Mohamed Salah is again the most popular player to buy on Fantasy Premier League this week. He’s on course to break the FPL points record and has hit a score of 10+ in 10 of his 14 games so far this season, a phenomenal level of consistency, especially when you consider that the next best performers are Cole Palmer and Bukayo Saka, who have reached double digits on only 4 occasions.
Putting faith in the Egypt international is now agiven for FPL players. But who else should you be backing for Gameweek 15? Who should come out of the team and which options represent the best value for money going into a busy winter period? FPL expert Gianni Buttice delivers his key tips for a weekend that sees Everton host Liverpool after a 3-3 draw with Newcastle and an in-form Chelsea visit an inconsistent Tottenham side.
Attacking Premiums
Salah, Saka and Palmer are better options than Haaland
Manchester City striker Erling Haaland in action
Bring in Salah means selling Erling Haaland for many; given that the Manchester City striker is now rarely the best captaincy option each week, it’s difficult to justify his inclusion at 15 million. Manchester City do look a little brighter after their 3-goal win over Nottingham Forest, but it’s too soon to start thinking of a plan to get Haaland back in. His time will come again, but for the festive season alone, Salah, Palmer and Saka are the big hitters of choice and squeezing all three into your team is absolutely possible without the Norwegian.
Double Arsenal defence or attack?
Gunners have the best fixture run in the Premier League
Bukayo Saka named his favourite stadium to play at
Arsenal sit top of the fixture difficulty charts and face Fulham, Everton, Crystal Palace, Ipswich and Brentford in the next five games. In fact, in their next 12 games across all competitions, they only leave London once (for a trip to Brighton) and having a friendly looking travel schedule, especially when the fixtures come thick and fast, cannot be underestimated. A popular move among many experienced FPL managers has been to move to double-up on Arsenal defenders and clean sheets over the festive run look likely. However, doubling up on Arsenal's attack can also be considered.
Bukayo Saka is verging on being a ‘must have’ but if everyone owns him, gains from Arsenal scoring big are difficult to see, which is why complimenting Saka with Kai Havertz or Martin Odegaard should be considered. In their last four performances, Arsenal have scored 15 goals. Odegaard is clearly the key cog in this attack and his absence in September, October and November hindered the firepower of the team. Havertz could become the greatest beneficiary of his return.
Mbeumo problem
Decision to make on Brentford star
Bryan Mbeumo in action for Brentford
Bryan Mbeumo is the fifth best scoring player in FPL this season across all positions. He started the season with a bang and proved to be excellent value, which saw his ownership rise above 40%. In recent weeks, however, his form has fallen off a cliff and he has only one assist in his last five league appearances. Kevin Schade has been getting game time down the middle alongside Yoane Wissa, which has pushed Mbeumo slightly wider than usual. Nevertheless, owners should still expect a higher goal threat to what we’ve seen of late, when he has only clocked 0.09 XG combined in his last five games. In comparison, his XG in the first five games of the season was 1.76 XG, when he scored four goals.
Manchester United midfielders
anchester United's Alejandro Garnacho celebrates scoring their third goal with Bruno Fernandes
Amad Diallo, Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes offer alternative midfield options at different price points to Mbeumo and many expect the three United midfielders to be key cogs in this new-look team. They play Nottingham Forest at home this week, and if they can produce similar to what we saw in their last league game at Old Trafford where each of them earned two goal involvements against Everton, then all three offer good potential value. United have the Manchester derby in Gameweek 16 but after that face Bournemouth and Wolves in two high-ceiling fixtures.
Time to buy Trent
trent
Attacking defenders are always popular choices but this season we are yet to see a defender clock big returns. The underlying data, however, suggests that Trent Alexander- Arnold is worthy of a high price tag.
Player xG/A Actual G/A
Trent Alexander-Arnold 3.96 3
Leif Davis 3.65 3
Josko Gvardiol 3.3 3
Daniel Munoz 3.1 2
Lucas Digne 2.64 2
Alexander-Arnold was rested in the week but in his 23-minute cameo still managed two assists. In the game before that against Manchester City, we saw him in very advanced positions, and it feels like we have the Alexander-Arnold of old back. Liverpool have been the most reliable source of clean sheets this season too, so now he’s back fit, he will rightly be top of the watchlist for many.
Josko Gvardiol and Daniel Munoz of Crystal Palace have also caught the eye in recent weeks, putting up some strong data as they bomb forward from full back. But its perhaps Jurrien Timber who's even more desirable now he’s playing right back for Arsenal. A goal last time out in the Premier League against United and an assist last time out in the Champions League, the Dutchman is playing his best football in an Arsenal shirt and is clearly very comfortable in the final third. Arsenal have two clean sheets in three and history tells us, under Mikel Arteta, they’re the most solid team in the league defensively.
Gameweek 15 Top Tip
Mohamed Salah
Don’t overcomplicate it with captaincy this week. Salah is the best player in the game by a country mile right now. Some will see the fixture and be put off by selecting him in a derby game, but goals are surely on the menu this weekend for a Liverpool team who have scored 2+ goals in each of their last league games. Everton will struggle to deal with Liverpool’s movement up top and Salah has reached new levels of consistency this season, as he leads the race for the 2025 Ballon d'Or.
For more FPL tips from Gianni Butticè see his Team Selection video for Gameweek 15 below.