Be warned, Fantasy Premier League (FPL) owners of Mohammed Kudus (£6.6m) and Anthony Gordon (£7.4m): both midfielders could miss out on Gameweek 11.
Already the most transferred out player leading into this weekend’s deadline, Kudus – having missed Tottenham’s midweek Champions League victory over Copenhagen – was labelled only as “touch and go” by Thomas Frank for Saturday’s visit of Manchester United.
That leaves the 27% of FPL managers holding the Ghanaian in their squads with a tough decision to make.
As for Gordon, Eddie Howe was a little more definitive in saying there’s “every chance” the Newcastle attacker – despite being named in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad – might miss out on Sunday’s trip to Brentford. He has a recurring hip issue that forced him off during the week.
The England international is far less widely backed in FPL at present, but his ownership has crept up in recent weeks in light of some strong UCL performances.
So, if you’re in a position where you’re looking at one or both of the flagged, mid-priced duo, here are some replacements to consider.
DECLAN RICE
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The man of the moment, Declan Rice (£6.8m), offers plenty of avenues to FPL points through defensive contributions (DefCons), assists – largely from the set pieces he takes, for an Arsenal team that we all know thrives in dead-ball situations – and the odd open-play goal, as he delivered in Gameweek 10.
It also helps that he’s more or less nailed to start almost every game (maybe allowing for a very occasional rest as the Gunners aim to compete in four competitions), for a team that currently look like the favourites to finally get over the hump and win a Premier League title. Plus, with the defensive prowess of Mikel Arteta’s troops, an extra point for a clean sheet seems to be coming along most weeks!
Marc has done an excellent data dive to assess whether the current form of Rice and a few slightly cheaper midfielders – namely Moises Caicedo (£6.0m), Ryan Gravenberch (£5.6m) and Granit Xhaka (£5.1m), none of whom we’ll discuss here, as their merits were recently covered separately – is sustainable, and the signs were positive for the England international.
The main possible downside is if you already own three Arsenal players – like a defensive triple-up, or two defenders and Bukayo Saka (£10.1m) – then you of course would be blocked from bringing Rice in as a straight swap for Kudus or Gordon alone.
ILIMAN NDIAYE
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In that scenario, someone like Iliman Ndiaye (£6.5m) could be your guy (pardon the rhyme…).
With four goals and an assist so far this season, he’s Everton’s top scorer by a comfortable margin while also delivering DefCon points on four occasions – one more than Rice, it should be noted! – and coming close to the threshold on a few more.
Teammate Jack Grealish (£6.9m) – as well as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£4.9m) – can beat him for creativity, but the Senegalese has still crafted 13 chances this season, two of them being Opta-defined ‘big chances’.
And though he’s only, somewhat surprisingly, fourth for total attempts on goal among the Toffees, he’s put all eight of those on target.
A 50% conversion rate may not be sustainable across a full season, but with Fulham coming to Merseyside this weekend followed by more home ties against a poor travellers Newcastle and Nottingham Forest, there could still be merit in getting in on the Ndiaye action while he’s on good form.
ISMAILA SARR
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Or, there’s his countryman Ismaila Sarr (£6.6m).
Despite being wasteful against Brentford last time out in the league, Sarr was clinical during Crystal Palace’s midweek exploits, scoring twice and winning a penalty (which was, ultimately, missed) in the Eagles’ 3-1 home win over Az Alkmaar.
Now on eight goals in all competitions, Sarr is only behind you-know-who among Premier League players for his scoring record this season.
Warning: he’s been experiencing some hamstring tightness, which saw him limited to an hour in that game on Thursday.
However, Oliver Glasner didn’t seem too downtrodden about his player’s prognosis, calling it a “very, very small” issue – which suggests he should be fit to face Brighton, a side who only just registered their first clean sheet of the campaign and a team that have kept very few shut-outs in the last dozen or so meetings between these two sides.
Palace’s fixtures after the international break are nice as well, with Wolves, Burnley, Fulham (twice) and Leeds between Gameweeks 12 and 19. Sarr is key to the team’s significant attacking threat, with the highest non-penalty expected goals (NPxG) figure across the entire Premier League among FPL midfielders this season, and could therefore be set for a few hauls in the weeks to come.
ENZO FERNANDEZ
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You’ll notice that the second-placed player on that list above, with a greater NPxG even than FPL’s highest-scoring midfielder, is Enzo Fernandez (£6.7m).
The box-crashing Chelsea star has been presented with four big chances across the last five Gameweeks, more than any FPL midfielder bar Mohamed Salah (£14.2m) and Brentford’s Dango Ouattara (£6.0m), and is now at home to a Wolves side who are winless and without a clean sheet in 2025/26. He has understandably earned a place in this weekend’s Scout Picks for those reasons.
However, it’s worth noting that while the Blues face Burnley (a) – a team who do have a notably better defensive record on their own turf than away from it – immediately after the international break, their fixtures turn from that point on, placing them near the bottom of our Fixture Ticker between Gameweeks 13 and 20.
With fixture congestion – in the Premier League and also across all competitions – coming into play as well over the winter months, the Argentine having recent injury niggles and Chelsea having as bloated a squad as they do, there’s also a chance we see Enzo rested as he was back in Gameweek 8 (or worse, he could be benched and come on for a 1-point cameo!).
He is, therefore, an excellent potential Kudus or Gordon replacement in the short-term, but one that you may want to shift in the medium-long-term.
DOMINIK SZOBOSZLAI
It’s a different story when it comes to Dominik Szoboszlai (£6.6m).
Liverpool’s utility man has been arguably their player of the season, even filling in at right-back when needed.
Some solid recent performances by Conor Bradley (£5.0m) suggest that isn’t likely to happen again with too much regularity, which is good for FPL managers and the Reds, given the Hungarian has also excelled as a No10.
Capable of delivering DefCon points (he’s done so on four occasions so far in the Premier League this season), is far from scared to have a shot at goal from anywhere, and his impressed with his set-pieces – able to both tuck away a free-kick himself, as evidenced by a worldie to beat Arsenal earlier this season, and also put a chance on a plate for teammates, as he did to supply the assist for Liverpool’s midweek winner against Real Madrid.
Factor in his budget-friendly price for a relatively nailed-on player in a team looking like they’re getting back on track with their push to retain the league title, plus the Reds’ Ticker-topping fixtures from Gameweek 12 through the New Year, and Szoboszlai becomes an eye-catching FPL asset in ways we haven’t seen him be before. The only issue, as an immediate Kudus/Gordon replacement? He plays Manchester City away this weekend…
OTHER OPTIONS
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There will be plenty of other low-to-mid-priced midfielders that an argument can be made in support of, including some lesser-owned differentials, but here are a few more to ponder for now:
He’s a smidge above the £6.0m-£7.5m range we tried to stick to for this shortlist, but Rice’s Arsenal teammate Eberechi Eze (£7.6m) is another possible option for those with some spare change. After racking up a respectable goal and three assists across his last six Premier League starts, the England international was given a midweek rest on Tuesday, surely boosting his chances of another domestic start this weekend against Sunderland before he jets off on England duty.
Mikel Merino (£5.9m), meanwhile, is one of the cheap, aforementioned differentials for Gameweek 11, and could start up top this weekend for the Gunners but won’t do long-term. If you’re on a Gameweek 12 Wildcard, one to consider for this week only.
Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes (£6.6m) has been ticking over nicely despite his side’s poor rollercoaster form of late, registering four attacking returns (two goals, two assists) within the past four Gameweeks alone. He faces Brentford away this weekend, though, where the Bees have proved a nuisance for teams in better form than the Magpies, and then must host Man City right after the international break followed by a trip to Everton. It might therefore be better to wait until around Gameweek 15 to give the Brazilian a try, given he then faces Burnley twice in the space of five matches plus Leeds and Wolves soon after!
His teammate Jacob Murphy (£6.1m) has scored in back-to-back Gameweeks, but it’s obviously the same deal with his fixtures and there’s always a threat of rotation on Newcastle’s wings; he’s completed 90 minutes in just one league outing this season.