Tips

The Complete Guide to Scout’s tips and advice to FPL Gameweek 23

Welcome to the Fantasy Football Scout Guide to Gameweek 23 ahead of today’s 11:00 GMT deadline.

The big news is the announcement of more Double Gameweeks in 24 and 25. Legomané updated his ticker, which includes non-Premier League matches.

Manchester City, Everton, Burnley, Fulham, Southampton and Leeds are the six teams to benefit from an extra fixture. 

There will also be a double in Gameweek 26, but which teams play twice depends on the FA Cup results in midweek. The winners will have their Gameweek 29 matches shifted to 26.

The other outstanding fixtures yet to be rescheduled are: 

  • Aston Villa vs Tottenham Hotspur
  • Aston Villa vs Everton
  • Manchester City vs Southampton
  • Fulham vs Tottenham

Six and the City

The Man City backline continues to dish out regular six-point returns thanks to their incredible run of clean sheets. Provided, that is, your selected defenders make the starting XI.

John Stones (£5.2m) returned to the starting XI against Burnley but with Aymeric Laporte (£6.0m) fit and available there’s now the risk of a benching, as happened against Sheffield United.

Some on site, such as Camzy, are considering switching to one City defender and two attackers. And, whisper it softly, on the Scoutcast Karam even suggested selling Ilkay Gündogan (£5.9m) for those who want to stick with two at the back.

The reason is Raheem Sterling (£11.6m):

I started to like someone else, he’s not performing at £11.6m just yet, but if I want to move away from defence and I want to stay in attack, then I think I would take a risk on Sterling … his expected goals is 2.31, the most of any City asset over the last four Gameweeks … for me – as someone who is struggling now with the rank – the fixtures are there for scoring goals, I think Sterling is worth a shout. Now I know Gündogan is crazy value, which I agree, but if you need that element of taking a risk – and we know that Sterling is capable of braces, and he looked good against Burnley.

– Karam

Seb added:

The only thing on Gündogan is … he’s created nine chances in the last three but only had three shots – two of those were goals. In the last match he had an xG of 0.03 … I’d just keep an eye on if things are shifting or how City are playing against a deep defence, whether Gündogan is the goalscorer. For me that would just be the difference whether I captain him or not – not whether I have him or not.

– Seb

David noted the impact of Gabriel Jesus (£9.2m) over the last two matches, his presence in the City team does stop Gündogan from shooting as often.

But the former Borussia Dortmund midfielder remained a creative force, fashioning two big chances for Sterling and creating five goal scoring opportunities in total – the most of any player at Turf Moor.

Another factor in the German’s favour is that his ‘expected minutes’, something Career Hall of Fame No 1, Fábio Borges, places great importance on, is high:

Gündogan has less competition to worry about and seems to be in the form of his life so I’m hoping he will play both matches [over the Double Gameweek]. The fact that he could be on penalties and is ridiculously priced at £5.9 million makes him a much better pick than Sterling in my opinion … if I didn’t already have Dias and Gündogan in my squad, they would definitely be my main transfer targets from Guardiola’s team.

– Fábio

Fábio talked through his transfer targets for the upcoming small Double Gameweeks in his latest FFScout contribution. Nick Pope (£5.5m) or a Burnley defender were high on his list of priorities given their favourable fixtures.

While fellow Pro Pundit Lateriser touted Luke Shaw (£4.9m) in his recent article:

With Shaw, you are not just dependent on clean sheet points. He’s become incredibly vital to the Red Devils and is a ball progressor and an attacking outlet on that left-hand side. In the last six Gameweeks, Shaw has created 19 chances, which is top amongst all defenders. Shaw is also top for big chances created (five) in the same period and is on some set pieces and corners.

– Lateriser

And the highest ranked of our elite contributors, Andy, who climbed another 200 places to 479th overall after Gameweek 22, reviewed his season so far, reflecting on what has worked well for him

This year I’ve made a conscious decision to always have who I believe is the best captain each week, even if that means transferring out a big hitter. This sounds simple, but often FPL managers will forgo the best captain because they don’t want to sell a big hitter … I’ve sold Salah, Son, and Kane twice already this season and I’ve found not having value wrapped up in them makes my decisions much easier knowing I can just buy them back as there’s no money “lost”.

– Andy

Captaincy Debate

The armband for Andy this week is firmly on Son Heung-min (£9.7m) ahead of an encounter against West Brom’s obliging defence. 

However, Captain Sensible writer, Jan, does not necessarily agree:

Despite receiving plenty of attention in the captaincy debate for Gameweek 22, I do not think Son is necessarily as strong a candidate as some might think.

– Jan

Jan notes the slump in form for Tottenham Hotspur along with the poor underlying statistics for Son in particular – his total of 15 touches in the box over his last four matches is bettered by 33 Premier League players.

So while West Brom have conceded two goals in each of their last seven matches, could a defensive approach from Sam Allardyce frustrate an off-colour Spurs?

Bruno Fernandes (£11.5m) and Marcus Rashford (£9.6m) are alternatives from a buoyant Manchester United side, and West Ham’s Michail Antonio (£6.7m) could prosper against Fulham. 

Fernandes is my top captaincy pick for Gameweek 23. Given that his underlying statistics are continuously impressive and his Manchester United colleagues are back in their groove, he could easily repeat the haul he achieved the last time Manchester United faced Everton.

– Jan

However for David – who enjoyed a successful 17-Gameweek captain run back in 2018/19 – Antonio is his favoured armband selection from this week’s Scout Picks.

The in-form West Ham striker has hit attacking returns in four of his five last games. With the highest expected goals rating of any forward in the last six Gameweeks, we are backing Antonio to continue his impressive form against a Fulham side whose recent defensive improvements have stuttered.

– Scout Picks

Team News

In the Team News, Jamie Vardy (£10.0m) is set to return following his hernia operation, while Ricardo Pereira (£5.9m) could be a useful asset in the absence of Timothy Castagne (£5.7m) over the coming weeks.

And Wilfried Zaha (£7.2m) has been ruled out with a hamstring injury.

While from Pep Guardiola’s Friday press conference, we received confirmation that Sergio Aguero (£10.3m), Kevin De Bruyne (£11.8m) and Nathan Aké (£5.4m) are still on the sidelines with their respective issues.

Community Competitions and Head-to-Head Fixtures

RedLightning rounded-up the latest Community mini-leagues and competitions

Pro Pundit Andy’s youtube.com/letstalkfpl mini-league is currently the Best League in FPL based on the average score of the top five teams, taking over from our Community Members League, which slips to third.

For those participating in the Head-to-Head Leagues, the main page can be linked to here. The fixtures for Gameweek 23 can be found below:

Use the drop-down menus to show your league and division. To find out which league and division you are in, follow the instructions on the main Head-to-Head page.

Once the Gameweek starts, if you click on your opponent’s name you will be linked to their team on the FPL website.

May your arrows be green!

TopMarx Fan of Fantasy Football and Monty Python. "Archimedes out to Socrates, Socrates back to Archimedes, Archimedes out to Heraclitus, he beats Hegel. Heraclitus a little flick, here he comes on the far post, Socrates is there, Socrates heads it in! Socrates has scored! The Greeks are going mad, the Greeks are going mad! Socrates scores, got a beautiful cross from Archimedes. The Germans are disputing it. Hegel is arguing that the reality is merely an a priori adjunct of non-naturalistic ethics, Kant via the categorical imperative is holding that ontologically it exists only in the imagination, and Marx is claiming it was offside. Follow them on Twitter

2,746 Comments Post a Comment
  1. OverTinker
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Bench one
    1. Coufal
    2. AWB
    3. DCL

    1. conorbon
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      2

    2. waldo666
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      3

    3. fish&chips
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      DCL

  2. fish&chips
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Bench one:

    A) Barnes,
    B) Bruno,
    C) Gundo,
    D) Grealish,
    E) Salah,
    F) bamford,
    G) Antonio,
    H) Watkins

    Bench one:

    1) TAA,
    2) Dias,
    3) cancelo,
    4) coufal

    1. conorbon
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      H2

    2. FPLShaqiri
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      C2

    3. _Gunner
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      H2

    4. Smudger’s Dirty Dozen
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      H2

      1. aborg
        • 6 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        Why Bench Watkins? He scored 2 goals in the reverse away fixture !

  3. Slitherene
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Start which one?

    A) Lowton (BHA)
    B) Maguire (EVE)

    1. conorbon
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      A

    2. fish&chips
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      A

  4. lewis1290
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    do i do barkley -> grealish

    1. conorbon
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Free yes

    2. mwa1t
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      If you have a FT yes

  5. Amans94
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Bench one:

    A) Justin
    B) Dallas

    Thanks

    1. conorbon
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      B

  6. mwa1t
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Bench Bednarek or Dias?

    1. conorbon
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Bednarek

    2. shiraz
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Bed

  7. Ibralicious
    • 9 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    With ownership in the equation, Antonio smashes Bruno out the park with his captaincy per owner figure based on the FFS polling data.

    1. Hazz
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Which is a tiny %

      1. Ibralicious
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        Who are you captaining?

  8. Gudjohnsen
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Rival who is 50 points ahead of me will 100% captain Bruno.

    Too risky going with Antonio (C)?

    1. Smudger’s Dirty Dozen
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Do it

    2. Balls of Steel
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      No not at all, go for it!

      1. Gudjohnsen
        • 7 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        Easy for you to say.
        You got balls of steel.

        1. Balls of Steel
          • 8 Years
          3 years, 1 month ago

          That I do my friend!!

  9. Smudger’s Dirty Dozen
    • 12 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Play
    Y DCL
    Z Barnes

    Captain
    1 Bamford
    2 Antonio
    3 Bruno
    4 Son

    Currently on Z2

    1. conorbon
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Z2

    2. Z
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Y2

    3. shiraz
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Z3
      Bamford is a great shout

  10. adey70
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Please help with my defender benchings: which two to leave out?

    A) Maguire
    B) Cancelo
    C) Robertson
    D) Rudiger
    E) Stones

    1. Smudger’s Dirty Dozen
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      CE

    2. shiraz
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      CE

    3. conorbon
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      AE

    4. LT10
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      CE

      1. adey70
        • 13 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        Thanks everyone. V helpful!

  11. Z
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Play one?
    A. Dias
    B. AWB

    (No other Mcity players)

    1. shiraz
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      A

      1. LT10
        • 12 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        A

  12. shiraz
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Is it crazy to give bam/grealish the armband ahead of bruno?
    My guts telling me to go for bam but heart telling me to be rational and follow the crowd on bruno.

    1. mwa1t
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      I'm very tempted to go with Grealish, can't see Utd v Eve being a high scoring game.

  13. lordkippe
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Bench 1 :

    A : AWB
    B : Coufal

    1. Z
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      AWB ez!

    2. shiraz
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      A

  14. Sean
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Should I do Soucek to Son/Rashford/Grealish or roll the FT and wait for DGW fixtures to be announced?

    1. conorbon
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Roll

    2. Z
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Keep it

    3. Il Capitano
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Roll

    4. Sean
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Cheers all

  15. Budgies
    • 4 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Bit of a team selection issue here as too many good options, who to pick? My current team is:

    De Gea
    Cresswell, AWB, Justin
    Gundogan, Salah, Bruno, Son, Maddison
    Antonio (c), Wilson

    (Martinez, DCL, Dias, Cancelo)

    Am i crazy having that bench? Just can't see Man C keeping a clean sheet against Pool.

    1. Sean
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Cancelo has to be first on the bench at least

      1. Budgies
        • 4 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        Yeah will shuffle that, if you were to play him which of the current 3 would you drop?

  16. Il Capitano
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    1FT 4.5m ITB

    McCarthy
    Coufal Cancelo Justin
    Soucek Salah Son (VC) Gundogan Bruno (C)
    Bamford Antonio

    Johnstone - Adams Lowton Stones

    Couple of last minute decisions. Play Lowton over anyone in the XI? Change my captaincy? Or GTG, step away from the keyboard.

  17. lordkippe
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Bench one :

    A : Cancelo
    B : Dias

    1. Z
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      A

    2. linkafu
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      B

      1. LT10
        • 12 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        B

  18. Flynny
    • 9 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    I've turned anxious about Antonio (c)

    Must be a chance he is rested ahead of Tuesday united Cup match with bowen or Yarmo up front...

    I may go bruno (c)

    Is that sensible or over thinking? Thanks

    1. Arteta
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      It's doing my head in and I'm nowhere near coclusion.

      1. Flynny
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        I'm going out now. I'm a coward....think I'm going bruno

  19. Pukki Party
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Will Taylor be fit and playing in the dgw?

    1. winchester
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      hope so Teemu

  20. HonestBlatter
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    I'm paying for this and still season ticker is not updated! Cmoon guys

  21. Eirern
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    What to do here??

    2FT and no ideas

    De Gea
    Dias / Stones / Dallas
    Son / Salah / Bruno / Gundo / Soucek
    Bamford / Antonio

    Steele / Coufal / DCL / Mitchell

  22. FPLShaqiri
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Bench Coufal or Dier?

    Currently benching Dier for the fear that he is benched and gets a cameo, despite Spurs having great clean sheet chances.

    1. Wayne Enterprises
      • 11 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      I’d agree with that

    2. Abaddon
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Yeah. Dier had a terrible game last gw... again

    3. HonestBlatter
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Dier was rested against Brighton...he will start

    4. mwa1t
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      I think if he's benched he's unlikely to come on for a cameo

  23. Wayne Enterprises
    • 11 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Who to bench?
    Pogba
    Barnes
    Gundo

  24. 2hotty
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Martinez
    Dias Coufal Dallas
    Bruno Grealish Raphina(VC) Soucek Salah
    Antonio(C) Watkins
    Johnstone DCL Cancel Digne
    Is this the right order any thoughts?

    1. LT10
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      I would start Cancelo over Dias.
      Of course, with Cancelo there is the danger of a 1pt cameo; but i think the potential attacking returns outweigh the small risk.

  25. Magic Zico
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Play one: A. Mee (BHA) B. Coufal (ful)

    1. Pukki Party
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      A

      1. Magic Zico
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 5 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        Wow really ... thx

    2. Balls of Steel
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Mee

  26. linkafu
    • 4 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Bench 1

    A Gundo
    B Raphina

    1. Magic Zico
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Damn, play both man

    2. 2hotty
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      1Million% not B

      1. LT10
        • 12 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        Not B

  27. Jinswick
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Best move here? Planning to WC25.

    A) DDG -> Pope
    B) Mitchell -> Mee
    C) Watkins -> Antonio
    D) Salah -> Son
    E) Save FT

    DDG
    Bellerin, Cancelo, Coufal
    Salah, Sterling, Bruno, Gundogan
    Bamford, DCL, Watkins

    Forster, Targett, Martinelli, Mitchell
    Bank 2.5m, 1FT, ALL CHIPS

  28. AC/DC AFC
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Start

    A) Justin
    B) Stones

    Cheers

    1. wulfrunian
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      a

  29. wulfrunian
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Start one:
    a)Barnes
    b)Ogbonna
    c)Dcl

    1. AC/DC AFC
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      A

    2. LT10
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      A

  30. corderz
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 9 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Tough picking a bench this week, good to go?

    Forster
    Cancelo Chilwell Dallas
    Son(C) Salah Bruno Gundogan Soucek
    Antonio(vc) Bamford

    Martinez DCL Coufal Mee