Erling Haaland (£13.7m) is fit to start against Aston Villa on Saturday after being an unused substitute in Manchester City's 5-1 Champions League win against AEK Athens, which puts him at the top of the captaincy contenders this weekend. He has eight goals from seven league games this season, but has not scored in his past four Premier League appearances against Aston Villa. Chelsea attackers are the main alternatives, with Joao Pedro (£7.9m) their best fantasy asset so far, with five goals and three assists. Cole Palmer (£9.7m) has the higher ceiling, given that he takes penalties.
Midfield injuries have created headaches for FPL managers. Arsenal's Bukayo Saka (£9.6m) picked up a quadriceps injury in the Champions League, while Liverpool's Dominik Szoboszlai (£6.8m) and City's Antoine Semenyo (£8.3m) are already ruled out long term. Rayan Cherki (£8m) is seeing the most transfer traffic in City's midfield, but Phil Foden (£6.8m) shone with a hat-trick in midweek. Jeremy Doku (£7.5m) has three goal involvements in three games.
Brighton remain a strong investment. Three of the top five players in the game are Brighton assets, led by out-of-position defender Maxim de Cuyper (£5.3m). Pascal Gross (£6.2m) is one point behind him, level with Haaland, and is also on penalties, with nine goal involvements and 19 key passes, the most of any player at his level. The Seagulls have scored a league-leading 23 goals and conceded a league-lowest five, and Liverpool have yet to win at home in the league this season.
For defensive contribution points, Luka Vuskovic (£5.1m) is the top pick, having secured the two-point bonus in four of Brighton's five clean sheets in seven games. Leeds United's Tarik Muharemovic (£5m) has hit Def Cons on four occasions, while Coventry City's Bobby Thomas (£4m) leads with 84 defensive contributions. Meanwhile, Josko Gvardiol has been benched twice, but reports that Nico O'Reilly is struggling with a back problem could give him a run of games.
Source: BBC Sport Football · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing