The Scout assesses the form and fixtures to reveal who managers could bring in for the injured Man Utd star
With Ruben Amorim revealing on Sunday that the injury that forced Bruno Fernandes (£9.4m) to be substituted at half-time of Manchester United’s 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa is “going to take a while”, The Scout highlights who his best replacements are in Fantasy Premier League.
Manchester City’s Phil Foden (£8.9m) and Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers (£7.2m) have been the only midfielders to out-perform Fernandes over the last four Gameweeks in Fantasy.
Both have averaged over nine points per match and were identical for attacking returns, scoring four goals and supplying an assist in that period.
However, Foden bettered Rogers by 43 points to 38 due to his multiple routes to returns. He earned four points for his defensive contributions (DC) and a further three for clean sheets (CS), essentially bettering Rogers by seven points to zero across those two statistics.
Fulham’s Harry Wilson (£5.8m) is the only other midfielder to produce at least 30 points.
Elsewhere, Anthony Gordon (£7.3m) now appears be Newcastle United’s first-choice penalty-taker. He’s taken and converted two of them in the last four Gameweeks and also supplied two assists.
Matheus Cunha‘s (£8.0m) recent return from injury looks perfectly-timed for Man Utd in Fernandes’ absence. The Brazilian has scored or assisted in each of the last three Gameweeks, totalling 22 points.
Along with Man Utd, both Arsenal and Man City supply two players in the form analysis.
For the Gunners, there’s very little to separate the premium-priced Bukayo Saka (£10.3m) and mid-priced Declan Rice (£7.1m), with the former having the edge by 24 points to 22.
Man City’s Rayan Cherki (£6.6m) joins Foden in the table below, with an injury to Jeremy Doku (£6.4m) allowing the Frenchman to secure a starting role and become increasingly influential for Pep Guardiola’s attack.
Top-scoring midfielders, last four Gameweeks
Player
Goals and assists
DC and CS pts
Bonus pts
Total pts
Foden
5
7
5
43
Rogers
5
0
7
38
Fernandes
5
2
6
36
Wilson
6
0
4
32
Stach
4
2
3
28
Gordon
4
1
4
27
Cunha
3
1
3
25
Saka
4
1
3
24
Semenyo
2
3
3
23
Wirtz
2
4
5
23
Cherki
3
3
4
22
Rice
1
6
5
22
Scroll across to see the full table on mobile
Who’s had the most attacking potential?
A delve into the underlying data also helps to highlight Cunha‘s huge goal threat.
Apart from Fernandes, his 15 shots in the box were at least five more than any other midfielder in Fantasy over the last four Gameweeks, with AFC Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo (£7.7m) his nearest rival here on 10.
When it came to big chances – situations where a player is expected to score – Cunha again led the way among all midfielders, with a total of five in that period.
The Brazilian has also created one such opportunity for his team-mates which means he was involved in a total of six big chances.
Gordon matches those six big-chance involvements, with those penalty duties accounting for two of them.
Man City and Arsenal each supply two of the other four midfielders who were involved in at least four big chances, with Foden, Cherki, Rice and Saka the men in question.
As you can see from the table below, Rogers has been performing above expectation of late, with just two big chances to his name in the last four matches.
Elsewhere, while Semenyo does rank second for shots in the box, none of his shots in this spell were regarded as big chances.
Big chances, last four Gameweeks
Player
Shots in box
Big chances
Big chances created
Big-chance involvement
Cunha
15
5
1
6
Gordon
5
4
2
6
Foden
7
3
2
5
Rice
2
1
4
5
Cherki
2
0
5
5
Saka
9
2
2
4
Garnacho
9
3
0
3
Summerville
6
3
0
3
Rogers
8
2
1
3
Schade
4
2
1
3
Tavernier
3
2
1
3
Rutter
8
1
2
3
Pino
5
1
2
3
Wieffer
2
1
2
3
Semenyo
10
0
3
3
Janelt
2
0
3
3
Scroll across to see the full table on mobile
Who’s got the best fixtures?
By also factoring in each side’s upcoming festive schedules, you can help refine your search.
Newcastle’s short and mid-term schedules could be good news for Gordon and Bruno Guimaraes (£7.0m).
According to the Fixture Difficulty Ratings (FDR), where the difficulty of each match is ranked from one to five – with one being the easiest possible match and five being the hardest – two of the Magpies’ next four matches – away to Burnley and at home to Leeds United – score only two.
Their FDR averages of 2.5 across the next four and six Gameweeks rank second only to the 2.3 of West Ham United.
Brentford and Man City also both average under 3.0 in the FDR across the next six Gameweeks.
The Bees’ Kevin Schade (£7.0m) has four home matches in that spell, while a triple-up on Cherki, Foden and Erling Haaland (£15.0m) could be a very productive tactic.
Man Utd’s short-term schedule looks particularly promising, with a run of matches against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Leeds and Burnley across Gameweeks 19-21.
Elsewhere, though, Bournemouth and Arsenal’s mid-term runs are far less encouraging for the likes of Semenyo, Rice and Saka.
Meanwhile, Villa’s upcoming schedule indicates Rogers may struggle to maintain his recent run, with visits to Chelsea, Arsenal, Crystal Palace and Newcastle in the next six Gameweeks.
Form midfielders’ schedules, next four-to-six Gameweeks
Team
No. of matches scoring 2 in FDR – next 4 GWs
Average FDR
No. of matches scoring 2 in FDR – next 6 GWs
Average FDR
West Ham
3
2.3
4
2.3
Newcastle
2
2.5
3
2.5
Brentford
1
2.8
2
2.7
Man City
0
3.0
1
2.8
Crystal Palace
1
3.0
1
3.0
Man Utd
2
2.5
2
3.2
Aston Villa
1
3.3
2
3.2
Bournemouth
0
3.3
0
3.3
Chelsea
0
3.3
0
3.2
Arsenal
0
3.5
0
3.3
So, who are the best Fernandes replacements?
If it’s a like-for-like replacement, then Cunha has the goal threat to prove a great short-term acquisition.
Crucially, with Bryan Mbeumo (£8.1m) also on duty for Cameroon at the African Cup of Nations (AFCON), the Brazilian is likely to be on penalties and free-kicks for Man Utd.
Foden and Rice also look essentials for any midfield at the moment, whereas Saka’s numbers show he’s far from a must-have at such a high cost.
Investment in Newcastle’s Gordon or Guimaraes does come with a degree of risk. Gordon’s minutes are more likely to be managed, while Guimaraes is on four yellow cards and would serve a one-match ban if he is booked in Newcastle’s next two matches.
As always, much depends on your current set-up but given the overall lack of options in midfield, there’s a strong argument to re-invest the Fernandes money in your frontline.
Crucially, his absence comes at a point in the season where managers have just been given five free transfers due to the departure of a host of players to AFCON.
By swapping out Fernandes for a starting budget midfielder such as West Ham’s Freddie Potts (£4.4m) and benching him, you can react to the changing landscape in Fantasy and have two forwards to go alongside Haaland in your first XI.
As the fixtures table above shows, West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen (£7.6m), Newcastle’s Nick Woltemade (£7.3m) and Brentford’s Igor Thiago (£7.1m) have among the best schedules over the next six Gameweeks.
Meanwhile, Liverpool’s Hugo Ekitike (£8.9m) has emerged as the No 1 target in the Gameweek, with more than 630,000 bringing in the Frenchman for his back-to-back home matches with Wolves and Leeds in the next two Gameweeks alone.
Five goals and 35 points in the last three Gameweeks suggest Ekitike is among the best captain picks for those two fixtures.
