It’s an earlier-than-usual Fantasy Premier League (FPL) deadline this week, so you’ve got an earlier-than-usual Scout Picks to go with it.
In this article, we discuss the players who we think could prosper in the biggest Double Gameweek of the 2022/23 season so far.
Four teams play twice and players from these clubs make up just over half of our selection, including a triple-up on Manchester City.
As ever, we are limited to £83.0m for our first XI. And, after a reader vote ahead of 2022/23, an overall price cap of £100.0m is in place for our 15-man squad, too.
READ MORE: FPL Double Gameweek 20 live team news: Darwin injury latest
GOALKEEPER
It’s Friday morning and we’re still no closer to knowing which Manchester City defender will start one of their Double Gameweek 20 matches, let alone two, so like Riz Ahmed’s character giving up and walking into Boots at the end of Four Lions, we give a shrug of the shoulder and opt for Ederson (£5.4m) between the posts.
He’s at least available at his lowest-ever price in FPL and while his two upcoming fixtures aren’t ideal, City remain out in front for most of the key underlying stats in 2022/23: the reigning champions, for example, comfortably have a lower expected goals conceded (xGC) total than any other team in the division, even Arsenal and Newcastle United.
DEFENDERS
The top eight all play each other this weekend, with Manchester City facing Tottenham Hotspur next Thursday. Clean sheets could be in short supply this week, so much so that we’ve overlooked any defender from two of the teams that double, Spurs and Crystal Palace.
Manchester United’s midweek clash at Selhurst Park is probably the pick of the bunch for shut-out potential, at least among the four clubs who play twice. Luke Shaw (£5.1m) has racked up more points than any other FPL asset since the restart and while past points are no guarantee of future ones, the Red Devils’ defensive stats – the second-lowest big chances conceded in the last 10 Gameweeks, a period that coincided with Casemiro’s (£4.9m) full debut – are very encouraging. Anything Shaw gets in the Manchester derby is a bonus.
The lack of a double and the visit of a Fulham side who have scored against every top-10 team this season can’t prevent Kieran Trippier (£6.0m) from making the Scout Picks yet again. By the time he takes to the field against the Cottagers, it’ll be 365 days since his last blank at St James’ Park. Six attacking returns and as many clean sheets have arrived in that time, with Trippier averaging 7.7 points per match on home soil.
Our Scout Squad panel were very keen on a Brentford defender this week, with David Raya (£4.6m) and Ben Mee (£4.6m) gaining plenty of votes between them. But with our budget not even stretching that far, we’ve gone for the slightly cheaper Ethan Pinnock (£4.4m) to stick within the £83.0m limit. Pinnock actually made our Watchlist earlier in the week, again partly because of his price but also because he’s looked a threat since the restart (racking up four shots in the box) and because Brentford are ranked a very respectable fourth for fewest big chances conceded in their last six matches. Opponents Bournemouth haven’t scored since before the World Cup, meanwhile, and look in freefall.
MIDFIELDERS
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COMMUNITY CHAMPION
Each week, a member of the Fantasy Football Scout community takes on the Scout Picks.
The community member who beats our team by the largest margin will win a £100 Amazon voucher and a place in our Moderators and Contributors League for the following season.
Boleyn Boy’s 81-54 victory in Gameweek 6 gave them the biggest win (27 points difference) of 2022/23 so far.
Our champion this week is skipnicklee who has gone for the following: Ederson; Perisic, Shaw, Trippier; De Bruyne, Rashford, Olise, Eze; Kane, Haaland (c), Mbeumo.
The Scout Picks are level at 9-9 with the community this season.
FOLLOW THE SCOUT’S WEEKLY TRANSFER PLANS
We’re running a Scout community team in FPL this season, with regulars like TopMarx, Geoff, Tom Freeman and more contributing to the weekly decisions.
And we’re not just looking one week ahead like we are with the Scout Picks but instead planning in advance for the weeks and months to come.
You can follow our team via the Premier Fantasy Tools Pro Planner, which you can learn more about here.
