Fantasy Premier League news: Gameweek 28 preview – Mo Salah to shine, striker replacements needed

With over 10 million players, the free-to-play Fantasy Premier League is by far the largest fantasy football game in the world.

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As we edge closer to the next round of Premier League fixtures, Sports News Blitz writer Tom Day looks at the key decisions managers face in FPL gameweek 28.

Captain

Captaincy choice has been a bit Groundhog Day–esque this season, with most managers opting to stick with Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) week in and week out.

The Egyptian has already equalled his best tally of goal involvements in a single Premier League season with 42 and is surely set to break the record of 47 currently held by both Alan Shearer and Andy Cole.

Next up for the winger is a home clash with Southampton, who sit rock-bottom and look destined to drop straight back down to the Championship come the end of the season.

The Saints head to Anfield with a league-high xGA of 2.41, having conceded 65 goals so far. In contrast, Liverpool are the league's highest scorers with 66 and knock in 2.15 goals per game at home.

As a result, the obvious choice for captain this week is the Liverpool winger up against a leaky Southampton side and in with a chance of breaking some Premier League records.

The other standout choice is Cole Palmer (Chelsea), who gave FPL players a headache last time out in finally proving an alternative to the Egyptian.

Despite leading Chelsea’s efforts in a 4-0 win over the Saints with a whopping 7 shots and an xG of 1.13, though, he failed to deliver any actual contributions.

Luckily for most, Salah then offered an assist in Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Newcastle.

Next up for Palmer is Leicester City at home, a side whose defensive statistics are almost on par with Southampton.

Indeed, the Foxes concede 2.26 goals per game away from home, the highest in the league.

Players chasing rank could opt to give Palmer the armband again but would face a weekend of hiding behind their sofa while an unstoppable Salah faces a very poor Southampton side.

My captain: Mohamed Salah

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Transfers

The FA Cup fixtures added further frustration for FPL players last week as it caused two popular strikers to miss GW28.

Matheus Cunha (Wolves) (205,247) was sent off in the tie against Bournemouth after lashing out at defender Milos Kerkez. He is set to miss the next three league matches and could miss a further one pending a decision from the FA.

Jean-Philippe Mateta (Crystal Palace) (147,846), on the other hand, was stretchered off after a horror challenge from goalkeeper Liam Roberts in the clash with Millwall. The striker received 25 stitches and was discharged from hospital the same night.

It remains unclear how long the Palace goalscorer will be out of action but, due to concussion protocols, it is expected that he will miss at least a couple of weeks.

Alexander Isak (Newcastle) was a doubt for the FA Cup but ultimately started and scored in his side’s 2-1 loss to Brighton. The Swedish international was substituted late on and looked uncomfortable, although Eddie Howe has downplayed anything serious.

With question marks hovering over various key strikers and a blank gameweek 29 on the horizon, a fit striker replacement who also plays in the blank seems an obvious move.

Beto (Everton) (5.0m) has been in fine form since David Moyes’ return to Everton, scoring five in his last six starts and registering 0.64 xG/90. He features in GW29 against West Ham (H), but fixtures from there do not look entirely promising.

Yoane Wissa (Brentford) (6.4m) is another viable replacement, netting 13 times this season to sit atop the Bees’ xG/90 chart with 0.65. He plays in GW29 against Bournemouth (A), yet his fixtures – much like Beto – are a mixed bag from there.

Omar Marmoush (Manchester City) (7.2m) is the most risky replacement, with the potential to be a big rank gainer. He is yet to score since his 14-minute hat-trick against Newcastle but should continue to get minutes in a City side that faces both Brighton (H) and Leicester (H) in their next three matches.

My transfer: Matheus Cunha out, Yoane Wissa in

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Chip strategy

As the end of the Premier League season approaches, most FPL managers will have to decide how best to use their remaining chips.

Four sides will miss GW29 – Newcastle, Aston Villa, Liverpool, and Crystal Palace – causing most managers to weigh up whether to use their free hit or save it for future gameweeks where there could be bigger blanks.

This is very much team-dependent and, with GW29 so close, you should have already decided if you will go ahead and try to field as many players as possible or use the free hit chip.

Through the wonderful work of @BenCrellin on X, we have some sort of idea of the roadmap ahead. His spreadsheets show the likelihood of where fixtures could move to depending on European and domestic cup competition outcomes. 

For me, the best strategy currently looks like fielding at least 10 players for GW29, wildcard GW31, bench boost GW33, and then free hit GW34.

However, as previously mentioned, FPL is a game of moving pieces, and this strategy depends entirely on where the Premier League decides to move rearranged matches, meaning nothing is certain.

Fun times lie ahead.

Current overall rank: 60,110

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