Time to take a punt on Wirtz - FPL team of the week

Gameweek 14 was a tough one for FPL managers to navigate, with injuries and high-profile benchings.

It could be the same again this week, with such a short turnaround from the midweek round of matches.

What can you do about it? Very little - just cross your fingers and hope you get 11 out.

But after this round of games, all FPL managers get five free transfers to help them deal with players leaving for the Africa Cup of Nations.

Those transfers will be very welcome!

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 FPL Heisenberg, live on the BBC Sport website on Friday at 15:30 GMT.

Aaron Ramsdale, Newcastle, keeper, £4.8m - Burnley (h)

It looks like Nick Pope is going to miss the next five games for Newcastle so that means you can get a cut-price way into one of the better Premier League defences in the shape of Ramsdale.

Newcastle host Burnley before Sunderland (a), Chelsea (h), Manchester United (a), Burnley (a).

That's not a bad run if you want to spread your finances elsewhere.

Burnley have won once on the road.

Ruben Dias, Manchester City, £5.6m - Sunderland (h)

Bit of a boring pick but the fear of City's full-backs rotating this week puts me off Nico O'Reilly.

Dias has started 13 of 14 games this season, City should keep Sunderland fairly quiet.

Daniel Munoz, Crystal Palace, £6m - Fulham (a)

Undroppable at the moment, the best defender in the game.

The last team to visit Craven Cottage conceded four - let's just hope this game is a bit tighter. But regardless, Munoz is in for his attacking potential too, with three goals and three assists already.

James Tarkowski, Everton, £5.4m - Nottingham Forest (h)

This season has been pretty unpredictable and Everton sum that up. Two great 1-0 away wins at Manchester United and Bournemouth sandwiched by a 4-1 home thumping by Newcastle.

Before the Newcastle game, Everton had only conceded five goals in six games at home.

Only Marco Senesi has earned more defensive contribution points (defcon) than Tarkowski's 18 too.

Joachim Andersen, Fulham, £4.5m - Crystal Palace (h)

Despite being one of the season's most impressive teams, Palace's xG in the past four games is bottom seven in the league.

They've lost key creative midfielder Ismaila Sarr to injury too so there's a chance they might find goals hard to come by at Fulham.

Anderson has 18 defcon points this season, returning in nine of 13 starts, so represents a good budget option.

Phil Foden, Manchester City, £8.2m - Sunderland (h)

It feels like you have to sign Foden if you have the cash, he's on such a hot streak.

We've seen these goalscoring runs from him before - though not really last season - and they can hurt non owners.

He scored twice for this team of the week in gameweek 12, and scored twice again last week at Fulham.

Would it be a surprise if Guardiola rested him with Real Madrid away on Wednesday? Not at all - but has anyone ever succeeded trying to double guess Pep Roulette?

Bruno Fernandes, Manchester United, £9m - Wolves (a)

FPL managers should keep faith in Fernandes. He's had two frustrating home games against Everton and West Ham where you'd have hoped for at least some sort of return.

But he had 11 shots in those two games, eight in the the box - he is points dodging for sure.

This game against winless Wolves presents another great opportunity for him.

Florian Wirtz, Liverpool, £8m - Leeds (a)

This slot might become the 'weekly Liverpool punt'.

Liverpool were poor in Wednesday's 1-1 draw with Sunderland but Wirtz stood out and might finally be showing some of the form that earned him such a big price tag.

His xG was 0.71, four shots, three chances created and one big chance.

Leeds away is a tough one, as Chelsea found out, but the pressure is on Liverpool to produce

Erling Haaland (captain), Manchester City, £14.9m - Sunderland (h)

A few weeks without captaining Haaland was enough. He's back with the armband in a game that could be 5-0 City or 0-0.

It's hard to know what to make of Sunderland after they kept Liverpool quiet but their five-man defence could frustrate City.

Haaland is entering a run of games where he might be perma-captain over Christmas and it's not worth the risk to go without him.

Danny Welbeck, Brighton, £6.6m - West Ham (h)

The Hammers put in a decent defensive performance at Manchester United on Thursday night, but they still allowed 17 shots at goal and conceded an xG of 1.56.

Welbeck is flying, with seven goals in his past nine games and could easily have scored in his 23-minute substitute appearance against Aston Villa on Wednesday.

Brighton, too, have scored at least two goals in each of their past six home games.

Nick Woltemade, Newcastle, £7.4m - Burnley (h)

The German striker has steadily accumulated points since arriving at Newcastle, with seven returns in 11 games.

He's got an xG of 0.46 per 90 minutes, the seventh best among all players.

Burnley have the worst away defensive record - this pick feels like a simple choice.

Martin Dubravka, Burnley, £4m - Newcastle (a)

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Everton, £4.9m - Nottingham Forest (h)

Maxime Esteve, Burnley, £3.9m - Newcastle (a)

Josh King, Fulham, £4.5m - Crystal Palace (h)

Team total cost: £97.7m