Captain Semenyo and go big in defence - FPL team of week

Erling Haaland's injury status is the big talking point this week and Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola's news conference will be important.

If City are without the Norway striker then that £15m or so is going to burn a hole in FPL managers' pockets.

The three big-money midfielders - Mohamed Salah, Cole Palmer and Bukayo Saka - have all underwhelmed this season, so who would you move the cash to?

Be sure to check out our live Q&A with FPL expert Gianni Buttice at 15:30 GMT on Tuesday as this is sure to be a key topic for him.

The team of the week is selected based on current FPL prices to fit within a £100m budget, as if you were playing a Free Hit.

An absolute stormer with returns from eight players including captain Bruno Fernandes (26 points), Hugo Ekitike (15) and Harry Wilson (12).

That led to a fantastic 88 points.

Gianluigi Donnarumma, Manchester City, goalkeeper, £5.6m - Nottingham Forest (h)

Manchester City have three clean sheets in their past four home games and face a Forest side in another difficult period.

With few obvious clean sheets around this week, Donnarumma is worth the price.

Nico O'Reilly, Manchester City, £5.1m - Nottingham Forest (h)

Returning from last week's team is O'Reilly, who is playing out of position as a midfielder and could easily have scored against Leeds last week.

He had two big chances and an expected goals (xG) of 0.32 - only Antoine Semenyo bettered that.

Gabriel, Arsenal, £7.1m - Brighton (a)

Only four players have outscored Gabriel in FPL this season and one of them, Haaland, is potentially injured.

Arsenal's corner prowess means Gabriel is pretty much a set-and-forget, although more than 50% of FPL managers still don't own him!

Virgil van Dijk, Liverpool, £6.1m - Wolves (a)

The Dutchman now has 35 points in his past three games and Liverpool are on a roll as they chase a Champions League spot.

A good shout this week, despite Wolves' continuous improvement, and an even better long-term pick as Liverpool play in blank gameweek 31 and should have at least one double gameweek in the future.

Bruno Fernandes, Manchester United, £9.9m - Newcastle (a)

Is Fernandes a must-pick for the rest of the season? He's got four double-digit returns in seven games.

His 59 points since returning from injury in week 21 is the most of any player.

Antoine Semenyo (c), Manchester City, £8.2m - Nottingham Forest (h)

In the same bracket as Fernandes is Semenyo. Keeps starting, keeps scoring.

Every Manchester City player carries a slight question mark as they enter a period that also involves Newcastle away in the FA Cup, two legs against Real Madrid and the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal.

But it's also impossible to second-guess Pep Roulette so start Semenyo with confidence - Fernandes is my vice-captain if he doesn't play.

Harry Wilson, Fulham, £6m - West Ham (h)

Wilson's now the fourth-highest-scoring midfielder and at just £6m still.

He takes on West Ham this week, who just conceded five goals at Liverpool, and you'll want to eye up Burnley at home in gameweek 31 too.

Marcus Tavernier, Bournemouth, £5.3m - Brentford (h)

Another player returning from gameweek 28's team and, at this price, how can you resist?

A team-high four shots last week and a big chance created, Tavernier ended up with bonus points and an assist.

He has a lot of routes to points for a £5.3m midfielder and faces a Brentford side that conceded three - and should possibly have been more - at Burnley.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Everton, £5m - Burnley (h)

KDH is the forgotten budget gem after his long injury, but he's got three returns in four games and is always a good shout for defensive contribution points.

This home match against Burnley is too good to pass up.

Hugo Ekitike, Liverpool, £9m - Wolves (a)

Since week 22, no striker has had more shots than Ekitike's 23.

Only Joao Pedro is ahead of him for big chances - 10 to nine - and he has the third-highest xG.

In that time, the Frenchman has had five blanks but it feels like he has left points on the table, and last week's 15-pointer was an example of it all coming right.

Give him another chance away to Wolves.

Thierno Barry, Everton, £5.7m - Burnley (h)

Everton's match-winner last week hopefully regains his starting sport for a juicy home fixture against Burnley.

You have to target the league's worst defence away from home and Barry is Everton's top scorer.

Jordan Pickford, Everton, keeper, £5.6m - Burnley (h)

Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Leeds, striker, £5.7m - Sunderland (h)

James Hill, Bournemouth, defender, £4.1m - Brentford (h)

Calvin Bassey, Fulham, defender, £4.4m - West Ham (h)

Team total cost: £92.8m