The Best Bruno Replacements for FPL Gameweek 18

Manchester United have done it! They’ve broken an unbreakable man! And I’m not just talking about their fans either.

Bruno Fernandes has sadly done his hamstring and will be out for a period of time. The fact that he kept playing even after injuring himself, possibly because he doesn’t know what an injury is, is just so funny to me.

But no worries, because we have here a list of all the Bruno replacements your heart and team value desire. From a sub £5.0m penalty taker to the best English winger in the league, let’s have a look.

If you asked me which German midfielder would come into the Premier League for the first time this season and start scoring and assisting for fun, Anton Stach would be my third guess.

Quite frankly, I can’t even name three German midfielders in the Premier League, but I suppose Liverpool must be wishing they could forget the one they just bought.

In Stach, you get a nailed-on £4.8m midfielder who has historically done well for DEFCONs, has some open-play threat, and takes all of Leeds’ set pieces in the absence of Sean Longstaff.

Considering Leeds’ fixtures really aren’t all that bad, he’s a pretty steady enabler to hold if things go wrong.

If you’re looking to sell Bruno to a cheap midfielder in order to enable Guiu -> Ekitiké and prefer some spice, Le Fée isn’t a bad option at all.

He’s nailed down a spot in Sunderland’s lineup and should see some really solid minutes, considering half of Sunderland’s squad has left for AFCON.

Of course, this isn’t ideal from a team strength POV, but Le Fée’s numbers look to have picked up recently, and he’s also their first-choice penalty taker.

Bournemouth’s squad has been ravaged by injuries and savaged by bigger teams scouring away their best players.

What a time to be alive, eh?

With Antoine Semenyo linked away from Bournemouth, and Kluivert being the poster boy for early substitutions, Marcus Tavernier is likely to see increased penalty share in addition to his extremely secure minutes.

That said, while his open-play threat is quite good, Bournemouth’s fixtures are about to turn for the worse, with the Cherries facing Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool within their next six. This means that Tavernier is only worth looking at if you have suitable bench cover for Gameweeks 19, 20, and 23.

The good news is Schade is likely to see some minutes as a CF with Dango off to AFCON. The bad news is Schade’s underlyings are waaaaaay down compared to his past three seasons at Brentford.

Even still, I do think he’s a really good option. Not only is he very lowly owned, but Brentford’s fixtures are just so, so good — BOU, TOT, eve, SUN, che, NFO, whew.

While I don’t think Declan Rice is one of the three best Arsenal assets you can own, he does tick some of the basic boxes you want in a midfielder.

He takes set pieces, does the DEFCONs, has some open-play threat, and has secure minutes.

But if you buy Rice, you probably get a ham sandwich in your meal deal. So while Rice is a good pick, he’s just a bit boring.

You know who’s not boring? Szoboszlai. But do you know what Szoboszlai is? Suspended for this Gameweek.

Wait, what?

Even though Szoboszlai’s suspended for one of the best fixtures you could have because Wolves are a tragic football team, he’s a really good option.

He’s nailed on for 90 each week, is likely Liverpool’s first-choice penalty taker, has good open-play threat, takes some set pieces, and gets DEFCON points from time to time.

Plus, Liverpool’s fixtures are still great given they face LEE, ful, BUR, and bou within their next six

Phil Foden’s price rises are a scam. I have no way of proving this, but it has to be true. Or we’re just staring into an abyss of uncontrolled inflation. Either way.

If Phil Foden was nailed on, he’d immediately be one of the best assets in the game. So it’s a good thing he’s nailed on, eh?

City have some really good fixtures over their next six, Foden’s running at an npxG+xAG/90 of nearly 0.50, and even though he now costs £9.0m, he’s an easy buy.

I know, I know. Manchester United were dysfunctional enough already and now they’ve lost their best player. They legally probably can’t be called a football club anymore.

Jokes aside, I think the impact of losing one player is usually overstated, and what I think Bruno’s loss means for Cunha is, instead, higher xMins, a higher share of team goal threat, and a very decent chunk of penalty share.

In fact, he isn’t the worst captaincy option next week either.

While this is more of a one-week punt, I quite like Florian Wirtz as a pick this week who could easily become Szoboszlai in GW 19.

Wirtz is finally finding his footing in England, is putting up some really decent numbers, and plays a Wolves side who are so bad that they’ve now made me look up synonyms for “awful”.

Ghastly is a good one.

If you’re drowning in cash, Bukayo Saka and Cole Palmer remain good options. While Gyökeres took a penalty this weekend and is arguably a better taker than Saka, he’s likely going to be on the pitch for less time than Saka, meaning Saka gets a decent chunk of penalties anyhow. Plus, he has good open-play threat and does take some corners too.

With Maresca saying Palmer can play a full 90 if need be, I’d be happy to go with Palmer. I’d be a little wary of that quote though, considering the upcoming fixture congestion, but you won’t find a higher upside pick… any.