What you need to know for Gameweek 18

The news, data, risers and fallers in Fantasy Premier League

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Fantasy Gameweek. This is our round-up of everything you need to know for Gameweek 18. It includes the news that matters, the key data from Impect, our data partner, and the risers and fallers.

Please note, there will be no Fantasy Gameweek between Christmas and New Year. The next edition will be with you before Gameweek 21 in early January. We wish all readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

The deadline for transfers and changes to your team for Gameweek 18 is 6.30pm UK time on Thursday December 21 - that’s today!

Here are some of the key news stories this week:

-All Fantasy Premier League points from the Bournemouth v Luton match in Gameweek 17 have been voided. The match was abandoned after Tom Lockyer collapsed on the field. It will be replayed later in the season. Most importantly, Lockyer is in a stable condition in hospital. More here and statement from FPL here
-Manchester City do not play in Gameweek 18 because of their involvement in the FIFA Club World Cup and there remain doubts about whether Erling Haaland will be fit to return from injury for Gameweek 19 on Boxing Day. More here
-Nuno Espirito Santo is the new manager of Nottingham Forest after Steve Cooper was sacked. BBC story here

These are the fixtures for Gameweek 18. There are no matches for Brentford or Manchester City

These are the most transferred-in players this week so far:

And these are the transfers-out:

Now for the key data from Impect, our data partner.

These are the top-five and bottom-five teams for xG per game so far. As a reminder, xG measures the quality of chances that a team creates by attributing a score to each chance based on the likelihood of it being a goal. For example, if the chance was certain to be a goal then it would get an xG score of 1. However, xG does not take into account the quality of the player with the chance or the goalkeeper they are facing. It just looks at the location of the chance and the number of players around the ball.

Best
Liverpool - 2.23
Chelsea - 2.17
Newcastle - 2.06
Man City - 2.06
Aston Villa - 2.01

Worst
Sheffield United - 0.81
Burnley - 1.01
Luton - 1.09
Nottingham Forest - 1.17
Fulham - 1.3

And here are the best five and worst five for xG per game conceded:

Best
Arsenal - 0.79
Man City - 1.01
Newcastle - 1.21
Liverpool - 1.39
Brentford - 1.4

Worst
Sheffield United - 2.28
Luton - 2.15
West Ham - 1.92
Fulham - 1.81
Tottenham - 1.81

Moving on to the players, these are the top-10 for Offensive Impect, which measures the attacking effectiveness of a player for their team when they are on the pitch. This data should be used in conjunction with how many minutes these players are on the pitch…

Erling Haaland - 100
Ollie Watkins - 99.6
Mo Salah - 99.3
Leon Bailey - 98.9
Callum Wilson - 98.5
Darwin Nunez - 98.2
Heung-Min Son - 97.8
Taiwo Awoniyi - 97.4
Chris Wood - 96.7
Alexander Isak - 96.4

Next, these are the post-shot xG rankings. As a reminder, post-shot xG measures the quality of a chance after the shot has been taken, so it also takes into account the quality of the shot:

Erling Haaland - 13.6
Dominic Solanke - 10.77
Ollie Watkins - 10.11
Mo Salah - 10.08
Heung-Min Son - 9.18
Bryan Mbeumo - 7.19
Matheus Cunha - 6.64
Odsonne Edouard - 6.29
Abdoulaye Doucoure - 6.05
Alexander Isak - 5.75

Lastly, these are the top defenders for Offensive Impect, which shows the defenders who are contributing to attacks, which is really useful to know for FPL:

Pervis Estupinan - 100
Nathan Ake - 99.1
Kieran Trippier - 98.2
Sven Botman - 97.4
Manuel Akanji - 96.5
Cristian Romero - 95.6
Oleksander Zinchenko - 94.7
Trent Alexander-Arnold - 93.9
Andrew Robertson - 93
Marcos Senesi - 92.1

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Finally, let’s look at the risers and fallers…

Risers

Mohammed Kudus (MID, £6.7m)

Kudus has delivered four double-digit returns in the last seven fixtures, with his 16-point return in Gameweek 17 his highest of the season. Home match-ups for West Ham against an average Manchester United defence in Gameweek 18 and out-of-form Brighton in Gameweek 20 offer the opportunity for that form to continue, albeit with a tough trip to the Emirates to face Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal sandwiched in between for Gameweek 19.

Alex Moreno (DEF, £5m)

Flying Spanish full-back Moreno’s price has plummeted in FPL following an injury that kept him out of the first 13 fixtures of Aston Villa’s campaign. He established himself as the clear first-choice at the back end of last season and offers attacking threat alongside the potential for clean sheet points. He proved just how threatening he can be with the equalising goal in Villa’s 2-1 win against Brentford in Gameweek 17. The next three fixtures – Sheffield United (H), Man United (A) and Burnley (H) – are appealing. 

Tino Livramento (DEF, £4.4m)

Like Moreno, Livramento is rapid and offers potential for both attacking returns and clean sheet points in FPL. Upcoming fixtures against Luton Town (A) and Nottingham Forest (H) are about as appetising as it gets for a defender in FPL. There is some rotation risk here, but Livramento has the talent to make himself undroppable. 

Fallers

Lucas Digne (DEF, £4.7m)

Digne has been a solid if unspectacular FPL play in defence this season, delivering three assists and four clean sheets for his backers. However, the goalscoring return of Moreno at left-back means it’s time to fade the Frenchman.

Darwin Nunez (FWD, £7.6m)

Millions of FPL managers backed Uruguayan Nunez from Gameweek 14, tempted by fixtures against Fulham (H), Sheffield United (A), Crystal Palace (A) and Man United (H) and confident he would start following Diogo Jota’s injury. Nunez delivered just one assist in that stretch of games, against Sheffield United – the fixture he was dropped to the bench for. He once again looked lost in Liverpool’s 0-0 draw with Man United in Gameweek 17. Manager Jurgen Klopp’s patience may well run out ahead of their crunch Gameweek 18 contest against Arsenal.

Mark Flekken (GK, £4.5m)

Brentford haven’t kept a clean sheet since their 2-0 win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in Gameweek 10. The suspension of Ben Mee for the next three games won’t make that any more likely. Even with a relatively soft set of fixtures against Wolves (H), Crystal Palace (A) and Nottingham Forest (H), there are better options between the sticks. 

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That’s it for this edition. Thanks for reading and good luck in Gameweek 18

Graham and Tom