In this article, we preview GW3 and rank all of the popular players on the FPL radar.
Table of Contents
Manchester City midfielders
Foden vs Semenyo vs Cherki
Rayan Cherki – £7.7m
He’s got four goal involvements already this season, and 0.2m in price rises already, the only midfielder to do so.
In the opening two Gameweeks, he’s proved to be a great option. But will he start for Man City for sure?
This is one of the main worries with Cherki. He himself said he nearly got subbed off at half time. He didn’t start the first game. As the table above shows, Foden and Semenyo have 86 and 90 minutes per game respectively, and compared to Cherki’s 55, the obvious extra safety one of the former two bring may be enough to tempt some managers.
If you are looking to bring him in, now is certainly the time. Unless you are prepared to wait till GW7, this is the plum fixture that allows you to handle trips to Anfield and Old Trafford more easily, around home games of Sunderland and Ipswich.
But Cherki just came off a brace last week – will Maresca really drop a player in that sort of form? Probably not.
However, in GW1, when he was benched, it was O’Reilly who covered in for him, as Doku is expected to be out for a couple more weeks. With Savio and Marmoush gone, the only other choice Maresca had is Jack Grealish, who came on as a late sub in GW1. However, Grealish has now returned to Everton. It paves the way for near certainty on Cherki starting.
Rayan Cherki – great buy. 9/10
Phil Foden – £7.0m, and Antoine Semenyo – £8.5m
Could Foden or Semenyo be better options anyway, especially given they are more likely to play the full 90?
The following text is an extract from another article, listed below. If you want to skip to Nico O’Reilly and Josko Gvardiol, click here.
Not Semenyo. Despite how good he was last year, he’s only been deployed on the left this campaign. The Ghanian international was mostly used on the right by Pep Guardiola last year, but under Maresca he’s played both league games on the other flank. With Cherki in the number 10, Foden has to be pushed out onto the right wing, in turn shifting Semenyo to the left side.
However, Semenyo did start the Community Shield in his preferred position and he managed 3 shots and 0.65 xGI. Maresca has the option of swapping Foden and Semenyo to attempt to get the best out of the latter.
As for Foden, he may be a decent alternative. He created a big chance in GW1, before grabbing two assists and missing a sitter against Crystal Palace. In GW2 alone, he managed 0.87 xG and 0.45 xA, enough to highlight his potential should he find his finishing boots again. We also know he’s very unlikely to be rotated (the famous ‘central pillar’ quote from Maresca), although as we’ve established, Cherki isn’t exactly likely to be rotated either.
So overall, Semenyo is pretty much out of the picture, especially as he is the most expensive out of the three, and by some margin. Foden and Cherki are very close in appeal – Cherki can become a gamechanger, as we’ve seen, but Foden could haul as well. If you’re going on Wildcard, Foden’s minutes could be slightly better than Cherki’s long-term, but on a Free Hit, form dictates the silky Frenchman as the better option.
Last thing – Foden’s ownership is under 5%, while Cherki is owned by nearly a quarter of the game. It’s impossible to seperate the engaged managers from the pool now, so we can’t really know how many kneejerked Cherki in after GW1, or bought him after GW2. But Cherki had just ~7% ownership before GW1.
Phil Foden – buy. 8.5/10.
Antoine Semenyo – buy, but not over the other two. 7/10.
Defenders – O’Reilly and Gvardiol
O’Reilly has been playing all over the park for Manchester City so far. His underlying data hasn’t been great either.
His main appeal is his amazing positioning, and eye for attack, which suggests the 0.09 xG is an anomaly due to the low sample size.
His price is off-putting, however, it’s high risk, high reward. He looks likely to start the next few games – after that, it’s unclear – but he is the kind of player whose GW scores are 2, 1, 6, 2, 17, 1. You want to be in for that 17-pointer, and out before he gets benched.
Gvardiol is 1m cheaper, and arguably less of a rotation risk than O’Reilly. His goal suggests he also has attacking prominence, which he does, but mainly aerially. His 0.19 xG isn’t much better than that of O’Reilly.
His main downside is that he wastes a City spot on mainly clean sheet points and a few attacking returns here and there. City didn’t look rock solid at the back, and any of O’Reilly, Foden, Cherki, and even Anderson for Defcons could be better options.
If you have £5.5m to spend on a defender, just go for an Arsenal defender.
Nico O’Reilly – good buy, 8/10. Medium risk, high reward.
Josko Gvardiol – better options around. 6/10.
Newcastle assets
Yoane Wissa – £6.1m
The Newcastle number 9 has racked up 1.42 xG in the two games so far, adding another 0.55 xG in a 25-minute spell at a Carabao Cup game. With Woltemade on loan to Juventus, and Osula out injured, Wissa is the main man for the Magpies.
His minutes look pretty solid, as does his starting position. He is first-choice striker under new manager Jaissle, but he also can play no.10, as we saw when he played alongside Osula (now injured). And his fixtures are a dream. Newcastle line up seven greens in a row on our Fixture Ticker, topping the ticker comfortably.
Wissa is a striker. He is going to get high-quality chances across the next few games. He could be a frustrating asset to own should he miss those chances. His finishing isn’t amazing, but it’s good – he scored 19 goals from 18.59 xG at Brentford in the 24/25 season.
It’s worth adding as a side note, Newcastle as a team haven’t been amazing in attack, according to data. 4 goals from a total 2.4 xG (14th in the league for xG) point to a less than amazing frontline. However, they did play Liverpool and Tottenham in the first two, which is why this stat can be pretty lightly taken.
Yoane Wissa – good buy, 7.5/10. Fixtures are too good to ignore.
Lewis Hall – £5.1m
Conceding only 2 goals, Newcastle have also overperformed on the defensive side, conceding 4.1 xG. Their clean sheet against Spurs becomes questionable as proof of their defensive solidity when you look at the stats from that game. Spurs had more xG, more shots, more shots on target, and as Roberto de Zerbi said, Newcastle didn’t really deserve to win.
As for Hall’s defcon and attacking threat, this is where it gets good. Hall hit defcon in about a quarter of his games last season, despite being a full-back. He’s hit defcon both times in the Premier League under his new manager. And his heatmap against Spurs shows attacking intent.
Lewis Hall – good for defcon and attacking threat, not so much clean sheets. 7/10. Again, fixtures are amazing.
Elanga?
Elanga is a decent option. Minutes look alright, fixtures are great of course, and he has scored twice already. Wissa’s underlyings look better, however. Could he be a good replacement for Ndiaye or Tzolis? Yes, but he only has 0.48 xG to show for it. Great option, but there are better ones. He is worth a punt, though. His high ownership is mainly casual players, so he is actually a differential in the community.
Anthony Elanga – decent option. Worth a punt with his fixtures, but still is a punt. Better options elsewhere. 6.5/10.
Igor Thiago
The Brazilian has not started the season well, having missed an opening weekend penalty. However, with 7 shots and 1.85 xG (1.06 non-penalty), he looks to be one of those players who is about to smash it.
His best fixture is this week, before a patchy run ends abruptly with Hull away and Forest at home. You can imagine people will want him then, or even in GW6. But Brentford have produced the second highest xG total so far this year, only behind Man United who had that Ipswich game. He’s not a must have by any means, but as a punt, he is well worth it.
Igor Thiago – great punt. 7/10
If you are looking for more FPL GW3 tips and advice, here is the place to be! More articles previewing GW3 are already here.
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- FPL chip strategy – Why Wildcarding in Gameweek 6 could be a trap in FPL – and which other week stands out
- A detailed look at Coventry City in FPL
- 9 of the BEST FPL cheap players and bargains for the new 26/27 season!
FPL GW3 tips – Best Man City attackers, Wildcard and more!
Check out FPL Ticker before the new season, with tips, advice, FPL best players to buy, and more!
And don’t forget our FPL edition of the popular 38 and 0 game!
Our advanced transfer planner is here. Including a special FPL innovation – the player meter! (currently down – should be back in time for GW4)
the best players to buy fpl gw3 – read the article to find out!
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