Blank Gameweek 18 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) is quickly coming into view.
Manchester City and Brentford will be without a fixture in that pre-Christmas round of matches, due to Pep Guardiola’s side being in FIFA World Club Cup action.
It may still be a month away but if you’re a medium-term planner, it’s something worth bearing in mind – particularly if your squad is wafer-thin and you want to hold the likes of Erling Haaland (£14.0m), Julian Alvarez (£7.1m) and Bryan Mbeumo (£6.8m) through their blanks.
Pras will be weighing up the pros and cons of a Free Hit in Gameweek 18 in an article to come but here we look at the cheap options that can help cover the absences of Haaland and co.
These are players we can plonk on our benches now for future use, options we can use for more than one Gameweek or names we can turn to nearer the time.
We’ll be looking at defenders currently priced at £4.5m and under, along with midfielders and forwards available for less than £6.0m.
With there still being five Gameweeks before the blank, there is the usual caveat about unforeseen injuries and suspensions ruining the best-laid plans.
BLANK GAMEWEEK 18: FIXTURE OVERVIEW
DEFENDERS
LOOKING GOOD FOR MINUTES
Aston Villa v Sheffield United is arguably the stand-out clash of Gameweek 18, with Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) the only £4.5m-and-under route into the Villans’ defence as things stand – although Pau Torres (£4.6m) is just £100k more expensive.
While he’s no Matty Cash (£5.2m) in terms of overall attacking potential, Konsa does offer a little bit of threat: he ranks joint-fourth among all FPL defenders for shots in the box (six) over the last seven Gameweeks.
Most of Konsa’s efforts will come from set plays but there will be the odd occasion when he plays at right-back, with Cash further up the flank, to aid his open-play threat.
There aren’t many weeks in which you’d want to play a Villa defender before Gameweek 18 (Gameweek 14, perhaps) but the Villans’ schedule looks much better from Gameweeks 20-27.
For the real bargain hunters, George Baldock (£3.8m) and Jarrad Branthwaite (£4.0m) look like the most secure starters from the £4.0m-and-under bracket – the problem being that both are away at free-scoring sides in Gameweek 18.
Branthwaite is also only one booking away from a ban.
Jordan Beyer (£4.0m), who has started every Premier League game he’s been available for, and Charlie Taylor (£4.0m), a starter in each of the last nine Gameweeks, offer minimal goal threat and limited clean-sheet potential but will at least be facing one of the division’s lowest-scoring sides, Fulham, in Gameweek 18.
JURY STILL OUT
Eddie Howe’s press conference this Friday will hopefully tell us more about Sven Botman (£4.7m). Ha’way Eddie, throw us a bone here.
If Botman needs an operation, Jamaal Lascelles‘ (£4.1m) game-time prospects look excellent – including in Gameweek 18, when Newcastle United take on struggling Luton Town. If Botman has avoided the need for surgery, as journalist Craig Hope says is looking like a possibility, then Lascelles is a medium-term avoid. It’s pretty much that simple for the budget FPL defender.
It’s not so straightforward when it comes to Tino Livramento (£4.3m). He’ll almost certainly start in Gameweek 13 if he’s fit, with Lewis Hall (£4.3m) ineligible, but the Gameweek 12 benching at Bournemouth was a real blow after his extended game-time in the two matches before that. The hope is that he’ll lay down a huge marker at left-back against Chelsea in Gameweek 13 but if you’re looking for guarantees of a start in Gameweek 18, there are certainly none yet.
Like Villa, Fulham enjoy a home fixture against a newly promoted side in Gameweek 18. They also have three very decent home fixtures before that point, hence why Bernd Leno (£4.7m) has risen in our Watchlist.
The issue with the defence – beyond that they’re ranked 15th for expected goals conceded (xGC) – is that the Cottagers are about to welcome Kenny Tete (£4.4m), Issa Diop (£4.4m) and Tosin Adarabioyo (£4.3m) back from injury, which does leave the composition of the back four up for debate.
Club captain Tim Ream (£4.5m), one of two left-footed centre-halves alongside Calvin Bassey (£4.4m), is probably the likeliest starter as things stand, having never been benched by Marco Silva in 90 league games. But Leno remains by far the best route into that backline, if money allows.
Nottingham Forest will be coming up against Bournemouth on the same weekend. Harry Toffolo (£4.4m) has really caught the eye in recent weeks with seven chances created in less than 400 minutes of game-time but a month is a long time with Messrs Aurier, Aina, Montiel and Williams also tussling for two full-back spots. Centre-half Murillo (£4.5m), if the injury sustained in Gameweek 12 isn’t serious, is probably your least risky punt from the Forest backline.
MIDFIELDERS
LOOKING GOOD FOR MINUTES
There’s one obvious place to start here: Cole Palmer (£5.2m). A penalty-taking, low-cost attacking midfielder with an excellent run of matches from Gameweek 16 onwards, he’ll be a fixture in many FPL sides before, during and after Blank Gameweek 18.
His rate of goals will slow down, as four penalties in five Gameweeks is absurd, but his underlying numbers without spot-kicks have also been encouraging since his full debut in Gameweek 7:
Above: FPL midfielders sorted by non-penalty expected goal involvement (NPxGI) over their last six matches
The return of the versatile Christopher Nkunku (£7.3m) will be interesting to monitor, as he can play in pretty much any position across the frontline, but Palmer arguably looks the least at risk based on his superlative displays in the Chelsea blue to date.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side do have one of the tightest turnarounds between festive fixtures but any minute management seems likelier to come in Gameweek 19 or 20.
Chelsea are up against Wolves in Gameweek 18. Hwang Hee-chan (£5.5m) and the nearly-fit-again Pedro Neto (£5.6m) have not only been permanent fixtures of Gary O’Neil’s starting XI for some time, they’re also the leading sub-£6.0m midfielders for attacking returns this season:
Above: Sub-£6.0m FPL midfielders sorted by FPL attacking returns in 2023/24
Chelsea aren’t the easiest opponent but Wolves have actually been more impressive against the so-called ‘bigger’ sides this season, so there’s merit in including them here.
Two other names in the above image are the almost nailed Aston Villa pair of John McGinn (£5.5m) and Douglas Luiz (£5.6m).
Luiz’s numbers, like those of Palmer, have been bolstered by penalty-taking duties but he’s also on free-kicks and corners, so there are alternative routes to points. Neither Villa player comes anywhere close to matching the open-play threat of Messrs Watkins and Diaby, nor even the likes of Palmer and Hwang elsewhere in the sub-£6.0m midfielder pool. In Sheffield United, however, they do face an opponent sitting 20th for goals conceded.
If there’s one manager you can usually rely on to turn his nose up at rotation, it’s Sean “exhaustion without pleasure” Dyche.
Spurs are an unappealing opponent for Branthwaite and co but they’re looking a bit more vulnerable defensively these days, which will be of encouragement to Abdoulaye Doucoure (£5.5m).
He’s been getting into some excellent goalscoring positions and is top among players in this article for big chances (nine) in 2023/24.
Above: Sub-£6.0m FPL midfielders sorted by non-penalty xG in 2023/24
It’s extremely slim pickings below £5.0m, with Marvelous Nakamba (£4.4m) the cheapest regular starter if you’re expecting nothing but appearance points. Tomas Soucek (£4.9m) is getting forward more this season: he’s already had more big chances (seven) than he did in the whole of 2022/23 (four).
JURY STILL OUT
Anthony Gordon (£5.8m) has had an excellent season so far, returning in every single home game for Newcastle. He also enjoys one of the most appealing Gameweek 18 fixtures, plus some decent matches before then.
We only urge caution because Harvey Barnes (£6.2m) could very well be back by that point, and the minutes are likely to be shared over a punishing winter for Newcastle in which they play 11 times in league and cup in little more than five weeks.
Nottingham Forest, like the Magpies, have some good fixtures up to and including Gameweek 18. Morgan Gibbs-White (£5.7m) has had a disappointing opening to the season by his standards but he remains Forest’s leading man for shots and chances created. The cheaper Anthony Elanga (£5.0m), meanwhile, edges Gibbs-White for minutes per xGI.
The concern is over the looming return of Callum Hudson-Odoi (£4.8m), with potentially only two spots open to this trio in Steve Cooper’s 4-3-3. Gibbs-White was indeed the one benched in Gameweek 7 when the three of them were available, returning at Elanga’s expense a week later. Hudson-Odoi has been injured since.
FORWARDS
We’ve lumped together the forwards in one section for this, such is the relative lack of options available.
Cameron Archer (£4.6m) is many managers’ go-to budget striker this season, although little will be expected bar appearance points from a trip to homers Aston Villa in Gameweek 18. The same applies to the quietly impressive winger Chiedozie Ogbene (£4.9m), whose Luton Town side will be hosting Newcastle.
Rodrigo Muniz (£4.4m) is one to monitor, as he should be back from injury well in advance of Gameweek 18. Whether he can immediately regain his starting berth at Fulham, who take on Burnley in this ‘blank’, is another question.
And you can never be sure of Antoine Semenyo‘s (£4.5m) medium-term starting credentials for Bournemouth, who have at least half a dozen options on the flanks.
Anyone more expensive than this might be a tougher sell if you’re usually playing a 3-5-2, as FPL managers may want to have as little money benched as possible outside of this blank.
And even further up the food chain, there aren’t too many outstanding candidates for Gameweek 18.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.8m) will be playing for an Everton side who are inside the top 10 for xG, shots and big chances this season, while Odsonne Edouard (£5.5m) ought to have more of a supply line now that Eberechi Eze (£6.1m) and Michael Olise (£5.8m) are back fit. Palace will be up against Brighton, who have yet to keep a clean sheet this season, but both they and Everton have some iffy fixtures around Gameweek 18.
The cheapest desirable forwards for Gameweek 18 and the weeks before it are probably Taiwo Awoniyi (now an injury concern) and Dominic Solanke, both priced at £6.4m – so not too far outside of the self-imposed upper price limit here.
WHAT RATE MY TEAM THINKS
Our Rate My Team (RMT) points projections are generated by an algorithm that uses both current and historical data. There is also constant human monitoring so that the model can respond quickly to news, injuries or tactical changes that otherwise the algorithm may underestimate.
These figures will be fine-tuned closer to each Gameweek deadline, when we learn about who is carrying an injury, who is a rotation risk and who is ruled out.
Premium Members of Fantasy Football Scout can get the full picture here.
