Gabriel Jesus will be out for a few weeks which is a big blow for a majority of FPL managers, as he is a very popular FPL pick. Who are his possible replacements? We will look at them in this article.
Arteta on Gabriel Jesus knee injury: “He had a little procedure this morning, he’s injuried unfortunately”. 🚨🔴⚪️ #AFC
“He’s had some discomfort in his knee that caused him some issues so they had to go in”.
“He’s going to be out for a few weeks”. pic.twitter.com/A1eg3klBwG
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 2, 2023
Our view on best Jesus replacements
You have multiple options when replacing Gabriel Jesus:
- If you are looking for a simple forward-to-forward swap, the best Jesus replacement could be Watkins, who is a reliable FPL asset and carries good form from the preseason. We also like Wilson as 8m forward, however, his short-term fixtures are not as good and he is more long-term pick. You can read more about Watkins and other forward picks in our article: Best FPL Forwards to pick in the 2023/24 season.
- Bring in another Arsenal midfielder. Arsenal has an excellent 3 opening fixture in the new season, so tripling up on their players makes a lot of sense. If you previously have a triple-up of: Arsenal defender + Saka + Jesus, you could change it to Arsenal defenders + Saka + Martinelli/Havertz/Trossard to fully exploit Arsenal’s fixture, so you will need to downgrade Jesus to a cheaper forward to move the money to the midfield. Monitor the Community Shield game on Sunday and check who will play up top for Arsenal instead of Jesus: whether it is Nketiah, Trossard, Havertz or Martinelli. They have so many options.
- Go for Wissa and squeeze Salah in. Without so much money tied up in Jesus, you could potentially go for Salah or Kane as the second heavy hitter in your FPL team next to Haaland. It would require a downgrade of Jesus to a cheaper forward – and we really like Wissa here, who is expected to play up top for Brentford during Toney’s absence.
- What to avoid: Avoid downgrading Jesus to a 4.5m forward and going for a formation with two 4.5m forwards – that formation is very inflexible as usually 4.5m forwards are not regularly starting and it makes getting second forward to your FPL team very difficult. Read more: Best formation in FPL
Further resources
