Gameweek 26 will probably prove to be a pivotal one in the Premier League title race. Arsenal lost at home to West Ham while Liverpool brushed aside champions Manchester City.
Arne Slot’s men are now 11 points clear and the title race feels all but over.
In the world of Fantasy Premier League, Mohamed Salah (£13.7m) produced his 16th double-digit haul of the season with a goal and assist against City as he moved to an incredible 25 goals and 16 assists — and 285 points overall — for the season.
Elsewhere, Wolves forward Matheus Cunha (£6.9m) scored in his team’s 1-0 win over Bournemouth as the Brazilian picks up in popularity again.
With Gameweek 27 kicking off on Tuesday evening (deadline 6pm GMT; 1pm ET), we have no choice but to turn our attention to a set of midweek fixtures right away.
Here, we will preview the upcoming gameweek due to a quick turnaround.
Cunha is the man to target right now
Cunha is having a fine season, with 13 goals and four assists in 23 league starts. He has also scored in each of his last three league games.
Wolves have pretty good fixtures until the end of the season, facing Fulham (H), Everton (H), Southampton (A), West Ham (H) and Ipswich (A) in their next five, and they also have a fixture in Blank Gameweek 29.
If you are looking for a forward, Cunha would be my top target. Those who have Cody Gakpo (£7.5m) can move to him quite easily, but at his price, he should be easy enough to acquire for most managers.
He is nailed to start, on penalties and is the clear talisman for Wolves, who have improved over the last few matches.
Matheus Cunha scores against Bournemouth (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
The hierarchy is shifting for Bournemouth’s midfield trio
Bournemouth midfielders Antoine Semenyo (£5.7m), Justin Kluivert (£6.0m) and Dango Ouattara (£5.2m) have been really popular over the last few weeks, and rightly so.
I wouldn’t look too much into their 1-0 defeat to Wolves this week, but the unexpected early return of Evanilson (£5.6m) does muddy the waters a bit. The Brazilian was originally expected to return in April but was named on the bench against Wolves last weekend.
This isn’t good news for Ouattara owners, as he has been the one playing as the makeshift forward in Evanilson’s absence. This very likely won’t mean that Ouattara drops out of the starting XI, but he may get shifted out to the wing again, where he has much more competition.
Evanlison didn’t get substituted on against Wolves, but head coach Andoni Iraola told reporters after the game that this was due to them being down to 10 men after Illia Zabarnyi (£4.4m) was sent off after just half an hour.
He stated that Evanilson hadn’t trained much in the lead-up to the Wolves game, so it doesn’t look like he is fit enough to start any games imminently and should be eased back in.
This likely means Ouattara is good for a start in Gameweek 27 at the very least, but going forward he may get rotated and his minutes may be reduced.
Bournemouth’s players are still ones to target looking at their fixtures and the fact they have a game in Blank Gameweek 29, but the pecking order has changed a bit.
Kluivert has been subbed first from the three in the last two games, which has coincided with the return of Marcus Tavernier (£5.4m).
If you still own Kluivert or Ouatarra, they are very much still a keep, but if you were to buy one now, then I think Semenyo is the one to go for. The Ghana international has played 90 minutes in the previous nine matches and is clearly the one who is most nailed-on to start and play the most minutes.
With Evanilson (left) back, is Antoine Semenyo (right) a better option than Justin Kluivert (middle)? (Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
Haaland’s injury might open the door for Marmoush
Erling Haaland (£14.7m) wasn’t included in the Manchester City squad for their 2-0 loss to Liverpool.
He was named on the bench against Real Madrid last Wednesday in the Champions League play-off, but he didn’t play a single minute and Pep Guardiola said Haaland wasn’t “ready” to face Liverpool.
This is one to keep an eye on because if Haaland is injured for a while, it would likely mean more minutes for Omar Marmoush (£7.1m), who has already shown he can be a great FPL option with his hat-trick against Newcastle United in Gameweek 25.
He is City’s best route to goals if Haaland is out and he may well also be on penalties in the Norwegian’s absence. The Egyptian had taken four and scored them all for his previous club, Eintracht Frankfurt, this season.
City assets are going to be popular buys from Gameweek 29 onwards, but next gameweek against Spurs (A) is also a good entry point.
If Haaland is out for a while, then it makes Marmoush one of the best-value forwards in the game. If you want to go for a differential, then he is probably the best option to go for.
Why captaining Palmer over Salah might be worth it
It seems unwise to captain anyone other than Salah right now. He has an incredible 41 attacking returns, 16 double-digit hauls and is averaging 10.5 points per game after 27 matches.
However, I’m not sure it’s a no-brainer to captain him for Gameweek 27.
Liverpool play Newcastle, who have been good this season, but Chelsea have a home tie against bottom-of-the-table Southampton.
It’s a classic case of form versus fixture. Eddie Howe’s side have conceded 36 goals (seventh-least), with an xGC (expected goals conceded) of 33.0 (fifth-best). Southampton have conceded the most goals (61) and also have the worst xGC (60.5).
Liverpool have obviously been in fine form for the whole season, whereas Chelsea have been going through a blip, with three losses in their last four. Cole Palmer (£11.1m) has also blanked in four of his last five games, with only an assist to his name.
Cole Palmer is out of form but has an attractive fixture in Gameweek 27 (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
However, he does have 14 goals and eight assists over the season and we know he’s an elite asset who can haul in any fixture.
Good fixtures usually breed good form and the fact Chelsea have the best fixture of the season means he is definitely a good captaincy option this week.
I guess it will come down to your risk appetite and your end-of-season goals. If you are happy with your rank or mini-league position, then you can play it safe on Salah as he will no doubt be the highest-captained player again.
However, if you are chasing or just fancy going for the upside, Palmer is your man.
(Top photo: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)