7 hours ago
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Chelsea and Liverpool present us with tricky decisions this week in FPL, particularly when it comes to Joao Pedro and Mohamed Salah - two of the most popular picks in the game.
Joao Pedro has an enticing run of fixtures, starting with Sunderland at home on Saturday, but the Chelsea striker hasn't scored since gameweek three and has had just two shots in his past four games.
Salah is not playing like the normal Salah, and for his price - a whopping £14.3m - he's not providing value. He's only 16th in the list of top-scoring midfielders.
I've avoided both in this team of the week, and Pras and the FPL Podcast from BBC Sport crew will be debating Joao Pedro's form in Friday's FPL talking point article.
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 Pras live on the BBC Sport website at 15:30 BST on Friday, 24 October.
It wasn't another hundred-pointer, but a strong defence, led by 12-point Gabriel, and another big return from captain Erling Haaland resulted in 66 points.
Robert Sanchez, Chelsea, £4.9m - Sunderland (h)
Sunderland have only scored once away from home and have the fourth lowest expected goals (xG) on the road.
So while their sturdy defence may frustrate a Chelsea side who remain without Cole Palmer, I've little faith in them scoring.
Gabriel, £6.4m, and Jurrien Timber, £6m, both Arsenal - Crystal Palace (h)
I might start to sound like a broken record but "Get some Arsenal defenders in your team".
The only thing putting me off a triple-up this week is that Palace these days can score against anyone.
Gabriel and Timber have combined for 19 points and 18 points in the past two weeks.
They have two clean sheets on the bounce and face Burnley and Sunderland after this.
Joe Rodon, Leeds United, £4.1m - West Ham (h)
Any West Ham fans who sat through the performance against Brentford on Monday night - I'm so sorry for you.
They were awful and their xG was 0.33.
Leeds is a tough place to go anyway this season, especially for an out-of-form team with little goal threat.
Rodon has scored seven points in three of four home games and is a great budget pick, given his goal threat from corners too.
Leeds have let in just four at home and their expected goals conceded (xGC) is 2.3 - only Bournemouth and Arsenal have a better record.
Marco Senesi, Bournemouth, £5m - Nottingham Forest (h)
Another safe and popular choice here but Senesi just makes sense.
Forest brought Sean Dyche in this week but have not scored in three games and have one goal in their past six in the league.
And Senesi has earned defensive contribution points (defcon) in six of eight matches this season.
Antoine Semenyo, Bournemouth, £8.1m - Nottingham Forest (h)
Like Arsenal defence and Erling Haaland, Semenyo is essential at the moment.
For some reason he wasn't given a second assist at Crystal Palace last week, which would probably have given him some bonus points too.
This match-up against Forest, a team in turmoil who have conceded 15 times in eight games, is not one where you'd want to go against Semenyo.
Justin Kluivert, Bournemouth, £7m - Nottingham Forest (h)
Every team needs a punt or two and Kluivert is one.
The Dutchman started his first game of the season last week and you'd expect him to be a first-choice player moving forward.
I'm backing his form from last season here, where he was FPL gold with 12 goals and six assists - as well as the juicy match-up
He should still be Bournemouth's penalty taker too.
Bruno Fernandes, Manchester United, £8.9m - Brighton (h)
It's interesting to see that Fernandes has dropped in price and it's probably because FPL managers lost faith when he missed his second penalty of the season at Brentford.
But Fernandes doesn't normally miss those and, had he scored both, he'd be the clear second-highest midfield points scorer this season behind Semenyo.
Ifs and buts, of course, but every weekend he has so many paths to points.
Fernandes has made 22 key passes - five more than any other player - has taken 18 shots, four big chances and missed out on defcon twice by just a point.
Cody Gakpo, Liverpool, £7.5m - Brentford (a)
With Mohamed Salah underperforming, Gakpo is much cheaper and just as effective as a route into the Liverpool attack.
He could have had a hat-trick on Sunday against Manchester United and, if you are a fan of underlying data like me, look at these stats.
Gakpo is top or joint-top among Liverpool players for:
Shots (21)
Shots in the box (15)
Goals (3)
xG (2.86)
Assists (2)
Key passes (17)
Expected assists (1.43)
At some point Liverpool will click, and Gakpo is likely to play a part when they do.
Erling Haaland (captain), £14.7m, Manchester City - Aston Villa (a)
Will Haaland end up at £15m this season?
Villa away is not the most enticing fixture - they've only conceded five in four home games - but Haaland is a fixture-proof perma-captain until further notice.
Nick Woltemade, £7.4m, Newcastle United - Fulham (h)
It is getting hard to ignore Woltemade's goals and this is a nice match-up for him - Fulham have conceded 75% of their goals away from home this season.
You have to ignore the data for now with Woltemade and trust his form because he's scored four goals from four shots on target and that's not sustainable in the long run.
Filip Jorgensen, Chelsea, £4.4m, keeper - Sunderland (h)
Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Leeds, £5.5m, striker - West Ham (h)
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Everton, £5m, midfielder - Spurs (h)
Hugo Bueno, Wolves, £4.4m, defenders - Burnley (h)
Team total cost: £99.3m
