Six Gameweek 3 standouts to target on waivers: a forward, three midfielders and two defenders.
Every player below carried an Up trend from Gameweek 3 on the TFF Players page, and none of them are rostered above 56% in a typical Top Four Fantasy league. This week’s list picks the strongest fresh claim at each position: one forward, three midfielders and two defenders.
Goalkeepers sit out this week, since no keeper carried an Up trend after Gameweek 3. Lewis Hall, Vitaly Janelt, Oliver McBurnie and Evanilson also trended up again, but all four were already covered here in earlier Gameweeks, so this list sticks to names appearing for the first time.
Forwards
Forwards score here for more than the finish itself. Shots on target, chances created and hold-up duels through contact all count, so a striker at the centre of everything can matter even when someone else gets the assist.
Kai Havertz — Arsenal, 56% owned, 15.5 pts
Havertz levelled the London derby at the Emirates, cutting in from the right to beat Chelsea’s defenders with a low finish after Morgan Rogers had stunned the hosts inside 90 seconds. Five minutes into the second half he let Christos Tzolis’ pass run through his legs and into the path of Martin Ødegaard, who finished for the winner.
He started as Arsenal’s central striker and played the full 90 minutes, adding four aerial duels won and an interception on top of the goal and the dummy that made the second. Priority add in 10-12 team leagues, and the closest thing to a season-defining name still sitting at 56% owned.
- Why add: scored Arsenal’s equaliser and created the winner in a 2-1 comeback win over Chelsea
- Role and minutes: first-choice striker, 90 minutes
- Next three: at Sunderland, at Brighton, vs Leeds
- Risk: his scoring has swung hard through three Gameweeks, from 11.5 points to a blank to 15.5, and a forward with that kind of variance can go quiet just as fast as he heats up
Midfielders
This scoring model rewards work as much as end product in midfield. Tackles, interceptions and chance creation set the floor, and any goal involvement on top of that is pure upside.
Tyrique George — Everton, 33% owned, 15.5 pts
George scored Everton’s equaliser in the 83rd minute of a 2-2 draw with Manchester United, controlling Hayden Hackney’s pass before smashing it into the top corner. He led the match for both chances created and successful dribbles, and it was his first goal for the club in 15 appearances.
He started on the left of Everton’s front three and was nominated for the Gameweek 3 Player of the Matchweek award, though newly returned loanee Jack Grealish is pushing hard for that same shirt. Worth a medium-priority claim in 10-12 team leagues while he’s still first-choice, since the goal threat is real but the starting spot is not guaranteed.
- Why add: scored the equaliser and led the match in chances created and dribbles in a 2-2 draw with Man United
- Role and minutes: started on the left of a front three, full 90 minutes
- Next three: at Tottenham, vs Ipswich, at Hull
- Risk: Jack Grealish’s loan return gives Everton a ready-made alternative on the left, and a winger who loses his shirt loses his floor with it
James McAtee — Nottingham Forest, 0% owned, 14.5 pts
McAtee played the full 90 minutes as Forest and Tottenham drew 0-0 at the City Ground, a game Forest were denied a first win in when a Neco Williams effort was chalked off for handball. He created five chances from midfield, more than his first two Gameweeks combined.
He’s settling into a central role alongside Xaver Schlager in Forest’s midfield four, adding three tackles won on top of the creative output. A completely unowned midfielder producing a season-high week like that is exactly the market gap a priority claim exists to catch.
- Why add: created five chances and won three tackles in a battling goalless draw, a season-high week
- Role and minutes: regular starter in central midfield, full 90 minutes
- Next three: at Aston Villa, vs Coventry, at Crystal Palace
- Risk: Forest’s goal threat runs through Morgan Gibbs-White and Dan Ndoye further forward, so McAtee’s scoring depends on the defensive and creative volume repeating rather than a breakout goal contribution
Rayan Cherki — Manchester City, 56% owned, 8.5 pts
Cherki started as City’s number 10 in a 1-0 win over Coventry, striking the post after being played through by Enzo Fernández and later releasing Erling Haaland himself, only for Carl Rushworth to save. He was substituted after 65 minutes with the game still delicately poised at 1-0.
He remains City’s first-choice creative outlet behind Haaland even with deadline-day arrivals Fernández and Iliman Ndiaye added to the squad, and his 37.5-point season total is the highest of any trending player in this pool. He’s already the best-owned name on this list at 56%, so this is closer to a last call than an early alert in bigger leagues.
- Why add: City’s most creative outlet in a narrow win, hitting the post and setting up two clear chances for Haaland
- Role and minutes: first-choice number 10, substituted after 65 minutes
- Next three: at Man United, vs Sunderland, at Liverpool
- Risk: City added two attacking options on deadline day, and a quiet week without a goal or assist is a reminder that Cherki’s minutes aren’t guaranteed to stay at 65-plus every week
Defenders
Centre-backs who win the ball back and full-backs who join the attack both score well here. A clean sheet alone isn’t enough without volume behind it, especially from back lines still working things out.
Olivier Boscagli — Brighton & Hove Albion, 33% owned, 14 pts
Boscagli created five chances from left-back in Brighton’s 1-1 draw with Leeds, as many as the entire Leeds starting eleven managed between them, including the crossfield pass that sent Diego Gómez through for Brighton’s first shot on target. He played 90 minutes before a stoppage-time substitution.
He’s Brighton’s first-choice left-back ahead of new signing Pascal Struijk, and outcreating an entire opposition side from full-back is a genuinely repeatable signal rather than a one-off. Priority add in 10-12 team leagues while he’s still only a third owned.
- Why add: created five chances from left-back, more than Leeds’ entire starting eleven combined, in a 1-1 draw
- Role and minutes: first-choice left-back, 90 minutes
- Next three: at Coventry, vs Arsenal, at Sunderland
- Risk: Brighton brought in Pascal Struijk as direct cover this summer, and a run of quieter attacking games could open the door to a change in personnel
Kristoffer Ajer — Brentford, 33% owned, 9 pts
Ajer won six aerial duels, the best defensive number of anyone in this list, as Brentford led 1-0 through Vitaly Janelt before Sunderland equalised from the penalty spot in the 82nd minute. He also added an interception in a match Brentford controlled for long spells.
He’s an established starter in a Brentford back four that’s still unbeaten this season, and that kind of aerial dominance is a profile that travels regardless of the scoreline. Worth a claim in 10-12 team leagues, with the caveat that Brentford’s underlying defending has needed a late concession to remind managers it isn’t the finished article.
- Why add: won six aerial duels, the best defensive number among this week’s picks, in a game Brentford led for over an hour
- Role and minutes: first-choice centre-back
- Next three: at Bournemouth, vs Chelsea, at Aston Villa
- Risk: Brentford dropped points from a winning position via a late penalty, and a centre-back’s clean-sheet upside is capped while those lapses continue
The strongest claim, and the best bet to survive
If you can only make one move this week, it’s Kai Havertz. A goal and the pass that made the winner in a 2-1 derby comeback, from a player who started and finished the full 90 minutes, is as clean a claim as this list produces. If he’s already gone, Tyrique George’s stoppage-adjacent equaliser and Player of the Matchweek nomination make the next-best case, and James McAtee is the value stash most likely to still be sitting at 0% owned in a month if you’re planning ahead rather than reacting to last week’s scores.
