Foden among five players you must dump

Gameweek 14 is where emotion and logic start pulling FPL managers in opposite directions, writes Fantasy Premier League expert Blake Hurst, especially after some huge hauls and painful blanks.

This week’s five players to sell or avoid focus on cutting short-term traps, dodging ugly fixtures and freeing up cash for assets with better minutes, form and DEFCON potential.

Whether you are dealing with suspensions, rotation risks or simply underperforming picks, now is the time to be ruthless. Moving early on these sells/avoids can protect your rank and set you up nicely for the hectic festive schedule ahead.

Igor Thiago (6.7m) 

What a season Thiago is having: up to second in the Golden Boot race, just three goals behind “essential” Erling Haaland, and now a proven commodity on penalties after another composed spot kick at the weekend. He’s about as close to essential as it gets, but context matters in FPL. This week brings a brutal trip to Arsenal, so for now he falls into the avoid category for non-owners. If you already have him, benching and hoping for jammy points is completely fine. If you don’t, the smarter play is to wait one week, dodge the toughest fixture, then buy him straight after.

Phil Foden (8.0m)

Foden is the definition of a “don’t buy, don’t sell” asset right now. Existing owners can simply enjoy that explosive 15 pointer, knowing he has the quality to repeat it, even if it could easily have been more. Those without him should resist chasing last week’s haul with the busiest period of the season incoming. Fixture congestion, stacked competitions and Pep Guardiola’s legendary rotation mean a random benching always feels just around the corner. If he’s already in your squad, ride out the chaos and take the highs and lows. If not, keep your transfers flexible and hunt the next big spike instead.

Marcos Senesi (5.0m)

Senesi picked up his fifth yellow card of the campaign, ruling him out of Gameweek 14 and turning him into a very easy sell for anyone relying on him as a cheap defender. A one match suspension would be manageable if he were a premium must hold, but there are plenty of similarly priced defenders with better short-term upside and no ban risk. With the festive period bringing rotation and injuries, every active slot in your squad matters, especially at the budget end. Moving him on now lets you jump early onto a form or fixtures defender rather than wasting a week with a dead spot.

João Pedro (7.4m)

Another frustrating outing from João Pedro adds to a growing body of evidence that it is time to cut ties. The problem isn’t just one or two blanks; it’s the combination of rotation risk, inconsistent minutes and a general lack of sustained threat for his price bracket. In a season where there are multiple mid-priced forwards and midfielders delivering regularly, his opportunity cost is simply too high. With 43.2% of managers still holding, selling now feels like a smart way to get ahead of a potential mass exodus. Until his form and minutes stabilise, there are better ways to use that cash.

Micky Van de Ven (4.8m)

The surprise is not that Tottenham defenders are struggling, but that so many managers are still clinging on. Van de Ven is the headline name here, yet the logic applies across all Spurs defensive assets: clean sheets are scarce, defensive contributions are modest and there is very little attacking output to soften the blows. In a game that now rewards DEFCON as well as traditional returns, that combination is hard to justify. Offloading Spurs defenders frees up funds and a slot for more reliable backlines that are actually turning underlying work into points, rather than hope and name value alone.