The Fantasy Premier League season continues unabated with a full round of fixtures this midweek.
The pick of the games are on Wednesday night with Tottenham Hotspur hosting Manchester City and Liverpool entertaining Newcastle United in a preview of next month’s Carabao Cup final.
Elsewhere, Chelsea, Manchester United and West Ham are all at home against bottom three sides, while Arsenal will look to get their shaky title challenge back on track away at top-four hopefuls Nottingham Forest.
This week’s deadline is at 21:00 (EAT) on Tuesday, 25 February
FORMATION – 3:4:3
Goalkeeper: Matz Sels (Nottingham Forest)
Matz Sels has kept more clean sheets (10) than anyone else and faces an Arsenal attack decimated by injury. The Gunners had 20 attempts against West Ham without scoring on Saturday.
DEF: Aaron wan Bissaka (Westham)
His assist for Jarrod Bowen against Arsenal took him to four direct goal involvements this season. Only once during his Premier League career has he bettered those numbers (six in 2020-21: two goals, four assists).
West Ham’s next opponents Leicester have scored only nine goals in 13 league games under Ruud van Nistelrooy, drawing a blank in eight of them.
DEF: Daniel Munoz (Crystal Palace)
The Colombian wing-back ticks all the boxes. He scores goals (three so far), sets them up (four); he keeps clean sheets (eight) and he’s relatively cheap.
Crystal Palace are a team in form and their upcoming schedule looks prime for more Munoz returns with fixtures against Aston Villa (allergic to clean sheets), Leicester and Southampton (both going down) in their next three.
DEF: Marc Cucurella (Chelsea)
Enzo Maresca’s side have only kept four clean sheets all season, but they have a good chance to add to their tally against goal-shy Southampton, who have scored only 10 away goals this campaign.
Marc Cucurella has scored twice and assisted another in a dozen appearances at Stamford Bridge and is the best pick from their backline.
MID: Bryan Mbeumo (Brentford)
Only five players in the league can better his number of goal involvements (19) – 15 goals, four assists in the Premier League and he is the only representative from a bottom-half club as Brentford are currently 11th.
Mbeumo produced a goal and an assist as the Bees demolished Leicester on Friday and it was the fifth time this season that he has contributed at least two goals in a game.
MID: Mohamed Salah (Salah)
The Egyptian is on course to shatter the Premier League record for the most direct goal contributions in a season – and obliterate his long-standing FPL points record in the process.
With 41 goal involvements (25 goals, 16 assists) already, Salah is just seven away from matching totals set by Alan Shearer and Andy Cole in the early 1990s; and both did it in 42-game campaigns.
In FPL terms, Salah is now only 19 points away from eclipsing his historic 303-point total set in 2017-18. Indeed, he’s on course to break the 400-point barrier. An incredible player having an incredible season.
MID: Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
Chelsea have been poor lately and Palmer has looked a little lost of late, but selling him before Southampton (h) and Leicester (h) could be a mistake. He’s a hold until Gameweek 29 at least.
MID: Jarrod Bowen (Westham)
Playing as a striker under Graham Potter, Bowen has registered five shots inside the box and had two big chances in his last three matches. That data is encouraging considering the Hammers have faced Chelsea and Arsenal away in that period.
Leicester were shambolic defensively against Brentford and have been very leaky under Van Nistelrooy in general, conceding 32 goals and keeping zero clean sheets in 13 games.
FWD: Alexander Isak (Newcastle)
Newcastle’s Alexander Isak continues to provide consistency, scoring his 18th and 19th goals of the season in the 4-3 win against Nottingham Forest on Sunday. He’s now scored a remarkable seven goals for 2025, plus he managed a double digit haul in the reverse of this fixture in December, which ended in a 3-3 draw.
FWD: Matheus Cunha (Wolves)
Wolverhampton Wanderers‘ Matheus Cunha is one of the in-form forwards in the Premier League, scoring in three consecutive games. That takes him up to 17 goal involvements for the season: 13 goals and four assists. Cunha was also the star man in the reverse fixture, picking up a 16 point haul in the 1-4 win away at Fulham, with three goal involvements on that occasion.
FWD: Jean-Phillipe Mateta (Crystal Palace)
Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta continues to thrive under Oliver Glasner, with three goals and one assist in the last four gameweeks. He consistently plays close to 90 minutes and grabbed an assist in the reverse of this fixture, which ended in a 2-2 draw.
