GW18 Complete Guide: Best Bruno Replacements; Haaland vs Ekitike(C)?

Kenya 1

26 Dec 2025 — 5 min read

⏰ Deadline: Friday, 26th December, 21:30 EAT

📑 Table of Contents

🩺 News & Injury Updates
🔁 Keep – Buy – Sell – Avoid
🎯 Low-Owned Differentials
👑 GW18: Haaland vs Ekitike (C)?
🃏GW18 Fixtures Difficulty; Bruno Replacements
🎲 Player Form (Last 6)
📝 My GW18 Team

News & Injury Updates

Cole Palmer is “ready to play 90 minutes” - Maresca.

Alexander Isak has undergone surgery and will be out “for several months”.

Bruno Fernandes is injured. His recovery is “going to take a while”, according to Amorim.

There will be two blank fixtures in Gameweek 31, due to the EFL Cup semi-finals.

Chris Richards needed stitches after a foot injury against Arsenal in the EFL Cup. “Hopefully in the New Year he’s back” - Glasner.

🔁 Keep – Buy – Sell – Avoid

✅ KEEP
- Bruno Guimarães (£7.0m) – Newcastle – 14.0% – Newcastle’s fixtures are turning, his role remains unchanged, and his influence hasn’t dipped — only the points have paused.
- Bukayo Saka (£10.3m) – 22.4% – Last Gameweek’s blank was his first after four straight GWs with at least one goal involvement.
- Among midfielders, Saka ranks:
- 2nd for xA, 3rd for Big Chances

4th for Shots on Target, 4th for xGI; and 4th for xPts

🛒 BUY/MONITOR
- Hugo Ekitiké (£8.9m) – 28.2% — Hugo Ekitiké isn’t just the most bought player this week — he’s the most logical buy. 35 points across the last three Gameweeks. Wolves, up next, sit (20th) across every meaningful defensive metric, followed by Leeds in GW19.

Nick Woltemade (£7.3m) – 18.0% - Since first featuring in GW4, Woltemade’s numbers are elite. Newcastle enter a dream run, facing some of the league’s most fragile defences: Man Utd, Burnley, Leeds, and Wolves, with just Palace in between — a side that has shipped seven goals in their last two matches.

❌ SELL
- Igor Thiago (£7.1m) – Brentford – 33.5% - In the last 3 games, Thiago has posted a combined xG of 0.00. With better-form alternatives like Woltemade, Bowen, and Ekitiké all thriving, holding Thiago is an opportunity cost you don’t need to pay.
- Bruno Fernandes (£9.4m) – MID, Man Utd – 27.9% - Bruno Fernandes pulling up with a hamstring injury couldn’t have come at a worse time. He is said to be out for at least 1 month, so sell, and distribute funds.
⛔ AVOID
- Frimpong - He plays as the RB/RW for Liverpool and Bradley is potentially out while Szoboszlai isn't available. However, once these 2 come back next week, Frimpong's mins will be too risky.
- Don't buy players who get poor minutes in their teams and are prone to rotation. If the player you are eyeing falls into either of these 2 brackets, He is an 'AVOID'.

🎯 Low-Owned Differentials

💎 Matheus Cunha – Man United – 8.0 Midfielder – 6.5 % - He has gotten 22 FPL Points, 2 Goals, 1 Assist, and 3 Bonus Points in the last 6 gameweeks. United face a brilliant run of fixtures over the next 4 Games. Cunha should be a 90-minute man over the Festive period as United are without Mbeumo, Bruno and Amad.

Michael Keane – Everton – 4.7 Defender – 4.4 %

Everton begin a great run of fixtures where they play Burnley, Wolves, Leeds, Forest, and Brentford in 5 of the next 6 Gameweeks. Keane has scored twice already, picked up 6 Bonus Points, and earned Defcon points in 9 Games.

Jarrod Bowen – West Ham – 7.6 Forward – 7.1 %

Bowen is the only forward who has played every minute so far this season. He is in form as he has scored twice and got an assist in 3 of the last 4 Gameweeks. He is also the only forward to earn Defcon points this season.

Florian Wirtz – Liverpool – 8.1 Midfielder – 8.7 %

Wirtz is nailed to play many mins due to injuries to Isak, Gakpo, and the absence of Salah. Liverpool have great 4 Games coming up, with games against Wolves, Leeds, and Burnley at home and an away game against Fulham.

Ultra Differential Pick (Under 1 % Ownership)

Thierno Barry – Everton – 5.7 Forward – 0.4 %

Barry has started in the last 10 Gameweeks. Everton now start a great run of fixtures where they play Burnley, Wolves, Leeds, Forest, and Brentford in the next 6 Gameweeks. Burnley are at the bottom for most Defensive Metrics. Leeds struggle away from home, and Wolves have conceded the most Goals in the League(37).

👑 GW18: Best captain picks

Ekitike (£8.9m) and Cunha (£8.0m) have the form and fixtures to outscore Haaland (£15.1m) in GW18.

Ekitike has scored 5 goals and had 35 points in the last three GW's, after securing a regular starting role. He now has a home match against a Wolves side who are yet to keep a clean sheet and have conceded a league-high 37 goals.

Cunha has also produced returns in each of the last three Gameweeks, after recovering from injury. The Brazilian faces a Newcastle United side who are without a clean sheet in their last 10 matches.

Haaland has the toughest fixture of the trio, visiting NFO. But with hauls of 14, 13 and 16 points over the last four Gameweeks, going against him is an increasingly risky tactic. Haaland and his team-mate Phil Foden (£9.0m) have been the top performers in Fantasy over the last four Gameweeks.

⚖️ Verdict: Haaland; then Ekitike;.... then Cunha/Saka/Foden.

🃏 GW 18 FIXTURE DIFFICULTY DATA

Q: Best Bruno Fernandes Replacements?

The best use of your transfers is to sell Bruno for a cheaper midfielder so as to upgrade 1 of your cheap forwards e.g Thiago into Ekitike, who faces Wolves at home. Ekitike is by far the best player to buy this week. Bruno's injury has come at just the right time for this move to be actualized.

There are 4 good cheap midfield options. I will just rank them in order of preference from my best to least best option:

1st = Cunha; 2nd = Wirtz; 3rd = Schade; 4th = Rice.

This ranking above assumes all of you already have Foden in place. If not, then buy Foden as he is the most essential and best mid in the game right now.

Who are the form players in Fantasy?(Last 6)