Thousands of Fantasy Premier League managers will be forced to find an alternative to Thiago Silva in FPL gameweek 26.
The Chelsea defender, who has a not-inconsiderable ownership of 8.8 per cent at £5.5million, is ruled out for the next six weeks.
Here are our top tips to replace Silva in your squad before Saturday’s 11am GMT deadline.
Gabriel - Arsenal - £5.2m
A first clean sheet in six league games gave the Arsenal man a solid nine-point haul against Leicester on the weekend, which he backed up with another shutout versus Everton. With home games against Bournemouth, Leeds and Crystal Palace coming up, it is a good time to bring in the leaders’ defenders.
Eric Dier - Tottenham - £5.1m
Spurs’ inconsistency has masked some very sturdy returns from defender Dier on the FPL front. An assist and clean sheet, his fourth in five games, against Chelsea racked up a season-high 12 points last time out. Wolves and Nottingham Forest, two of the division’s lowest scorers, are next. Recently goal-happy wing-back Emerson Royal (£4.9m) is another good option.
Ben Mee - Brentford - £5m
Only four teams have conceded fewer home goals than Brentford and Monday’s visit of Fulham promises to be a huge west London derby, which could favour the no-nonsense centre-back. Only four defenders boast higher than his 4.3 points-per-match.
