In Frisking the Fixtures, we highlight which teams and players have the strongest runs of matches over the next six Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Gameweeks.
With the first double of the season fast approaching, now’s as good a time as any for the next instalment that looks at matchups from Gameweek 24 onwards.
So, without further ado, let’s get into it.
SEASON TICKER OVERVIEW
Our colour-coded Season Ticker is the primary source for this piece.
Using this tool as a Premium Member, you can sort by difficulty, rank by attacking and defensive potential or find budget rotation pairings. You can even set your own difficulty ratings, should you disagree with ours.
You can see a tutorial on the Season Ticker here.
The above colours reflect the ‘overall’ ratings of each side. There are options within the ticker to separate attack and defence.
Chelsea’s attack, for example, is rated more highly than their defence.
BEST FIXTURES: GAMEWEEKS 24-29
LIVERPOOL
Liverpool have a couple of trickier-looking fixtures mixed into their next six Gameweeks but they do share an advantage with one other top-flight side.
That, of course, is the extra match they’ll contest in Double Gameweek 24.
Then again, Bournemouth have repeatedly shown that they aren’t a pushover against the top teams, particularly at home, while Everton will surely make things difficult in Goodison Park’s last ever Merseyside derby.
But none of this will diminish interest in the Reds’ key FPL assets. Mohamed Salah (£13.7m) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.3m) will be the most popular, with many torn between saving their third Liverpool slot for a defensive double-up with Ibrahima Konaté (£5.2m) or Virgil van Dijk (£6.4m), or going all-in on a chosen second attacker like Cody Gakpo (£7.6m). There’s even the option of backing Arne Slot (£1.5m) using the new Assistant Manager chip.
Those searching for a differential could even consider Dominik Szoboszlai (£6.3m), having significantly upped his shooting volume recently. He grabbed a goal and assist in last weekend’s win over Ipswich Town.
Whatever the choice, having several Liverpool players ready to soon host the Premier League’s two worst defences – Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton – is, on paper at least, among the nicest bonuses one could hope for.
Perhaps Gameweek 26 at the Etihad may be the biggest test for the league leaders during this stretch, with Manchester City edging closer to the sort of form we’ve come to expect of the four-time defending champions. That or Newcastle United the following week, with the Magpies having won all but two matches since their 3-3 with Liverpool in Gameweek 14.
Ending this six-Gameweek run is a trip to Villa Park, where another entertaining 3-3 took place last season. Although Slot’s men won this season’s reverse fixture.
BOURNEMOUTH
Gameweek 24 is far from an ideal time to invest in Bournemouth but they’ll make life difficult for Liverpool. Once that is out of the way, we see above that no team boasts a better-looking stretch of fixtures.
As mentioned, playing Southampton and Wolves is usually a dream for both real-life and Fantasy managers. The Cherries face this struggling pair in consecutive Gameweeks.
Tottenham Hotspur’s defensive frailties have been well-documented. Then it’s Brentford, who’ve conceded the most shots over both the last six Gameweeks and the entire season. They visit the Vitality Stadium but Andoni Iraola’s side have five clean sheets in 11 matches, conceding just seven times. Suddenly, they have a fighting chance of European qualification.
Milos Kerkez (£4.9m) is fast becoming a marquee name. The Hungarian left-back has started every league match, registering six clean sheets, two goals and three assists. Beside him is the cheaper Dean Huijsen (£4.4m), scorer on two occasions since securing a starting spot in Gameweek 14.
Yet those regular returns have been somewhat overshadowed by the output of Bournemouth attackers, particularly Justin Kluivert (£5.7m). The penalty-taker has bagged two hat-tricks this season and has seven attacking returns from his latest three matches.
Meanwhile, Dango Ouattara (£5.0m) has recently been an out-of-position forward and could continue there, given he has just scored his own hat-trick.. Keep an eye on whether the Cherries find a replacement for injured pair Evanilson (£5.6m) and Enes Ünal (£5.4m).
Antoine Semenyo (£5.6m) also deserves a mention. He has attracted interest for much of this season due to the number of shots he consistently fires off but such underlying data has recently converted itself into tangible FPL points. Three goals and three assists over the last seven.
CHELSEA
Three of the Blues’ next five opponents – West Ham, Southampton and Leicester – are in the top five for goals conceded. Additionally, only one of Brighton and Hove Albion and Aston Villa’s combined seven clean sheets arrived against a top-half side.
That should all look promising for owners of Cole Palmer (£11.3m), despite him coming into Gameweek 24 on consecutive blanks. Maybe even for the remaining backers of Nicolas Jackson (£7.8m) – the forward has scored just once since Gameweek 13 but picked up a couple of assists in his last three.
In contrast, Noni Madueke (£6.1m) scored against Man City to chalk up a second goal in as many weeks. A starter in three consecutive league matches, Gameweek 23 had the midfielder ranked behind only Szoboszlai for shots (six) and Salah for penalty box touches (14).
Recently, Chelsea’s backline has carried a notable goal threat – particularly Marc Cucurella (£5.1m) and Trevoh Chalobah (£4.4m). This duo is among the top 10 defenders for shots throughout the last six Gameweeks.
On the other hand, they – for now, at least – have the increasingly error-prone Robert Sanchez (£4.7m) behind them. This makes clean sheets far from certain. Imminent opponents West Ham United have looked better under Graham Potter (£0.5m) too. He’ll undoubtedly be keen to get one over on his former employers.
Those consecutive home clashes against the newly-promoted Saints and Foxes look great but the following trip to title-chasing Arsenal will likely present a much tougher task.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Across London, Palace ranked highly in our previous frisk and have played their way into a fine run of form.
Visiting Manchester United at Old Trafford is far from daunting anymore, while Everton have been up and down defensively – particularly on the road. Aston Villa, Ipswich, Southampton and even Man City have all leaked goals at various points.
The Eagles lost to Brentford last Sunday but Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.4m) still has four goals in as many matches and, before blanking, Eberechi Eze (£6.7m) delivered a goal or assist in each of his four previous appearances. Both came close to scoring in that defeat, too.
Centre-back Marc Guehi (£4.5m) has netted three times, while Daniel Munoz’s (£4.8m) frequently advanced positioning means he seems to be more of a right winger than a right-back.
The Colombian has had promising attacking numbers all season, already having two goals and three assists to his name.
Even so, backers of Ismaila Sarr (£5.7m) should keep an eye on his game time, with the Senegalese wide-man starting to withdrawn around the 70-minute mark. Eddie Nketiah (£5.9m) replaced him last time but a debut goal for Romain Esse (£5.0m) may become the biggest cause for concern.
BRENTFORD
Speaking of the Bees, Thomas Frank (£0.8m) will fancy his side to bag a few more wins, starting with Sunday’s visit of Spurs.
Trips to West Ham and Leicester follow have the potential to be stumbling blocks as – despite those struggling – Brentford have shoddy away form.
Alternatively, their home record ranks fifth-best thanks to seven wins and three losses from 12. No other outfit has more home goals (29), setting them up well for hosting Spurs, Everton and Villa. The trip to Bournemouth is likely to be their biggest test.
A second-chance penalty last weekend means Bryan Mbeumo (£7.8m) is now on 14 goals, including one away at Spurs in Gameweek 5. The Cameroon international also scored in the reverse fixture against West Ham, with team-mate Yoane Wissa (£6.3m) netting two of his 10 goals against Bournemouth in November. He grabbed one against Leicester as well.
Unless funds are an issue, those two stand above Mikkel Damsgaard (£5.0m) and the yellow-flagged Kevin Schade (£5.1m). Nevertheless, this duo has racked up nine and 10 attacking returns respectively, including one apiece last Sunday.
It’s just a shame that their defence is doing badly, stuck on only two clean sheets. But Nathan Collins (£4.5m) is comfortably the best of an unreliable lot, contributing an impressive two goals and five assists.
ALSO CONSIDER
ARSENAL
A title charge from Arsenal may well hinge on this weekend’s results. They host Man City knowing that a failure to win could see Liverpool pull 12 points ahead.
Still, a pair of kinder fixtures come afterwards, visiting relegation-threatened Leicester then hosting West Ham.
Both of these have brought in new managers since being beaten 4-2 and 5-2 in the reverse meetings but Mikel Arteta’s (£1.5m) men will still enter both matches as huge favourites.
Arsenal also defeated Nottingham Forest and Manchester United 3-0 and 2-0 but those were at home. These precede the Chelsea clash.
Gabriel Magalhães (£6.4m) and William Saliba (£6.2m) remain strong shouts due to a combination of individual attacking threat and the team’s typically dogged defence. Colleague Jurrien Timber (£5.6m) has joined that conversation too in recent weeks, while Gameweek 23 goal-scorer Riccardo Calafiori (£5.8m) could do the same if he can stay fit and string together a run of starts over makeshift full-back Myles Lewis-Skelly (£4.5m).
A word of caution to owners of David Raya (£5.5m): stay tuned to Friday’s press conference, having missed his side’s midweek European action through injury.
In attack, it’s currently expected to be another month or so before we see Bukayo Saka (£10.2m) again. But the emergence of teenager Ethan Nwaneri (£4.5m) means there’s already competition in the Gunners’ frontline, with Gabriel Martinelli (£6.7m) and Leandro Trossard (£6.8m) both delivering multiple recent attacking returns.
A more reliable starter is Martin Ødegaard (£8.2m) but just a single assist has arrived since Gameweek 13. By contrast, Thomas Partey (£5.0m) and Declan Rice (£6.2m) have three returns in that time.
Unless Arsenal can land a new striker in this transfer window’s final days, the injury-enforced absence of Gabriel Jesus (£6.6m) also means Kai Havertz (£7.8m) looks nailed-on up front.
ASTON VILLA
Villa’s thinning squad still has European football to contend with, having reached the Champions League’s last 16. That won’t be until early March, though, switching focus back to domestic affairs ahead of Gameweek 24’s Black Country derby.
Wolves have the second-worst defensive record in the division and were beaten 3-1 in the reverse clash.
Ipswich come to town after that and Unai Emery (£0.8m) will be keen to win after dropping points against the Tractor Boys in September. Then there’s more revenge to seek at home, as Chelsea trounced them 3-0 in December.
Subsequent trips to Crystal Palace and Brentford are winnable but they have five losses from 11 away matches, compared to one in 12 at Villa Park), before Liverpool come calling in Gameweek 29.
Expect midweek hat-trick hero Morgan Rogers (£5.6m) to be involved against Wolves unless we hear otherwise. And Ollie Watkins’ (£8.9m) minutes should no longer be a concern following Jhon Duran’s (£5.8m) departure. To be fair, the England international had already seemed to re-establishe himself as Emery’s first-choice forward, having notched three goals and two assists since returning to the XI.
Another name is Jacob Ramsey (£5.4m), after netting his first league goal of the season last weekend. New arrival Donyell Malen (£5.5m) could be introduced over the coming weeks. As for Youri Tielemans (£5.5m), he’s enjoyed a more advanced role recently but has some work to do before we can say he’s a better selection at that price than Rogers.
The appeal of Lucas Digne (£4.6m) is dented significantly for however long he is asked to fill in for the injured Tyrone Mings (£4.4m). That positional tweak opens the door for Ian Maatsen (£4.5m) at left-back.
On the other side, Ezri Konsa (£4.4m) and Emi MartÃnez (£5.0m) are the most seemingly surefire starters.
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
FPL managers need not rush to reintroduce Wolves players to their squads just yet, given their first fixtures. But maybe from Gameweek 27 or 28.
Matheus Cunha (£6.8m) has come close to post-suspension attacking returns and could soon demand our attention again. After all, he scored at Villa in Gameweek 5 and delivered a season-best 16-point haul versus Fulham in Gameweek 12.
The talismanic and – when available – ever-present Brazilian will likely be the main one to target, with Rayan Aït-Nouri (£4.7m) falling back into the ‘wait and see’ category for now.
WEST HAM UNITED
There have been some promising signs for West Ham under Potter so far, including the growing threat of Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.5m) and Emerson Palmieri (£4.4m) as wing-backs.
Lucas Paquetá (£5.7m) has also outperformed expectations as a false nine but is reportedly an injury doubt. However, in more positive news, Jarrod Bowen (£7.3m) is nearing a return.
Between the sticks, there remains some confusion as to which of Alphonse Areola (£4.2m) and Lukasz Fabiański (£4.1m) are seen as first-choice.
Trips to Chelsea and Arsenal look difficult but home games against Brentford and Leicester should be less so.
