In our Watchlist series, we pick out the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) players who are the best medium-term targets in each position based on fixtures, form and value.
Unlike the Scout Picks, we’re not just focusing on the upcoming Gameweek with these articles.
Will (aka TopMarx) is updating the rankings regularly in 2022/23 and we’ll assess his latest update here.
ABOUT THE WATCHLIST
Our regularly updated Watchlist, which is visible on the sidebar, ranks players in each position for the medium term – typically the next four Gameweeks.
This allows site users to get a longer-term view on recommended players beyond the weekly Scout Picks.
Players are selected according to factors such as FPL’s form rating*, club injuries, club morale, forthcoming fixtures and whether or not the player in question is likely to be a bargain in FPL.
The table displays the player name and club, along with the abbreviation for the factors that played a part in their ranking. A key for these factors can be found below the player in the table and looks like this:
Arrows before the name indicate whether a player has significantly climbed or fallen in our reckoning since the previous update or if they are a new entry into the tables.
*Points divided by a club’s matches played over the last 30 days. These form ratings will become more useful after three to four Gameweeks have passed.
THE WATCHLIST: BEST FPL GOALKEEPERS
Ederson (£5.5m) replaces Alisson (£5.5m) at the top of the goalkeeper rankings: it’s City 2-0 Liverpool in terms of clean sheets so far, while the reigning champions are the only Premier League side yet to concede a ‘big chance’ so far in 2022/23; the Reds have allowed five such efforts.
Danny Ward‘s (£4.0m) continued inclusion is very heavily based on his starting price and status as the only playing £4.0m goalkeeper in FPL, with back-to-back one-pointers, a mixed bag of fixtures and some ropey defending in front of him not convincing us that a lot of clean sheets are set to arrive.
Robert Sanchez (£4.5m) is added and David Raya (£4.5m) moves up, with Brentford and Brighton near the top of our Season Ticker for fixture difficulty right the way up to the international break. The two sides are second and third for lowest expected goals conceded (xGC), too, at this admittedly very early stage of the campaign.
There’s no place for Dean Henderson (£4.5m) yet despite his clean sheet and excellent penalty save but expect that to change come Gameweek 6 when Nottingham Forest’s fixtures improve.
Jose Sa (£5.0m) drops despite his Gameweek 2 heroics, with Wolverhampton Wanderers about to enter a six-match run that includes Manchester City, Liverpool and Spurs.
THE WATCHLIST: BEST FPL DEFENDERS
Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.5m) and Andrew Robertson (£7.0m) follow Alisson in falling down the Watchlist, although we’re certainly not willing to demote the attack-minded duo too far.
A shortage of fully fit centre-halves and the poor form of Fabinho (£5.5m) can perhaps partly explain the dearth of clean sheets so far, and the injury crisis at the back might not clear for a couple of weeks. Even Joe Gomez (£4.5m), fourth in line at centre-back, was only fit enough for bench duty in Gameweek 2, so there’s an uneasy ‘early 2020/21’ feeling about Jurgen Klopp’s backline at present.
Joao Cancelo (£7.0m) and Reece James (£6.0m) consequently move to the top of the defenders’ Watchlist, with favourable fixtures and the potential for further attacking returns. Kyle Walker (£5.1m) also gets a bump, with competition for places in the full-back department at City somewhat lacking.
Lucas Digne (£5.0m) and Jonny (£4.5m) drop out altogether, with the former failing to capitalise on appealing-looking Gameweek 1 and 2 fixtures and now set for stiffer tests ahead.
Ivan Perisic (£5.4m) tentatively creeps back into view because of not just his own impact as a substitute in the draw with Chelsea but also due to the struggles of Ryan Sessegnon (£4.5m) in the same match. The prospects of a start against Wolves look more promising without it being a certainty – take note of Antonio Conte’s lukewarm post-match comments on Sunday – so the rotation risk tag you see on the graphic is well warranted.
The rather less sexy Ben Mee (£4.5m) joins the party, meanwhile. Brentford face only one of last season’s top seven in the next nine Gameweeks and with positional rival Ethan Pinnock (£4.5m) out for quite some time, he’s looking good for starts over that period.
Mee was one of the 10 best defenders (with 10+ appearances) last season for minutes per shot in the box, while Brentford were a constant threat from set plays and scored a third of their goals from free-kicks and corners. The former Burnley stopper duly popped up with a goal in Gameweek 2.
THE WATCHLIST: BEST FPL MIDFIELDERS
The upper echelons of the midfielders’ Watchlist remain mostly untouched, save for Gabriel Martinelli (£6.3m) and Bukayo Saka (£8.0m) trading positions. While it would be foolish to write Saka off given his reliability of starts, consistent attacking returns of 2021/22 and possible penalty-taking status, the former is simply offering much better value for money at present.
Leon Bailey (£4.9m) and Pedro Neto (£5.5m) follow their defensive colleagues in dropping out of the list, with the former’s unreliability of starts and Wolves’ ongoing aversion to scoring goals big factors – we probably should have seen those two things coming, in hindsight.
Pascal Gross (£5.6m) is added after impressing again against Newcastle. He offers all-round threat from both open play and at dead-ball situations, getting into the box with increased frequency (10 penalty area touches so far) and taking seven corners. He also boasts the best expected goal involvement (xGI) figure of any midfielder in the game to date and plays for the only team to avoid a ‘big six’ side between now and the September international break.
Second only to Gross for xGI among midfielders, Rodrigo (£6.1m) also boasts position-best totals for goal attempts (eight) and shots in box (seven). He might even be heading for an ‘out of position’ tag, having starred up top in Saturday’s two-all draw with Southampton.
There were plenty of other midfielders gunning for Watchlist duty, with James Maddison (£8.0m), Wilfried Zaha (£7.0m) and Dejan Kulusevski (£8.1m) all under consideration this week. Ilkay Gundogan (£7.5m) was perhaps the closest of them all to featuring, with the German enjoying some additional attacking freedom making runs behind Erling Haaland (£11.7m). Those lingering concerns about security of starts and Bernardo Silva’s (£6.8m) future keep Gundogan on the fringes for now, however.
As for Josh Dasilva (£4.6m), we’re not quite at the point of wholeheartedly endorsing him yet. His two goals have come from an expected goals (xG) tally of just 0.07, while Mikkel Damsgaard‘s (£5.5m) arrival and possible deployment as a ‘number eight’ only adds to the competition in midfield – even if it’s Dasilva’s spot to lose in the short term.
Andreas Pereira (£4.5m), on set plays and seemingly more assured of minutes providing his injury isn’t serious, remains our preferred option from the budget midfield bracket.
THE WATCHLIST: BEST FPL FORWARDS
Tumbling out of contention is the suspended Darwin Nunez (£9.0m), whose moment of madness at Anfield on Monday sees him sidelined until September.
Callum Wilson’s (£7.5m) short-term schedule, in which he and Newcastle face last season’s top two in Gameweeks 3 and 5, is enough to see him temporarily disappear from view, meanwhile.
Entering the fray are Ivan Toney (£7.1m) and Kai Havertz (£8.0m).
Havertz had five shots in the box and impressed against Spurs on Sunday, while a very nice run of fixtures awaits Chelsea: their next four opponents possessed some of the weakest defences in 2021/22 and indeed they don’t have a clean sheet between them in the opening two Gameweeks.
The penalty-taking Toney and Brentford meanwhile also have a favourable schedule on their side, meeting newly promoted Fulham this weekend and then four sides who finished between 12th and 17th in the Premier League last season in the following four Gameweeks.
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