Even the most passionate Fantasy Premier League managers could be forgiven for welcoming the imminent mid-season break following a couple of dramatic and unpredictable gameweeks.
Pep Guardiola’s unwillingness to disclose Erling Haaland’s fitness status and inexplicable decision to bench the in-form Phil Foden has created a tidal wave of uncertainty that has flooded the FPL community. It seemingly engulfed the FPL website and app too, with thousands of managers claiming that the server has failed them two weeks in succession.
On Saturday, managers in their droves to complained on social media that they were unable to make last-minute transfers, captaincy changes or substitutions before the 1.30pm deadline. Andy Murray was one of them, tweeting “FPL site is shocking. Crashes every week before deadline”.
It seems a fair assumption that besides those flying high at the top of the rankings, some managers are feeling rather jaded right now. It is handy then that there is only one more week to worry about before the Premier League and FPL takes a five-week sabbatical while the World Cup is played.
Gameweek 15 top scorers
Goalkeepers
- Ramsdale (Arsenal), Ward (Leicester) – 6
Defenders
- Gabriel (Arsenal) – 15
- Trippier (Newcastle) – 12
- Digne (Aston Villa) – 10
Midfielders
- Tavernier (Bournemouth) – 16
- Salah (Liverpool) – 15
- Ramsey (Aston Villa) – 14
- Lallana (Brighton), Summerville (Leeds), Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest) – 13
- Wissa (Brentford), Zaha (Crystal Palace) – 12
- Tielemans, Maddison (Leicester) – 11
- Olise (Crystal Palace) – 10
Forwards
- Greenwood (Leeds), Alvarez (Man City) – 9
- Kane (Spurs) – 8
- Darwin (Liverpool), Wood (Newcastle) – 7
Not only does that tournament provide some respite, but it also brings with it another Wildcard, in all but name. For those who may have missed FPL’s announcement earlier this season, or else forgotten about it, managers will be able to make unlimited changes to their 15-man squads from after the Gameweek 16 deadline right up until the start of Gameweek 17 on Boxing Day.
FPL has clarified how the game will function during the World Cup. Here are some of the main takeaways:
- All transfers made after Gameweek 16 and ahead of Gameweek 17 will be free and not incur points hits.
- Player prices will be frozen from the Gameweek 16 deadline (at 11am on Saturday 12 November) for the duration of the tournament.
- If you own a player who has risen in price and decide to sell them at any point, you will have to pay their current price to get them back.
- You can play the Bench Boost, Triple Captain or Free Hit chip in Gameweek 17.
As mentioned in last week’s tips, now is an optimal time to take a punt or two with your transfers given you’ll be able to make an unlimited number of changes over the next five weeks.
Here is i‘s Gameweek 16 team featuring four players with less than 10 per cent ownership.
Gameweek 16 fixtures
Saturday 12 November
- Man City vs Brentford
- Bournemouth vs Everton
- Liverpool vs Southampton
- Nottingham Forest vs Crystal Palace
- Spurs vs Leeds
- West Ham vs Leicester
- Newcastle vs Chelsea
- Wolves vs Arsenal
Sunday 13 November
- Brighton vs Aston Villa
- Fulham vs Man Utd
Alisson (Liverpool)
Five goalkeepers have kept more clean sheets than Alisson so far but only one of them – Newcastle’s Nick Pope – has amassed more FPL points than the Brazilian. Many of Liverpool’s standout FPL assets have been inconsistent this season, but Alisson is not one of them, combining four shutouts with a penalty save and an assist apiece.
The Reds have had a couple of false dawns already this season, but having beaten a top-four rival and earned a first away win in the league last weekend, confidence should be high ahead of Southampton’s visit to Anfield. Only three clubs have scored fewer goals than the Saints, who have been particularly wasteful of late.
Price: £5.4m Points: 62 Gameweek 16 fixture: Southampton (h)
Ivan Perisic (Spurs)
What’s better than a player listed as a defender in FPL playing in midfield? The answer is a player listed as a defender playing as a forward. That situation can’t have happened too often in the past but it did on Sunday when Ivan Perisic lined up alongside Harry Kane in Tottenham’s front two.
The return of Dejan Kulusevski (more on him later) might mean that Perisic isn’t quite as advanced against Leeds, but there is a strong chance he could line up in a front three with Son Heung-min injured and Richarlison lacking match fitness. Perisic had the highest xG (0.79) of any defender in Gameweek 15 and hit the woodwork twice.
Price: £5.5m Points: 44 Gameweek 16 fixture: Leeds (h)
Ben White (Arsenal)
Ben White isn’t as glamorous an FPL pick as his defensive colleagues William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes, but he is significantly cheaper than both and is gradually becoming more of an attacking threat as he gets accustomed to a new right-back role.
White created only two chances in his opening six league games of the campaign, but has since managed seven in his last seven appearances. In total, he has created three big chances – a situation where a player should be reasonably expected to score – which is only bettered by Kieran Trippier, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Perisic among defenders.
Price: £4.6m Points: 58 Gameweek 16 fixture: Wolves (a)
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Joao Cancelo (Man City)
The (unofficial) definition of a “rage transfer” is when an FPL manager sells a player in a fit of pique after they have done something stupid, e.g. got themselves sent off 27 minutes into a home fixture against Fulham. Joao, what on earth did you that for?
Following his red card last Saturday, Joao Cancelo is the second-most sold player ahead of the Gameweek 16 deadline. Infuriating as Cancelo’s -2 round score undoubtedly was, he could well punish his sellers when City host Brentford this weekend after serving his one-game suspension when City played Chelsea in the Carabao Cup in midweek.
Price: £7.4m Points: 69 Gameweek 16 fixture: Brentford (h)
Dejan Kulusevski (Spurs)
It took Dejan Kulusevski all of one minute and 21 seconds to provide an assist after coming on against Liverpool in his first Premier League appearance in six weeks. Despite playing in less than 50 per cent of Tottenham’s Premier League campaign, the 22-year-old is their joint-highest assist provider (with four) alongside the aforementioned Perisic.
Spurs are simply a much more effective and cohesive side when Kulusevski is in it; the Swede is the one who knits the midfield and attack together. Leeds are the visitors to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday and their away record bodes well for Spurs as they have lost four of their six away matches this season, conceding 13 goals.
Price: £8.0m Points: 36 Gameweek 16 fixture: Leeds (h)
Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace)
Wilfried Zaha was the third-most sold player of Gameweek 15 – behind Ivan Toney and Phil Foden – and he punished his sellers by racking up a 12-point haul, his joint-highest return of the season, during Crystal Palace’s dramatic win at the London Stadium.
Zaha will likely be a popular transfer this week as Palace take on an obliging defence in Nottingham Forest, but he admits he has no idea what FPL even is. “I always hear people say thanks for the points,” he said last week. “I don’t know what it’s about at all!” Oh to live in such peaceful bliss…
Price: £7.5m Points: 64 Gameweek 16 fixture: Nottingham Forest (a)
Mo Salah (Liverpool)
Mo Salah has been a source of frustration for FPL managers for much of the campaign but is beginning to look a lot more like his old self. After scoring only four goals in his first 10 club appearances of the season, Salah has since netted 10 in his last 10 including a double against Spurs in Gameweek 15.
Both strikes were straight out of the Salah textbook: a composed side-footed finish into the bottom corner and a deftly executed dink over the goalkeeper. If you’re fed up of second-guessing Guardiola’s plans for Haaland – and let’s face it, which FPL manager isn’t – you could do a lot worse than to captain Salah at home against Southampton.
Price: £12.7m Points: 80 Gameweek 16 fixture: Southampton
Miguel Almiron (Newcastle)
The World Cup has come at an inopportune time for Newcastle as they are absolutely flying right now; the same cannot be said of their next opponents Chelsea, for whom the break cannot come soon enough. While Eddie Howe’s side have strung together a four-game winning streak in the league, Chelsea are without a victory in their last four.
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Chelsea’s current form makes targeting their defence a viable strategy. And who better to snap up than the Premier League’s most in-form player Miguel Almiron? Only Haaland (with 18), Harry Kane (11) and Aleksandr Mitrovic (nine) have scored times than the Paraguayan (eight) and he is one goal off eclipsing Jack Grealish’s best-ever goalscoring season.
Price: £5.8m Points: 87 Gameweek 16 fixture: Chelsea (h)
Marcus Tavernier (Bournemouth)
It has taken Marcus Tavernier a while to get adjusted to the Premier League, as demonstrated by his return of zero goals and zero assists in his first 11 games in the competition. However, over the past couple of weeks he has seemed to flick the switch, scoring two goals and registering two assists.
Although he has only recently found his golden touch in the final third, Tavernier’s underlying numbers across the season are promising. The winger has had 20 shots on goal, including 14 from inside the box, and created 13 chances. Bournemouth’s upcoming opponents Everton meanwhile have faced the most shots in the Premier League.
Price: £4.9m Points: 47 Gameweek 16 fixture: Everton (h)
Darwin Nunez (Liverpool)
Completing a Liverpool triple-up in this week’s picks is Darwin Nunez, who is becoming an increasingly prominent part of Jurgen Klopp’s plans. The Uruguayan has started the last three leagues games in which he’s been available and has registered FPL returns in two of them, following up a goal against West Ham with an assist for Salah at Spurs.
Nunez has only scored three times in the league so far but his stats make for eyecatching reading. He has had more shots (6.24) per-90 minutes than any other player in the Premier League, including you know who over at Manchester City. If he can convert more efforts into goals he will quickly rise to the top of FPL bosses’ watchlists.
Price: £8.9m Points: 31 Gameweek 16 fixture: Southampton (h)
Erling Haaland (Man City)
We came so close to omitting Erling Haaland from this week’s tips, out of spite over his lack of recent minutes more than anything, but just imagine not having him if he starts at home against Brentford. With no disrespect to the Bees intended, it is a fixture that screams Haaland hat-trick. Like every other game then really.
Following his last-gasp penalty against Fulham last weekend, it remains the case that Haaland has only failed to score once at home in the Premier League, against Bournemouth back in Gameweek 2. He has averaged 2.28 goals and 15.09 points per-90 minutes at the Etihad.
Price: £12.1m Points: 122 Gameweek 16 fixture: Brentford (h)
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