Gameweek 23 gets underway at Carrow Road as Liverpool travel to Norwich looking for a first win in four against a Canaries side that have registered back-to-back home victories. Later on Saturday afternoon, Leicester face a tough test to return to the top of the table as they host a Stoke outfit that have lost just once in their previous five.
Sunderland need to pick up all three points against Bournemouth at the Stadium of Light ahead of a difficult run of fixtures over the coming weeks. Watford will be attempting to overturn a run of four straight defeats at home to Newcastle, though the visitors are on an upward trajectory after a draw with Manchester United and victory over West Ham.
Manchester City, meanwhile, travel to Upton Park on the back of a first away win in seven, though the Hammers are unbeaten in eight home encounters. The weekend is rounded off with a showdown between current leaders Arsenal and champions Chelsea, as the Gunners go in search of a fifth straight triumph at the Emirates.
If you are unfamiliar with FantasyBet it is particularly accessible for those who play Fantasy Premier League, as it uses a similar scoring system.
The players’ prices were originally identical to those of the official game but have now been updated, with players such as Riyad Mahrez and Mesut Ozil costing at 1m more to include in our squads.
Check out this video to see how team creation works.
MY TEAM
David De Gea (5.5m)
Patrick Van Aanholt (4.5m)
Craig Dawson (5m)
Leighton Baines (6m)
Dele Alli (5m)
Ross Barkley (7m)
Roberto Firmino (8m)
David Silva (10m)
Odion Ighalo (5.5m)
Romelu Lukaku (9m)
Sergio Aguero (13m)
KEY PICKS
David De Gea: United’s defensive record at Old Trafford has been imposingly stubborn with seven clean sheets in ten and only four goals conceded. De Gea has been a major component of that tenacious record and could record another shut-out against a Saints side that have failed to net in two of their last three away trips, including a blank at Norwich.
Craig Dawson: Uncharacteristically for a Tony Pulis side, West Brom have kept just a single clean sheet in twelve outings. Visitors Aston Villa have recorded the second worst number of shots in the box away from home in the division, so the Baggies should recover some defensive composure here. I’ve gone with the central defender who at least has a goal threat from set-plays if the backline slips up again.
Dele Alli: The budget midfielder has been in fine form away from White Hart Lane, scoring three times in Spurs’ last four on the road. The Tottenham squad should be high on confidence after the comfortable mid-week FA Cup win over Leicester City, in which Alli made a late cameo appearance, so should be well rested. They make a short trip across London to Selhurst Park to face a Palace side that have lost three in a row, conceding eight in the process.
Romelu Lukaku: Back-to-back blanks on the road doesn’t dent my faith in the Everton frontman ahead of a plum home clash with Swansea. The Toffees have netted 17 times in six outings at Goodison, with Lukaku contributing to 10 of those goals, whilst the Swans have kept just one clean sheet away from the Liberty all season.
THIS WEEKS GAME PICKS
As always, the best place to start if you’re new to FantasyBet are the free-rolls. There is a £50 pot available for this Gameweek in both the standard and flash formats.
For the seven Saturday matches there’s a Double-Up game for £3.30 entry with a guaranteed prize pool of £120 and also FantasyBet’s biggest game, the Grand Weekend where your compete for a £1000 guaranteed prize pool on a £5.50 buy in, multiple entries are possible in both.
There’s also a £100 pot for the Saturday Slingshot contest, which is a Flash game with a £1.10 entry fee.
LAST WEEK
It was high scoring Gameweek that saw lots of impressive squad totals. I was satisfied overall, with plenty of good picks amongst my line-ups, though a couple of risky captaincy choices proved too detrimental in a week when Sergio Aguero excelled as an armband candidate.
I recovered £10.79 from the Double-up and Grand games so wasn’t in profit but at least maintained the pot, with just under £170 in the bank. Thorek took the top-spot with Aguero as captain, while Georginio Wijnaldum’s 13 points and Charlie Daniels’ 18 points helped achieve a massive 107 point line-up.
THIS WEEK’S STAKE
As usual I will enter the Saturday Double-up, the Grand Saturday contest, the free-rolls and the FFScout Picks League.
I’m also going to enter the Saturday Slingshot game as I’ve been enjoying the fast-paced squad selection that the Flash games feature, this means a total of £11 in stakes this week.
In addition, I’ll be going up against Frankie the Gent, the Community champion in this week’s Scout Picks. He will be taking me on in a specially set up head to head game for a chance to win free entry into a £500 Guaranteed ‘Big Weekly’ game worth £22.
Also the eligible Community Champion who beats the Scout Picks by the highest margin every month will win a free entry into the £600 guaranteed ‘Boss’ game worth £55. Congratulations to TheRedDevil, who beat the picks back in GW17 and went on to clinch joint second in the big pot to secure £125. Great work!
FFSCOUT PICKS LEAGUE
Tello topped last week’s Scout Picks league with an impressive 104 points. Like Thorek, he opted for Aguero as captain and selected Daniels, though the Christian Eriksen (15 points) pick in midfield was also a great shout.
Once again, FantasyBet have provided a £100 pot for the FFScout Picks League, with a £1.10 stake for entry, it is now possible to enter two teams into this contest. I will enter our Scout Picks as closely as possible, given a 15-man squad is required with the 100m budget and a captain also needs to be selected.
Feel free to go up against them this week and pick your own squad on FantasyBet.
