⚽ FPL Gameweek 23 Tips

👋 Hello 👋

Welcome to the Gameweek 23 newsletter. I made a few changes to the theme for this one. If you have any feedback about the newsletter, please feel free to send me an email at [email protected].

You have a bit more time to plan this week as it's a Saturday deadline - 11 February, 11am UK time ⏰

There's a Double Gameweek for Manchester City and Arsenal this week.

🙌 Manchester City vs Aston Villa (h), Arsenal (a)

😎 Arsenal vs Brentford (h), Man City (h)

For more details about everything going on in Gameweek 23 and beyond, keep reading.

 🔥 Gameweek 23 - Hot Topics 🔥

Best Double Gameweek 23 Options

An Arsenal triple up is non-negotiable for me at this point. They have a Double Gameweek this week, another one in Gameweek 25 (more to come on that later), and will definitely play in Gameweek 28 where some teams will Blank.

If I was Wildcarding this week my three picks would be:

• Bukayo Saka (£8.3m)

• Martin Ødegaard (£7.0m)

• Gabriel (£5.2m)

In Ødegaard and Saka you have two attackers who are nailed to start every game, and who's minutes will be good for the long term as well. Saka being on penalties is also a bonus.

The Arsenal defence has been excellent this season, Gabriel is nailed, and has the highest goal threat out of any of the Arsenal options.

I don't think Eddie Nketiah (£6.8m) is a bad pick at all, and for some of you he might be the best option to go for. For example, if you're currently stuck with Anthony Martial (£6.5m) and only have two Arsenal players, Nketiah is a great switch. The only reason he doesn't make my top 3 is because Gabriel Jesus (£7.9m) could be a factor at some point next month.

It wouldn't be enough to put me off buying Nketiah, but if I had an easy switch to one of the midfielders instead, that's what I'd do.

There will be lots of you with Gabriel Martinelli (£6.6m) in your team. I don't think there's anything wrong with moving him on. As we saw in Gameweek 22, he was subbed off in the 58th minute. I still think his starting place is cemented, and a substitution before the 60th minute isn't something we're likely to see often, but it did reinforce that Leandro Trossard (£6.7m) is likely to take some minutes off of him. If you have the luxury of using a transfer on Martinelli then Saka is the best choice, and Ødegaard next.

With Manchester City it's a little trickier as the minutes of certain players are much harder to call. It's fair to assume at this point most of us own Erling Haaland (£12.2m) so we're really just picking another two.

Although he was rotated for tactical reasons against Spurs, I think Kevin De Bruyne (£12.4m) is still the most secure of minutes moving forward. At that price he's hard to carry after Gameweek 23, so I wouldn't go out of my way to bring him in.

Attacking wise the only other option I'd really look at would be Riyad Mahrez (£7.7m). He's much easier to fit into our sides and carry for a few Gameweeks even with some minutes concerns. It's worth bearing in mind that Man City will likely Blank in Gameweek 28 and have no other Double Gameweeks before that. Champions League will be starting back up for them between Gameweek 24 and 25, so that might reduce minutes of some players even more in the league.

If I had to bring a defender in this week for the short term it would be Manuel Akanji (£5.0m) who looks the most assured of minutes while John Stones (5.4m) is out injured. Ederson (£5.4m) is of course great for minutes, but with a lot of people owning Kepa Arrizabalaga (£4.6m), there's no need to make the switch.

If you're not tripled up on Man City I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. Your priority should be Arsenal players, after that you can worry about City.

Double Gameweek 25 is confirmed!

This week the Premier League announced Double Gameweek 25. Four teams will Double:

• Liverpool vs Crystal Palace (a), Wolves (h)

• Wolves vs Fulham (a), Liverpool (a)

• Arsenal vs Leicester (a), Everton (h)

• Everton vs Aston Villa (h), Arsenal (a)

There's certainly no need to panic, it's not going to change plans massively. The fact Arsenal have been added really helps out because players like Saka, Ødegaard and possibly even Nketiah provide really good captain options.

Wolves have Southampton (a) and Bournemouth (h) in the next two Gameweeks before the Double, but with Tottenham Hotspur (h) and Newcastle United (a) straight after, and no guarantee of a match in Gameweek 28, I would mostly avoid their players.

Craig Dawson (£4.8m) did remind us of his goalscoring ability in Gameweek 22, and could be a cheap defender to add to your squad. But someone like James Tarkowski (£4.2m) is even cheaper at Everton, and they will definitely play in Gameweek 28 (albeit against Chelsea (a).

As for attacking options, the likes of Pablo Sarabia (£5.5m) or Matheus Cunha (£5.5m) could be nice differentials. The problem is they take up a spot in your midfield or forward line that could probably go to a better option.

With Liverpool, all I would say is keep an open mind. They have been really poor for a lot of this season and especially recently, conceding nine goals in their last four league matches and only scoring once.

But we know the quality of players they have, and all it would take is a couple of good performances in Gameweek 23 and 24 and suddenly you might fancy going for one or two of their players, so keep your options open.

Mohamed Salah (£12.7m) is still the best attacking option given his minutes are secure and he has penalties (not that he's had one all season!). I suspect Harry Kane (£11.8m) owners won't be looking to make the switch which is fair enough. But if you have the cash to go from De Bruyne or Bruno Fernandes (£9.9m) in one move in Gameweek 25 it could be an easy swap.

Elsewhere the options are probably Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.3m) or Darwin Núñez (£8.7m). I would really need to see some defensive improvement in the next two games to even think about Trent, but he's probably still the best defender option at Liverpool. Despite a poor season by his standards, he's one of the most creative defenders in the league. Núñez has been frustrating for FPL managers already this season, but he does at least keep getting chances. My only concern would be a possible return for Roberto Firmino (£8.0m) and Diogo Jota (£8.8m) by Gameweek 25 which could hurt his minutes.

Double Gameweek 27 is also confirmed...

Literally an hour or so before writing this, we also had another mini-Double Gameweek confirmed. Four teams will now Double in Gameweek 27:

• Brighton vs Leeds (a), Crystal Palace (h)

• Crystal Palace vs Man City (h), Brighton (a)

• Southampton vs Man United (a), Brentford (h)

• Brentford vs Everton (a), Southampton (a)

With the Gameweek 23 deadline close there's not a huge amount of time to go into detail but my initial thoughts are this doesn't change much for us at the moment.

Brighton have some really nice single Gameweek fixtures starting from this week, but they also Blank in Gameweek 25 and will probably do the same in Gameweek 28. There's not a rush to get them in this week, but if you have room to bench them in Gameweek 25 it could be a good move for your team. Someone like Kaoru Mitoma (£5.2m) is the first player that springs to mind. Other options include Robert Sánchez (£4.6m), Lewis Dunk (£4.7m) and Pervis Estupiñán (£4.6m).

I can't see too many reasons to be buying Crystal Palace or Southampton players right now.

Brentford might be good after Blank Gameweek 25 as they have Fulham (h) in Gameweek 26 and their Double in Gameweek 27. But like Brighton they will probably Blank in Gameweek 28. Ivan Toney (£7.7m) is usually the main target from their team and he's on eight yellow cards. If he receives two more he will serve a two game suspension which would be a nightmare before a Double Gameweek so that's a wait and see for me.

But what about Chips?

The Double Gameweek 27 announcement has opened up new possibilities such as Wildcard Gameweek 27, Free Hit Gameweek 28, Bench Boost Double Gameweek 29.

The problem is we are still waiting on a lot of information, mostly from the FA Cup games. We won't know who's through to the next round and subsequently Blanking in Gameweek 28 until just before Gameweek 26.

For now I would try and keep your mind open to different possibilities, and try and not use the Free Hit in Gameweek 25.

As you can see from fixture guru Ben below, there are still many options which might be open later on, and the Chips will be very valuable.

📈 Transfer Activity 📉

Aleksandar Mitrović (£7.0m) has been sold by 138,081 FPL managers this week, probably very frustrated ones at that. Since Gameweek 17 he's blanked in every game, missing two penalties along the way.

I find it hard to find a reason to get rid of him this week with a great fixture against Nottingham Forest (h). I have him in my team and am definitely keeping. The only reason I can see for moving him on, is if he's your only route to get Nketiah, or if you want to bring Kane in. I think anyone else can wait.

Maybe unsurprisingly, Miguel Almirón (£5.7m) was unable to carry on the form which saw him hit eight goals in nine Gameweeks. He plays Bournemouth (a) this week so if you're still holding on, and you have other moves you need to make instead, it might not be the worst thing to hold onto him one more week.

Of course if you need that spot for a Double Gameweek player then get rid quick. He also has Liverpool (h) in Gameweek 24, no fixture in Gameweek 25, and Manchester City (a) in Gameweek 26. The Liverpool fixture might not be so bad, but there are better ways to fill your midfield spots in the coming weeks.

Did you know that Ben Mee (£4.9m) is the fourth highest scoring defender all season with 92 points? No, I didn't either until I started writing this newsletter. He's also the most transferred in this week at 170,933.

He's already scored three goals this season and is playing for a Brentford side that sit 8th for non-penalty expected goals conceded per 90 minutes this season. The problem in the short term is they have Arsenal (a) this week and no fixture in Gameweek 25. If you can carry him on your bench for those weeks he might not be the worst transfer because of the Double in Gameweek 27 and they have good fixtures outside of that. But for most people there will be better ways to spend your transfers this week.

👑 Captaincy 👑

There's really only one man in the captaincy conversation this week, and that's of course Haaland, as it has been for most of the season.

There's talk of he and/or Man City being out of form. I do somewhat understand, you could see his frustration against Spurs when no-one was picking out his runs.

But let's not forget he's scored seven goals in seven games since the World Cup. The only matches he's blanked in were Manchester United, Chelsea and Spurs, and they were all away from home.

If that's someone out of form, it's scary to think what level he might get to when he's back in form.

I think Aston Villa (h) is the kind of game he could easily hit 10+ points in. The second game is much more difficult because Arsenal have been so solid defensively. That's not enough to put me off captaining him though.

If you still haven't used the Triple Captain and aren't keen on using it on Haaland this week, you could save it for a Double Gameweek further down the line, possibly even on an Arsenal players in Gameweek 25. If it was me, I'd be tempted to just use it this week though.

The only other players I would consider for Gameweek 23 are Arsenal ones, and Saka is always my favourite because of having penalties in his locker. Given Arsenal have two home games there's a chance for a few goals here. I just don't think it's enough to sway me into going anyone but Haaland.

💪 My Team 💪

In some ways the Double Gameweek 25 announcement has made my decisions for this week a little easier.

Because of another Double to think about, I don't want to spend transfers moving around my Man City players, so I'm going to stick with Ederson, Nathan Aké (£5.1m) and Haaland and just hope for the best. I'm not hugely confident that Aké will start both games, but I can't see any reason to move him on now.

Salah has been extremely frustrating recently, and I was getting closer to just getting rid and bringing Kane in. But now Liverpool have a Double in Gameweek 25, I think it's best just to hold onto him.

I have two free transfers and as it stands I'm thinking about just using them to change one or two of my Arsenal players. As I said above, they're very important and I'd like to have what I would consider the best three.

I don't have much money in the bank so I'd need to free up funds. Luke Shaw (£5.3m) is being benched this week anyway, doesn't have a fixture in Gameweek 25, plays Liverpool (a) in Gameweek 26, and will probably Blank in Gameweek 28. He's the player I'm likely to sell for Tarkowski.

This would then allow me to do either, Ben White (£4.7m) to Gabriel or Martinelli to Ødegaard. I may even do both moves as part of a -4. I'm not sure either White or Martinelli is that much of a concern, but the peace of mind might be worth it.

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