After our midweek Champions League action, the Premier League is back, and we welcome in Gameweek 23 of Fantasy Premier League.
Our 3-1 win in the San Siro against Inter Milan now sets the tone for our latest showdown with Manchester United at Emirates Stadium, coming on Sunday, January 25 at 4.30pm (UK time).
DEFENSIVE DUO TOP THE CHARTS
Gameweek 22 saw us play out a 0-0 stalemate with Nottingham Forest at the City Ground, a result that following the conclusion of last weekend’s action, left us with a seven-point advantage at the summit of the Premier League table.
Our 11th league clean sheet of the season saw our defenders once again come to the fore to reward their millions of FPL managers, namely Gabriel (£6.8m) and William Saliba (£6.0m), who each led for the Gunners with eight-point hauls. Wilo has now scooped 15 points in his last two, while Big Gabi has an astonishing 38 points in just four Gameweeks, justifying his ever-rising price and ownership of 35.6%.
Alongside our central defensive pairing, others to deliver in red and white were David Raya (£5.9m) and Ben White (£5.1m) with six points apiece, and five more points for Jurrien Timber (£6.3m).
Timber and Gabriel have each joined our leading FPL marksman Declan Rice in breaking the 100-point barrier, and our premium pick Bukayo Saka (£10.1m) is now just one point away from joining them - closely followed by Raya on 92 points.
Alongside hugely popular selections including our regular defensive stars, plus Dec and Bukayo, there are several differentials who could make a major difference to your mini-league performance. Among them is Martin Odegaard (£7.8m), our skipper having claimed 26 points in his last five, while midweek brace-scorer Gabriel Jesus is available at just £6.4m, with an ownership of just 0.3%.
Viktor Gyokeres (£8.7m) joined Gabby on the scoresheet in Milan on Tuesday night, and the Swede has now dipped into differential territory - now owned by just 9.3% of Fantasy squads. With no fixture rated above a ‘3’ on the fixture difficulty algorithm until we face Manchester City in GW33, Vik could be the ideal spearhead for your attack.
Sunday’s opponents Manchester United have begun to hit a run of form, with Michael Carrick now having taken the reins and inspired a derby victory over Man City last weekend.
Consequently, several United players delivered for their FPL bosses, none more so than bargain defensive option Patrick Dorgu (£4.3m). Having been utilised as a winger for weeks, Dorgu has offered points opportunities at both ends of the pitch and weighed in with a league-high GW22 total of 15 in the Manchester derby.
Another hauler was captain Bruno Fernandes (£9.2m), whose ownership is still only marginally over 16% following his recent injury absence, bagging 10 points in GW22 to bring his season total to 116. Elsewhere in the United squad is Bryan Mbeumo (£8.1m), who returned from AFCON with Cameroon to hit nine points in his first Premier League game back.
JUGGLING JANUARY BLUES
As is the case every year, FPL is at the peak of its rollercoaster at this stage of the campaign. With such a packed schedule and the January transfer window currently open, it can be trickier to navigate your squad through the trials and tribulations that come via injuries, rotation and unexpected moves away.
Another huge factor is the fluctuation in form, from players across the entire top flight. Recent weeks have shown numerous highly-picked stars - many of whom were supreme performers earlier on in the season - drying up in terms of their FPL output, frustrating their millions of bosses.
Erling Haaland (£15.1m) remains the highest-scoring Fantasy player so far this season having netted 165 points, with Rice in second on 125. However, the Man City talisman has averaged just 2.8 points across his last five Gameweeks, this dry spell beginning in GW18; before that, Haaland had commanded 45 points in just four matches.
Following the transfer of Marc Guehi (£5.3m) from Crystal Palace to Man City, the top three highest-owned players in this season’s game right now all come from Pep Guardiola’s side, Haaland and Guehi joining Antoine Semenyo (£7.6m) who only last week joined from Bournemouth.
Fantasy managers are permitted a maximum of just three players from each Premier League club; however, if both Guehi and Semenyo have remained in your squad since before their respective moves, and you have not yet made a transfer since before each of these deals were completed, you could benefit from up to five separate City players ahead of their GW23 clash at home to bottom side Wolves.
That said, the next transfers you make must all be to dispense with a player from the same club, until you are left with a maximum of three from City. This also saw a high-profile case at the beginning of the season, when Alexander Isak (£10.3m) switched to Liverpool from Newcastle United, leaving many managers with four Liverpool players in their squads until they next made a transfer.
Returning to off-form stars by FPL standards, Guehi and Haaland’s recent lack of points can resonate with owners of Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers (£7.7m), who is owned by just under 32% of Fantasy teams but has averaged just 2.4 points across his last five Gameweeks.
The same can be said for premium Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella (£6.0m), whose recent injury absence and GW21 red card has contributed to an average of under one point across the Blues’ last five. Cucurella, however, remains owned by 16% of squads.
ULTRA-BARGAINS
With the aforementioned difficulties affecting millions of FPL sides and preventing consistent runs of points returns from one Gameweek to the next, some competitors are electing to play their Wildcard, or seek out stronger starting XIs while budgeting for a set bench each week.
Whatever your approach, bagging super-cheap assets will benefit any team, one way or another.
A key strategy is to take a look at players who have dropped below the pre-season base fee of £4.0m - overwhelmingly defenders. Reserve or inactive players will not dip below this price, as their market value has not risen for it to then fall again with no real ownership to begin with.
This is why you will see a young defender for instance, who is yet to make their first-team debut, listed at £4.0m while a senior teammate in their position who regularly starts may be available at a cheaper price due to a poor recent run of form or an injury.
The two highest-ranked stars this season to have fallen below the base rate are Leeds United defensive pair Joe Rodon (£3.9m) and Gabriel Gudmundsson (£3.8m). The duo have a mixed run of upcoming fixtures including meeting the Gunners at Elland Road in GW24, but their price tags appeal as backup options nonetheless.
The conclusion of AFCON now means left-back Reinildo (£3.8m) is back as first-choice in the Sunderland side. Only ourselves and Man City possess a superior defensive record to the ninth-placed Black Cats so far this term, making the Mozambique international a potentially very astute investment. Sunderland next face West Ham United and Burnley, though visit Emirates Stadium and then host Liverpool shortly afterwards.
A popular pick at the start of the campaign was Burnley defender Maxime Esteve (£3.9m), still owned by 8.3% of managers. While the Clarets’ clean sheets are sporadic this term, Esteve is a nailed starter when fit, and the fixture list is fairly kind to Scott Parker’s side in the near future.
If searching for bargains in high-calibre clubs, Josh Acheampong (£3.8m) at Chelsea and Man United’s Ayden Heaven (£3.9m) are both available, though each carry a significant minutes risk due to more experienced returning teammates.
However you plan for the coming weeks, be sure to get your team in shape by this Saturday 11am UK time, ahead of Gameweek 23’s curtain raiser!
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