The FPL Watchlist: Who are the best medium-term player picks?

The Scout Picks may be the jewel in the crown of this site but arguably more important is The Watchlist, given that few of us regularly indulge in one-week punts.

In this series, we look at the stand-out Fantasy Premier League (FPL) options over a four-to-six-week lookahead.

The Watchlist is visible on the sidebar of this page and has been updated ahead of the Gameweek 18 deadline, with the new standings and the major changes detailed below.

With this article strand focusing on medium-term thinking, unsurprisingly not a great deal has changed from the pre-Boxing Day refresh as we try wherever possible to avoid making any knee-jerk decisions.

ABOUT THE WATCHLIST

Players are selected and ranked according to factors such as form, club injuries, forthcoming fixtures, Rate My Team’s points projections and whether or not the player in question is likely to be a bargain in FPL.

Arrows before the name indicate whether a player has climbed or fallen in our reckoning since the previous update or if they are a new entry into the tables.

We typically toe the line with FPL’s definition of ‘form’ (average points accrued in matches played over the last 30 days) but allowances are sometimes made for players missing because of/coming back from injury.

The key for the factors you’ll see in the below tables is as follows:

THE WATCHLIST: BEST FPL GOALKEEPERS

The only change to our goalkeeping pecking order sees Kepa Arrizabalaga (£4.5m) rise to number one spot and trade places with Danny Ward (£4.1m).

We’d held back on a top-of-the-podium spot for Kepa before Boxing Day, with his fitness status not quite 100% certain and there being a lingering question over whether Edouard Mendy (£4.8m) could get the nod instead.

Kepa duly lined up between the posts against Bournemouth, collecting a save point and two bonus points en route to a nine-point haul.

He’s now averaging more points per match (5.4) than any other first-choice goalkeeper this season.

Kepa has that perfect blend of playing for a team just about strong enough to get a handful of clean sheets but not watertight enough to prevent him from accumulating those all-important saves – an ideal mix for a £4.5m FPL goalkeeper.

Our Rate My Team tool has him as the best-value goalkeeper over the next four Gameweeks; the Double Gameweek helps no end.

One other thing to mention here is that we’ve dropped Gavin Bazunu (£4.5m) from seventh in our Watchlist and not (yet) replaced him. Southampton’s fixtures are very good over the next six Gameweeks and we’re not giving up hope of a few clean sheets arriving on the way, hence leaving Romain Perraud (£4.4m) in the below list.

But while Perraud, FPL’s leading shot-taker among defenders, has other strings to his bow, Bazunu might not even be between the sticks to enjoy the upcoming fixtures due to a real dip in form.

THE WATCHLIST: BEST FPL DEFENDERS

We’re resisting the urge to tinker too much here after just one Gameweek, simply replacing one injured Chelsea player, Reece James (£5.8m), with an available team-mate in the form of Marc Cucurella (£5.2m).

Let’s be honest, there’s no real stand-out replacement from the Blues who can a) offer us the same attacking threat that James did or b) guarantee us week-in, week-out starts.

No defender has made more league starts under Graham Potter than Cucurella (seven), at least, with Ben Chilwell’s (£5.8m) current injury depriving the Spaniard of a positional rival in the short term.

Images from the training ground suggest that Chilwell is back on the grass but after over two months out, we might not see the England international in competitive action until well into January.

Cucurella is perhaps more of a three-week purchase for those in a luxury position to make such a move.

The Double Gameweek itself doesn’t scream clean sheets (v Man City and Fulham) but there are at least two bites at the cherry.

And the two fixtures around it, against Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace, involve meetings with the sides with the two lowest expected goals (xG) tallies in their last six matches.

THE WATCHLIST: BEST FPL MIDFIELDERS

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