Aguero’s injury is a horrible news to a lot of FPL managers. Especially for ones that rushed to transfer him in following his 5 goal heroics in GW 8. He is predicted to be out for around a month. This is a very long time to keep most expensive FPL player in your team if he is not playing. However, if you take him out you will look to bring him back in when he gets healthy. This could be the problem because of his high price. Ideally, you have not used your wildcard yet. But if you did, you have to be very cautious if you are not a fan of taking point hits. So let’s see what options do you have if you are among Aguero owners like I am.
Should I transfer injured Aguero out for GW 9?
Transferring injured Aguero out for a game week 9 is a must in my opinion. He is way to expensive to keep on the bench for a month or more. Selling him will free a lot of cash to get a solid replacement in attack, but it will also leave you with some extra cash to strengthen your second or third choice attacker or midfield area. Having said that, Aguero is a player you would want to get back when he is healthy. This means you will have to come up with a strategy in order to avoid taking point hits. If you have not used your wildcard yet, you don’t have a problem. If you did you could think about leaving two free transfers for the round when he is expected to return, or when you expect him to perform after he actually returns.
If you are among 135 000 FPL managers that transferred Aguero in after game week 8 you should still transfer him out soon. This means you are likely going to take a point hit if you had only one free transfer for this GW. Again, if you have a wildcard available and couple of more injuries in your team (e.g. Silva and Kolarov both got injured as well during international break) you could use it right now. But if taking the point hit is the only way to get Aguero out, you really have to be careful of who to pick as a replacement as you would like to cushion that -4 points. Following is my list of potential Aguero replacements considering their form and fixture list in next 4 gameweeks.
Who to transfer in instead of Aguero?
Actually there are plenty of options to consider. Pelle, Vardy, Lukaku, Ighalo are all in great form. However, there are other attackers out there who could perform as well in the following game weeks. Kane, Costa and Gomis all have good matchups in the following round.
In the table below I ranked attackers by predicted FPL point return in the gameweeks 9-12. These prediction are based on the current form of the players and my own expectations with regards to the fixture list.
| Team | Player | Price | Predicted FPL points (GW 9-12) |
|---|---|---|---|
| SOU | Pelle | £8.1m | 28 |
| CHE | Costa | £10.9m | 27 |
| NEW | Ayoze | £5.1m | 24 |
| WAT | Ighalo | £5.3m | 23 |
| EVE | Lukaku | £8.3m | 22 |
| TOT | Kane | £9.2m | 20 |
| LIV | Sturridge | £10.5m | 18 |
| LEI | Vardy | £6.7m | 18 |
| SWA | Gomis | £7.1m | 16 |
| MUN | Martial | £8.4m | 15 |
Pelle and Costa as best replacements for injured Aguero
Pelle is the best choice in my opinion. He will leave you plenty of cash in the bank as he is much cheaper than Aguero. He returned 35 points in last three matches, which is almost 12 per game. With next four fixtures in mind and considering his form I can’t see him misfiring. I predict he’ll score around 28 FPL points. Two favorable matchups at home in that span should be very rewarding for his owners.
I’ve placed Costa on the close second place. He is more expensive, but he also very good schedule. First game is Aston Villa (H) and I can see him scoring at least two goals here. He should be fired up following suspension and Villa has been very shaky so far. Double digit points for Costa are possible here. He is also a nice differential considering his low ownership of 6.2%.
Differential FPL pick: Ayoze Perez
Third place on my list is reserved for even bigger differential. It is Ayoze Perez. I already expressed my appreciation towards this player before, and I can see him scoring a lot in the next four game weeks. He is owned by only 0.8% of FPL managers at the moment. But a goal and assist against Chelsea are a good sign of his capabilities. His fixture list is very promising. Norwich, Stoke and Leicester are his next three home games. In between are trips to fierce rivals Sunderland and newcomers Bournemouth. All in all, very easy schedule. Many will look to take Mitrovic instead, but I say Perez is much better choice. He is significantly cheaper, has more discipline and less probability of getting booked. He also has a huge work rate. I am pretty sure he will outscore Mitrovic and Cisse in the following gameweeks. He might be a big surprise. If he gets the time on the pitch I am sure he won’t be disappointment. Only problem could be Newcastle falling apart due to the many injuries they have at the moment, but that might not influence attackers that much.
Other possible replacements for injured Aguero
Other players worth considering are Ighalo, Lukaku and Vardy due to the good form they are in. Kane was a major let down so far, but he has a good fixtures in next three gameweeks so I would consider him as well. Sturridge could be a good pick, but we are yet to see how he performs under new Liverpool manager. He is also fairly expensive and I don’t think he’ll score against Tottenham. It might be best to see him in action on Saturday and then decide for the gameweek 10. I also like Gomis as he has very nice next two fixtures. Martial is last on my list as Man Utd has a fairly difficult fixture list. Martial looked good so far, but he is still young and I doubt he’ll be among highest scoring FPL forwards in the next four gameweeks.
Conclusion
Injured Aguero is a nightmare for a lot of FPL managers as he was an excellent FPL captain candidate for GW 9. Choosing his replacement is crucial so this was my top list of possible Aguero replacements for your FPL team. At the end I would like to mention three more players that didn’t make it on the list. First one is probably an obvious – Wilfried Bony. He should get a lot of playing time now but I don’t trust him to deliver regularly. Man City does have decent fixtures starting gameweek 9, but I would rather invest in the likes of Kevin De Bruyne in the midfield, as I believe he will be the best player for City in that span. Other player that I considered is Berahino. He didn’t have a good start to the season, even though he did improve lately. Still I can’t trust him enough considering WBA is not particularly offensive minded team. And lastly, Sakho. West Ham doesn’t have particularly friendly fixture list for a while from now on, and this is the main reason why Sakho is not on my list. How do you like my picks? Do you agree or disagree? Please let me know in the comments below.