FPL team of the week and tips: Cole Palmer is the best captain pick this week

Leandro Trossard, Arsenal, midfielder, £6.9m – home v Brighton

After his game-changing goal in the win at Villa, it is hard to see how Mikel Arteta leaves Trossard out of the Arsenal team against Brighton.

The Belgium midfielder is up against Gabriel Martinelli for a spot in the start line-up and last season he was far more effective.

Trossard scored 5.28 points per start in 23-24 compared to Martinelli’s 3.71.

Cole Palmer, Chelsea, midfielder, £10.5m (captain) – home v Crystal Palace

Alright so you might say this is a bit of a knee-jerk move, given Palmer is coming off the back of a goal and three assists against Wolves, but the Engand midfielder’s FPL threat is no secret.

Given this season’s price rise, you can’t blame FPL managers who have adopted a wait-and-see approach with Palmer, especially with Chelsea facing Manchester City in their first game.

But this Palace game is the start of a great run for Chelsea and Palmer was a monster at home last season, scoring 16 goals at a rate of one every 76 minutes.

Mohamed Salah, Liverpool, midfielder, £12.5m – away v Manchester United

It has been painful going without Salah the first two weeks, watching the Egyptian score 24 points.

The question is not Salah’s value as an FPL asset, but the cost of squeezing both he and Haaland into your team and the impact on the rest of the side.

Salah has 14 goals in 15 games against United, which is too hard to ignore so he is in this week’s side instead of Bukayo Saka and a better defence. Fingers crossed!

Bryan Mbuemo, Brentford, midfielder, £7m – home v Southampton

One of my pre-season players to watch and the Cameroon forward delivered on the opening day with a goal and two bonus points v Palace.

He’s down as a midfielder but, like Salah, he plays as a wide forward and is a major goal threat cutting in from the right flank.

If Brentford manager Thomas Frank continues to omit Ivan Toney, then Mbuemo will be on penalties too. You can sense a double-digit haul.

Sammie Szmodics, Ipswich, midfielder, £6m – home v Fulham

This pick is more of an eye-test choice than backed up by any stats.

Ipswich have the lowest xG in the Premier League so far, but they’ve had THE toughest start – home to Liverpool and away at Manchester City.

So I’m ignoring that and going off the first 45 minutes against Liverpool when Ipswich played some great football and could easily have scored.

They will have a go at Fulham, with the Portman Road crowd behind them, and Szmodics is their best goal threat having hit 27 in the Championship last season.