Following a brief pause due to the FA Cup third round, Fantasy Premier League returns with a bumper schedule.
The exciting news is that we have a double gameweek on our hands. This one involves three of the “big six” clubs in Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham, with Crystal Palace completing the quartet.
Less thrilling is that they each have tough fixtures to negotiate, particularly City and Spurs, who play each other a few days after being involved in pressurised local derbies with in-form opponents.
The Premier League has spoiled us by scheduling arguably the two most entertaining local derbies in the division in the same weekend, with United hosting City at Old Trafford on Saturday and Tottenham “welcoming” Arsenal to N17 on Sunday.
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Spurs are also in the top four mix and will be desperate to not only boost their own prospects, but dent those of their fiercest rivals in the process, just as they did last May.
Elsewhere, Graham Potter will be looking to halt Chelsea’s slide against Crystal Palace, Liverpool travel to Brighton without their defensive talisman Virgil van Dijk, and Nottingham Forest and Leicester contest the east midlands derby.
Gameweek 19 top scorers
Goalkeepers:
- Leno (Fulham) – 10*
- Pope (Newcastle) – 10
- Ederson (Man City) – 8
Defenders:
- Shaw (Man Utd) – 15
- Doherty (Spurs) – 14
- Perisic (Spurs) – 10
- Ream (Fulham) – 9*
- Stones (Man City) – 9
Midfielders:
- March (Brighton) – 11
- Casemiro (Man Utd) – 10
- Oxlade-Chamberlain (Liverpool) – 9
Forwards:
- Kane (Spurs) – 16
- Mbeumo (Brentford) – 12
- Ferguson (Brighton) – 11
* denotes that a player still has a match to play this Gameweek
Here is this week’s FPL team, which costs £83m exactly. The next deadline is at 6.30pm on Friday night.
Gameweek 20 fixtures
Friday 13 January
- Aston Villa vs Leeds
Saturday 14 January
- Man Utd vs Man City
- Brighton vs Liverpool
- Everton vs Southampton
- Nottingham Forest vs Leicester
- Wolves vs West Ham
- Brentford vs Bournemouth
Sunday 15 January
- Chelsea vs Crystal Palace
- Newcastle vs Fulham
- Tottenham vs Arsenal
Wednesday 18 January
- Crystal Palace vs Man Utd
Thursday 19 January
- Man City vs Spurs
Danny Ward (Leicester)
Leicester’s upturn in form before the World Cup has disappeared abruptly. The Foxes have lost all four of their matches against Premier League opposition (including against Newcastle in the Carabao Cup) and only beaten MK Dons and Gillingham since returning to action.
However, owning the top assets from City, United and Spurs for their double gameweeks means compromises must be made elsewhere. Danny Ward is nailed on to start and faces the second-lowest scoring attack in the league this weekend in Nottingham Forest.
Price: £4.1m Points: 66 Gameweek 20 fixture: Nottingham Forest (a)
John Stones (Man City)
Man City have two tough fixtures, but given their pedigree, you suspect that most FPL managers will try and find a way to cram three of their assets into their starting teams. The problem is, Erling Haaland aside, who are the best ones to go for?
Joao Cancelo’s diminishing minutes and disappointing returns mean he is no longer the City defender of choice. Instead, John Stones looks like the go-to guy, after starting in City’s last six league games and sitting out the FA Cup win over Chelsea. He has double gameweek pedigree too, memorably scoring 27 points in one back in 2020-21.
i tip: For the more risk-tolerant or thrifty managers out there, budget-busting Rico Lewis (£3.9m) could be a decent option after starting two of City’s previous three league games.
Price: £5.4m Points: 45 Gameweek 20 fixture(s): Man Utd (a), Spurs (h)
Luke Shaw (Man Utd)
Kieran Trippier is the leading defensive option in the game right now, but Luke Shaw is making a compelling case to be second in the pecking order after excelling for Manchester United since the World Cup.
Shaw is the top-scoring player in the game post-restart, combining three clean sheets with a goal and eight bonus points. Although he’s a better FPL asset in his natural position at left-back, Erik ten Hag’s recent experimentation with him in a central role should mean his starting place is more secure now than earlier on this season.
Price: £5.1m Points: 62 Gameweek 20 fixture(s): Man City (h), Crystal Palace (a)
Kieran Trippier (Newcastle)
Kieran Trippier only has one fixture in Gameweek 20, but given both his and Newcastle’s form, there is every chance that he could match, or even surpass, the points tallies of any defender with two.
Remarkably, Trippier is only 20 points behind Erling Haaland at the top of the FPL leaderboard and just three short of Harry Kane, taking third position on the podium. His consistency has been remarkable: since Gameweek 6, Trippier has averaged 7.85 points per game – more than any other player – and only returned a dreaded two-pointer once.
Price: £6.0m Points: 124 Gameweek 20 fixture: Fulham (h)
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Hugo Bueno (Wolves)
Similarly to Danny Ward, Hugo Bueno is the cheapest player in his position currently starting regularly and including him in your squad frees up cash to be spent elsewhere. As mentioned in the John Stones section, though, if you have a spare Man City slot going and are struggling for FPL currency, Rico Lewis could be a great differential.
Bueno has been named in Wolves’ starting line-up in all three of Julen Lopetegui’s league games in charge.
Price: £3.9m Points: 19 Gameweek 20 fixture: West Ham (h)
Kevin De Bruyne (Man City)
If you’re going to be making transfers or even taking points hits to bring in a player with two fixtures, you want to do so in the expectation, rather than hope, that they will start each game. One or two of Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish could start both of City’s matches, but working out who will be the chosen one is mission impossible.
However, it would be a shock if Kevin De Bruyne doesn’t start against both United and Spurs. De Bruyne hasn’t been up to his usual standards since Belgium’s World Cup horror show, failing to provide a goal or assist in three league matches, but he is a big-game player and will end that slump sooner rather than later.
Price: £12.5m Points: 96 Gameweek 20 fixture(s): Man Utd (a), Spurs (h)
Marcus Rashford (Man Utd)
A no-brainer at this point, taking his form and price tag into account. Marcus Rashford has scored 10 goals in his previous 11 appearances for club and country since the World Cup, bagging in six consecutive games.
United teammate Luke Shaw and points hoover Kieran Trippier are the only players to have accumulated more FPL points since the Premier League’s restart than United’s No 10. Considering his output, Rashford hasn’t had as many shots as you might suspect – his eight efforts is half Darwin Nunez’s total, for instance – but when he is this high on confidence that hardly seems to matter.
Price: £7.0m Points: 89 Gameweek 20 fixture(s): Man City (h), Crystal Palace (a)
Michael Olise (Crystal Palace)
Factoring in their difficult fixtures and iffy form, acquiring a Palace player should feature low on your FPL priorities this week. Tripling up on both Man City and Man United assets, and finding a spot for Harry Kane alongside Erling Haaland, are far more pressing issues.
Nevertheless, if your squad already has a strong Manchester core and a Kane-Haaland strikeforce, it’s worth taking a short-term punt on a Palace option. Wilfried Zaha is the obvious pick, but Michael Olise is far cheaper and has had more shots (six to three) and chances created (five to four) than the Eagles’ talisman since Gameweek 17.
Price: £5.4m Points: 53 Gameweek 20 fixture(s): Chelsea (a), Man Utd (h)
Bruno Fernandes (Man Utd)
Bruno Fernandes hasn’t yet come close to emulating his FPL heights of 2020-21, when his 244 points (courtesy of 18 goals and 14 assists) saw him pip Harry Kane as the top scorer in the game.
But although Fernandes isn’t providing the explosive totals that you’d want from an expensive asset, he is managing to tick along with reasonable returns, supplying six points in three of his last four games. With Cristiano Ronaldo no longer on the scene, he should reclaim his status as United’s designated penalty taker. He’s a massive differential too, with ownership of under five per cent.
Price: £9.8m Points: 63 Gameweek 20 fixture(s): Man City (h), Crystal Palace (a)
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It would take an incredibly brave – or foolish – FPL manager to not captain Erling Haaland for a double gameweek. The question is, could this be a good time to triple captain him?
On the one hand, the matches aren’t great: Man United at Old Trafford will be tricky, while Spurs have beaten City in four of the last five Premier League meetings between the clubs. On the other hand, the fixtures could actually suit Haaland better as United and, to a lesser extent Spurs, should be more open and more vulnerable to Haaland’s threat in behind their defenses. Decisions, decisions…
Price: £12.2m Points: 144 Gameweek 20 fixture(s): Man Utd (a), Spurs (h)
Harry Kane (Spurs)
On paper, it’s the double gameweek from hell for Spurs: a high-stakes north London derby against top-of-the-table Arsenal, followed by an away game with the Gunners’ chief chasers Manchester City.
It’s enough to put you off virtually every Spurs player, with the exception of the fixture-proof Harry Kane. A goal against Arsenal would take Kane level with Jimmy Greaves as the club’s all-time leading scorer; two would see him surpass the great man. Imperious as Mikel Arteta’s side have been, you’d back Kane to rise to the big occasion once more.
Price: £11.6m Points: 127 Gameweek 20 fixture(s): Arsenal (h), Man City (a)
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