Captain Fernandes and take punt on Isak – FPL team of the week

Nottingham Forest keeper Matz Sels, £4.7 million-Wolves (a)

In their final away game against Liverpool, Sels keeps the goal and hasn’t scored in four games.

Crystal Palace’s Daniel Munoz, £5.9 million-burnley (a)

Given their busy schedule, Palace’s legs may worry them, but Munoz consistently bombs up and down the right.

In his final away game, the second-highest defensive player this season made 14 attempts.

He now squares off against a struggling Burnley side, Dango Ouattara from Brentford having a bad day down the right. What comes next for Munoz?

Trevoh Chalobah, Chelsea, £5.1m – Leeds (a)

Although it’s difficult to predict Chelsea’s defensive line-up, Chalobah has started six games in a row. In that period, he kept four clean sheets and one goal against Arsenal on Sunday.

He ranks fourth in the defender rankings and has three goals this season for Chalobah. Not bad for just £5.1m.

Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk, £6 million – Sunderland (h)

Because of Liverpool’s excellent run of fixtures, with Leeds away and Brighton at home after that, Van Dijk was put in place two weeks ago as a Gabriel replacement.

You can’t trust the Reds because they shipped three to Forest, but Van Dijk’s is the best!

Manchester United (captain), £8.9 million – West Ham (h) Bruno Fernandes

In FPL, Fernandes is never a bad choice; it’s just trying to predict his hauls.

This season, the Portugal midfielder has 35 chances, five more than Jeremy Doku and ten more than anyone else.

His 4.81 xG is the third-highest among midfielders, behind only Semenyo, who has scored six goals in comparison to the United man’s two.

And incredibly, Fernandes has now collected 11 defensive contribution points (defcon) four times while allowing two midfielders to score 12 for receiving 12.

His most recent double-digit home run was against Burnley, who was struggling. West Ham belongs to a similar bracket.

Everton (h) Antoine Semenyo, Bournemouth, £7.8 million

Semenyo had the unfortunate decision to miss out on a Saturday return to Sunderland.

His xGI was 0.6. You could see the Ghanaian’s shot coming in until Evanilson touched it, which he had three chances to make in the box.

Despite a run of recent errors, he still maintains his touch, and Bournemouth is a top team at home.

Arsenal’s Mikel Merino, £57 million – Brentford (h)

The Spaniard has returned as a substitute striker in each of his previous three games (two assists and one goal).

Expect Mikel Arteta to make a few adjustments as Arsenal have drawn two of their previous three, even though Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Jesus are back in training.

Merino now has a second chance up front against a Brentford side that only concedes two goals per game away from Arsenal, who is a bargain in the attack.

Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson, £5.3 million-Wolves (a)

Anderson consistently excels; this year, he only missed a defcon four times. He received 11, 11, 11, and 10 points on those four occasions, and you need 12 defcon to get two points.

So a good midfielder with match-up flexibility, assist potential, and an eye for the odd goal.

Sign me up.

Tottenham (h) vs. Harvey Barnes, Newcastle, £6.4 million

No midfielder has scored more goals (3. 0 goals), a higher xG (2. 04 goals), or more chances than Barnes in the last three games.

The only other midfielder with more than two outstanding chances is Phil Foden (3).

Barnes has a wing.

Fulham (a), Manchester City, £14.9 million, Erling Haaland

You might be able to persuade me not to captain the Norwegian goal machine once more, which is the punt I’m taking this week.

In two of his three visits to Craven Cottage, he has scored in comparison to Fulham and has a respectable record. However, you can only have one mind each time, so if you want to captain someone else, you can do that.

Liverpool’s Alexander Isak, £10.4 million, Sunderland (h)

Let’s stick the team’s best striker from last season, then.

Isak was always going to be a factor in the future for the FPL.

Is this premature? He probably hasn’t accomplished anything.

Do the pick have any supporting statistics? No, in his most recent home game, he only scored once.

However, Sunderland, who had a strong defensive start, are starting to concede, and Liverpool’s confidence has increased since West Ham’s win.

Arsenal defender Piero Hincapie, £5.4 million (h) Brentford

Chelsea defender Chris Richards, £4.6 million (a)

Marc Guiu, Chelsea, striker, £4.2m – Leeds (a)