Welcome to the AM’s Players To Watch for Gameweek 23. As long-time readers of my columns will know, my advice in seasons gone by had revolved around games that would allow you to make unlimited transfers each gameweek, selecting an entirely new 11 players if you so wished. Unfortunately Yahoo Fantasy Premier League is a glorious but distant memory, while Togga, sadly, was not able to return for this campaign which put an end to the Perfect XI column I’d been penning for the past two years.
This season I’ll be a bit more general in my advice. Whether you’re playing Official FPL, FPL or Fantrax Draft, Fantrax Salary Cap, Sky Sports, The Sun, The Telegraph or any number of other the fantasy games available to fans each season, I’ll be offering my top five picks for the week ahead, mixing “must-haves” with hunch picks and players flying under the radar. Hopefully this will offer something for everyone, whether you’re considering captain options, looking to make a transfers or pick up a free agent in draft.
The recommendations in last week’s column weren’t a great success as many big names blanked and injuries struck, generally impacting the majority of fantasy managers in some way. Let’s re-group and look to get things back on track in Gameweek 23 ...
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Saturday 19 January
Wolves v Leicester
Bournemouth v West Ham
Liverpool v Crystal Palace
Man Utd v Brighton
Newcastle v Cardiff
Southampton v Everton
Watford v Burnley
Arsenal v Chelsea
Sunday 20 January
Huddersfield v Man City
Fulham v Spurs
This weekend our focus should be on Liverpool players at home to Crystal Palace, Tottenham away to Fulham, Manchester United hosting Brighton and Manchester City visiting rock-bottom Huddersfield. I also fancy Watford to beat Burnley and Wolves to sneak past Leicester. With that in mind, here are the players ....
Erik Lamela (MF - Tottenham @ Fulham) - Erik Lamela has stayed patient this season despite limited opportunities to start big matches but has consistently impressed from the bench when called upon. With Moussa Sissoko, Moussa Dembele, Erik Dier, Heung-Min Son and Harry Kane all missing for a variety of reasons this must surely be the time for Mauricio Pochettino to call upon the Argentinian for an extended run in the starting XI and I’m tipping him to deliver for his boss, starting with a big performance at leaky Fulham on Sunday.
Sergio Agüero (FW - Manchester City @ Huddersfield) - I got it wrong last week by convincing myself that Sergio Agüero was a dead-certainty to start against Wolves. At that time I hasn’t realised the striker had suffered a knock which prevented him from training most of the week leading up to the game, and so 11 minutes off the bench was all he could manage. In his absence Gabriel Jesus was on the scoresheet again but surely Aguero starts this one to keep him match sharp? If he does then you sense a hat-trick could be incoming against rock-bottom, manager-less Huddersfield. He’s pencilled in as my “Harry Kane replacement” in FPL, pending Pep Guardiola‘s press-conference on Friday of course.
Matt Doherty (DF - Wolves v Leicester) - Matt Doherty‘s extraordinary early-season form has slowed over the past couple of months with just a solitary assist and a clean sheet since November but the wing-back continues to offer a genuine attacking threat down the right-flank. This threat will be most apparent in home games again fellow mid and lower-table sides and both those ingredients are present this weekend as Wolves host inconsistent Leicester, with a clean sheet and some attacking contributions potentially on the cards for Doherty.
Gerard Deulofeu (MF - Watford v Burnley) - It was mentioned earlier in this column that I fancy Watford to beat Burnley pretty comfortably and so it made sense to take a look through Watford’s attacking options. Roberto Pereyra and Troy Deeney were both considered but I’m striding towards taking a punt on Gerard Deulofeu for Gameweek 23. The ex-Barcelona man didn’t start a game until Gameweek 9 but has become a useful asset for Javi Gracia, playing in a variety of roles across the Hornets’ front line and helping himself to three goals and three assists. He can improve on those stats against the Clarets this weekend.
Marcus Rashford (FW - Manchester United v Bournemouth) - From the periphery and constantly criticism under José Mourinho to Manchester United’s #1 striker in a matter of weeks, it’s been quite the whirlwind for Marcus Rashford. The young forward has raced to five goals and four assists in his seven appearances since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took the reins and shows no signs of slowing down, finishing superbly to guide his team to an impressive win at Tottenham in Gameweek 22. Confidence is sky high at Old Trafford right now and the players could put on a bit of a show against Brighton in front of the home fans, with Rashford the key man.
Captain Choice: Mohamed Salah (MF - Liverpool v Crystal Palace) - No mucking about this week. Mohamed Salah is the Premier League’s in-form player, he’s classed as a midfielder so picks up an extra FPL point for goals and clean sheets despite playing as Liverpool’s central striker, plus he’s winning and converting penalties for fun. There are times to gamble with your captain choice but this week is not one of the those times. Hand the armband to Mo as the Eagles travel to Anfield and reap the rewards along with 90% of the FPL community.
That’s it for Gameweek 23. Check out the Rotoworld Features page to access a host of fantastic content to get you ready for the new season. If you have any questions about a specific player or your own fantasy team then feel free to post them in the comments below or hit me on Twitter (@nikarg) and I will get back to you.
Thanks for reading - good luck to all managers this weekend.
