What you need to know for Gameweek 23
Fantasy Premier League latest
Hello and welcome back to Fantasy Gameweek. This is our round-up of everything you need to know for Gameweek 23 in Fantasy Premier League. It includes the news that matters, the key data from Impect, our data partner, and the risers and fallers.
The deadline for transfers and changes to your team for Gameweek 23 is 11am UK time on Saturday February 3
Here are some of the key news stories this week:
-Pep Guardiola has dismissed reports from Spain that Erling Haaland is unhappy at Manchester City. More here
-Heung-Min Son won’t be back in the Premier League for another week after scoring the goal that sent South Korea to the semi-finals of the Asian Cup. More here
-American midfielder Gio Reyna will be among the January transfer signings potentially making their debut this weekend. More here
These are the fixtures for Gameweek 23:
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. This is what has happened since Gameweek 14 at the start of December.
These are the top-five and bottom-five teams for xG per game. 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.
Best
Liverpool - 2.71
Arsenal - 2.12
Newcastle - 2.05
Tottenham - 2.04
Man City - 1.96
Worst
Luton - 1.08
Burnley - 1.11
Sheffield United - 1.12
Nottingham Forest - 1.17
Crystal Palace - 1.22
And here are the best five and worst five for xG per game conceded:
Best
Arsenal - 0.75
Liverpool - 0.96
Man City - 1.02
Aston Villa - 1.28
Bournemouth - 1.32
Worst
Newcastle - 2.58
Luton - 2
Fulham - 1.98
Sheffield United - 1.91
Tottenham - 1.84
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…
Richarlison - 100
Elijah Adebayo - 99.3
Chris Wood - 98.5
Cole Palmer - 97.8
Heung-Min Son - 97.1
Dominic Solanke - 96.3
Michael Olise - 95.6
Phil Foden - 94.9
Gabriel Jesus - 94.1
Jean-Philippe Mateta - 93.4
And these are the players with the highest xG….
Dominic Solanke - 7.15
Darwin Nunez - 6.02
Mo Salah - 5.27
Julian Alvarez - 4.47
Richarlison - 4.47
Gabriel Jesus - 4.15
Jarrod Bowen - 3.84
Joao Pedro - 3.7
Matheus Cunha - 3.57
Bukayo Saka - 3.49
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:
Dominic Solanke - 7.83
Mo Salah - 7.34
Jarrod Bowen - 5.33
Richarlison - 5.27
Julian Alvarez - 5.26
Darwin Nunez - 5.07
Joao Pedro - 4.75
Scott McTominay - 4.2
Matheus Cunha - 4.12
Elijah Adebayo - 3.95
These are the top-10 players for bypassed defenders, which measures how many opposition defenders a player takes out of the game with their passing or dribbling. It is a way to track a player’s attacking impact in a game:
Bruno Fernandes - 11
Trent Alexander-Arnold - 10
Pascal Gross - 10
Ross Barkley - 10
Martin Odegaard - 10
Kieran Trippier - 9
Cole Palmer - 9
Michael Olise - 9
Dejan Kulusevski - 9
Bruno Guimaraes - 8
Now let’s see the top-10 players for bypassed defenders receiving, which measures how many opposition defenders were taken out of the game when a player receives the ball. It measures the quality of the attacking positions that a player gets themselves in with the ball:
Jean-Philippe Mateta - 19.2
Darwin Nunez - 18.9
Dominic Calvert-Lewin - 17.2
Elijah Adebayo - 16.6
Ollie Watkins - 16.4
Richarlison - 14.5
Gabriel Jesus - 14.1
Dominic Solanke - 14
Chris Wood - 13.8
Joao Pedro - 12.8
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:
Alfie Doughty - 100
Marcos Senesi - 98.2
Gabriel - 96.5
Oleksandr Zinchenko - 94.7
Kieran Trippier - 93
Trent Alexander-Arnold - 91.2
Pedro Porro - 89.5
Fabian Schar - 87.7
Kyle Walker - 86
Max Kilman - 84.2
Finally, let’s look at the risers and fallers…
Risers
Michael Olise (MID, £5.9m)
Olise and Eberechi Eze were at their unplayable best in Gameweek 22, delivering a combined 30 FPL points (16 for Olise, 14 for Eze). Crystal Palace are a different beast when these two are fit and firing, and provided they recover from knocks, both are well-placed to deliver big points against a Brighton side that just shipped four goals against Luton Town. Olise gets the nod purely because he’s £0.1m cheaper, but either player is appealing as a high upside differential option in FPL.
Pedro Neto (MID, £5.6m)
The return of Neto from injury is huge for Wolves and adds another massive talent to the crop of sub-£6m midfielders available in FPL this season. The Portuguese winger was the inspiration for Wolves’ dramatic comeback against Manchester United in Gameweek 22, delivering a goal, an assist and 13 fantasy points. A Chelsea defence missing several key players in Gameweek 23 should have Neto owners licking their lips.
Rasmus Hojland (FWD, £6.8m)
The dysfunction at Old Trafford means it’s been a while since a Man United player featured in Risers. While we don’t expect that dysfunction to abate in the short-term, FPL is about numbers, not narratives. Hojlund is a hugely talented forward signed for big money who is guaranteed to start every single week. Given the relative paucity of attacking options in fantasy football this season, the fact he’s delivered double-figures points in back-to-back weeks has made us sit up and take notice – especially as he’s still priced at sub-£7m. Upcoming fixtures against West Ham United (H), leaky Aston Villa (A) and Luton (A) provide further opportunities for the Danish giant to burnish his credentials.
Fallers
Trent Alexander-Arnold (DEF, £8.6m)
The rapid rise of Conor Bradley – including his astonishing 21-point FPL haul in Gameweek 22 against Chelsea – means Trent now faces genuine competition for minutes at right-back. With Jurgen Klopp leaving at the end of the season, the manager might be less minded to worry about protecting the egos of established players. Trent is still elite, but the clear threat to his minutes means he has to get a downgrade in fantasy.
Pervis Estupinan (DEF, £5.1m)
Regular readers of Fantasy Gameweek might be tired of us repeating the mantra for defensive picks in FPL, but we make no apologies for that. The ideal defender plays regularly, offers attacking upside and, crucially, the potential for clean sheet points. Estupinan scores highly on the first two but Brighton have been shaky at the back this season and the manner of their 4-0 thumping at Kenilworth Road in Gameweek 22 was alarming. Crystal Palace at home in Gameweek 23 means you aren’t shipping him out immediately, but keep a close eye on Brighton for signs of continued weakness.
Matty Cash (DEF, £4.7m)
Cash is still in over 16% of FPL teams despite failing to score more than 2 points in a game since Gameweek 10. The Poland international isn’t a guaranteed starter and while there is
attacking upside here if he plays, Villa’s defensive regression in recent weeks has been alarming. There are better options in defence, although you probably want to keep the faith for one more week given Villa face Sheffield United (A) this weekend.
That’s it for this edition. Thanks for reading and good luck in Gameweek 23.
Graham and Tom