If you’re in a rush and need some last-minute Fantasy Premier League (FPL) advice, here’s a quick round-up of what you need to know about Gameweek 22.
- READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 22 complete guide: Best players, predicted line-ups, team news + more
WHEN’S THE FPL GAMEWEEK 22 DEADLINE?
All transfers and team selections need to be done by 18:00 (GMT) on Tuesday 30 January.
IS HAALAND FIT?
A lot of managers’ near-deadline decisions will likely revolve around the words of Pep Guardiola during this afternoon’s press conference.
Past comments suggested that Erling Haaland‘s (£13.9m) much-awaited comeback will take place on Wednesday night at home to Burnley. But, as with highly-bought Kevin De Bruyne (£10.6m), we don’t yet know whether he’s ready to start.
The Norwegian is back training with his team-mates, though.
Not only will this affect his rate of incoming transfers, there will likely be a knock-on effect for the future game time of Phil Foden (£8.0m) and Julian Alvarez (£7.0m).
WILL ALEXANDER-ARNOLD START?
Meanwhile, at Liverpool, we know that Mohamed Salah (£13.1m) is injured for at least the next couple of Gameweeks.
Good news arrived at the weekend for Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.5m) owners, as he made a cameo appearance in the FA Cup less than three weeks after assistant manager Pep Lijnders said: “he will be out for a few weeks, so let’s see after that.”
Over 825,000 sold him but – crucially – more owners kept him in the hope that he’d make a swift recovery.
They’ve been proved right, although we’re unsure whether Alexander-Arnold will start Wednesday’s meeting with Chelsea, with such a quick turnaround.
WHEN ARE THE BLANK + DOUBLE GAMEWEEKS?
Manchester City and Brentford are already known to play twice in Double Gameweek 25. There’s speculation that Liverpool and Luton will join them but this hasn’t yet been confirmed.
The reason for the latter is that Liverpool v Chelsea is the confirmed EFL Cup final, taking place on Sunday 25 February. Therefore, alongside Spurs and the Hatters, these two will have a Blank Gameweek 26.
Furthermore, the FA Cup fifth-round draw means FPL managers can start plotting and planning for the big Blank Gameweek 29. Two playable matches are already locked-in but the other eight aren’t yet known – not helped by some fourth-round ties needing a replay!
WHAT TO DO WITH SAKA + WATKINS?
As well as this uncertainty, FPL’s two most-owned players are in poor form. Bukayo Saka (£9.1m) has failed to produce in five of his last six matches, while Ollie Watkins (£8.9m) has one goal from seven.
We’ve looked into Saka’s underlying stats – which remain decent – and asked several experts whether he should be kept in squads. It may be tempting to sell one of these for Foden, De Bruyne, Haaland, Ivan Toney (£8.0m) or Alexander Isak (£7.6m) but – considering neither Arsenal nor Aston Villa will blank in Gameweek 26 – many will have other priorities for such precious free transfers.
TEAM REVEALS
- FPL General’s Gameweek 22 team, transfer + captain
- FPL Milanista’s Gameweek 22 team + transfer targets
- Tom Freeman’s FPL Gameweek 22 team + transfer plans
BEST FPL GAMEWEEK 22 CAPTAIN
This armband is a tricky call to make, with uncertainty over Man City assets ahead of the week’s stand-out fixture.
De Bruyne pips Foden to first place in Scout’s captaincy poll but Hibbo prefers Alvarez in his Captain Sensible article, with Richarlison (£7.0m) second.
SCOUT PICKS + DIFFERENTIALS
Our weekly selection – which is essentially a Free Hit in all but name – triples up on Man City and Liverpool.
Meanwhile, our three differential picks – owned by fewer than 5% of managers – are Ross Barkley (£4.9m), Ben Brereton Diaz (£5.0m) and Raul Jimenez (£5.2m).
PREDICTED LINE-UPS
In the absence of a soothsayer or club insider, we’ve predicted the starting XIs of all 20 Premier League teams.
Whatever you decide to do, good luck with FPL Gameweek 22!
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