⚽ FPL Gameweek 22 Tips

Hello

Welcome to the Gameweek 22 Newsletter. Let's start with some of the quick stuff.

The Gameweek 22 deadline is on Friday this week - 18:30 UK time, 3 February.

Manchester United and Leeds United have a Double Gameweek. Man United are playing Crystal Palace (h) and Leeds (h).

Leeds are playing Nottingham Forest (a) and Manchester United (a).

There's another Double next week with Arsenal and Manchester City playing twice.

Gameweek 22 - Hot Topics

Blank Gameweek 25 Confirmed

Because of the results in the Carabao Cup, we now have four teams that won't play in Gameweek 25:

• Manchester United

• Newcastle United

• Brighton

• Brentford

This doesn't mean that you need to start removing players from these teams straight away, but be aware when you're planning transfers over the next few weeks.

Some short term pain might be worth the long term gain. For example, Brighton have some really nice fixtures in Gameweek 22, 23 and 24. But using a transfer to bring in one of their players may result in having to use another one very soon to remove them again. It's not a dealbreaker, just something to consider.

If you're not already tripled up on Arsenal players, that should be one of your main priorities. They have a Double Gameweek in Gameweek 23 and have fixtures in both of the next two Blank Gameweeks (25 & 28).

Aston Villa are another team that will play in both of these weeks against Everton (a) and Bournemouth (h). They're definitely NOT a priority like Arsenal, but could prove useful. For example if I was removing a defender this week, I might consider bringing in Tyrone Mings (£4.3m) as a long term move who can be used during the Blank Gameweeks. Aston Villa don't have great fixtures before Gameweek 25 though, so there's really no rush to make this move.

I did a video this week on the information we have about Blank and Double Gameweeks, as well as how our Chip strategies might work. You can check it out below 👇

Double Gameweek 22 - Best Options

For Manchester United the best attacking option is Marcus Rashford (£7.2m). His minutes look really good right now and he's the main goal threat within the team.

If you can afford it, I would look at Bruno Fernandes (£9.9m) if you want a second attacker. His minutes are the most secure out of all the other options, and there's a chance he's still on penalties.

In Crystal Palace and Leeds United, the Man United attackers are facing two teams in the bottom 6 for expected goals conceded. Given both games are at home there will surely be plenty of returns for Rashford and Fernandes.

Antony (£7.3m) is an okay punt and I wouldn't sell him if you already own. But with Jadon Sancho (£7.1m) making a return to the squad in the Carabao Cup, there is more competition for places so I'm not sure I'd be buying either right now.

Some of you probably still own Anthony Martial (£6.5m). He got 27 minutes off the bench against Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup. Man United still look better with him in the side so I expect him to start at least one of the games in the Double. If he's benched in the other he's likely to get minutes off the bench as well. I think he's worth holding onto rather than selling to a different Man United attacker. With the Blank in Gameweek 25 he can be sold soon, but maybe not this week. Eddie Nketiah (£6.7m) would be a great option to move to in Gameweek 23 if you're not already on triple Arsenal.

Defensively Luke Shaw (£5.3m) is still the best pick. Outside of that I'd probably go for Raphaël Varane (£4.8m) as the next best nailed on option.

I don't think there's much to worry about with Lisandro Martínez (£4.5m), but we have seen Shaw play left centre back a few times. Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.3m) is a cheap way into the defence, but unless we know for sure that Diogo Dalot (£4.7m) is out for a while, there's to much uncertainty about minutes for either of them.

Leeds United are interesting to me because they have a Double this week and also play Southampton (h) in Gameweek 25. But nailing down a player who will be guaranteed starts week in, week out, is tricky.

One player we won't be buying is Rodrigo (£6.4m) as Leeds have confirmed he'll be out injured for two months.

Patrick Bamford (£7.2m) is likely to get more minutes in the number 9 position with Rodrigo out. The problem is, he's only played more than 60 minutes in the league twice since Gameweek 1, and the last time was Gameweek 12. I'm not sure he can be trusted just yet.

Gnonto (£5.0m) is probably the best option to look at. He takes up a forward spot and is nice and cheap. Lots of Leeds fans think he's first choice on the team sheet at the moment which is encouraging. We should note however that Leeds have a lot of attacking options, so I'm not sure I'd call him "nailed" just yet.

I'm not keen on putting a Leeds defender in our squads as they're a poor defence. But if you need a new goalkeeper who might be able to get you some saves and the (very) odd clean sheet, you could opt for Illan Meslier (£4.5m).

Ciao Cancelo

You're right, I definitely stole the "Ciao Cancelo" from Twitter. In fact I saw it so many times I can't even remember who used it first.

But anyway, he's now been loaned out to Bayern Munich, he even got an assist and clean sheet in his first game for them.

But what does this mean for the rest of the Man City defence?

João Cancelo has only started as a right back for City once in the league this season. I think Rico Lewis (£3.9m) is probably first choice right back, but it doesn't mean that Kyle Walker (£4.8m) won't start and take minutes from time to time.

Nathan Aké (£5.0m) had already been playing left back quite a lot so you'd think Cancelo leaving would be a good thing. Unfortunately, Aymeric Laporte (£5.7m) can also play in that position as he did against Wolves in Gameweek 21.

I think with John Stones (£5.4m) out injured, it makes Manuel Akanji (£5.0m) the most nailed Man City defender, but at the time of writing we don't know how long Stones is out for.

If you own a Man City defender you can probably just keep hold of them if you don't want to add any of their attackers to your squad. But in terms of buying one? I'm not sure it's worth the headache. Yes they have a Double in Gameweek 23 and also play in Blank Gameweek 25, but if you can't guarantee starts, they're not that useful.

Transfer Activity

Kaoru Mitoma (£5.1m) continues to be very popular having being brought in by 442,310 FPL managers this week. Only Fernandes and Rashford have been transferred in more.

I really like Mitoma, I think he looks exciting whenever he receives the ball and is fantastic value for FPL. I think it all comes down to whether you can afford the transfers to manage your team for Gameweek 25. This could well be one of those situations where managers like me potentially ignore him because of the Blank and he goes and scores really well. He has Bournemouth (h), Crystal Palace (a) and Fulham (h) between Gameweeks 22-24.

Mykhailo Mudryk (£7.0m) is another left sided player that looked exciting in his 35 minute cameo against Liverpool. That has caused 215,878 FPL managers to buy him already.

My main worry with him is minutes. Graham Potter has mentioned that he's not played much football since November. Raheem Sterling (£9.7m) is also back in the squad for Fulham. Ultimately there is a lot of competition for the attacking spots in that Chelsea team and Potter has already rotated things a lot. I think Mudryk is a wait and see.

There are 381,932 managers who have had enough of Aleksandar Mitrović (£7.0m) this week, and as someone that owns him, I completely get it.

It was another blank in Gameweek 21, although maybe we should be thankful that he didn't miss yet another penalty. His fixture this week is against Chelsea (a) which is difficult on paper. But after that it's Nottingham Forest (h) in Gameweek 23, he won't blank in Gameweek 25 when Fulham will play Wolves (h), and if they lose to Sunderland or Leeds in the FA Cup they'll also play in Gameweek 28. I think for now it's worth holding, but I wouldn't begrudge anyone bringing in Nketiah instead.

Captaincy

To get this week out of the way first - I think Rashford is a better captain option than Fernandes, mostly down to his goal threat. This is their expected data for the season per 90 minutes:

• Rashford - 0.42 xG, 0.13 xA

• Fernandes - 0.17 xG, 0.35 xA

He's in incredible form right now, and while I think Fernandes is an excellent pick as well, I'm likely to go for Rashford.

If you are someone that likes to do things a little bit different and wants to chase some upside, it's almost certain that Fernandes will be captained by less FPL managers. If you get the rub of the green it could be a nice little rank rise by going for him instead. There is a chance that Fernandes is still on penalties as well, but it's hard to say for certain.

The other thing to discuss is Triple Captain. What should you do if you still have the Chip?

My preference is to either use it this week on Rashford, or in Gameweek 23 on Erling Haaland (£12.2m).

You could absolutely save it until later on in the season, there may well be a better Double Gameweek. But you also run the risk of wanting to use it in a Gameweek where you'd be better off using a different chip like the Wildcard, Free Hit, or Bench Boost. Remember, you can't use two Chips in one Gameweek.

There's also no guarantee the team or player you want to target will get the fixtures you want, or whether they'd even be available in the future due to possible injuries or suspensions.

Rashford vs Haaland is difficult. From what we've seen so far this season, Haaland is clearly the better FPL option in general, but he does have to play Arsenal (a) as one of his games in Double Gameweek 23 which will be very tough.

I think it's close but I'm just about siding with Rashford who has two really nice home games. Haaland does score hat-tricks for fun, but as a midfielder it doesn't necessarily take Rashford as many returns to hit the big scores. In Gameweek 17 for example he returned 14 points (3 less than a forward scoring a hat-trick) from just one goal, one assist.

Just to play devil's advocate on my own point though...

I was thinking today that if we could fast forward to Gameweek 24, and I told you that one of Rashford or Haaland had blanked in their Double Gameweek, who would you say was more likely? I think most people would say Rashford because we just can't see Haaland not scoring, especially across two fixtures.

That probably doesn't help much, but like I said, it really is a close call.

My Team

I've got two free transfers this week and it's causing me more headaches than it should.

I'm well set up for both of the Doubles in Gameweek 22 and 23 with triple Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal.

So my options are either to change players around from those teams, or start setting up for the Blank Gameweeks later on.

These are the main transfers I'm looking at:

1) Ward to Meslier or Kepa.

2) Aké or Nathan Patterson to an Aston Villa defender like Mings or Alexandre Moreno. This would free up a Man City spot and allow me to move Mohamed Salah to Kevin De Bruyne, or Bruno Fernandes to Riyad Mahrez in Gameweek 23.

3) The above Aké to Villa defender move, but with Greenwood to Gnonto as well. It would mean I bench Mitrović this week.

I think right now I'm leaning towards option 2. It leaves me a bit more flexible in terms of possible transfers in Gameweek 23, and let's me roll the transfer again.

There is potential (but no guarantee) that we have mini-Double Gameweeks in one or more of Gameweek 25, 26 and 27. If possible I'd like to roll my transfer as much as possible over the next few weeks as we start nailing down Chip Strategy.

I don't have many other issues. Mohamed Salah (£12.7m) has been really poor value since Gameweek 18, but I just don't think he's a priority sell for me this week. He has Everton (h) in Gameweek 23 and Liverpool are one of the teams who could *possibly* Double in Gameweek 25, so holding him for a bit longer might be the play.

My captain will be on Rashford as explained above.

If you want to hear more thoughts on my team, make sure to check out my Team Selection video.

Content Recommendations

I listened to Burning Questions over on Fantasy Football Scout this week. Andy and Pras always provide a nice balance to lots of the hot topics for the week. It helps that Pras confirmed my own thoughts that Gabriel Martinelli (£6.7m) isn't a priority to sell right now. If you want to watch it I've linked it below.

If you want more discussion around Chip Strategy, I'd also recommend this podcast from Planet FPL. It's one of my favourite FPL podcasts, and their Chip Strategy content is some of the best out there.