Mohamed Salah
Welcome back Mo. After scoring the fastest hat-trick in Champions League history, a winning goal against the champions has firmly put Salah back on the menu. Expect his unusually low ownership to rocket before this week’s deadline.
Those with Kevin De Bruyne have a simple switch to make to avoid Manchester City’s blank and the fixtures are promising too, with Nottingham Forest (A) and Leeds (H) after West Ham’s midweek visit to Anfield.
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Sticking with Liverpool, Alexander-Arnold’s inclusion in the squad and late introduction against City was a pleasant surprise, even if plenty of managers have sold the once-essential right back in recent weeks.
That only means that, between now and the World Cup, Alexander-Arnold could be an explosive differential. His ownership is still a healthy 20% but that’s nothing compared to what we’re used to and one haul could catapult you up the ranks.
Leandro Trossard
A lot of managers were stung by James Maddison’s late yellow card for simulation on Saturday, which triggered a one-match suspension. To make matters worse, the best replacements - Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden - do not play this midweek.
As a short-term alternative, Trossard offers a decent chance of hauling against Forest’s porous defence. There’s a slight rotation risk - with Adam Lallana confirmed to start - but given he came off in Friday’s 2-0 defeat at Brentford, we back the Belgian to start.
Dominic Solanke
Bournemouth’s revival under Gary O’Neill continues apace. The underlying attacking numbers are still underwhelming but even so, a goal and three assists in his last two games has drawn a lot of attention to Solanke.
Should you go there or are we already late to the party? Well, even if the returns dry up, Solanke offers regular minutes for a modest price, allowing us to move funds out of the forward line and spend on the many mid-price midfielders who are piquing our interest.
Kepa Arrizabalaga
Somehow, I suspect that you’ll have other fires to fight this week other than your goalkeeper, but if in the market for a medium-term pick between the sticks, you could do much worse than Kepa, who appears to have nailed down his starting place under Graham Potter.
A 10-point haul in the 2-0 win over Aston Villa came via a clean sheet, two bonus points and a huge seven saves. Chelsea’s defensive fixtures between now and the break are not the greatest but at 4.4m with save-point potential, Kepa is worth consideration.
