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            <p><strong>Bukayo Saka </strong>was injured in Arsenal's Gameweek 17 match against Crystal Palace on Saturday (December 21), providing a dilemma for Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers.</p>
<p>Here, we explore the latest on the Saka situation and use <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/predictions">Hub AI</a> and our extensive <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/tools">toolbox</a> to identify the best alternatives and strategies for dealing with his potential absence over the Christmas period.</p>
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<h2>What happened to Bukayo Saka? Will he be fit for Gameweek 18</h2>
<p>Saka went down in the first half of Arsenal's Gameweek 17 win against Palace.</p>
<p>Mikel Arteta confirmed post-match that it was a hamstring problem, the third time he has suffered a similar injury this season.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“He felt something in his hamstring. He couldn’t continue. He will have to be assessed. Pretty worried about that one.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Gunners' midfielder was spotted leaving Selhurst Park on crutches.</p>
<p>A report in <a href="https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/bukayo-saka-injury-update-arsenal-vjm8q6t93">the Times</a> claimed he could be sidelined for four to six weeks, although this timeline looked to be based on it being a 'moderate' injury rather than inside information.</p>
<p>But on Monday, Arteta gave an update to reporters. He said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It’s not looking good, he’s going to be out for many weeks.</p>
<p>“It’s going to be a really good exercise for all of us to think of ways to overcome another challenge, because we already had many in the season.”</p>
</blockquote>
<div id="attachment_69532" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-69532" class="size-full wp-image-69532" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Saka-injury-GW17.jpg" alt="Bukayo Saka went off injured in Gameweek 17. Picture by Getty Images" width="1024" height="683" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-69532" class="wp-caption-text">Bukayo Saka went off injured in Gameweek 17. Picture by Getty Images</p>
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<h2>Best Saka FPL replacements: The options</h2>
<p>Saka has already been transferred out of more than 580,000 FPL teams since Saturday, leading to him falling in price overnight.</p>
<p>He could drop again before Thursday's deadline - keep an eye on the predictions with our tool:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fantasy-premier-league-price-rises"><strong>FPL price changes predictor</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<div id="attachment_69533" style="width: 808px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-69533" class="size-full wp-image-69533" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Saka-gw1-17.jpg" alt="Bukayo Saka's stats" width="798" height="650" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-69533" class="wp-caption-text">Bukayo Saka's stats</p>
</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Like-for-like replacements</h3>
<p>Saka is the third most expensive midfielder in the game, priced at £10.5m.</p>
<p>Most own the pricier <strong>Cole Palmer </strong>and <strong>Mohamed Salah</strong>, with both in around 65% of teams.</p>
<p>Those without Palmer may have the cash in the bank to bring him in, although the majority will be looking to downgrade to a cheaper premium or mid-priced midfielder.</p>
<p><strong>Son Heung-min</strong>, <strong>Kevin De Bruyne</strong>, <strong>Phil Foden</strong>, <strong>Bruno Fernandes </strong>and <strong>Martin Odegaard </strong>cost between £8.3m and £9.8m.</p>
<p>De Bruyne arguably represents the biggest risk of this group. The Belgian has had his minutes managed amid injury issues and was benched in Gameweek 17. He did not get on the pitch.</p>
<p>City have the fixtures to turn their poor form around and Foden scored his first league goal of the season against Aston Villa.</p>
<p>But on current evidence, he is a differential punt at best. In 4.1% of teams, he ranks eighth best for predicted points among midfielders up to Gameweek 22.</p>
<div id="attachment_69534" style="width: 808px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-69534" class="size-full wp-image-69534" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Foden-GW1-17.jpg" alt="Phil Foden's stats" width="798" height="650" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-69534" class="wp-caption-text">Phil Foden's stats</p>
</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Son is the AI's preferred pick after Salah and Palmer.</p>
<p>Nottingham Forest away is not the best entry point for Spurs - who were beaten 3-6 by Liverpool at the weekend - but they have two successive home games afterwards.</p>
<p>The South Korean has five goals and six assists in 14 league appearances.</p>
<p>Fernandes and Odegaard have similar stats in recent weeks, with one expected FPL point between them since Gameweek 11.</p>
<p>In this time, their expected assists (xA) have also been closely matched, with Fernandes on 1.49 and Odegaard on 1.3.</p>
<p>A penalty has contributed to Fernandes having a higher expected goals (xG) tally but Odegaard could take on spot-kick duties in Saka's absence.</p>
<p>Hub AI prefers the Manchester United midfielder as things stand, ranking him fourth among midfielders over the next five games.</p>
<p>He should be assured of plenty of minutes in the coming weeks, averaging 84 per game this season and starting every match.</p>
<div id="attachment_69536" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-69536" class="size-full wp-image-69536" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Fernandes-v-Odegaard.jpg" alt="Bruno Fernandes v Martin Odegaard" width="800" height="650" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-69536" class="wp-caption-text">Bruno Fernandes v Martin Odegaard</p>
</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Liverpool's <strong>Diogo Jota </strong>is back from injury and has come off the bench to play a combined 33 minutes over the Reds' last two league fixtures.</p>
<p><strong>Luis Diaz </strong>scored twice against Spurs for a 13 point haul and either of these midfielders could go big against Leicester (H) in Gameweek 18.</p>
<p>But predicting which Liverpool players will start on Boxing Day is a difficult task, making both of these options high risk, high reward.</p>
<div id="attachment_69544" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-69544" class="size-full wp-image-69544" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Diaz-v-Jota-2.jpg" alt="Luis Diaz v Diogo Jota" width="800" height="650" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-69544" class="wp-caption-text">Luis Diaz v Diogo Jota</p>
</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Restructure your team</h3>
<p>A premium midfield of Salah, Palmer and Saka has been the go-to set-up of both the FPL masses and Hub AI in recent weeks.</p>
<p>An injury to Saka could provide an opportunity to diversify - and those with transfers in hand could decide to restructure.</p>
<p><strong>Erling Haaland </strong>has dropped to 34.9% ownership, having been in more than 705 of teams before City's slump.</p>
<p>With strong fixtures for the premium midfielders, there's been limited appetite to bring Haaland back for City's fixture run.</p>
<p>But now could be the time to bring the Norwegian in as a relative differential. He is not in the 20 most owned players among the game's top 10,000 managers.</p>
<p>Haaland has scored one goal in six games and concerningly, his underlying data is not good either.</p>
<p>While at one point he was racking up the xG despite not scoring, he ranked joint 13th between Gameweek 12 and 17 in this metric. An xG of 2.12 over six games is poor by the City forward's standards.</p>
<p>Those going down this route will be hoping City's fixtures lead to a dramatic upturn in fortunes for Pep Guardiola's men and their star striker.</p>
<div id="attachment_69537" style="width: 808px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-69537" class="size-full wp-image-69537" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Haaland-recent-xG.jpg" alt="Erling Haaland's recent expected goals (xG) per game" width="798" height="650" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-69537" class="wp-caption-text">Erling Haaland's recent expected goals (xG) per game</p>
</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Budget picks</h3>
<p>Another approach is to target a cheaper midfielder and keep the cash in the bank to move the Arsenal star back in again when fit.</p>
<p>Those unconvinced by the likes of Son, Fernandes and Foden could instead look to the budget <strong>Ismaila Sarr</strong>.</p>
<p>The Palace midfielder has both form and fixtures on his side and is ranked fifth best by Hub AI. At £5.7m, his predicted points are comparable to the more expensive options.</p>
<p>Sarr scored Palace's only goal against Arsenal at the weekend and has three goals and one assist in his last two games.</p>
<p>Only Bournemouth's penalty taker <strong>Justin Kluivert </strong>has a better xG among budget midfielders than Sarr since Gameweek 12. The Dutchman is the only player in this category to have better expected points.</p>
<p>Elsewhere, <strong>Morgan Rogers </strong>and <strong>Amad Diallo </strong>both offer attacking threat at a cheap price point.</p>
<p>Rogers impressed in Villa's victory over City, scoring and assisting. Like Palace, the fixtures for Villa look good from Gameweek 19.</p>
<p>Diallo meanwhile offers a cheaper alternative to Fernandes for those looking to restructure or upgrade elsewhere.</p>
<p>The Ivory Coast international completed 90 minutes in his last three league games, missing just 45 minutes since Ruben Amorim took charge.</p>
<div id="attachment_69539" style="width: 808px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-69539" class="size-full wp-image-69539" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Sarr-GW1-17.jpg" alt="Ismaila Sarr's stats" width="798" height="650" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-69539" class="wp-caption-text">Ismaila Sarr's stats</p>
</div>
<h2>AI predicted points: Best FPL midfielders</h2>
<p>Hub AI's top 10 midfielders are listed in the graphic below.  Saka will plummet in the rankings should he be confirmed out.</p>
        </div>
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