The Watchlist takes a medium-term look at the more desirable Fantasy Premier League (FPL) transfer targets, rather than concentrating on just the upcoming Gameweek as the Scout Picks does.
Our outlook ends at Blank Gameweek 28 here, with plenty unknown beyond it. While the blanks in Gameweek 28 aren’t confirmed yet, we have a pretty good idea of who will be with or without a fixture.
MORE ABOUT THE WATCHLIST
Players are selected and ranked according to factors such as form, club injuries, forthcoming fixtures, Rate My Team’s points projections and whether or not the player in question is likely to be a bargain in FPL.
Arrows before the name indicate whether a player has climbed or fallen in our reckoning since the previous update or if they are a new entry into the tables.
We typically toe the line with FPL’s definition of ‘form’ (average points accrued in matches played over the last 30 days) but with few matches actually played over that time, we’ve extended it slightly back to Gameweek 20.
The key for the factors you’ll see in the below tables is as follows:
THE WATCHLIST: BEST FPL GOALKEEPERS
It’s the calm before the storm, with four Blank/Double Gameweeks to come in Gameweeks 25-29. There’s not much change in the goalkeeper pecking order, as a result.
Kepa Arrizabalaga (£4.6m), Aaron Ramsdale (£4.9m) and Jordan Pickford (£4.4m) offer safe passages up to and including Gameweek 28, with no blanks for any of them – and in the cases of Ramsdale and Pickford, they get a Double Gameweek 25, too.
Nick Pope (£5.5m), Robert Sanchez (£4.6m) and David Raya (£4.7m) all remain poised for possible promotions after Blank Gameweek 25 is out of the way for all three of their teams, with Double Gameweek 27 (for Brighton and Brentford) or an unaffected fixture in Blank Gameweek 28 (for Newcastle United) in their favour.
We’ve swapped Raya and Sanchez now that Brentford’s trip to the Emirates is out of the way: both ‘keepers have similarly favourable fixtures but the Brentford custodian has registered over twice as many save as his Brighton counterpart this season, despite the Bees having a very similar rate of expected goals conceded (xGC) as Albion in 2022/23.
Ederson (£5.4m) began his descent down the Watchlist last week and he may slide further beyond Gameweek 25 but for now, at least, he offers the only ‘nailed’ route into a Manchester City defence that faces low-scoring teams Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace and a Newcastle United side that have found the net on just three occasions in the last six Gameweeks. Two clean sheets in 11 games has been a shocking return for a goalkeeper who is typically up around the 20 mark by the end of a season, however.
THE WATCHLIST: BEST FPL DEFENDERS
You win, Pep. You’ll notice a distinct lack of Manchester City representation in the above Watchlist now that the league leaders’ Double Gameweek is out of the way. When you’ve already got six fit defenders competing for three or four slots and John Stones (£5.4m) not too far from a return, the sight of Bernardo Silva (£6.8m) being used as an inverted left-back in Gameweek 23 was enough for us to throw in the towel.
The big beneficiaries here are Chelsea assets, with the Blues embarking on a favourable run of games against mostly bottom-half teams up to and including Gameweek 30. They are also one of just seven clubs guaranteed to avoid a blank in Gameweeks 25/28, while there’s even a decent chance of a ‘double’ in Gameweek 29, too.
Doubling up on defenders isn’t something we do too often in The Watchlist but there’s a good reason when it happens. Here, we’ve included Benoit Badiashile (£5.0m) alongside Reece James (£5.8m) due to the latter’s potential for managed minutes following a recent return from injury. James would be the Chelsea defender that most of us would want if rotation/rests weren’t an issue, given his attacking threat. Last season, he racked up 14 goals and assists combined despite starting just 22 games.
But even the right-back himself admitted this week that he “can’t try to play every minute” following his stop-start season so far, and there’s a definite concern for Gameweek 24 given that he’s just logged 90 minutes against Borussia Dortmund. Enter Badiashile, who isn’t part of Chelsea’s Champions League squad but, of late, a regular starter at the heart of the defence in the Premier League. He carries a bit of goal threat from set plays, too, with four shots in as many appearances.
James Tarkowski (£4.2m) was inches away from scoring two goals in as many games at the Emirates on Saturday but it’s the sheer volume of fixtures (including four decent ones) to come in the next five Gameweeks that’s the main attraction, with Everton set to play twice as many matches as Manchester United over this period.
| No. of fixtures in Gameweeks 24-28 | |
| 6 | Arsenal, Everton, Crystal Palace |
| 5 or 6 | Liverpool, Wolves, Soton |
| 5 | Chelsea, Aston Villa, Nottm Forest, Bournemouth |
| 4 or 5 | Spurs, Brighton, Leeds, Brentford, Fulham, Leicester, Man City, West Ham |
| 4 | Newcastle |
| 3 or 4 | Man Utd |
Pervis Estupinan (£4.7m), Max Kilman (£4.3m) and Ben Mee (£4.9m) all have upcoming Double Gameweeks but the promise or the threat of at least one blank, meanwhile.
We’re leaving Alex Moreno (£4.5m) where he is for the time being as Aston Villa assets only really come to the fore in Gameweek 25, so by that time we may have more clue as to whether the rotation risk is going to be too much of a black mark against the attack-minded left-back and whether we’d be better off suited going with Tyrone Mings (£4.3m). Certainly, the Villa fanbase and club reporters seem miffed as to why Lucas Digne (£4.6m) hasn’t been binned off yet but Saturday’s display at the Etihad could have been the final nail in the coffin.
THE WATCHLIST: BEST FPL MIDFIELDERS
Whether or not to renew acquaintances with Mohamed Salah (£12.6m) will be a question that many Fantasy managers will be asking themselves ahead of Double Gameweek 25, and the lure of two fixtures for FPL’s highest scorer of the last five years will be too strong for many.
His underlying numbers haven’t been all that great of late: usually top for many of the key metrics, he’s only seventh among midfielders for expected goal involvement (xGI) in the last six matches. But he’s unsurprisingly the highest projected scorer in RMT from Gameweeks 24-27, while there’s still a chance that the Reds’ Gameweek 28 clash with Fulham goes ahead. Monday’s improved individual and collective display against Everton was a good start but Newcastle away this Saturday will be more of an acid test for Jurgen Klopp’s underachievers.
You could justifiably quibble the ordering of the Arsenal top two – Martin Odegaard (£7.0m) betters Bukayo Saka (£8.3m) for value and non-penalty xGI, the latter has spot-kick duties – but there’ll be few people disputing Gabriel Martinelli‘s (£6.6m) drop. Since Leandro Trossard’s (£6.7m) arrival in Gameweek 21, Martinelli has played 85 fewer minutes than Saka due to early substitutions; that’s almost an extra full game for the England international. The starting spot may remain Martinelli’s for now but the week-to-week uncertainty over game-time dents the Brazilian winger’s appeal.
Only imminent blanks prevent Brighton’s duo from climbing any higher; Solly March (£5.1m), incidentally, betters Saka, Odegaard, Salah and every other midfielder for xGI over the last six matches.
James Maddison (£8.0m) is the only new entry, kept low by some stiff upcoming tests and a possible Blank Gameweek 28. But the fit-again midfielder has been delivering some elite-level points for over a year now (35 attacking returns in as many starts!) and there’s a definite argument to be had over whether he should be deemed as fixture-proof as Saka and co.
THE WATCHLIST: BEST FPL FORWARDS
There are question marks over the foursome behind the premium pair at the top of the forwards’ Watchlist.
Eddie Nketiah (£6.8m) and Darwin Nunez (£8.7m) both have Double Gameweeks hurtling into view but are soon going to face the challenge of fit-again positional rivals, while the lingering threat of a ban and a Blank Gameweek 25 for Ivan Toney (£6.8m) does make him less enticing for now.
Joao Felix (£7.5m) is the only new entry above but as anyone who owns an FPL asset playing under Graham Potter will know, a benching can appear out of nowhere. Still, the upcoming fixtures and shortage of blanks are a big draw, and we like what we’ve seen of the loanee so far. Nine shots have arrived in just 147 minutes of pitch-time, while Felix is also on a share of set plays.
There’s been a pruning of the above list, with Brennan Johnson‘s (£5.7m) good run of games over, Kai Havertz (£7.7m) replaced by Felix as our go-to Chelsea pick, and a combination of injury, a Blank Gameweek, iffy fixtures and a rotation risk seeing off Callum Wilson (£7.1m).
Ollie Watkins (£7.1m) looks set to feature from next week onwards, while a red-hot Kelechi Iheanacho (£6.1m) is also pushing for inclusion – but those aforementioned fixtures for Leicester plus Brendan Rodgers’ visceral distrust of the Nigerian as a starter make him a ‘watch and wait’ for now.
