We have chosen our best Fantasy Premier League (FPL) players for Gameweek 23 ahead of Saturday’s 11:00 GMT deadline.
We line up in a 3-5-2 formation this week and, as ever, are limited by certain restrictions in our selection:
- An £83.0m budget for our starting XI
- An overall squad limit of £100.0m
- No more than three players per team
GOALKEEPER
We call upon Neto Murara (£4.6m) as Bournemouth prepare to host Nottingham Forest on Sunday. The Cherries look a decent shout to record a clean sheet against a Forest outfit that have scored just 12 times on their travels thus far. Yes, there has been improvement under Nuno Espirito Santo, but there is no escaping the fact that his side have been devoid of much attacking threat in their two most recent outings against Arsenal and Bristol City. Bournemouth have chalked up two clean sheets in four in front of their own fans, meanwhile.
DEFENDERS
Kieran Trippier (£6.7m) comes in for Newcastle United’s home encounter with Luton Town. The right-back’s corners and delivery from the flank heighten his appeal as he looks to add to his midweek assist at Villa Park. The second top-scoring defender in FPL so far, Trippier leads the way in his position for chances created (58) and attempted crosses (173).
Pedro Porro (£5.9m) visits an Everton side who have failed to score in each of their last three matches, but with two assists in his last four, it’s the Spaniard’s final-third threat that is key to his appeal. Crucially, the return of James Maddison (£7.9m) from injury on Wednesday didn’t affect Porro’s role at set plays, as he took four of Tottenham Hotspur’s five corners.
Brighton and Hove Albion’s Pervis Estupinan (£5.1m) takes the final place in our three-man defence. Hauled off at half-time on Tuesday, we’re backing the Ecuadorian to get back on track in the derby against Crystal Palace, as he looks to add to his two goals and three assists to date. The Eagles looked sharp in attack earlier this week but could be without key man Eberechi Eze (£6.0m) in Gameweek 23.
READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 23 team news: Friday’s live injury updates
MIDFIELDERS
Sitting second in this week’s Captain Poll, Kevin De Bruyne (£10.7m) is highly fancied against a Brentford defence that’s conceded at least twice in each of the last five Gameweeks. The Belgian followed up his Gameweek 21 goal and assist at Newcastle with another assist in Wednesday’s 3-0 win over Burnley, suggesting he’ll be central to Manchester City’s attack once again.
With the possibility that Erling Haaland (£14.0m) and Julian Alvarez (£6.9m) could share minutes at Brentford, we’ve instead opted for Phil Foden (£8.0m) – not that he’s 100% safe, either. The England international chipped in with an assist in midweek and could get some joy in behind the Bees’ second-string wing-backs if he’s deployed out wide.
Bruno Fernandes (£8.2m) returns to the Scout Picks on the back of an excellent display at Molineux. Pulling the strings in midfield, he attempted five shots and created four chances, eventually assisting Scott McTominay (£4.6m) for Manchester United’s third goal. With front three Rasmus Hojlund (£6.8m), Marcus Rashford (£8.4m) and Alejandro Garnacho (£4.8m) starting to purr, it can only be good news for creator-in-chief Fernandes.
Anthony Gordon (£6.1m) is an obvious candidate for Newcastle’s home clash with Luton. The 22-year-old has notched six goals and six assists in 11 St James’ Park run-outs this season, blanking only once and averaging 6.9 points per start. The Hatters are yet to keep a clean sheet on the road, meanwhile, having shipped 21 goals in 10 away matches.
Cole Palmer (£5.8m) continues to look the standout option in the sub-£6.0m bracket. The youngster has returned in each of his last two matches at Stamford Bridge and given that Wolverhampton Wanderers just shipped four at home to Manchester United, will be licking his lips at the prospect of facing Gary O’Neil’s side.
FORWARDS
Aston Villa’s visit to Sheffield United brings Ollie Watkins (£8.8m) into consideration. Granted, he hasn’t been at his best recently but he did find the net in midweek and had another effort ruled out for a narrow offside. Bearing in mind the Blades have conceded 10 goals in their last four matches, the Villa frontman could be amongst the points again this weekend.
Dominic Solanke (£7.1m) rolls up in fine form, with six goals in as many league games. In that time, he’s racked up 23 shots inside the box, more than any other FPL forward. He’s sure to pose Nuno Espirito Santo’s rearguard problems aplenty on Sunday, having scored a hat-trick in the reverse fixture at the City Ground back in Gameweek 18.
THE SUBSTITUTES
- Martin Dubravka (£4.2m) is our reserve ‘keeper for Gameweek 22. He’s racked up at least one save point in each of his eight starts so far this season.
- Luke Shaw‘s (£5.2m) overlapping runs made a huge difference at Molineux on Thursday, with one leading to Rasmus Hojlund’s (£6.8m) goal. Manchester United host West Ham United in Gameweek 23.
- Alex Moreno (£5.1m) makes the bench for Aston Villa’s trip to Sheffield United, having created six chances over his last four matches.
- With no room for Richarlison (£7.0m) in our Scout Picks XI, we instead turn to team-mate Timo Werner (£6.5m). The German has supplied assists in each of his two Spurs starts.
THE CAPTAIN
We chose the Scout Picks captain using a vote between our Scout Squad panel.
Dominic Solanke is handed the armband this week, with Ollie Watkins as the vice-captain.
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.
The-Red-1’s 64-30 victory in Gameweek 16 gave the community the biggest win (34 points difference) of 2023/24 so far.
Our champion this week is Doosra, whose selection is as follows:
Areola; Trippier, Saliba, Porro; Saka, Jota, Foden, Richarlison; Alvarez (c), Adebayo, Watkins
The Scout Picks are 12-10 up on the community this season after Baps Hunter beat us by two points (66-64) in Gameweek 22.
FOLLOW THE SCOUT’S WEEKLY TRANSFER PLANS
We’re running a Scout community team in FPL this season, with regulars like TopMarx, Tom Freeman, Marc Jobling 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.
We’re currently sitting at 19k in the world.
