Mohamed Salah (captain), Liverpool, £13.5m – home to Leicester City
No words needed – perma-captain until told otherwise.
Kevin de Bruyne, Manchester City, £9.5m – home to Everton
I think everyone is expecting City, at some point in this awful run of defeats, to snap out of it, find form and absolutely thrash somebody.
Well why not this week?
De Bruyne is a high-risk, high-upside pick in a game that could easily be 5-0 if City play like the old City.
He’s rested and has a return every 75 minutes in his past three games.
Antoine Semenyo, Bournemouth, £5.6m – home to Crystal Palace
He scored against Manchester United from one of his four shots at goal and his underlying statistics continue to be incredible.
The Ghana midfielder has 67 shots in 16 games this season – one away from four per game – and those kind of numbers mean you’re always in with a shout of a return.
The home game with Palace could be one for goals – so pick Semenyo with confidence.
Mohammed Kudus, West Ham, £6.2m – away at Southampton
These next two midfield picks might seem a bit knee-jerk, as both scored in gameweek 17, but you’ll have to take my word for it that I picked this team before they did. Honest!
Either way, Kudus is the way into the Hammers attack if you can’t afford Jarrod Bowen – or you just want to be different.
The Ghanaian is just slightly behind Bowen in all attacking stats this season – 43 shots to 36, expected goals (xG) of 4.02 to 3.56.
Saints, despite a 0-0 at Fulham last time, are still a team to target with forward players.
Ismaila Sarr, Crystal Palace, £5.7m – away at Bournemouth
With Eberechi Eze potentially out again, Sarr has a chance to be a central figure for Palace in a game that could turn into a thriller.
The Senegal winger has four returns in his past two games, and seven returns in just 10 starts this season.
With a very enticing run of games all the way until the start of March, Sarr presents a great budget option in midfield.
