Time to talk about Bruno - FPL tips & team of the week

That felt like a long international break!

Two weeks without Fantasy Premier League is not ideal but at least we have a clear run of four gameweeks before ANOTHER international window.

Oh well, let's forget about that for now and focus on this week's team of the week, which is Crystal Palace and Aston Villa heavy and includes Bruno Fernandes, who is due a return.

The team of the week is selected based on current FPL prices to fit within a £100m budget, as if you were playing a Free Hit.

How did the last team of the week do?

A week of double digits and one-pointers!

Here's a reminder of gameweek three's team, which scored a respectable 80 points (a gameweek rank of about 1.5m).

No clean sheets - there was only one in week three - and seeing Leandro Trossard hauled off when Arsenal went down to 10 men was a blow.

But Bryan Mbeumo, Mohamed Salah, Erling Haaland and Chris Wood all hauled, while captain Palmer at least returned an assist.

We go again.

Listen to the latest episode of the Fantasy 606 podcast here

Goalkeeper and defence

Dean Henderson, Crystal Palace, keeper, £4.5m - home to Leicester

Picking a clean sheet has been difficult this season, with only 12 in 30 games so far.

Promoted Leicester and Ipswich are bottom two for expected goals (xG) so far so it makes sense, this early in the season, to back against them scoring.

Brighton face Ipswich and they don't have a clear number-one keeper, so Henderson is in.

Trent Alexander-Arnold, Liverpool, defender, £7m - home to Nottingham Forest

I've said before that Alexander-Arnold is a double-digit return waiting to happen - FPL players know that - so go without him at your peril.

He has an expected goal involvement (xGI) of 1.7 this season with nothing to show for it.

Liverpool have a good chance for a fourth-straight clean sheet v Forest and if this team had the money then pairing Alexander-Arnold with Andy Robertson would be a dreamy move.

Rico Lewis, Manchester City, defender, £4.7m - home to Brentford

Will Lewis continue to keep Kyle Walker out of the City team?

Who knows but at the moment the young defender is a snip at £4.7m in one of the best three defences in the league.

In the absence of Rodri, Lewis has been inverting into midfield and has found himself in some fantastic attacking positions.

He missed a sitter against Ipswich in week two and has had two big chances. Rodri might be back against Brentford, but Lewis should still thrive.

Lucas Digne, Aston Villa, defender, £4.5m - home to Everton

The French full-back has so far kept summer signing Ian Maatsen out of the Villa team and has been an impressive early season performer.

He has four crosses per game so far, is taking some corners and - with Douglas Luiz gone - could be first choice for direct free-kicks.

Villa have a great run coming up so he is a good pick this week and beyond.

Midfield

Bruno Fernandes scored and assisted in two games for Portugal during the international break

Bruno Fernandes, Manchester United, midfielder, £8.4m - away at Southampton

The underlying statistics are screaming out for us to pick Fernandes this week.

The Manchester United talisman has been unlucky to have no returns so far this season.

His xGI is two, he has had eight shots (Salah has had just nine and scored three times), four in the box and two big chances.

Couple that with Southampton's defence, which is bottom six for shots conceded, shots in the box conceded, shots on target conceded, expected goals conceded (xGC) and has given up 13 big chances!

Points incoming for Bruno.

Mohamed Salah, Liverpool, midfielder, £12.7m - home to Nottingham Forest

Salah is in this team until his form dips or the fixtures change and this week he is captain over Erling Haaland.

Both juggernauts could get double-digit returns, but Salah edges it with his goals earning more points as a midfielder.

Forest are actually a top-three defence so far based on xGC and shots conceded - and they have allowed a league-lowest 12 shots in the box - so there is a small concern they manage to cramp Liverpool's attacking flair.

That, plus a Champions League away game in Milan after this (potential rotation) and a tight budget are why there's no Liverpool triple-up in this team of the week.

Eberechi Eze, Crystal Palace, midfielder, £6.9m - home to Leicester City

Eze is a steal at £6.9m. He scored last time out at Chelsea with maximum bonus and, bar a refereeing howler on the opening day, should have had two goals in three games.

The England player is a shot monster - 15 this season is the second-most of all midfielders - and we think he is on penalties too.

Leicester have conceded 18 shots on target in three games, Eze has five on target - that equals a decent chance of another goal.

Morgan Rogers, Aston Villa, midfielder, £5.1m - home to Everton

Having a Villa asset feels important this week and Rogers is the next best pick if you can't afford Ollie Watkins (£8.9m).

His two-goal performance for England Under-21s in midweek is a sign of his potential.

Unlike most of the players in this week's team, there are no underlying stats to back-up Rogers' inclusion - sometimes you have to go with your gut and the eye test!

Forwards

Erling Haaland, Manchester City, striker, £15.2m - home to Brentford

The only questions around Haaland are whether you are going to captain him and whether you think you can get more points from the assets you could have if you weren't spending £15.2m on a striker.

This team, for example, could have Watkins and Luis Diaz in it and every manager will have the same conundrum.

But on current form it is hard to see Haaland not scoring at least once so why back against him?

Joao Pedro, Brighton, striker, £5.7m - home to Ipswich

You don't need any special insight to look at Brighton's game at home to Ipswich and sense a chance for a decent Seagulls win.

Pedro and his strike partner Danny Welbeck have both had excellent starts to the season and the latter slightly edges it on underlying data.

But Pedro is on penalties which means he gets the nod - both are decent picks this week.

Jean-Philippe Mateta, Crystal Palace, striker, £7.4m - home to Leicester City

If you hadn't guessed already, I really fancy Palace to score a few this week - sorry Leicester!

Mateta hasn't hit form yet this season and Eddie Nketiah is waiting in the wings to take his place but it's more likely both play rather than the Frenchman loses his place.

Palace haven't quite been the same without Michael Olise but they have under-performed their xG this season by a full goal and Mateta has 13 in his past 16 Premier League games.

Jean-Philippe Mateta scored in seven straight home games at the end of last season, netting 11 goals.

Subs bench

Lukasz Fabianski, West Ham, keeper, £4m - away to Fulham

A £4m keeper who might play if Alphonse Areola's injury lingers.

Lewis Dunk, Brighton, defender, £4.5m - home to Ipswich

A great first sub against Ipswich who also has a goal in him

Tim Iroegbunam, Everton, midfielder, £4.5m - away to Aston Villa

Has played every game for the Toffees since a summer move from Villa, four shots in three games.

Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Southampton, defender, £4m - home to Manchester United

A £4m defender who plays. Ideal third sub.

Total team cost: £99.1m

Player to watch

Abdul Fatawu has started all of Leicester's games and grabbed an assist and three bonus points in their opener at home to Spurs

Abdul Fatawu, Leicester City, midfielder, £5.5m

Fancy a budget midfielder who faces Everton, Bournemouth and Forest at home and Southampton and Ipswich away in his next seven games?

Then look no further than the Ghanaian who is down as a midfielder but plays right wing.

He's had the most shots and the highest xGI of any Leicester midfielder.

Team to target

Everton - Aston Villa (a), Leicester (a), Crystal Palace (h)

After Villa this week, the Toffees' next eight fixtures are pretty welcoming, including matches against all three promoted teams.

Everton provide good budget options too if you are looking to position your squad to be able to afford a few big hitters.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin at £5.9m is not a bad shout and you could do worse than getting in someone like Vitaliy Mykolenko (£4.4m) as your fourth defender.

View from Fantasy 606...

Chris Sutton continues to march to his own tune and is determined to go through the season without owning either Erling Haaland or Mo Salah, but Statman Dave and I have both decided to do entirely the opposite, for the next couple of weeks at least, by owning the pair of them.

We’ve both added Salah to our squads this week – I’ve sold Son Heung-Min, Dave’s sold Bukayo Saka and we’ve both had to drop Alexander Isak down to a cheaper striker, but we’re tempted by Liverpool’s next two fixtures, both at Anfield against Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth.

It’s also about being able to turn to Salah as captain in gameweek five, when Haaland comes up against the Arsenal defence.

Salah is then likely to leave my squad as I use my first wildcard in gameweek six, when Saka will become part of an Arsenal triple-up before a nice run of fixtures.

If you’re also thinking about playing the wildcard in gameweek six and your squad’s in decent shape then you could use the next two weeks to take a punt on a couple of differentials - some suggestions would be Crystal Palace’s Daniel Munoz in defence, Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh in midfield and maybe even Jhon Duran up front for Aston Villa’s home games against Everton and Wolves.

The amount of game-time he gets is the obvious risk there but he hasn’t needed many minutes to score his goals so far this season.

Meanwhile, the manager of our listeners’ team has gone for an Aston Villa defender this week with Pau Torres coming in for Lewis Hall.

If you fancy coming on the podcast and having a crack at managing the listeners’ team then send us an e-mail on [e-mail]

Statman Dave is currently leading the Fantasy 606 podcast mini-league, with Chris Sutton trailing in last place behind the listeners