Last weekend highlighted the importance of the vice-captain in Fantasy Premier League as the most-backed skipper Erling Haaland missed out on Manchester City’s win over Leicester due to injury.
Haaland was captained by more than five million managers after Pep Guardiola’s vague comments over his fitness the day before the game, but was absent from City’s matchday squad. That meant that those who picked him as their big C braced themselves for a changing of the guard with the armband automatically passed over to the second in command.
Those who nominated Gabriel Jesus, Mo Salah or Kevin De Bruyne as their VCs would have been pleased to see each of them among the points; there was no such luck for Harry Kane backers, though, as he failed to score and was shown a yellow card in Tottenham’s comeback win over Bournemouth.
Haaland’s availability will dominate the FPL landscape for the second week running with Guardiola saying “hopefully he will be back for Fulham,” before City’s Champions League tie against Sevilla. The big tease.
Gameweek 14 top scorers
Goalkeepers:
- Pickford (Everton) – 11
- Leno (Fulham) – 10
- Guaita (Crystal Palace), Ederson (Man City) – 9
Defenders:
- Mee (Brentford), Mitchell (Crystal Palace), Trippier (Newcastle) – 11
- Dalot (Man Utd) – 9
Midfielders:
- Nelson (Arsenal) – 19
- Almiron (Newcastle) – 12
- De Bruyne (Man City) – 11
- Odegaard (Arsenal) – 10
Forwards:
- Wilson (Newcastle) – 19
- Moore (Bournemouth) – 13
- Jesus (Arsenal), Havertz (Chelsea) – 9
Gameweek 15 is the penultimate Premier League round before the World Cup begins, which gives managers a rare opportunity to experiment mid-season. With only two sets of fixtures to navigate before being given a fresh slate for the duration of the World Cup, FPL managers have greater scope to make interesting transfers and target players that ordinarily might not feature too prominently on their watchlists.
Along with a few of this season’s usual suspects, i‘s Gameweek 15 selections includes a few differentials that could perform well in this limited timeframe. And considering this article is published in advance of the pre-match press conferences – in time for Friday’s FPL newsletter – we’ve picked Haaland in the hope that he will be able to feature. An alternative forward has been picked in case he is unable to play.
Gameweek 15 fixtures
Saturday 5 November
- Leeds vs Bournemouth
- Man City vs Fulham
- Nottingham Forest vs Brentford
- Wolves vs Brighton
- Everton vs Leicester
Sunday 6 November
- Chelsea vs Arsenal
- Aston Villa vs Man Utd
- Southampton vs Newcastle
- West Ham vs Crystal Palace
- Spurs vs Liverpool
Robert Sanchez (Brighton)
Managerless Wolves have been on the slide for some time and look to be muddling by until the World Cup, during which they will hope to appoint someone as Bruno Lage’s successor. They have lost five of their previous seven Premier League matches and are the division’s lowest scorers with only six goals in 13 games.
Brighton have been struggling for wins themselves but should be high on confidence after thrashing Chelsea in their previous game to earn Roberto De Zerbi his first three points. Robert Sanchez has kept clean sheets in four of his 12 appearances this term.
Price: £4.6m Points: 45 Gameweek 15 fixture: Wolves (a)
Kieran Trippier (Newcastle)
In last week’s tips, we heralded Kieran Trippier as the best defender in FPL this season, despite the fact he trailed Joao Cancelo in the points charts. Trippier has now edged in front of Cancelo after registering his best gameweek score of the campaign with a clean sheet and assist taking him to 11 in Newcastle’s win over Villa.
During a campaign in which a number of premium defenders have failed to deliver, Trippier’s consistency has been invaluable: he has provided defensive or attacking returns in 10 of his 13 matches. In addition, only Kevin De Bruyne and Fulham’s budget-friendly Andreas Pereira have created more chances than the Bury Beckham.
Price: £5.9m Points: 77 Gameweek 15 fixture: Southampton (a)
Joao Cancelo (Man City)
Joao Cancelo feels like an unimaginative pick, but until another Manchester City defender comes along that can rival a) his consistency of starts and b) his attacking threat, he remains by far their best FPL pick in that position.
Fulham have one of the best attacking records in the division away from home, scoring nine goals in seven league games on the road. However, City have kept clean sheets against both Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest and can make it a hat-trick against the newly-promoted contingent this weekend.
Price: £7.4m Points: 71 Gameweek 15 fixture: Fulham (h)
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It seemed likely that Aaron Cresswell’s game time would be reduced this season following the permanent arrival of Emerson Palmieri from Chelsea in the summer, but so far that hasn’t been the case: Cresswell has made 12 starts in the Premier League, while Emerson as only managed three.
Cresswell has been a popular FPL asset in the past but is currently owned by only 2.6 per cent of managers after a slow start to the campaign. The left-back is yet to provide an attacking return in 2022-23 but his underlying numbers are promising: only Trippier has created more chances among defenders this season.
Price: £4.8m Points: 35 Gameweek 15 fixture: Crystal Palace (h)
Kevin De Bruyne (Man City)
Having seemingly jinxed the previously ever-present Phil Foden over the past two gameweeks we’re going to try our luck with Kevin De Bruyne instead. As is perhaps unavoidable when playing in the same team as Haaland, De Bruyne’s excellent form and potential as an FPL asset seems to have been overlooked.
De Bruyne has as many direct goal contributions (12; three goals, nine assists) as he has Premier League appearances. In any ordinary campaign, those numbers would make the Belgian a must-have, but he is currently owned by just over a third of FPL managers. If you have the funds, pairing him with Haaland could be a cheat code.
Price: £12.5m Points: 81 Gameweek 15 fixture: Fulham (h)
Analysis: Enjoy KDB while you can
By Daniel Storey, i‘s chief football writer
They talk about that distance, between 20 and 25 yards, as difficult for a set-piece taker because you struggle to get the ball up and down. De Bruyne doesn’t really care. Watch the free-kick again. He has an incredible ability to quickly get his shots up to a height to clear the wall and then just… keep them at that same height.
Do you think we take De Bruyne’s majesty a little for granted? Are we slightly immune to just how ridiculous it is to produce these moments with such consistency? Perhaps because there is very little fanfare, no mass billboard ads and no marketing hashtags, just a slightly red-faced, unassuming man who makes technically difficult things look ludicrously simple. We shall miss him when he is no longer doing this every week.
Read Daniel’s full piece on De Bruyne here
Marcus Rashford (Man Utd)
Isn’t it great to see Marcus Rashford with a smile on his face? Regardless of club allegiance, football fans up and down the country would have willed Rashford to rediscover his form after a nightmarish 2021-22 season and he certainly seems to have done that under Erik ten Hag. He scored his 100th United goal against West Ham last Sunday.
Rashford is United’s leading scorer with four Premier League goals, while only Christian Eriksen has provided more assists (three to two). As Rashford’s confidence grows so too should his goal tally: only Mo Salah (with 10) has had more “big chances” among midfielders this season than the England international (nine).
Price: £6.6m Points: 58 Gameweek 15 fixture: Aston Villa (a)
Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal)
Bukayo Saka has reportedly trained for Arsenal this week, raising hope that he will be involved against Chelsea this weekend. But given the England international might not be fully 100 per cent, Gabriel Martinelli looks to be the pick of Arsenal’s attackers this weekend.
The Brazilian scored his fifth league goal of the campaign against Nottingham Forest at the weekend and was given a breather after Arsenal had extended their advantage. Chelsea struggled badly at the back against Brighton in their last game and Martinelli has tormented them at Stamford Bridge in the past.
Price: £6.8m Points: 68 Gameweek 15 fixture: Chelsea (a)
Said Benrahma (West Ham)
It feels like an awfully long time ago that Said Benrahma and Michail Antonio were the must-have duo to own in FPL, with both even losing their starting places at West Ham at points this season. Benrahma has started back-to-back games since Lucas Paqueta got injured, though, and looks like a decent differential option for the next two weeks.
Over the past four gameweeks, Benrahma has attempted 15 shots on goal and created five chances. Interestingly, he also took and scored a penalty against Bournemouth and with Jarrod Bowen admitting that he is no longer the first-choice taker, it looks as though spot-kicks could be the Algerian’s to lose.
Price: £5.6m Points: 25 Gameweek 15 fixture: Crystal Palace (h)
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Callum Wilson (Newcastle)
The Ivan Toney to Callum Wilson move is proving popular in FPL this week with the former suspended for one game and the latter hitting a purple patch of form in front of goal. Amid reports that Wilson has made the 55-man cut for England’s World Cup squad, will Gareth Southgate also contemplate shifting Toney to Newcastle’s No 9 too?
Wilson is certainly making the most compelling case to be Harry Kane’s understudy at the moment. The 30-year-old has scored six goals and provided two assists in nine Premier League appearances this season and was virtually unplayable during last weekend’s rout of Villa.
Price: £7.5m Points: 53 Gameweek 15 fixture: Southampton (a)
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton)
Barring a rather epic injury crisis in attack, Harry Kane’s Euro 2020 understudy Dominic Calvert-Lewin is unlikely to make England’s final 26-man squad for the World Cup, but a couple of strong performances over the next week may just give Southgate something to think about.
Calvert-Lewin has been plagued by injury problems in 2022 but completed the full 90 minutes against Fulham last weekend. His underlying stats aren’t that promising – he has had three shots in total across his last three starts – but he is owned by fewer than one per cent of managers and faces Leicester and Bournemouth in the next two games.
Price: £7.9m Points: 13 Gameweek 15 fixture: Leicester (h)
Erling Haaland (or Julian Alvarez)
Impressive as Fulham have been on their third yo-yo attempt into the Premier League, this is precisely the kind of fixture that you want maximum Man City coverage for. Guardiola’s side have rattled in 27 league goals at the Etihad so far, averaging 4.5 per game and look a decent bet to maintain that rate as Fulham have shipped 11 in six away games.
Haaland has scored 12 of those goals, accounting for 44 per cent of City’s overall total, and it goes without saying that if he is passed fit he is the runaway captain candidate again this week. If Guardiola rules him out of a third match in succession, though, Haaland’s understudy Julian Alvarez (£6.0m) is well worth a roll of the dice.
Price: £12.2m Points: 117 Gameweek 15 fixture: Fulham (h)
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