I know we seem to be talking about Mohamed Salah every week this season, but he’s once again the center of attention going into week nine.
A lot of managers like me sold him with a wild card in week eight as Liverpool were not in action and were not in particularly good form in the upcoming games against Brighton, Arsenal and Manchester City.
Many other managers have picked up the wild card for this week and interestingly Salah is currently one of the top five substituted players going into week nine.
But do you have a pause for thought?
Is Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah a must in fantasy football this week?
Salah scored twice in Egypt’s win against Niger, he is now recovering after missing his second international match against Liberia, and on Saturday Liverpool host Brighton in their first game under new coach Roberto de Zerbi. He then meets Arsenal with a healthy record of seven goals in 10 games against them in the Premier League.
So if you already own Salah then I would definitely stick with him. Statman Dave said on the Fantasy 606 podcast this week that he’s bringing him back to his team immediately after selling him as a wildcard to Son Heung-min in his eighth week of play. Even that second-half hat-trick against Leicester didn’t save Son from Statman swinging the axe, and those who signed Kevin de Bruyne last week might feel the same way.
Another factor in the decision is that Salah is definitely a candidate for captain as an alternative to Erling Haaland this week, while I don’t think I would be tempted to hand the armband to his teammate De Bruyne or Son in front of Haaland if Tottenham were to play away Arsenal.
I was one of those managers who went for the double-up of Haaland and Harry Kane in my wild eight in game week, so I’m not going to take a four-pointer to make two transfers to get Salah back this week . Instead, I’m quite happy to lead Haaland against Manchester United or Kane, who has an excellent record in the north London derby. Salah will return to my squad for the home game against West Ham in matchweek 12.
Another thing to note is that Kane or Son in match week 11 when Tottenham host Everton look like decent captaining options if you don’t want to go with Haaland or Salah when they face off this week.
Right, that’s enough Salah chat and rest assured you could have the exact same conversation about his teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold. Just make sure that if you go without any of them you have a plan on how to get them back because I think you will want them.
In the meantime, I turn to Leicester’s James Maddison and Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha, who have both been in brilliant form this season. The games are looking good so they can keep scoring points.
If you don’t have the cash then Harvey Barnes and Eberechi Eze would be your cheaper options at Leicester and Palace teams but I think it’s worth putting your budget down to get the key men.
I wouldn’t spend £9.2m on Jamie Vardy though as he’s only been used as a substitute in the last couple of games but you can’t be sure Kelechi Iheanacho or Patson Daka will start consistently either. Maddison is definitely your man in the Leicester team and if you’re looking for a striker your pick is between Aleksandar Mitrovic, Ivan Toney or Callum Wilson, with Alexander Isak currently sidelined for Newcastle. It’s also worth checking Mitrovic’s fitness ahead of week nine after suffering a knock during the international break for Serbia.
Dominic Solanke looks to be a popular choice for the matchweek nin wildcard as it will cost you just £5.7million, he is on penalties and Bournemouth’s next four games will be Brentford, Leicester, Fulham and Southampton.
If he’s primarily a bench option for you, then take a look at the game weeks you think you definitely need to use him, particularly game week 12 where the Arsenal v Manchester City game was postponed. Solanke has a home game against Southampton, while other popular players are Fulham’s Andreas Pereira, who has a home game against Aston Villa, or Nottingham Forest’s Neco Williams, who plays at Brighton. If you’re wildcard, think carefully about which budget players to sign and when to use them.
Alistair Bruce-Ball presents the Fantasy 606 Podcast alongside former Premier League winner Chris Sutton and Statman Dave. The latest episode previewing match week 9 is available on the ` Sounds app.
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