you say you’re relying on attacking returns coming more regularly than usual. Think it makes more sense to back good defensive teams or fixtures with defcon candidates, and then use your attacking positions for open play threat. Semenyo, Foden, Wirtz etc - models don’t like them as much due to lack of set-pieces but they are dangerous players with huge upside