Best forward replacements for suspended Cunha in FPL

Now that Matheus Cunha (£7.1m) has been punished for his post-match antics from Gameweek 16, over 2.8 million Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers have a dilemma: sell the Wolverhampton Wanderers forward or keep him, knowing that he’ll only miss one league match?

READ MORE: Cunha hit with Football Association ban

Before looking into some of FPL’s best current frontmen, let’s weigh up the Brazilian’s pros and cons.

REASONS TO KEEP CUNHA

With 10 goals and four assists already recorded, Cunha has proven himself to be Wolves’ talisman.

He’s ranked sixth throughout the league for attempts (54) and is by far the leading FPL forward for creating big chances (11):

Life has started well under new head coach Vitor Pereira, winning twice and getting a draw at Tottenham Hotspur.

A one-match absence can be navigated fairly easily for FPL owners, beyond which there’ll be an in-form player trying to drag his side away from relegation worries.

REASONS TO SELL CUNHA

Then again, Wolves’ fixtures are suddenly turning very difficult.

He’ll return to face four of the top five between Gameweeks 21 and 25 and is expected to imminently drop in price once, maybe twice.

Furthermore, only three of his 54 shots have been big chances and nobody has a bigger overachievement compared to their expected goals (xG, 4.08).

Perhaps there’s simply more upside to chase elsewhere, with certain other forwards having huge appeal.

BEST CUNHA REPLACEMENTS

Alexander Isak (£9.2m)

If there’s a forward every manager has or will most likely be scrambling to shoehorn into their teams as we speak, it’s Isak.

The Swedish striker’s price has recently skyrocketed and with good reason. Of his 16 attacking returns so far, 10 – eight goals and two assists – have come in the past six outings.

Over that spell, Isak leads all FPL forwards for goal attempts (21), shots in the box (17), shots on target (14), penalty area touches (51), big chances (nine) and big chances scored (six).

And that’s just his own goal threat. En route to registering recent assists, this period has seen Newcastle United’s star man also create 19 chances and five big chances – the most amongst forwards.

As for upcoming fixtures, he’s about to face several of the league’s most porous defences, aiming to make amends for some blanks during earlier reverse encounters.

Even those with the most solid backlines have felt his wrath. For example, when facing the league’s top Liverpool and Nottingham Forest backlines, Isak bagged two goals and two assists.

Chris Wood (£6.7m)

If you already own Isak – or are yet to be convinced – and are looking to fill another forward slot with someone else, then Wood could be your guy.

The New Zealand international ended a brief barren run with a goal and assist against previously resolute Everton last Sunday. That takes him to 11 strikes, just three shy of his previous best across an entire Premier League campaign.

Only three of those have arrived since Gameweek 10 but, during the past six Gameweeks, he’s remained one of the leading forwards for attempts (12) while tallying three big chances.

Another benefit is that Wood is a surefire starter and has remained so despite the busy festive period.

Factor in imminent matches against leaky Wolves and Southampton, the Forest frontman who also returned in the reverse fixtures against Brighton and Hove Albion and Bournemouth presents a solid pick at a similar price to Cunha.

Joao Pedro (£5.7m)

A brief shout-out to Brighton’s cheap, penalty-taking forward Joao Pedro. Although goalless in seven matches and fortunate to escape a ban of his own recently, his pair of assists at Villa Park were well-timed.

Arsenal will be a tough Gameweek 20 opponent but after that will be nicer prospects against Ipswich Town, Manchester United and Everton. He’s started on eight successive occasions for the Seagulls.

Cody Gakpo (£7.3m)

Meanwhile, is it time for more managers to seriously consider Gakpo as an FPL asset?

The Liverpool forward has not only been in seven straight league line-ups, he’s also registered five goal involvements in six Gameweeks. Despite that form, a low 5.5% of managers have him in their squads.

From Gameweek 13 onwards, Isak is the only forward with more goals and the Dutchman fares pretty well for attempts despite often playing on the left of Arne Slot’s front three:

Gakpo was handed an early rest against West Ham United, likely boosting his chances of making the XI against Manchester United. Clashes with Brentford, Ipswich and Wolves will come soon after.

Diogo Jota (£7.2m) and Darwin Nunez (£7.0m) are the most direct threats to his minutes but the former’s short-term game time might still be managed as he continues to recover from injury, while the latter appears to have fallen out of favour.

OTHER NAMES

Jamie Vardy (£5.5m) continues to defy father time and could offer good value to managers searching for a budget forward.

He’s scored six goals and assisted three this season, whilst unlucky not to add more against Manchester City in Gameweek 19. Four penalty area shots took place and his expected goal involvement (xGI, 1.25) ranked only behind Mohamed Salah (£13.6m) over this round of fixtures – all just a few weeks before his 38th birthday.

He missed Leicester City’s Boxing Day defeat to Liverpool, was restricted to 58 minutes against Newcastle in Gameweek 16 and the team has lost four on the trot but whenever they’re on the attack, there’s a fairly good chance the ever-clinical Vardy will be in the mix.

Similarly, Kai Havertz‘s (£7.9m) immediate fixtures aren’t the most appealing but at least the Arsenal strike has been back amongst the points recently, thanks to consecutive goals in Gameweeks 17 and 18, plus an assist away to Fulham.

He’s only been benched by Mikel Arteta on one occasion and has the capability of dropping slightly deeper to accommodate a Gabriel Jesus (£6.8m) selection.

Another name frequently near the top for recent attacking stats is Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.2m).

The Frenchman has had 12 attempts and four big chances since Gameweek 14, alongside setting up seven opportunities for colleagues – two of them being Opta-defined ‘big chances’.

Admittedly, he’s on five consecutive blanks but one big factor in his favour is the Eagles’ upcoming fixture run. After hosting Chelsea, they embark on a run featuring some of the league’s leakiest defences.

Speaking of Chelsea, interest in Nicolas Jackson (£8.2m) has cooled off thanks to just one goal since Gameweek 13.

Still, those half-dozen matches have him ranking highly among peers for goal attempts, box shots and penalty area touches.

Jackson remains the first-choice forward in one of the league’s most potent attacks. One which also happens to have an appealing set of upcoming fixtures.

For those without monetary restrictions, there’s also the potential of an Ollie Watkins (£8.8m) punt.

The England international lost his starting spot to Jhon Duran (£5.8m) over the last month but with the Colombian now suspended, Watkins can follow Monday’s Brighton haul with attacking returns past Leicester and Everton. Earlier in the season, he registered three against them.

Erling Haaland (£14.8m) returned to the scoresheet in Gameweek 19 and had six total attempts, all inside the penalty area. That could be the confidence boost he needs to fire more goals past West Ham, Brentford and Ipswich. Of course, he’d still require a significant portion of our budgets which – even with Bukayo Saka (£10.3m) out of the equation – could prove difficult to juggle while also fitting other in-form premiums into squads.

Taking up much less money is Raul Jimenez (£5.5m), getting himself on the weekend scoresheet alongside maximum bonus points. Yet guaranteed minutes remain the biggest issue for Fulham’s main striker. With Rodrigo Muniz (£5.5m) waiting in the wings, the Mexico international hasn’t made it past the 80th-minute mark since Gameweek 9. Still, immediate fixtures against Ipswich, West Ham and Leicester have huge appeal.

Owners of Evanilson (£5.9m) may be persuaded to keep him for the upcoming home match against Everton by Sunday’s well-taken goal – his first since Gameweek 11. But subsequent meetings with Chelsea, Newcastle, Nottingham Forest and Liverpool likely keep the Bournemouth forward from being a genuine option until Gameweek 25 onwards.

Finally, the case of Dominic Solanke (£7.5m) is rather puzzling. Spurs’ summer signing recently grabbed four attacking returns in the space of three matches and he rarely misses action when fit. But there have been several instances where his team score multiple goals without him being involved.

He also faces in-form Newcastle and Arsenal in his next two matches, arguably being behind Brennan Johnson (£6.5m) and Dejan Kulusevski (£6.4m) as the best FPL options in such an inconsistent attack.

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