Captain Palmer over Salah or Haaland - FPL tips & team of the week

Some big, BIG scores were flying around last week, with highly-owned assets such as Cole Palmer (17 points), Erling Haaland (17) and Anthony Gordon (10) returning.

Fantasy Premier League's two most-expensive players - Haaland and Mohamed Salah - are the two highest point scorers already. You could have had either player as captain for both of the first weeks and be happy.

In gameweek three, however, I'd be slapping the armband on someone different.

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 last week's team do?

You can refresh your memory of gameweek two's team of the week here.

It scored an impressive 86 points with Haaland as captain and a bit of luck with Micky van der Ven's nine-pointer off the bench.

That was enough for a gameweek rank of just under 1.4million, with the average score this week 69.

Keeper and defence

Mark Flekken, Brentford, keeper, £4.5m - home v Southampton

Saints have yet to score on their return to the Premier League and they are facing a save monster in Flekken.

The Dutchman has made 12 saves this season, accumulating four extra fantasy points, so he isn't just reliant on clean sheets.

This game, however, seems like a good chance of keeping one.

Levi Colwill, Chelsea, defender, £4.5m - home v Crystal Palace

Palace are still a tricky team to figure out. Do you read more into their first two games of this season - two defeats - or the six wins out of seven to end last season?

They only have one goal this season - an own goal - so Colwill is a solid option at the heart of a defence that should keep a few clean sheets this season.

Nikola Milenkovic, Nottingham Forest, defender, £4.5m - home v Wolves

The 6ft 5ins centre-back kept a clean sheet on his Forest debut at Southampton and had an expected goals (xG) of 0.98 - mostly due to a sitter he missed at the back post.

But with his height, the Serbia defender will be a threat from set-pieces and faces a Wolves side that was just thrashed 6-2 by Chelsea.

Jurrien Timber, Arsenal, defender, £5.5m - home v Brighton

The Dutchman is the cheapest way into the best defence in the game.

He's likely to get another start after impressing in the win at Villa and, even though Brighton have also caught the eye in their first two games, Arsenal at home is a tough clean sheet to bet against.

Midfield

Leandro Trossard has scored 130 FPL points or more in the past four seasons

Leandro Trossard, Arsenal, midfielder, £6.9m - home v Brighton

After his game-changing goal in the win at Villa, it is hard to see how Mikel Arteta leaves Trossard out of the Arsenal team against Brighton.

The Belgium midfielder is up against Gabriel Martinelli for a spot in the start line-up and last season he was far more effective.

Trossard scored 5.28 points per start in 23-24 compared to Martinelli's 3.71.

Cole Palmer, Chelsea, midfielder, £10.5m (captain) - home v Crystal Palace

Alright so you might say this is a bit of a knee-jerk move, given Palmer is coming off the back of a goal and three assists against Wolves, but the England midfielder's FPL threat is no secret.

Given this season's price rise, you can't blame FPL managers who have adopted a wait-and-see approach with Palmer, especially with Chelsea facing Manchester City in their first game.

But this Palace game is the start of a great run for Chelsea and Palmer was a monster at home last season, scoring 16 goals at a rate of one every 76 minutes.

Mohamed Salah, Liverpool, midfielder, £12.5m - away v Manchester United

It has been painful going without Salah the first two weeks, watching the Egyptian score 24 points.

The question is not Salah's value as an FPL asset, but the cost of squeezing both he and Haaland into your team and the impact on the rest of the side.

Salah has 14 goals in 15 games against United, which is too hard to ignore so he is in this week's side instead of Bukayo Saka and a better defence. Fingers crossed!

Bryan Mbeumo, Brentford, midfielder, £7m - home v Southampton

One of my pre-season players to watch and the Cameroon forward delivered on the opening day with a goal and two bonus points v Palace.

He's down as a midfielder but, like Salah, he plays as a wide forward and is a major goal threat cutting in from the right flank.

If Brentford manager Thomas Frank continues to omit Ivan Toney, then Mbeumo will be on penalties too. You can sense a double-digit haul.

Sammie Szmodics, Ipswich, midfielder, £6m - home v Fulham

This pick is more of an eye-test choice than backed up by any stats.

Ipswich have the lowest xG in the Premier League so far, but they've had THE toughest start - home to Liverpool and away at Manchester City.

So I'm ignoring that and going off the first 45 minutes against Liverpool when Ipswich played some great football and could easily have scored.

They will have a go at Fulham, with the Portman Road crowd behind them, and Szmodics is their best goal threat having hit 27 in the Championship last season.

Sammie Szmodics scored his first Ipswich goal against Manchester City at Etihad Stadium on Saturday

Forwards

Erling Haaland, Manchester City, forward, £15.1m - away v West Ham No captain's armband for Haaland this week but it's hard to leave a striker in his form out of the side.

The time will come this season when it's worth taking a punt against Haaland - just not yet.

Chris Wood, Nottingham Forest, forward, £6.1m - home v Wolves Wood could be sitting here with two or three goals already, instead of just one.

At Southampton last Saturday he had three shots in the box and two big chances yet came away with just a point after getting booked.

Wood has another good opportunity against a Wolves team that has shipped eight goals in two games.

Subs bench

Hakon Valdimarsson, Brentford, keeper, £4m - home v Southampton Flekken's back-up.

Kosta Nedeljkovic, Aston Villa, defender, £4m - away v Leicester City Matty Cash's injury has given the highly-rated 18 year old Serb right-back a chance and he could become an FPL steal.

Wout Faes, Leicester City, defender, £4m - home v Aston Villa Can't say no to a cheap goal-scoring defender on the bench.

Daniel Jebbison, Bournemouth, forward, £4.5m - away v Everton Until a £4.5m striker emerges, Jebbison is the best of the bunch as a third sub.

Total team cost: £99.6m (As of Wednesday 28 August)

Player to watch

Morgan Rogers had five shots against Arsenal on Saturday and created one big chance

Morgan Rogers, midfielder, Aston Villa, £5m

The 22-year-old attacking midfielder was a darling of the FPL community in pre-season - especially those looking for budget gems in order to fit Salah and Haaland in their teams.

Rogers hasn't produced points yet but boy was he impressive in the home defeat by Arsenal.

You can't see Unai Emery dropping him and Villa face Leicester, Everton, Wolves and Ipswich in their next four.

Points are coming.

Team to target

Brighton - Arsenal (a), Ipswich (h), Forest (h)

If you don't need to make a transfer this week then it is worth rolling so you can target Brighton's great matches in gameweeks four and five.

The Seagulls have five goals in their first two games, with Kaoru Mitoma looking like an FPL star again after injury.