Our team of Hall of Famers and guest writers provide Fantasy Premier League (FPL) tips and advice throughout the season. Here, two-time Indian FPL champion Lateriser looks at the upcoming festive schedules of six big clubs – and has one eye on the AFCON/the Asian Cup.
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After Gameweek 17 was belatedly brought to a conclusion, we now have the tiny matter of three Gameweek deadlines in the next 10 days.
There’s a lot of information to process in a short time. With this article, I aim to take you through key bits of relevant information for select teams in a very brief period.
AFCON/ASIAN CUP EXITS
The first thing you need to remember is that the likes of Mohamed Salah (£13.2m) and Son Heung-min (£9.8m) will be participating in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) or the Asian Cup and will depart ahead of Gameweek 21.
I’ll use this image from the amazing Legomane to serve as a talking point about certain teams:
Manchester City
The latest information we have received is that Erling Haaland (£13.9m), Jeremy Doku (£6.6m) and Kevin De Bruyne (£10.2m) will not play any part in the FIFA Club World Cup. That said, Haaland was spotted in what looks like light training so it is all up in the air in terms of how long you should plan for without him. As things stand, it is worthwhile at least thinking of a plan to get him back.
The gap between Everton away in Gameweek 19 and Sheffield United at home in Gameweek 20 just being two days, I think it is safe to wager that Haaland likely plays only one of these matches – if at all – and you can afford to currently spread funds if you wish, eventually selling Son and/or Salah to get him back.
The fixtures for Manchester City after Gameweek 21 are incredible, as well. It is worth noting that Salah plays Newcastle United in Gameweek 20, should you want to generate funds then.
Arsenal
In terms of rest periods, Arsenal have a decent schedule. The gap between West Ham United (Gameweek 19) and Fulham (Gameweek 20) is the only one where there is a tight turnaround. Even then, both these games are being played in London, which doesn’t make it so bad.
As I mentioned in my previous article, Martin Odegaard (£8.4m) is really finding some form. Arsenal assets in general are purring, having found a stable first team and recovered Gabriel Jesus (£8.0m) from injury. Kai Havertz (£7.1m) is posing some encouraging underlying data, as well, but his minutes are not as secure as Odegaard’s.
In the last six matches in the league, Arsenal are top of the table for expected goals (xG), big chances and shots in the box. They are barely affected by AFCON/Asian Cup, so an Arsenal triple-up in this period looks like a very enticing idea. Whether you double up in attack or defence, neither option is too bad.
I personally am trying to find the right opportunity to jump on Odegaard. For those who are looking to offload Darwin Nunez (£7.6m) and already own Dominic Solanke (£6.8m) and Ollie Watkins (£8.7m), Jesus is a good punt.
Newcastle United
Outside of the very tight turnaround between Gameweek 18 (Luton Town away) and Gameweek 19 (Nottingham Forest at home), Newcastle United have a comfortable schedule. If you’re jumping on a Magpies defender, this week is a good time to do it as they have decent fixtures on either side of a difficult block between Gameweeks 20 and 22.
Tino Livramento’s (£4.4m) position now seems in doubt as Sven Botman (£4.5m) is back fit and played a planned 45 minutes in the cup tie against Chelsea. Very soon, Newcastle could revert to their original back four of Kieran Trippier (£6.9m), Fabian Schar (£5.3m), Botman and Dan Burn (£4.4m).
They are also without any European distractions which just makes them a solid bet in the long term, in my opinion. It also helps that they are out of the Carabao Cup, which further tunnel-visions their focus.
After Gameweek 22, the Magpies’ fixtures are good for a really long time, with three enticing home games against Luton, Bournemouth and Wolves by the time Gameweek 27 comes around.
Liverpool
Liverpool have not been looking as convincing as they should in the last few weeks or so and Darwin Nunez owners are certainly growing impatient.
The Reds have a very tight schedule between Gameweeks 18 and 19 and then have a long break before their home tie against Newcastle United. If you think and assume that Darwin will be benched against Arsenal, it might be worthwhile holding him for the money game against Burnley (away) before switching to someone like Haaland later.
On a separate note, while Liverpool’s fixtures and defensive form don’t look so great, Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.2m) looks absolutely on it and is generating bonus points for fun. In the last six matches, he has garnered the most baseline bonus points (124) – the only other ‘outfielder’ who has crossed the 100 barrier is Antonee Robinson (104). With Liverpool having problems in midfield with Alexis Mac Allister (£5.8m) injured, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Joe Gomez (£4.5m) play right-back and Alexander-Arnold play permanently in midfield.
One consideration about Haaland in Gameweek 19 is that Salah plays Burnley away, albeit after a two-day gap. The Egyptian is a captaincy option in that Gameweek should you want to swerve Haaland then.
Tottenham Hotspur
In general, Tottenham Hotspur have a good schedule, with only the distance between Gameweeks 19 and 20 being a two-day gap. Richarlison (£6.7m) looks like he is going to stay as a striker, having been the subject of some even more positive quotes from Ange Postecoglou this weekend:
“Richy is a goalmouth predator. Definitely in the air. He’s got different attributes to Sonny. I didn’t think we’d get in behind today, I thought we’d struggle to get space in behind and I’m really pleased with Richy. Watching him during the week I was really confident he’d go out there and do another job for us. Richy’s been good and he was good again tonight. Not an easy game, we weren’t going to get a lot of space back there. His impact is in the box. It was a great ball by Deki [Kulusevski] and that’s what Richy’s really good at. His timing in the air, his ability to get the ball in the back of the net in those kinds of situations was vital for us tonight. I think he’s in a better space physically and mentally. As I said during the week it was hard for him but he soldiered on. At the same time, he knows that people will be assuming that if he’s out there then you’re going to perform at a certain level and you can’t make excuses. He’s definitely feeling a lot better about himself physically and mentally now and for a striker scoring goals is obviously important, but just his general all-round play has been really good for us the last couple of weeks.” – Ange Postecoglou on Richarlison
It is worth noting that Spurs will lose Yves Bissouma (£5.0m) until after AFCON now, as he’s suspended for three Gameweeks. They will also see Pape Matar Sarr (£4.5m) and Son depart ahead of Gameweek 21. So it is up to you to judge how much that will affect the Lilywhites from a quality point of view.
I’ll also note that Dejan Kulusevski’s (£7.1m) underlying numbers have shot up since James Maddison’s (£7.8m) injury.
Chelsea
While Chelsea have great fixtures, they have a really tight schedule between Gameweeks 18 to 20, with a lot of fit squad options for Mauricio Pochettino to rotate from (in attack). It is worth noting that Christopher Nkunku (£7.3m) did finally come on as a substitute in the Carabao Cup tie against Newcastle United and scored a thumping penalty in the shoot-out.
Elsewhere, Jarrod Bowen (£7.8m) has the best schedule in the festive period and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect him to play 90 minutes in all games between Gameweek 18-20.
That is all from me this week, as I’ve tried to keep it brief with relevant information.
If you want more, my pod partners Zophar and Pras did a crisp episode for The FPL Wire which you can view below:
