Dominic Solanke and other popular players Dream Team managers need to ditch this week

HERE at Dream Team HQ we prefer to shine a light on in-form players but it’s also our duty to flag underperforming assets who need to be ditched.

Here we’ve identified three popular selections who probably need to be replaced sooner rather than later.

Dream Team

Dream Team bosses are losing patience with Solanke[/caption]

Dominic Solanke (£4.2m)

The points have dried up for Tottenham’s starting striker of late.

The 27-year-old enjoyed a surge of popularity when he banked 37 points across Gameweeks 5 and 6; many Dream Team managers would have seen him as a potential set-and-forget option bound for long-term success.

However, Solanke has mustered just 13 points from his last five outings at an average of 2.6 per appearance.

These paltry returns are not befitting of the game’s sixth-most selected forward.

What’s concerning is that Solanke simply isn’t getting the volume of chances his owners would deem acceptable.

He produced an impressive display in terms of link-up play against West Ham in Gameweek 8 but didn’t get a sniff of goal and therefore produced just three points – a poor return compared to the likes of Son Heung-min (£5.3m), Dejan Kulusevski (£2.9m), etc.

Gaffers need their strikers to be finishing off chances, not playing neat lay-offs in the build-up.

Getty

Diaz started strongly but his points have dropped off a cliff[/caption]

Luis Diaz (£4.3m)

Liverpool’s No7 provided a much-needed seven points against Arsenal on Sunday but questions must still be asked about his viability.

Despite his assist at the Emirates, Diaz has returned just 18 points since the start of Gameweek 6 (across six fixtures).

The Colombian winger was a starter at the beginning of the campaign and he burst out the blocks with five goals in his first six outings.

However, Arne Slot has since given more minutes to Cody Gakpo (£4m) on the left flank and Diaz’s points have fallen off a cliff as a result.

The 27-year-old’s form is a major talking point in the world of Dream Team as he’s currently the fourth-most popular player in the game with a massive ownership of 31.2%.

More fixtures generally equal more points but Liverpool’s jam-packed schedule is essentially negated for Diaz if he has to share his minutes with Gakpo – he’s averaged 33 minutes per appearance over the last three Gameweeks.

His effectiveness is undeniable but he’s simply not getting the same opportunities he was afforded in August and September.

Reuters

Where have the clean sheets gone?[/caption]

David Raya (£4.9m)

It’s almost sacrilegious to take aim at an Arsenal defensive asset given all the points they have provided over the last year or so.

In fact, even now the Spaniard is level with Emi Martinez (£4.2m) on 65 points at the top of the goalkeeper rankings .

However, the Gunners’ domestic form is an elephant in the room for almost 16% of Dream Team bosses.

Raya has failed to keep a clean sheet in his last five league outings.

Granted, this run includes meetings with difficult opponents in Manchester City and Liverpool but Mikel Arteta would have been disappointed to concede to Leicester, Southampton and Bournemouth in succession.

Clean sheets against Atalanta, PSG and Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League have partially made up for Raya’s underwhelming league returns but £4.9m is a lot of cash to invest between the sticks and so the ex-Brentford stopper should be held to a high standard.

12 points from his last four outings surely falls well short of those standards.

It may well be the case that Arsenal resume normal service soon enough but with injuries to several first-choice defenders, it might be time for gaffers to look elsewhere, if only for a few Gameweeks.

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