FPL managers will be scrambling to improve their squads now as defender Arsenal Gabriel suffered an injury over the international break.
The Gunners suffered a horrible blow this week, as it was confirmed that defender Gabriel will be out for several weeks with a groin injury. Mikel Arteta told the media on Friday afternoon: “Yeah, he picked up an injury with the national team, and he’s going to be out for weeks.
Most Read on Gooner News
“We need to have another scan, I think, it is next Wednesday, and we’ll have a timeline, probably, much more clear at that moment.”
As things stand, reports have said that Gabriel is likely to be out until late December, meaning that FPL managers will need someone to replace him with, as the defender is one of the most-owned player in the game. His price is set at £6.6m. He is also the highest-scoring defender so far, and so managers need to swap him out for a new defender, and these are the best three options to replace him with…
1. Jurrien Timber, Arsenal – £6.2m
In our opinion, the best swap is a very simple change from Gabriel to Timber, so you still have another part of the Arsenal defence, and Timber is the next highest-scoring Gunners defender.
Timber has been excellent this season, and he is decent for both defensive contributions and attacking returns, as he links up well with Bukayo Saka in attack. The best solution is simple, stick with Arsenal.
2. Virgil Van Dijk, Liverpool – £5.9m
To gain a bit more money you could bring Van Dijk into the team. He hasn’t been amazing for points so far this season, but Liverpool’s upcoming run of fixtures is the real draw here.
They have Nottingham Forest, West Ham, Sunderland, Leeds, and Brighton in their next five games, all attractive fixtures to start Van Dijk in, so he is a very good option too.
3. Marc Cucurella, Chelsea – £6.1m
Cucurella is one of the best defenders in the league for attacking returns, as the Spaniard almost likes to play as a midfielder, especially in Enzo Maresca’s fluid system of football.
Chelsea play Burnley this weekend, which is a fantastic fixture for the Spaniard to get. After that, he plays Arsenal for which you would consider benching, but after that, Cucurella has Leeds, Bournemouth and Everton, which are all decent fixtures.
Click here to see our analysis of Gabriel’s injury and how it could affect Arsenal against Spurs.