After Matheus Cunha (£7.1m) was handed a two-match ban by The FA, ruling him out of Monday's Premier League match at home to Nottingham Forest and the FA Cup third-round tie away to Bristol City, The Scout's panel of Fantasy Premier League experts reveal who they would replace the Wolverhampton Wanderers star with and if there is any argument to keep him.
Utkarsh Dalmia (@ZopharFPL)
Cunha's fixtures after he returns from his ban are quite poor, so he's a sell. Nicolas Jackson (£8.2m) and Chris Wood (£6.7m) are my two preferred options, depending on your budget. There's no yellow-card fears over Jackson now after Chelsea played their 19th match of the season, and Maresca has hopefully learned how important he is to the team after benching the Senegalese forward for the 2-0 defeat at Ipswich Town.
Verdict: Sell to get Jackson or Wood
Lee Bonfield (@FPLFamily)
With Morgan Rogers (£5.5m) and Cunha both suspended in my team I will need to sell one this week. Cunha will be the one who makes way, alongside team-mate Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.8m) as I am not a fan of the Wolves fixtures moving forward into the New Year, with all five of their matches from Gameweek 21 scoring at least three in the Fixture Difficulty Ratings (FDR). I will likely go for Wood, who seems like the obvious replacement for Cunha.
Verdict: Sell to get Wood
Wolves' fixtures from GW21
| GW | Opponent | FDR |
|---|---|---|
| 21 | Newcastle (A) | 4 |
| 22 | Chelsea (A) | 4 |
| 23 | Arsenal (H) | 4 |
| 24 | Aston Villa (H) | 3 |
| 25 | Liverpool (A) | 5 |
Nick Harris (@WGTA_Nick)
Cunha has been in excellent form and if you can afford to hold him through his suspension and have other fires to put out then that may be one option. As an alternative replacement if you don't own, I would be looking at Wood. Forest have been in imperious form this season and he has been the key man at the centre of their attack.
Verdict: Sell and get Wood if you can
Pras (@Pras_FPL)
Apart from Alexander Isak (£9.2m), there aren't many clearcut forward options out there. At the cheaper level, I like Joao Pedro (£5.7m) the most. He's consistently playing 90 minutes and on penalties. In the mid-priced bracket, Wood seems sensible and a long-term pick with the form Nottingham Forest are in. Finally at the higher end, Jackson and Ollie Watkins (£8.8m) are decent. Albeit their minutes remain a concern - even when they start they tend to get substituted around the 70-80th minute mark. Both have great upside though.
Verdict: Sell
Harry Daniels (@FPL_Harry)
Cunha is not an absolute sell if you have bench cover this week. However, the upcoming fixtures do not look good and there are great alternatives in the likes of Wood, Isak, Raul Jimenez (£5.5m) and Joao Pedro, who could be bought in. I would likely sell to Wood if I owned Cunha.
Verdict: Don't have to sell, but could to bring in Wood
Mark McGettigan (@FPLGeneral)
Despite the ban only being for one Premier League game, I would be offloading Cunha this week if I still owned him. Wood is the best replacement in terms of price. If you want to spend less, Joao Pedro remains great value at just £5.7m.
Verdict: Sell to get Wood
Sam Bonfield (@FPLFamily)
I don't have Cunha in my team but if I did he would be an easy sell now. Cunha's two-match ban brings him back into the team for a difficult fixture run for Wolves and I think the money could be better deployed elsewhere. The likes of Wood, Jimenez and Joao Pedro are significantly cheaper and this could potentially allow the budget to buy the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.2m) or an additional Arsenal defender. Depending how he performs on New Year's Day at Brentford, the 6.7-per cent owned Gabriel Jesus (£6.8m) could be an interesting differential option too, if you don't need the budget elsewhere.
Verdict: Sell
