In ‘Frisking the Fixtures’, we pinpoint the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) teams and players with the strongest runs of matches from Gameweek 10 onwards.
We typically take a six-Gameweek lookahead in these articles but we’ll peer beyond that where necessary.
As always, our colour-coded Season Ticker is the primary source for this piece.
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SEASON TICKER OVERVIEW: NEXT SIX GAMEWEEKS
CRYSTAL PALACE
Crystal Palace will be grateful that their fixtures are easing up after a tough start to the season. The Eagles’ unbeaten of 19 matches came to an inevitable end recently, but they are well placed to pick up results once their trip to Arsenal is out of the way.
The Eagles are perched at the top of our Fixture Ticker for the next six Gameweeks, with home matches against Brentford and a clean sheet-less Brighton, trips to struggling Wolves and Burnley and slightly trickier encounters with an improving Manchester United, at home, and Fulham, away.
The standout player to target is Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.6m), who among forwards ranks second for goals scored (five), shots taken (28), and non-penalty expected goals (6.18).
Palace have the joint-fifth best defence in the Premier League, which also makes their defenders well worth recruiting. A goal, three assists and six DefCon points have propelled Marc Guéhi (£4.9m) to fifth place in the overall players’ chart, while Daniel Muñoz (£5.6m) is a rare case of a full-back still well worth investing in. The in-form Colombian has returned a goal and two assists in the last two Gameweeks and this season has taken the second-most shots (11) of any defender. He is the sixth-highest scoring defender in the game.
Managers on a tight budget could also do worse than plump for Chris Richards (£4.5m), who is less spectacular but has racked up five DefCon returns in the last six matches. Only three defenders have managed more than his 10 DefCon points this season.
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
After facing Chelsea, Newcastle and Manchester United in recent matches, plus Arsenal in the League Cup, Brighton’s schedule eases up.
The task at hand for Fabian Hurzeler is to master the so-called easier fixtures, which have sometimes been Brighton’s Achilles heel. There are four home fixtures in the next six Gameweeks and Leeds, Brentford, Aston Villa and West Ham all present the potential for points.
Palace and Nottingham Forest away will be sterner tests, especially now that the more pragmatic Sean Dyche is in charge at the City Ground.
Danny Welbeck (£6.4m) and Yankuba Minteh (£6.0m) have been the Seagulls’ standout stars, with the forward scoring two braces in the last three Gameweeks. Investing in the budget Welbeck frees up funds for managers to reinvest in their defences, which appears to be the direction of travel for the shrewder FPL operators.
Minteh has been threatening end-product all season and is starting to get the returns his displays have deserved, with two assists and a goal in his last five appearances. This season, no midfielder has had more penalty-area touches than the flying winger’s 59.
EVERTON
Everton are a different beast this season. Gone is the defence-first approach of recent campaigns as David Moyes has encouraged a more front-footed approach, in order to maximise the talents of Jack Grealish (£6.9m), Iliman Ndiaye (£6.5m) and Kiernan Dewsbury Hall (£5.0m).
Everton’s next three matches in particular offer the promise of returns, with trips to Sunderland and Man Utd sandwiching a home match against Fulham. Grealish is a player reborn under Moyes, who is allowing him to express himself and carry the attack to the opposition. The Man City loanee has a goal and four assists to his name and, among midfielders, is second only to Minteh for penalty area touches (53) and to Bruno Fernandes (£8.9m) for chances created (17).
Ndiaye is also enjoying a productive campaign. Everton’s designated penalty taker has three goals and an assist, ranks joint-second among midfielders for take-ons (39) and has earned DefCi points in three of his last five matches.
Although Everton have kept only two clean sheets this season, we shouldn’t overlook their centre-backs. No defender has returned more DefCon points than the 14 of James Tarkowski (£5.5m), while a long-term injury for Jarrad Branthwaite (£5.3m) means more minutes for Michael Keane (£4.5m). Keane has started every match this season, ranks joint-seventh for defcon points and is Everton’s third-highest scorer with 36 points.
LIVERPOOL
Much has been made of their recent blip of four straight defeats but, lest it be forgotten, Liverpool are still only four points off top spot. They have also come out of a demanding fixture schedule and can now look forward to a relatively easy six-match run – with the exception of Manchester City in Gameweek 11. Home matches against Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Sunderland offer the very real prospect of three consecutive home wins, while trips to West Ham and Leeds should also guarantee six points.
This should be manna from heaven for Liverpool’s attacking assets but the question is: who should managers go for? Mohamed Salah (£14.3m) has had his worst start to an FPL season in Liverpool colours and is simply not justifying his price tag, while Alexander Isak (£10.5m) is struggling to show the form of last season and has picked up another injury.
This could actually make the decision much easier for FPL managers. Cody Gakpo (£7.6m) has looked superb in recent matches is the best route to FPL points at present. The Dutchman has scored in back-to-back Gameweeks, is Liverpool’s top FPL points scorer with 40 points and is also on corners. No midfielder has had more shots than Gakpo’s 21, only two have had more penalty-area touches (51) and only one has created more chances (22). He has also started all but one match this season.
Liverpool have not been watertight at the back but that can be expected to improve once they have got past the City fixture. Virgil van Dijk (£6.0m) is the safest starter at the rear and, quietly, has amassed more defensive contributions than any defender bar Marcos Senesi (£5.0m).
ARSENAL
The only dilemma regarding Arsenal is which players to treble up on. Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) looks back to his best, Viktor Gyökeres (£9.0m) broke his recent goal drought with a brace against Atletico Madrid and Declan Rice (£6.7m) is a perpetual threat from set-pieces.
Their fixtures look great, with trips to Burnley and Sunderland surely a gateway to points. Two more testing London derbies against Spurs and Chelsea precede Brentford at home and Aston Villa away, which should prove straightforward enough for the impressive league leaders.
Arsenal are strong in all facets of the game but it is their defence that most catches the eye. Three goals conceded all season is unmatched by any team in the top five leagues in Europe, and so Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.4m), Jurrien Timber (£6.0m) and Riccardo Calafiori (£5.8m) all stand out.
In the last five Gameweks, Gabriel has only once scored fewer than nine points, Calafiori has had five more shots than any defender (16) in the game, and has hit a post and had a goal disallowed in his last two sorties, while after Gabriel, Timber is the second-highest FPL point-scoring defender in the game (54), offering offensive (two goals, two assists) and defensive (four clean sheets) returns. Many managers have plumped for David Raya (£5.7m), who has been excellent, but his low save points and relatively low points ceiling, mean he does not have the same potential for returns as his high-performing defensive team-mates.
FULHAM
Having lost three matches in a row, Fulham will be grateful for the respite offered by the fixture let-up. Marco Silva’s side will be particularly looking forward to the first three gameweeks as Wolves and Sunderland at home sandwich a trip to Everton.
A hamstring injury for Joachim Andersen (£4.5m) is untimely because the centre-back has been a DefCon magnet, ranking third among defenders with 12 points. If he does not recover for the forthcoming purple patch of matches, no other Fulham defenders really appeal, as the next highest tally for DefCons among defenders is two points – and the West Londoners have managed only one clean sheet this term.
Alex Iwobi (£6.5m) is at the heart of most of Fulham’s best creative play. The former Arsenal midfielder has created the most chances (13), had the third-most shots (10) and amassed more points (34) than any team-mate.
