Manchester United’s rare triple gameweek vaults in-form winger Mason Greenwood to the top of this week’s Fantasy Premier League wishlist – but there are reasons not to overload on their players.
The three games come in the space of five days, and against tough opposition – and that is without considering the potential for more unrest around the Liverpool fixture, the postponement of which created the situation.
Here, we look to the PA news agency’s Transfer Score rankings to help you pick your way through a chaotic gameweek 35.
The Devil’s in the detail
Despite United’s busy few days, Greenwood is the only one of their players to crack our top three recommendations at his FPL position.
A player’s form accounts for 50 per cent of his Transfer Score, and Greenwood’s four goals, an assist and five bonus points in four games would make him an attractive pick even if United only played once.
The other half is made up of cost, ownership and fixture difficulty rating (FDR) and it is the latter that holds back United, with Aston Villa away on Sunday followed by the testing visits of Leicester and Liverpool to Old Trafford just 50 hours apart on Tuesday and Thursday.
Greenwood remains well clear of the pack on a transfer score of 84 out of 100, eight more than any other player and 14 in front of his nearest challenger in midfield, Gareth Bale.
A hat-trick last time out made it four in two games for the Wales star, with bonus points further boosting his form, but he cannot play Sheffield United and Southampton every week and has been inconsistent overall at £9.1million.
Gylfi Sigurdsson completes the midfield picks on 67, still reaping the rewards of a recent brace against Spurs as he goes into Everton’s double gameweek.
Cavani can’t bring change up front
Edinson Cavani is the next United player after Greenwood in our rankings, but his transfer score of 65 is not quite enough for a place on the attacking podium.
In-form duo Chris Wood (76) and Kelechi Iheanacho (72) continue to occupy the top two places, with the Burnley man second to Greenwood overall after four goals in two games and seven in seven left him third in the FPL form rankings – behind Iheanacho, our number four overall selection this week.
Edging Cavani out of the top three is Christian Benteke, currently scoring in every third Crystal Palace match and so on schedule for a goal against the Blades on Saturday, the first half of his side’s double-header.
Evans above
Leicester defender Jonny Evans ranks just ahead of team-mate Iheanacho and is this week’s top defender after remarkably producing two goals and an assist in the last three games.
Evans – who previously had one assist all season to show for his attacking output – also recorded a 10th clean sheet of the campaign against West Brom in gameweek 32 and his transfer score of 74 keeps him ahead of Liverpool full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, our second defender and fifth overall in the rankings on 71.
Baggies goalkeeper Sam Johnstone is the only other player with a transfer score of 70 or more this week, while Leeds’ Diego Llorente is our third-ranked defender on 68.
