Gameweek 23 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) will be a ‘double’ after all – but seemingly only for Burnley and Watford.
The outstanding fixture between the Hornets and the Clarets at Turf Moor will now be accommodated on February 5, over two weeks after the Gameweek 23 deadline passes.
There is space in the schedule for that previously postponed match as only FA Cup round four ties are being contested on that weekend and both clubs are already out of the competition.
Watford also play Norwich City at home in Gameweek 23, with Burnley away at Arsenal.
This is the third time that this fixture has had a date set, with unavailability issues putting paid to the previous two attempts to get the game on.
There has been no word yet on Aston Villa or Leeds, who also have a fixture against one another to fulfil and who are similarly eliminated from the FA Cup.
This line from the Premier League in their own Double Gameweek announcement suggests that will remain the case – although who knows for sure in this topsy-turvy season:
“Crucially, Watford and Burnley are the only two sides who are scheduled to play twice in Gameweek 23.”
HOW THE TOP 10K ARE CURRENTLY SET UP FOR DOUBLE GAMEWEEK 23
Once again we turn to the excellent LiveFPL site for ownership data.
Taking the top 10,000 as a sample, the average FPL manager owns not far off 1.5 Watford players (before Gameweek 23 transfers), with Emmanuel Dennis (£6.1m), Ben Foster ((£4.1m) and Joshua King (£5.8m) mopping up the bulk of that figure:
Burnley are a bit of an afterthought, with bench fodder favourite Josh Brownhill (£4.3m) the most owned at just over 6%.
Most FPL managers within the top 10k own either Dennis or King, with only 4.77% selecting both players – though that number will likely rise a bit by Friday’s deadline:
2 years, 9 months ago1 FT & 2.8 ITB
Foster
TAA, Cancelo, White (Cash, Coufal)
KDB, Jota, Bowen, Gray (D.Luiz)
Ronaldo, Antonio, Dennis(C)
A) Antonio -----> King
B) Gray -----> Raphinha
C) Antonio&Gray --------> King&Raphinha for -4