Fantasy Premier League 2023/24: Gameweek 3 tips and advice from experts | Football News

Sky Sports is back with the weekly Fantasy Premier League column, bringing you essential tips from the best managers in the world.

FPL experts Lee from FPL Family and Gianni Buttice answer the burning questions ahead of Friday’s 6.30pm deadline for Gameweek 3…

Man City have a great run for potential clean sheets – which defensive assets are you targeting?

Lee from FPL Family: Ruben Dias (£5.5m) looks the most nailed-on for minutes in that City defence, but I noticed Kyle Walker (£5.1m) getting forward into those attacking areas that we love our FPL assets to be in against Newcastle.

Walker’s also slightly cheaper than Dias, but just make sure that you have reasonable bench cover if Pep decides to rest or rotate the Englishman, particularly with European football on the horizon.

Gianni Buttice: This is the best defence in the league and covering their backline makes a lot of sense despite the low upside their defenders offer in terms of goal threat.

In the first two Gameweeks, Man City are the only team to concede less than one xG (0.66) which is why I have transferred Josko Gvardiol (£5m) in. Dias arguably offers a higher minutes guarantee than all other City defenders but you have to find an extra 0.5 for him.

Do Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford have to deliver this week to justify their places in teams?

Lee from FPL Family: Marcus Rashford’s (£9m) positioning through the centre means he’s playing a lot of the game with his back to goal, rather than out on the left running at defenders – which is what he loves doing.

United fans will hope that new signing Rasmus Hojlund (£7m) can get fit and integrate into the first team, meaning Rashford gets back among the goals from his preferred position.

Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) has been pretty unlucky not to return for his owners, across the first two games, he’s top among all midfielders for expected goal involvement (xGI) at 2.1. He should’ve had some returns by now, so I’ll stick with him for the Forest game at least. With Arsenal and Brighton after that, though, it might get hard to hold them going into GW4.

Gianni Buttice: Absolutely! Those that are holding them are doing it because of the good home fixture against Nottingham Forest, but blank again and they will rightly be on the chopping block for most managers.

If James Maddison is out injured, who are the best replacements?

Lee from FPL Family: If you want to stay in the £7.5m price bracket, I think Phil Foden (£7.6m) is the standout pick. He was at his superb best against Newcastle in the central role usually occupied by Kevin De Bruyne (£10.3m). He pulled all the strings and got an assist for his owners in FPL.

Should you want to save a few FPL pounds, you could do so by moving one of the many good options in the £6.5m bracket. Bryan Mbeumo’s (£6.7m) non-penalty expected goal involvement stats have been superb, second only to Fernandes at 1.95. Add penalties on top and decent fixtures to boot, he’d be my go-to option, closely followed by Brighton pair Kaoru Mitoma (£6.6m) and Solly March (£6.6m).

Gianni Buttice: Foden is a player I punted on ahead of Gameweek 1 and I like the fact he’s been a bit of a differential for me. Many, however, will be looking to buy him this week. Playing centrally, he provided six chances against Newcastle and with no De Bruyne, he looks to be the main creative source in that team.

Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez are proving popular transfers, are you in or out on them?

Lee from FPL Family: Very much in. City’s fixtures look great for a few weeks now, so I expect them to go on the front foot. The link-up between Foden and Julian Alvarez (£6.6m) really caught the eye against Newcastle, who themselves are a very tough team to break down.

Having Erling Haaland (£14m) in your team won’t make much difference to your rank if he scores, simply because he is owned by over 90 per cent of managers. So if you want in on that City attack, Foden or Alvarez are the route or maybe even both! Alvarez, in particular, is worthy of consideration since we have lots of nice midfield options to go to in FPL, but less so in attack. It might therefore be easier to find a spot for Alvarez than Foden.

Gianni Buttice: I like both for Gameweeks 3 and 4 but do expect Man City to recruit an attacking player or two and with that, we could see Alvarez especially become a minutes risk post international break.

For the immediate fixtures, though, I think there is a reasonable argument to buy either or even both knowing they are playing well and have clocked 180 minutes each in the first two weeks.

Is Nicolas Jackson someone we should be looking at or are there better options out there?

Lee from FPL Family: Nicolas Jackson’s (£7m) underlying data over the first two Gameweeks has been pretty good, yet his owners have nothing to show for it. You could say he’s been a little wasteful in front of goal and still adapting to his new environment. That may be true, but I like the fact he’s in the right position to miss in the first place. That might sound counter-intuitive, but, in my mind, he’s doing all the right things and arriving in the right positions to break his duck sooner rather than later.

And their next three fixtures against Luton (H), Nottingham Forest (H) and Bournemouth (A) are about as good as you’re ever going to get in FPL. He’s worthy of consideration and possibly investment.

Gianni Buttice: I am likely to roll the dice and bring in the wildcard that is Jackson. For me, it would mean selling the tried and tested Ollie Watkins (£8m), fresh off his midweek hat-trick in Europe but I like to chase the fixtures and Jackson has two great-looking home games up next.

While he’s been blanking in the Premier League, he looked razor-sharp in pre-season and I’m backing him to score on Friday night. Sure, consistency is an issue but I’m likely to gamble because I think his ceiling is higher than Watkins’ in the next two weeks.

Is there anyone apart from Erling Haaland you would consider as captain this week?

Lee from FPL Family: I gave the armband to Mo Salah (£12.5m) last week and got a small gain over Haaland, but watching City without the Norwegian as captain was an uncomfortable watch.

Sheffield United looked vulnerable against Forest and I’d back Haaland to get among the goals again this weekend. If you want to pick an alternative, look at the Arsenal assets at home to a Fulham side who just shipped three goals at home to Brentford in Gameweek 2.

Gianni Buttice: Good teams with nice home fixtures can sometimes tempt me away from Haaland and I really like the Arsenal fixture. Fulham have been really weak defensively and I expect Arsenal to score a few but with Bukayo Saka (£8.6m) possibly off penalties it’s difficult to identify which Arsenal player you back. There is a potential spread of points for their front four while at City we know, if they score, Haaland is likely going to be involved.

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