10 hours ago
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A midweek round of games heading into the Christmas period brings issues for FPL managers.
Injuries to key players - such as Crystal Palace's Ismaila Sarr - rotation and a lack of information from managers, with many news conferences taking place after Tuesday's 18:00 GMT deadline.
The solution? Trust players with high expected minutes while trying your best to avoid taking points hits.
Might be easier said than done.
The team of the week is selected based on current FPL prices to fit within a £100m budget, as if you were playing a Free Hit.
Don't miss our FPL special Q&A with expert Gianni Buttice, live on the BBC Sport website on Tuesday at 15:30 GMT.
Big performances from Phil Foden (13 Points), Igor Thiago (13) and Dango Ouattara (12) led to a 60-point week. Tidy.
Matz Sels, Nottingham Forest, keeper, £4.7m - Wolves (a)
Wolves haven't scored in four games and Sels is keeping goal behind a Sean Dyche defence that kept Liverpool at bay in their last away game.
Daniel Munoz, Crystal Palace, £5.9m - Burnley (a)
Palace's legs may be a worry given their busy schedule, but Munoz appears to be tireless, bombing up and down the right.
The second-highest defensive scorer this season had a 14-pointer in his last away game.
He now faces a struggling Burnley team against whom Brentford's Dango Ouattara had a field day down the right. Munoz's turn next?
Trevoh Chalobah, Chelsea, £5.1m - Leeds (a)
Chelsea's defensive line-up can be hard to predict but Chalobah has started six in a row. He has four clean sheets and a goal - on Sunday against Arsenal - in that time.
That makes it three goals for the season for Chalobah and he's fourth in the defender rankings. Not bad for just £5.1m.
Virgil van Dijk, Liverpool, £6m - Sunderland (h)
If you signed Van Dijk two weeks ago as a Gabriel replacement, it was because of Liverpool's nice run of fixtures, with Leeds away and Brighton at home after this.
The Reds shipped three at home to Forest, so they hardly fill you with confidence, but this is Van Dijk!
He got a clean sheet last time out at West Ham and his expected goal involvement (xGI) this season is 0.7, so he is edging closer to an attacking return too.
Bruno Fernandes, Manchester United (captain), £8.9m - West Ham (h)
Fernandes is never a bad call in FPL - it's just trying to predict his hauls.
The Portugal midfielder has created 35 chances this season, five more than Jeremy Doku and 10 more than anyone else.
His xG of 4.81 is the third highest among midfielders - Antoine Semenyo has 4.82 and has scored six goals compared to the United man's two.
And incredibly Fernandes has now finished on 11 defensive contribution points (defcon) four times when midfielders earn two points for getting 12.
His last double-digit haul at home was against struggling Burnley. West Ham are in a similar bracket.
Antoine Semenyo, Bournemouth, £7.8m - Everton (h)
Semenyo was unlucky not to return at Sunderland on Saturday.
His xGI was 0.6. The Ghanaian had three shots in the box, created four chances and you probably saw his shot that was going in until Evanilson touched it.
The point is, he hasn't lost his touch despite a run of recent blanks and Everton at home is a superb fixture for Bournemouth.
Mikel Merino, Arsenal, £5.9m - Brentford (h)
The Spaniard has returned in each of the past three games he has started as a makeshift striker (two assists and one goal).
Even though Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Jesus are fit again, this week is a tight turnaround so expect Mikel Arteta to make a few changes - especially as Arsenal have drawn two of their past three.
So that gives Merino, who is a bargain way into the Arsenal attack, another chance up front against a Brentford side conceding two per game on the road.
Elliot Anderson, Nottingham Forest, £5.3m - Wolves (a)
Anderson's consistency is incredible - he's only missed out on defcon four times this season. You need 12 defcon to get two points and on those four occasions he got 11, 11, 11 and 10.
So a high floor for a bargain midfielder who has assist potential, an eye for the odd goal and is not match-up dependent.
Sign me up.
Harvey Barnes, Newcastle, £6.4m - Tottenham (h)
Over the past three games no midfielder has had more goals (3), a higher xG (2.04) or big chances (5) than Barnes.
Phil Foden (3) is the only other midfielder with more than two big chances.
Barnes is flying.
Newcastle are also a good side to back at home, where they can get up a head of steam, and visiting Spurs look short of defensive confidence right now, having shipped 13 goals in their past four games in all competitions.
Erling Haaland, Manchester City, £14.9m - Fulham (a)
Two blanks in a row for the Norwegian goal machine might be enough to convince you not to captain him again - and that's the punt I'm taking this week.
He has a decent record against Fulham and has scored in two of his three trips to Craven Cottage. But only one goal each time mind, so captain someone else if you feel bold enough.
Alexander Isak, Liverpool, £10.4m - Sunderland (h)
Go on then, let's stick last season's best striker in the team.
Isak was always going to be an FPL consideration eventually.
Is it too early? Probably - he only has one goal so far.
Are there any stats to back up the pick? No, he had just one shot in his last home game.
But Sunderland, who started off really well defensively, have begun to concede and Liverpool's confidence will be up after the win at West Ham.
Plus, if Mohamed Salah sits out again, Isak might be on penalties.
Martin Dubravka, Burnley, keeper, £4m - Crystal Palace (h)
Piero Hincapie, Arsenal, defender, £5.4m - Brentford (h)
Chris Richards, Crystal Palace, defender, £4.6m - Burnley (a)
Marc Guiu, Chelsea, striker, £4.2m - Leeds (a)
Team total cost = £99.5m
