Immediately after the Double Gameweek 25 that saw Manchester City, Brentford, Liverpool and Luton Town play twice comes Blank Gameweek 26, where the latter two join Chelsea and Tottenham in being absent on EFL Cup final weekend.
This robs Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers of Cole Palmer (£5.8m) and Richarlison (£7.1m), with Diogo Jota (£8.3m) out for even longer after picking up a knee injury.
All three midfielders have mass ownership, meaning many of this week’s transfers will likely focus on this area of the pitch.
With this in mind, here is a trio of replacements suggested by Fantasy Football Scout.
Hwang Hee-chan (£5.5m)
Looking beyond the highly selected Bukayo Saka (£9.0m), Phil Foden (£8.1m) and Kevin De Bruyne (£10.8m) names, the first fixture that stands out is Wolves being at home to Sheffield United.
While Gary O’Neil’s side looked good in recent wins away to Chelsea and Spurs, the Blades have been thumped 5-0 in two of their last three outings.
For us, what gives Hwang the slight edge over team-mate Pedro Neto (£5.7m) is his bigger goal threat.
Although Neto has a slightly better rate of minutes per chance, Hwang is 12-2 up for big chances.
Before departing for Asian Cup duty, only three midfielders had more goals than his 10, so expect this tally to increase while replacing the injured Matheus Cunha (£5.7m) up front.
Alejandro Garnacho (£5.0m)
Meanwhile, Manchester United host Fulham on Saturday on the back of four successive league wins.
Young winger Garnacho has been a big part of their recent resurgence and should start here to make it 16 in a row.
Since the first one in Gameweek 11, he’s number one throughout the whole league for penalty area touches (124) and sits fourth for shots (47).
Garnacho kept things ticking over with an assist at Luton and comes at a cheap price that will tempt budget-conscious managers away from colleagues Marcus Rashford (£8.4m) and Bruno Fernandes (£8.2m).
Jarrod Bowen (£7.7m)
Then again, it’s wise to keep the even bigger blank of Gameweek 29 in mind.
Those not planning to Free Hit should know that West Ham are in one of just three matches currently confirmed for it, something which overrides Bowen’s drop in form.
The 27-year-old netted 11 times in this season’s first 17 appearances – including the first seven away games - but is goalless in seven.
However, he still ranks as the sixth-best midfielder overall and has been converted to a centre-forward by David Moyes.
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