GAFFR Fantasy Championship Teams and Players to Target for GW22

Hello everyone. Apologies that there hasn’t been one of these for a while, but we’re now back on here ahead of Gaffr GW22!

Teams and players to target for the next 4

First point here, particularly off the back of GW21 which was very popular for the Budget Buster boost, is to talk about the teams and players to be looking at now. We’ll be using the next 4 games to assess this, so let’s get into the teams!

West Brom (vs Reading, at Barnsley, at Derby, vs Preston)

These next 4 fixtures are fantastic for West Brom. Despite them having had a difficult period recently, this set of fixtures suggests you really should be looking at their players now. The two most popular ones are Darnell Furlong (6.2m) and Conor Townsend (6.4m), who should do very well in this run. Three of the four teams are in the bottom third of the league for goals scored and all four are in the bottom third of the league for expected goals. Karlan Grant (9.6m) has 23 points in his last 4 games and will be looking to add to his 9 goals in this stretch. The assists for 6 of those goals have come from Callum Robinson (9.0m), who has been a less reliable option as the season has gone along, but could be a punt for managers looking to make gains in this period.

Millwall (at Peterborough, vs Preston, vs Swansea, at Coventry)

This is a good run for Millwall, particularly with the first two games against Peterborough and Preston. This run is another one that looks good for the defenders, similar to West Brom’s run where three of the four opponents are in the bottom third of the league for expected goals scored. This coupled with their marauding runs forward make the wing backs Danny McNamara (4.8m) and Scott Malone (6.7m) great options for this run. Malone is also on some of the set pieces, so attacking returns and bonus points are more likely for him. The other defender to mention is Murray Wallace (5.5m) who has managed a few attacking returns and will likely be nailed again now in the back 3 with Daniel Ballard’s (5.0m) long term injury. The main man to mention when it comes to Millwall, saving the best til last here, is still Jed Wallace (10.5m). Millwall’s talisman is the fourth highest scoring midfielder in the game and the third highest scoring player in the game for bonus points. He often gets overlooked because of his price, but he is a great option to go with, especially for those flush with cash after the Budget Buster.

Nottingham Forest (at Swansea, vs Hull, at Middlesbrough, vs Huddersfield)

Forest have obviously made significant improvements under Steve Cooper, and this run is a good opportunity to have some of their assets in the team. Djed Spence (5.3m) is apparently likely to be going back to Middlesbrough in January, but while he is still at Forest, he is a good option for Gaffr managers. They are another team whose next 4 line up well for potential defensive points, so the two nailed centre backs of Scott McKenna (5.6m) and Joe Worrall (5.6m) might be considerations, but we would still recommend Spence, particularly as he is cheaper than the two centre backs. Further up the pitch, Brennan Johnson (5.9m) is someone that a lot of managers will own and he remains a good option for this upcoming stretch. Philip Zinckernagel (7.9m) has been playing well in the attack as well but is obviously significantly more than Johnson. Finally, pod “favourite” Lewis Grabban (8.2m) has managed to get a few returns recently and could be a differential option in the forward position.

Blackburn Rovers (at Bournemouth, vs Birmingham, at Hull, vs Barnsley)

The Bournemouth game at the start of this run for Blackburn obviously doesn’t jump out as a positive, but this run for them is still very good. There is no other place to start with Blackburn than with the Chilean superstar Ben Brereton Diaz (8.5m) who just keeps notching the attacking returns for Blackburn and is very difficult to ignore, especially given his cheaper price than some of the other high scoring forwards. A key to Blackburn’s recent form has also been the inclusion in the attack of Reda Khadra (5.6m) who followed up his goal against Stoke with the assist for Brereton Diaz’s goal against Preston. If he continues to feature in this team, he could be a very interesting option. Two other midfield options currently at Blackburn are Joe Rothwell (5.6m) and John Buckley (4.5m). Both have become key parts of this Blackburn team and keep ticking over with attacking returns. Buckley in particular, playing in an attacking role as a 4.5 midfielder, could well be another cheap midfield enabler for Gaffr managers to bear in mind when looking at their teams.

GW30 blanks

Following on from the FA Cup third round draw, it has become clear that GW30 will become a sizeable blank gameweek. FF Joel (@FFJoel_ on Twitter) from the Guys on Gaffr podcast has detailed the blanks that are possible/likely, so this is all borrowed from him! The games that are “likely” to be postponed due to a lower league opponent are: West Brom-Bournemouth, Reading-Stoke, Blackpool-Bristol City and Peterborough-Luton. There are also 3 pairs of games where one of the two will be postponed due to all-Championship ties. These are Barnsley-Cardiff and Hull-Preston; Nottingham Forest-Coventry and Huddersfield-Derby; and Blackpool-Bristol City and Middlesbrough-Fulham. This means that the games that are likely to go ahead are Birmingham-Sheffield United, Swansea-Blackburn and Millwall-QPR. These games are obviously still a while away now, but it is something for Gaffr managers to bear in mind looking forward!

GW22 Captaincy

We’re going to finish off here by looking at the best captaincy picks for GW22. Aleksandar Mitrovic (11.5m) against Luton is a strong option again, as he is every week. Jed Wallace against Peterborough is a good option this week as well. Karlan Grant or even Conor Townsend could be decent picks up against Reading. Finally, Dominic Solanke (11.6m) against Blackburn is likely to continue showing himself to be a good option for the captaincy.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this return to the articles here. We will be back again next week with another one! We’ll be recording our pod as normal this week and we hope to be on YouTube more regularly very soon. We also do a Twitter Spaces every Thursday night, so please join us there! Talk to you guys soon.

The EFL Fantasy Podcast (@EFL_Fantasy on Twitter)