Fantasy Premier League: What we've learned from Gameweek 28 – is it really time to sell Mohamed Salah?

New York Times

10-03-2025

Gameweek 28 showed once again why it is so dangerous to bet against Mohamed Salah (£13.8m) in Fantasy Premier League.
The Egyptian scored a brace against Southampton, helping him break the FPL points record of 303 points that he set in the 2017-18 season. He now sits on 306 points with nine games to go.
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Elsewhere, Cole Palmer (£11.0m) missed a penalty against Leicester City in Chelsea's 1-0 win and the England international has gone seven games without scoring, with only one assist in that time.
Gameweek 28 concludes with West Ham United taking on Newcastle United on Monday (kick-off 8pm GMT; 4pm ET). Let's review the main FPL talking points from the weekend's action.
It hasn't been a great few months for Palmer and this was accentuated with his penalty miss and early substitution this gameweek.
At the end of Chelsea's win over Leicester, head coach Enzo Maresca stated that he hadn't even trained in the previous 48 hours due to illness.
This is worrying for Palmer owners as he could well be a doubt going into Blank Gameweek 29. Chelsea play Arsenal (A), which isn't the best of fixtures, and at his price, he isn't delivering value.
FPL managers will be looking to buy Erling Haaland (£14.7m) in Blank Gameweek 29 and Palmer could now be the makeweight to allow that move.
Chelsea play Copenhagen on Thursday in the second leg of the Conference League's last 16, so we should get another update then.
If you are not playing your Free Hit in Blank Gameweek 29, then you might be relying on the 22-year-old to feature. His availability might also be why you may decide to play the chip.
Wait for an update during the week. If Palmer is fit, he is still worth keeping despite his form.
Maresca's side play Tottenham Hotspur (H) in Gameweek 30 on April 3, giving Palmer plenty of time to fully recover. Their following two Premier League fixtures are Brentford (A) and Ipswich Town (H).
Palmer is a proven FPL asset and it's much more likely we see him hit form again than not.
This might seem like a stupid question, given Salah just broke his own FPL points record and has a staggering 27 goals and 17 assists in this season's game.
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However, there is an argument for selling him soon.
Liverpool blank in Gameweek 29 and selling him is an easy route to buying Haaland, who will be the best captain for this week as Manchester City take on Brighton & Hove Albion (H), and possibly even in Gameweek 30 too as Pep Guardiola's team welcome Leicester City to the Etihad.
Salah is also very likely not to have any more double gameweeks and looking at Liverpool's fixtures, he won't be the optimal captain for many remaining games.
Haaland is a good alternative for the blank in Gameweek 29 and is arguably better option in Gameweek 30. We have a double gameweek in 32, as well as a likely double for City in 33, and possibly ones in 35 and 36 also.
Selling Salah makes the most sense if you plan to wildcard in Gameweek 30 or Gameweek 31 and then use your Bench Boost soon afterwards. Having Salah and Haaland in your team will make it difficult for you to have an optimal Bench Boost team and City's fixtures mean the Norwegian will be almost essential.
You could navigate Blank Gameweek 29 by keeping Salah and playing him for Everton (H) in Gameweek 30, and then decide whether to keep him when you wildcard.
However, for some managers, depending on how their team is set up, it could make sense to take the ultimate risk now.
Manchester City have been a shadow of themselves this campaign but their upcoming fixtures and expected double gameweek means we should be looking at their assets.
Haaland is the obvious pick and although he hasn't delivered value this season, he still has 20 league goals, including seven in his last 10 league games.
He will also be a differential in the coming weeks, so it's a great chance for managers to jump on him while his ownership is low. It's not often we get to say that for an elite FPL asset.
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The only other City asset I would consider is Josko Gvardiol (£5.9m). His attacking threat and fixtures make him a good option and he is pretty much nailed to start. The next two games especially, against Brighton (H) and Leicester (H), could yield returns at both ends of the pitch.
Omar Marmoush's (£7.2m) benching in City's 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Saturday means he should not be an option. He had started all five games since his arrival and looked like a great value option.
With the return of Evanilson (£5.6m) to the Bournemouth starting XI for their 2-2 draw with Spurs, we saw Dango Ouattara (£5.2m) demoted to the bench. His owners were probably expecting Evanilson to take back the No 9 spot and hoping Ouattarra was shifted back to the wing, but Marcus Tavernier (£5.4m), who started there instead and duly scored.
This pretty much means Ouattarra is no longer a valid FPL option as he will be rotated but it does bring a new Bournemouth option to the fore in the returning Evanilson, who started, scored and picked up all three bonus points on Sunday.
The Brazilian is great value at his price and Bournemouth have great fixtures coming up. He is nailed to start up top and, with Brentford (H), Ipswich (H) and West Ham (A) up next, he is a fine pick.
If you still own Matheus Cunha (£7.0m) or Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.5m), then there probably isn't a better like-for-like replacement, all things considered.