FPL Gameweek 17 Preview – The Silly Season Begins

Greetings all, and welcome to your full FPL Gameweek 17 preview. 

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed the recent, regularly-spaced gameweeks… because we’re about to enter the silly season! Forgetting deadlines, rotation, injuries – yep, it’s that time of year again! 

To give you some prior warning, here’s the schedule for the next few gameweeks:

• 17 – Sat 21st Dec
• 18 – Thu 26th Dec
• 19 – Sun 29th Dec
• 20 – Sat 4th Jan

After that, we do get a nice 10 day gap before Gameweek 21. Until then though… just assume there’s a new gameweek starting right after the last one finished.

With that cleared up, let’s get onto the business at hand! 

Everton & Arsenal Defence – Is It Last Year Already?

Last year, especially in the last ⅓ or so of the season, it felt like we could literally rely on two defences to have any shot at cleans. This year, it already feels like the same two teams. 

The likes of Liverpool and Forest have looked reliable at certain times this season… but in general, we’re back to only really trusting Arsenal and Everton. 

Everton kept a clean sheet against Arsenal last week to get up to 6 clean sheets from 15 games. Similarly to last year, Dyche has got them sorted out after some early wobbles, and they are just pulling off cleans. We should probably be paying attention to them again.

Arsenal, meanwhile, are rubbish going forward, but look to be getting back to what we expected from them defensively. They’ve got 3 cleans in their last 5 games, and the best CB pairing in the league fit again. 

When to Wildcard?

If you still have your wildcard and are looking for the next opportunity to use it, I would suggest gameweek 18 or 19.

Then you can jump on Man City, Fulham and (maybe) Crystal Palace assets ahead of their good runs.

Whichever of those weeks you choose… remember that Gameweek 19 is the last week you can play it!

Brighton Regrets

Yeah… we might have overrated Brighton a bit. 

Based on how they looked to start the year, and their supposedly excellent fixture run, I and many others bought in. They’ve now drawn 2 and lost 2 of their last 4 games. They drew against Leiecester and Southampton (at home), for God’s sake.

They’re definitely rubbish defensively. They’ve conceded 9 goals in those 4 games. 

Technically they’re scoring goals… but it’s not the players we actually own who are scoring them. JP has 0 goals in his last 4 games (all starts). Welbeck isn’t playing. Mitoma hasn’t returned in 3 games, despite having decent underlying stats as usual. 

It’s all very disappointing, and I’m generally happy to just admit we probably sung their praises a bit too early, and bail accordingly. 

Best Attacking Fixtures

Here are the five sides with the very best attacking FPL fixtures, from FPL Gameweeks 17 to 21.

Fulham jump into the fixture ticker and go straight to the top, after not appearing last week. Chelsea away isn’t a good fixture, but they have four nice attacking matchups apart from that. 

The Cottagers aside, it’s the usual suspects. I still wouldn’t want any City or Liverpool attackers, apart from Salah obviously. Isak is nigh-on must-own for me, but I don’t really love any other Newcastle options either (though Gordon is still fine, at 7.2). 

—

Over the next ten games, the following have the best fixtures:

1. Fulham
2. Arsenal
3. Liverpool
4. Crystal Palace
5. Brighton

So, Fulham top both mid- and long-term fixture runs. Unfortunately, I don’t really love any of their players! Jimenez is fine on paper, but his underlying stats are very inconsistent, and he only has one goal in his last eight games. Iwobi feels boring, and unlikely to maintain his goalscoring based on the rest of his career. 

Meh!

Best Defensive Fixtures

Here are the five sides with the very best defensive FPL fixtures, from FPL Gameweek 17 to 21.

And, over the next ten, the following have the best fixtures:

1. Fulham
2. Crystal Palace
3. Southampton
4. Brighton
5. Chelsea

I’m more interested in Robinson than any Fulham attackers, to be honest. They’re fine defensively, he’s got decent attacking underlying stats, and he’s okay value at 4.8.

Palace, Southampton, and Brighton all look rubbish defensively. Munoz was briefly looking interesting again… then immediately got suspended. No thanks, to all of them. 

Chelsea are playing well in general… but not actually keeping cleans. They’ve kept literally one in their last 11 games, and have played Southampton and Leicester in that span. 

Should I Buy?

Every week we look at the most-bought players in FPL, and give our takes on whether you should buy said players or not. Well, this is one of the weirdest weeks I can remember, for the names involved! 

Rather than the usual Salah, Haaland, Saka, and so on, lots of people seem to be bargain hunting this week… which is much more fun!

• Amad – Yes. Why not? He’s only 5.2, keeps starting, is getting a ton of assists, his underlying stats are fine, and his fixtures are fine too. I’m strongly considering getting him for Brennan Johnson this week

• Robinson – Yes. Fulham have nice defensive fixtures for a while, his attacking underlying stats are fine, and he’s not too expensive at 4.8

• Isak – Yes. I think he’s borderline essential

• Hall – Maybe. He had a massive week against Leicester… but also that was Leicester. He only has one other return all season, Newcastle aren’t generally keeping cleans, and his attacking underlying stats aren’t great. I’d prefer Robinson, for 0.2 more

• Gabriel – Yes. Arsenal are one of the few defences we can (mostly) trust, and they’ve got two nice defensive fixtures in a row now

• Jackson – Yes. He’s frustrating in real life, but continues to deliver the goods in FPL

• Enzo – Yes. We can’t call it a fluke any more – he’s returned in six straight games. Chelsea look great, he’s playing every minute, he’s taking up attacking positions, and their fixtures are fine

• Wood – Maybe. He’s not quite in the form he was in earlier this year, but Brentford then Spurs are nice fixtures, with Wolves to come in GW 20 after Everton

• Iwobi – No. He had a good little run of goalscoring form, but that’s pretty out of keeping with the rest of his career. I’d rather have Enzo or Amad, both of whom are cheaper

• Jimenez – Maybe. I get that the fixtures are fine for a while, but he hasn’t really been returning for ages now, the underlying stats aren’t great, and he only generally gets 70-75 minutes before Muniz comes on. That said, at 5.5, he’s a fine enabler

• Palmer – Yes, as always

• Mbeumo – Yes. He’s proven us doubters who dropped him for his ‘difficult fixtures’ wrong, scoring against both Newcastle and Chelsea. I feel like an idiot for selling. He’s excellent, consistent, and largely fixture-proof

• Wissa – No. He’s a good player, but his underlying stats haven’t been good recently, he’s not fixture-proof like Mbeumo, and he’s got some tough games coming up

Should I Sell?

And now let’s take a look at the most-sold players in FPL, ahead of Gameweek 17.

• Ait Nouri – Yes, he’s suspended, not cheap, and Wolves are awful. As an owner, I’m so annoyed – a red card after the final whistle for -2pts against Ipswich of all teams, and he’s ruled out for the Leicester game. Grr!  

• Haaland – Yes. Just let him go, for God’s sake

• Rogers – Yes… if you’ve got the transfers. You’re definitely not starting him against City or Newcastle. But he’s also only 5.3, so should be fine to just bench

• Welbeck – Yes. Seems to generally be injured

• Watkins – Yes. Has (deservedly) lost his place

• Cunha – No. He already punished the sellers with a goal in his easy fixture against Ipswich, and now plays Leicester. Obviously do not sell him before this fixture!

• B Johnson – Yes. It’s very frustrating, because if he did play I’m sure he’d get returns… but he seems to have lost his place, and has Liverpool this week anyway (which he probably won’t start for)

• ESR – Yes. He’s playing less and less, isn’t returning, and you can have Amad/Enzo for cheaper

• Diaz – Yes. Gets rotated far too much for 7.4 – you could easily swap him for a Gordon/Madison, for example, and not have to worry about that

• Porro – Yes. He’s still far too expensive for what he gives you, Spurs’ defence is rubbish, and now they play Liverpool

• Joao Pedro – Maybe. Personally I’m keeping the faith… but, as covered above, I don’t feel great about him, or about Brighton in general

Captaincy Corner

There are two clear options for me this week – Salah vs Spurs, or Isak vs Ipswich. 

Personally, I’m going for Salah. He literally always returns, and he could absolutely smash Spurs on the break. So, he’s got a high floor and a high ceiling. 

Admittedly, I’d put Isak’s ceiling even higher. He’s in excellent form, and Ipswich is a lovely fixture. 

In general though, if it’s any kind of toss-up involving Salah… I’m usually picking Salah. 

Captaincy Matrix

Here are your major captaincy options across the next few gameweeks. 

As you can see, you can still largely get away without Haaland until at least GW 20 or 21. 

Final Thoughts

Right, that just does about does it for your FPL Gameweek 17 preview. 

Again, this is the last ‘normal’ gameweek we’re going to have in a while. If you do absolutely nothing else, just make sure you keep on top of your lineup, your captaincy, your injuries and suspensions and whatnot, for the next couple of weeks. 

This is the time of year when loads and loads of people forget about FPL, with their holiday celebrations, valuing time with their loved ones, and all that sort of stuff. Never mind all that nonsense, I say – this is the perfect opportunity for us true (sad) FPL nerds to shoot up the rankings!

Best of luck in Gameweek 17, everybody. James will be back in a few days with a Gameweek 18 preview, but I – Joe – will wish you happy holidays in the meantime!