Captain Salah and leave out Haaland? FPL team of the week

Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version from BBC or go back to LFC Live.

FPL team of the weekImage source, BBC SportEmboldened by betting against Erling Haaland with the captain's armband last gameweek with mild success, I've taken a brave, and possibly rash, step further this week - he's not even in the FPL team of the week!Gulp.The theory is that Newcastle away is one of the toughest games around so it's another chance to captain a different player and perhaps get a jump on the field.Haaland has just one goal in six league and cup games against the Magpies.The Manchester City striker faces Leeds, Fulham and Sunderland in the next three weeks when most managers will captain him without a second thought.And at £14.9m, Haaland is an expensive asset to squeeze in your team - alongside £14.2m Mohamed Salah this week - if you aren't captaining him. Having both makes the rest of your team weaker, in my opinion.Let's see if this plan works or backfires badly!The team of the week is selected based on current FPL prices to fit within a £100m budget, as if you were playing a Free Hit.Don't miss our FPL special Q&A with expert Gianni Buttice, live on the BBC Sport website at 15:30 BST on Friday, 21 November.How did last week's team do?Captaining Joao Pedro (14 points) and a punt on Morgan Gibbs-White (10 points) were the key performances in a 45-point week - seven above the very low average score of 38.BBC Sport's FPL team of gameweek 12Image source, BBC SportKeeper and defenceDavid Raya, Arsenal, keeper, £5.9m - Tottenham (h)With no fixture this week jumping out as an obvious clean sheet, why not go for the keeper from the best defence in the league.With or without the injured Gabriel, Arsenal's defence could well keep Spurs out.Thomas Frank's side have just four points from their past five games and don't seem to be firing in attack.Virgil van Dijk, Liverpool, £5.9m - Nottingham Forest (h)It's time to jump on Liverpool's favourable upcoming fixture run, starting with a home game against a Forest side with just two points and two goals on the road this season.Malo Gusto, Chelsea, £4.9m - Burnley (a)This Chelsea defence has three clean sheets in its past four games and will fancy another at Burnley.The Clarets haven't been too bad attacking wise, scoring 14 times so far.

They failed to find the net against Spurs, Liverpool and Arsenal, but did manage goals against Manchester City and Manchester United.So it feels like a 50-50 chance of a clean sheet here, but Gusto also has a lot of attacking potential - demonstrated by his goalscoring 15-pointer in the last gameweek.Marco Senesi, Bournemouth, £5m - West Ham (h)Senesi now has defensive contribution points (defcon) in eight of 11 games this season. West Ham come into this game off the back of two straight wins, home to Newcastle and Burnley, but I'm not convinced they have suddenly turned a corner.Bournemouth, though, will want a strong home performance following the humiliation away at Aston Villa last time out.Joachim Andersen, Fulham, £4.5m - Sunderland (h)Another budget defcon magnet in a home game.Sunderland are flying high in fourth place, but have only scored three times in five away league games.Andersen is also due an attacking return - his expected goals (xG) is 0.48 this season and expected assists (xA) 0.97.

Yet he has nothing to show for it.MidfieldersMohamed Salah (captain), Liverpool, £14.2m - Nottingham Forest (h)Salah has had a disappointing season, no doubt about that.But there are still plenty of signs in his underlying data that we might see some of the old Salah soon.No player has created more big chances than his five and he is joint fourth for the most chances created (21).He's also joint third for shots (27) and shots in the box (23).Only four goals and two assists after 11 games is not a lot to show for things, but consider three more points:Liverpool start a juicy fixture run, starting with Forest at home.They've just had an international break for boss Arne Slot to work on turning their poor form around.And it's Mo blooming Salah - past performances say he will come good at some point.Bruno Fernandes, Manchester United, £8.9m - Everton (h)Here's a man with even better stats than Salah.Fernandes has a consistent chance of defcon (he has only got fewer than eight points once this season) and, without his two missed penalties, he'd be close to Antoine Semenyo as the top midfielder.Just a very consistent FPL choice with free-kicks and penalties in his locker.United have scored 11 goals in their four home wins this season, have a top-five attack and should score at least a couple against Everton.Benjamin Sesko's injury might mean Fernandes plays a more advanced role against Everton as well.Bryan Mbeumo, Manchester United, £8.5m - Everton (h)We're going all in on United's attack this week and Mbeumo is the obvious second choice.He has four goals and an assist in his past five games and is top three among midfielders for shots, shots on target, big chances and shots in the box.Sesko's absence could see him play at centre-forward too.Antoine Semenyo, Bournemouth, £8.1m - West Ham (h)The star of the season so far has now had four duff games in a row - 4, 3, 2 and zero points.He only had six shots in those games, including a missed penalty.But a home game against the second-worst defence in the league - 23 goals conceded - is the time for Semenyo to bounce back.If not, owners - and that is nearly 64% of FPL managers - might be right to be worried.Keep an eye on Semenyo's ankle injury that forced him out of Ghana's recent game - Marcus Tavernier (£5.5m) is a decent budget back-up choice.Yankuba Minteh, Brighton, £6m - Brentford (h)Minteh might be the best £6m midfield option in the game.He's got more assists than any other midfielder - five along with Mohammed Kudus - and, if you've watched any of his recent games, he's left a fair few points on the pitch, with missed chances and nearly-assists.His xG for example is 2.1 yet he only has one goal. Players tend to outperform their xG over a season.Brentford are in cracking form, but they've also conceded two goals per game away from home.StrikerJoao Pedro, Chelsea, £7.7m - Burnley (a)In Haaland's absence, one man leads the line this week.Joao Pedro has two goals in two league games and I'm backing Chelsea's attacking prowess to overcome Burnley's stubborn home defence.The Clarets are a head scratcher - they've let in just four goals at home but 18 in six away games.