There are six gameweeks in December and after next week’s international break we enter the busiest time of year in Fantasy Premier League – more transfers, more decisions, and hopefully more green arrows. Now more than ever we should be observing players’ expected minutes as part of our decision-making process, and 90-minute men that stay fit and don’t suffer from rotation or early substitutions are worth their weight in gold.

Salah is FPL’s Top Scorer this Season

Commit to Liverpool star or Erling Haaland

Mohamed Salah is the highest-scoring player this season and he’s currently playing at the top of his game with seven goals and five assists in 10 gameweeks, averaging more than one goal involvement per match. He’s only failed to play 90 minutes on one occasion. With Aston Villa and Southampton up in the next two games, Salah is arguably the best captain option in gameweeks 11 and 12. However, he’s the game’s second most expensive player and balancing a squad with both him and Erling Haaland is very difficult. Owning Cole Palmer or Bukayo Saka is a slight downgrade, but a much cheaper one.

The choice between Haaland and Salah will likely split the crowd and the decision will be one which most FPL managers have to stick with for a little while. We only get one precious free transfer each week and selling one to cater for the other requires a minimum of two moves given their different positions. Make your bed and lay in it, at least for a couple of weeks.

It’s worth noting Salah’s Liverpool team has clocked the highest number of big chances so far this season at 37, which is 10 more than Haaland’s Manchester City. In midweek we saw another defeat for City against Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League – they look way short of their best, especially when compared to another impressive European performance from Liverpool with Salah registering another couple of assists in a 4-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen.

Tottenham are Shot Monsters

Postecoglou’s side top for Goals, Expected Goals and Big Chances

Spurs are top for goals, expected goals (xG) and big chances and have the best match-up possible this week, at home to leaky Ipswich. It’s not a bad time to invest in a Spurs attacker but it’s the armband decision which is perhaps the most intriguing this week. If you own a Dominic Solanke, Brennan Johnson or Son Heung-min, do you captain them? There’s certainly an argument for doing so. Solanke is the standout – a 90-minute man, who earned his first double-digit haul of the season last time out with 16 points in a 4-1 win over Aston Villa.

Spurs have a mixed run of fixtures in the next couple of months with tough games against Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool but also high-ceiling match-ups against Ipswich, Bournemouth and Southampton in the next seven games.

Target Manchester United Players

Red Devils players have competitive price points

Manchester United players are now back on the menu. Only Southampton have scored fewer league goals than United but with Ruud van Nistelrooy taking charge for one last time against Leicester, the same team his United scored five against in the EFL Cup only last week, we could see a similar high return for the United attackers.

Ruben Amorim then starts his reign during the international break with fixtures against Ipswich and Everton. It’s a great run of three games up next for Bruno Fernandes and co and with a new sense of optimism around the club. With plenty of players at competitive price points, we should consider the Red Devils once again. For those that can’t afford Fernandes, Alejandro Garnacho offers high shot volume and is always a threat. Diogo Dalot is a defender with high clean sheet odds and gives more than most in attack. Rasmus Holjund is an interesting punt for those that want to target three easier fixtures for the goal-shy forward.

Whilst Fernandes tops the charts for the biggest under-performers in front of goal so far this season, bad luck and variance has played its part. While some of the players on the below chart might just poor finishers, others have perhaps deserved more from their high number of attempts. They’ve been wasteful but over the course of a season, xG numbers usually balance out for a reliable goalscorer.

Budget Forward Options

Chris Wood has second-most points of any FPL forward

Dominic Calvert-Lewin was a popular choice a few weeks back but has dropped in price and failed to deliver. There’s a plethora of other budget forwards within a similar price band to the Everton front man and owners are encouraged to sell. At a similar price you can buy Jorgen Strand Larsen and Matheus Cunha from Wolves, Danny Welbeck from Brighton, Yoane Wissa from Brentford and Nottingham Forest’s Chris Wood who is only second Haaland in the battle of the top FPL points scorers in attack.