It’s time for our Scout Squad panel to propose their Gameweek 23 picks.

In this article, our in-house team discuss who they think the best Fantasy Premier League (FPL) players are for the upcoming Gameweek in isolation.

MORE ABOUT THE SCOUT SQUAD

The focus is only on the upcoming Gameweek with the Scout Squad, so there’s no medium-term planning involved.

Staff writer Marc, general manager Sam, deputy editor Tom F and editor Neale each take turns explaining their picks.

The players who get the most votes are much more likely to make the Scout Picks. However, the final XI can’t exceed £83.0m – so occasionally, we have to source cheaper alternatives.

Each of our writers must meet the following requirements for this feature:

• At least one sub-£5.0m goalkeeper
• At least one sub-£5.0m defender
• At least one sub-£6.0m midfielder
• At least one sub-£7.0m forward
• No more than three players from the same club

SCOUT SQUAD: BEST FPL PLAYERS FOR GAMEWEEK 23

• MOST PICKS: Gabriel Magalhaes, James Tarkowski, Marc Guehi, Antoine Semenyo, Harry Wilson, Erling Haaland, Igor Thiago, Hugo Ekitike (four), Robert Sanchez, Caoimhin Kelleher (three)

MARC SAID…

It feels like a tough weekend for fixtures, as Arsenal, Man United, Newcastle and Aston Villa face each other, alongside even-looking lower clashes like Fulham v Brighton and West Ham v Sunderland.

Even Man City’s hosting of last-placed Wolves comes with hesitation, as we wonder whether their Bodo/Glimt defeat will make Pep Guardiola more or less likely to pick the likes of Phil Foden, Rayan Cherki and Nico O’Reilly. I just about think out-of-form Erling Haaland will start.

We should certainly get Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi starts, as neither new signing was eligible for City’s Champions League humiliation. The winger has scored in two of three matches since arriving, while no team is worse than Wolves for goals (15) or big chances (24).

Meanwhile, I’ve also gone all-in on Brentford’s strong home record. They average 2.18 points at the Gtech Community Stadium. Igor Thiago’s scoring rate needs no introduction, and neither does Caoimhin Kelleher’s three clean sheets from six – including two penalty saves. But Kevin Schade has interesting numbers. Goalless in nine of his last 10, the other was a hat-trick, and he still racks up lots of box shots and big chances. In fact, the German is this season’s joint-best midfielder in both categories.

I’m actually without any premium midfield picks here, and the most expensive one is Florian Wirtz. Although I’m still unconvinced by him, it can’t be denied that he’s finally picking up some form, as his last five league games have brought a trio of goals and double-digit scores.

Hugo Ekitike is also ready to score that long-awaited goal. Some of us patiently sat through blanks versus Wolves and Leeds, then two injury-related absences, only to see the Frenchman blank at home to Burnley. Yet those three outings involved 14 shots and 1.96 expected goals (xG). I think he’ll net at Bournemouth and remain a good pick against Newcastle.

That’s because the Magpies – when it’s not a home Champions League night – are an incredibly frustrating team. I back two Aston Villa players for Sunday’s St James’ Park clash: Ollie Watkins and Matty Cash.

Elsewhere, knowing how to interpret Man United’s derby win isn’t easy. Buoyed by that result, will they make it a tricky Sunday afternoon for Arsenal? There’s no confidence in Bukayo Saka right now, but we can at least place some trust in the Gunners’ backline. Consecutive clean sheets for David Raya and Gabriel Magalhaes have been my only rays of light in recent times.

The struggle to reach 18 players is so severe that I’ve even backed two Tottenham players. Mathys Tel isn’t in their Champions League squad, so he should be fresh enough to score in a second successive away match. As for Pedro Porro, he perhaps won’t shut Burnley out, but the league’s leading crosser (160) assisted with one last time.

I’m also hedging bets by selecting both James Tarkowski and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Everton have three clean sheets in five, but all were in away games, conceding five at home to Brentford and Wolves. So I like the idea of Calvert-Lewin spooking his former club, but believe Tarkowski will pick up defensive contribution (DefCon) points for a seventh time in a row.

Rounding things off, the only cheap midfielder who comes to mind is Harry Wilson, while Filip Jorgensen’s midweek injury should lock in Robert Sanchez as Chelsea’s goalkeeper versus a Crystal Palace side currently in self-destruct mode.

SAM SAID…

Manchester City host lowly Wolves this weekend, yet here I am, questioning how many of their assets I should select after the defeats to Manchester United and Bodo/Glimt. The derby was also City’s lowest collective xG in a game since 2016. But there’s still quality there ready to be awakened and they are, despite Rob Edwards’ side’s significant improvement in recent weeks, entertaining a team who are bottom of the Premier League.

The midweek ineligibility of new signings Marc Guehi and Antoine Semenyo appears good for us FPL managers, as they will be fresh for Saturday. Erling Haaland joins them, despite the fact that he has failed to score an open-play goal in the last five Premier League matches. This very much feels like a ‘play the fixture rather than the form’ type of weekend; let’s hope we see a better City performance at the Etihad.

Some of the other Gameweek 23 matches are difficult to call. Arsenal v Man United, Newcastle v Aston Villa, Fulham v Brighton and Everton v Leeds all feel like they have potential to go either way. Gabriel Magalhaes was rested in the Champions League and so, despite facing a newly buoyant United, is hard to exclude when he’s averaging 7.9 points per start. Outside of him, though, I have opted to steer clear of the fixture.

Likewise, with Newcastle v Villa, I haven’t selected anyone. Overlooking the Newcastle attack might end up being the wrong call, especially as it is a home fixture.

Instead, I have invested heavily in the likes of Brentford, Liverpool, Sunderland and Chelsea ahead of their fixtures against Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, West Ham and Crystal Palace.

Chelsea have looked good under new manager Liam Rosenior so far. I did consider Cole Palmer after he was left out of the Champions League squad but the niggling injury means that I have opted for Enzo Fernandez instead. I have added Robert Sanchez to my picks for this week, as well. When Wildcarding last week, I was worried about Sanchez under Rosenior, as he doesn’t naturally suit the new manager’s preferred playing style. However, with Jorgensen going off with a knock in midweek, Sanchez now feels pretty safe. Opponents Palace still feel in disarray.

Igor Thiago failed to score against Chelsea in Gameweek 22 but is back on home soil this weekend. Forest have travelled badly in recent weeks, while Brentford have been excellent on their own soil: 23 of the Bees’ 35 goals have come in west London this season, as have three of their five clean sheets. Therefore, the double-up of Thiago alongside Nathan Collins feels sensible. I had Kevin Schade in my picks, too, until I opted for a premium punt on a certain Egyptian.

Liverpool impressed in the Champions League against Marseille on Wednesday evening and despite the disappointing draw against Burnley in Gameweek 22, they were unlucky not to score more. The Reds had 32 shots in Gameweek 22, at least 11 more than any other side last weekend. Hugo Ekitike, who had six efforts in that frustrating clash with the Clarets, makes the cut alongside in-form Florian Wirtz and the returning Mohamed Salah. Despite missing the penalty in the third/fourth play-off match, Salah had a good AFCON tournament. Liverpool fans and FPL managers alike will be hoping that this kickstarts his season in what might yet be his final campaign at the club.

I have also opted for the double up on Sunderland with goalkeeper Robin Roefs and forward Brian Brobbey. Brobbey is in good form with two goals in the last three matches. In both those games, he also achieved all three bonus points.

Harry Wilson still isn’t in my FPL team, so I breathed a sigh of relief when he failed to return in Gameweek 22. However, I don’t expect to be so lucky against Brighton.

I have also opted for Dominic Solanke. He made his first start on return from injury and scored, albeit a very fortunate goal! He faces Burnley, who have conceded 42 goals this season, the second most in the league.

TOM F SAID…

There are more midfielders that I want in my Scout Squad picks than there are available slots this week. Harvey Barnes, facing an Aston Villa team that will be without Boubacar Kamara, has the potential to haul, while Florian Wirtz is averaging 7.3 points per start over the last six Gameweeks. Then there’s Enzo Fernandez, who has three attacking returns in four matches and had a goal harshly ruled out against Pafos in midweek.

However, none of these players make the cut, with Antoine Semenyo, Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka and Iliman Ndiaye, as well as my token sub-£6.0m midfielder Harry Wilson, being preferred instead.

Semenyo, who can’t play in the Champions League this month, is up against Wolves. Rob Edwards’ side are unbeaten in four matches, but they’ve notably failed to keep a clean sheet on the road all season. A potentially tense atmosphere at Selhurst Park on Sunday prompts me to back Palmer, too. His midweek absence sounded precautionary, and I think there is potential joy to be had against Crystal Palace, who are in poor form and have recently sold their captain. Saka looked back to his best in Milan on Tuesday, with five shots and two chances created, while AFCON winner Ndiaye should play in his favoured position off the left against Leeds, with Jack Grealish set for a spell on the sidelines. Wilson, who has as many attacking returns as starts (nine) since the beginning of December, also gets the nod.

At the back, Arsenal, Everton and Man City are all near the top of G-Whizz’s clean sheet odds list for Gameweek 23. Gabriel Magalhaes received a welcome breather in Milan on Tuesday, having produced 38 points in his previous four matches. Even against a Man Utd side buoyed by the arrival of Michael Carrick, you wouldn’t put it past the Brazilian to emerge with a haul from that game. James Tarkowski and Marc Guehi are also selected against Leeds and Wolves, respectively. Shut-outs are by no means assured for either, but I am hopeful that the latter’s arrival at Man City will tighten them up. Tarkowski at least carries a threat at set-pieces and has DefCon potential, too.

I’d also be happy with Milos Kerkez and/or Antonee Robinson in the Scout Picks: the former has really impressed me recently, with six key passes against Burnley and another solid showing in Europe in midweek, while the latter ranks joint-third among FPL defenders for chances created (11) since his return from injury in Gameweek 16.

Further forward, despite a dip in form, Erling Haaland is a shoo-in for the Scout Picks, provided we are confident about his minutes. Igor Thiago will probably join the Norwegian up top, but I do wonder if Hugo Ekitike’s trip to Bournemouth will prove more profitable, with Andoni Iraola’s front-foot approach, rather than Sean Dyche’s low block, potentially playing into Liverpool’s hands.

NEALE SAID…

It feels like we’re in a bit of a Fantasy holding pattern this week, ahead of the much-discussed Gameweek 24 fixture swing and the possibility of learning about blanks/doubles a few days beyond that. It’s not a vintage crop of fixtures this weekend, either, with even the so-called ‘favourable’ ones not straightforward.

Take West Ham United v Sunderland, for example: the league’s worst home defence (25 goals conceded, zero clean sheets) versus its joint-worst away attack (five goals scored). Even Manchester City v Wolverhampton Wanderers, a cricket-score contender a month ago, isn’t the gimme it once looked. I’m certainly tempted to roll a transfer this week before clearer pictures emerge, despite having fires to fight.

Despite them featuring relatively low down in G-Whizz’s clean sheet odds, I fancy Chelsea more than most. An imploding Crystal Palace side might even be strikerless come Sunday, while the Eagles have scored just two goals in their last six home outings. I wonder if Trevoh Chalobah is not going to be the nailed proposition under Liam Rosenior that he was under Enzo Maresca but I’m guessing he returns to the side this weekend as the minutes of midweek starter Wesley Fofana are managed. Robert Sanchez, suddenly deprived of his positional rival and having had a stormer against Brentford, is maybe the safer pick. And speaking of ‘safer’ further forward, I’ve opted for the unflagged option of Enzo Fernandez – who may start in the 10 or at least be pushed there later in the game – over Cole Palmer. How long can the Argentine midfielder go on starting every match, though?

I’ve little doubt that Marc Guehi goes straight into the Man City side this weekend. Pep Guardiola bemoaned the lack of consistency at the back after the midweek loss in Norway, and he may seek to begin a new long-running chapter with Guehi at the heart of his backline. City have historically been at their best with a mainstay at the rear (Otamendi, Laporte, Dias), and Guehi may be the next to join that illustrious list. Antoine Semenyo, the only attacker to last the course in the Manchester derby and one of the few wingers they’ve got who is prepared to attack the box (check out Pep’s quotes on that here), can help ease the goalscoring burden on Erling Haaland.

Continuing the theme of ‘fixtures that don’t look as appealing now as they did in December’, it’s Arsenal v an unshackled Man Utd. Mikel Arteta surely isn’t as naive as Pep Guardiola was, though; perhaps we’re going to get a cagier contest, with the Gunners reluctant to leave as much space on the counter as City did, like the goalless draw with Liverpool in Gameweek 21. You’d need to have a damned good reason to overlook Gabriel Magalhaes either way, although not so much Bukayo Saka, who is haemorrhaging owners. Having watched a lively Saka display on Tuesday, I’m just about keeping the faith. He’d returned in nine out of 10 league fixtures before that last Emirates stalemate, too (despondent owner bias).

Homers Brentford won’t necessarily find it straightforward against Forest, who boast some decent defensive numbers since Sean Dyche took over. But the Tricky Trees were in Portugal less than 72 hours before kick-off in west London, while Igor Thiago and co are averaging over 2.0 goals per game on their own turf. Kevin Schade particularly favours home comforts: all six of his goals have come on his own soil.

Reservations dog my other picks, from DefCon machine James Tarkowski (Everton seem to be better away at present, and Leeds are in fine form) and Micky van de Ven (it’s Spurs) in defence to Hugo Ekitike and Yoane Wissa (will they even start after midweek exertions?) up top. A week to just muddle through and hope for damage limitation before the serious business starts.