FPL Gameweek 22 Preview - Post-Cup Fallout

Greetings all, and welcome to your big old FPL preview for Gameweek 22. 

After the madness of the holiday season, we’ll have had an entire week-and-a-half off heading into this gameweek. What a luxury! 

In addition to finally having a bit of a break from FPL, it was also a pretty interesting weekend of cup action. 

Semenyo started immediately, and scored (along with every other City player… except Haaland, naturally). Howe started Wissa and Woltemade. Ekitike returned, and scored immediately. Spurs are rubbish, but admittedly we knew that already. 

What does it all mean, for good old Fantasy Premier League? Or, does it not matter a jot? Join me, and I’ll (try my best to) reveal all!

You Might Have Missed

… James being on a mad one. 

Having a few days off from FPL does something to his brain, I tell you – he just can’t help but fire off a big, analytical piece. 

And this time he’s outdone himself, blasting out not just one, but two such articles!

The first is a big old mid-season (ish) review, looking at price changes, statistical trends, forwards being rubbish, and more:

full90fpl.com/fpl-gameweek-22-mid-season-review/

The second is specifically looking at the defensive position, how DefCons have changed things up, and – obviously – the best players to pick:

full90fpl.com/fpl-gameweek-22-best-fpl-defenders/

Both of them are excellent, and useful, and well worth a few minutes of your time.

Best Upcoming FPL Fixtures – Gameweek 22

Regular Full 90 readers will know the drill – we’ve got a lovely big fixture ticker, which is completely free and actually (if I say so myself) pretty accurate:

full90fpl.com/fixture-ticker/ 

Said fixture ticker has these as the best attacking and defensive upcoming FPL fixture runs, heading into Gameweek 22. 

Best Attacking Fixtures

• Arsenal

 Forest away, Man U at home, and Sunderland at home are all very nice fixtures indeed. Unfortunately, Arsenal’s own attack is terrible. I’d still buy in to Saka and Rice regardless, since they’re both excellent and consistent, but that’s about it. Let’s see if Jesus and/or Havertz can bench Gyokores and open things up a bit

• Chelsea

You’re only missing Burnley, really, or these would be perfect fixtures. Either way, you can’t really ask for much more… except for some actual FPL options at Chelsea, of course! James and I have both bought Enzo in – neither of us feels great about it, but at that price and with these fixtures he’s worth a go. At this very moment, Palmer doesn’t feel worth his price, but if he bangs in the Brentford game then he’ll be right back under consideration

• Man City

I love these next three attacking fixtures. Love, love, love them – so much so that I’m holding onto Frauden, despite him never, ever returning any more. We’ll get onto Cherki and Semenyo shortly, but in general I want at least two City attackers for this run (including Haaland, obviously)

• Crystal Palace

Meh. The fixtures are fine, but the team itself stinks right now. Stay away, until further notice

• Liverpool

These fixtures are only okay, and worth holding onto your Liverpool attackers for (probably just Ekitike and Wirtz), but wouldn’t convince me to actually go out and buy them. Burnley at home is a great matchup obviously, Newcastle home is fine too, but Bournemouth and Sunderland are tougher away fixtures than they would be at home

• Bournemouth

Similarly to Liverpool, these fixtures fall in the ‘good enough to hold, not good enough to buy’ zone. Everton away aside, I do think they’re all fine, but there aren’t really any specific Bournemouth players I’m interested in regardless

• Newcastle

Apart from Liverpool away, this is a pretty nice run (taking the home/away splits into consideration). The Newcastle attacking options are just so messy, though, between Wissa vs Woltemade, Gordon’s minutes, and so on. That being said, I would definitely be interested in Bruno G right now, between these fixtures and the form he’s been in

Best Defensive Fixtures

• Arsenal

Yummy yummy. The best defence in the league now gets this absolute dream of a defensive run. I am remaining steadfast in my backing of a triple Arsenal defence (including Raya), but you should really have at least two of them 

• Chelsea

Chelsea have gone five games without a clean sheet, but in fairness that did include a few tough fixtures. They’ve done a good job cleaning against the teams they should clean against this season – Wolves, Burnley, Everton, Forest, Spurs, and so on. And in Palace (currently), West Ham, and Wolves, you’re talking about three of the worst attacks in the league. I like at least one out of Sanchez and a defender, and for the latter I’d probably just play it safe and go for Chalobah

• Crystal Palace

Not a chance – even after a clean sheet against Villa. Let’s at least wait until after the Chelsea game, and see if they’ve actually sorted themselves out by then

• Man City

As noted, I like these fixtures very much – defensively, as well as for attackers. City do have a lot of games coming up, between the Champions League and FA Cup, which makes me wary of Pep Roulette. That being said, with Dias and Gvardiol out he doesn’t actually have that many options for centre-back, with Khusanov looking a fairly safe pick for the next few weeks. Annoyingly O’Reilly is not safe at all, with Ait Nouri returning and Ake playing some left-back too, so we might need to shift him soon

• Everton

If you haven’t got any Everton defenders yet, I’d wait until after Villa away. After that they’ve got a nice run of games, and are obviously an excellent defence (except when playing Brentford at home, apparently)

• Liverpool

If only they could play the league leaders away every week! I definitely wouldn’t trust them for cleans yet, in general. Frimpong is a trendy pick right now, but I wouldn’t gamble on him myself just yet. I assume he starts over Gomez, in place of the injured Bradley, but I’m not completely sure, and Salah (…probably?) will be back on the right wing soon

• Newcastle

I continue to have no interest in the Newcastle defence until further notice. They’ve failed to shut out a load of poor teams already this season, and followed up their recent extremely rare clean (against a poor Palace side) by promptly conceding three at home to Leeds

FPL Transfer Tips Gameweek 22

Who to buy, and who to sell… it’s all we really need to worry about, in Fantasy Premier League – simple!

Let’s cast our beady eyes over the most bought and sold players in FPL, heading into Gameweek 22, and decide if they deserve the mighty honour of being on our own teams. 

Should I Buy?

• Thiago – Yes. 29pts in the past two weeks, at a time when forwards are generally rubbish. I’d say that makes him a pretty good buy
• Gabriel – Yes. The best defender in the game, and has come back and immediately scored a ton of points 
• Bruno G – Yes. Double digit returns in his last three games. Oh how I wish I’d spent the extra to get him over Enzo a couple of weeks ago…  
• Harry Wilson – Maybe. As with DCL, it’s a bit hard to trust him, but at some point you just have to start believing in him. He’s returned in seven of the last nine games now, is absolutely brimming with confidence, and he’s absolutely a bargain at 5.8. If I was wildcarding right now, he probably would be in my team at that price 

• Rice – Yes. Super-consistent, and finally got a proper (non injury-related) rest at the weekend 
• Calvert-Lewin – Maybe. It keeps being hard to trust him, based on his track record… and he keeps scoring anyway. I don’t love his fixtures, but he’s recently returned against Newcastle, Sunderland (away), Liverpool, Chelsea, and City, so… who cares about the fixtures, I guess! 
• Bruno F – Maybe. I would have made this a ‘No’, but James would never have spoken to me again – he is genuinely obsessed with Bruno. It’s quite worrying. I’ll definitely get him when the fixtures turn, but I wouldn’t buy him in before the City and Arsenal games (even though he’s so good that he could return regardless)
• Rogers – Yes. Scored against Spurs in the cup, with a nice finish, has both returned consistently and had explosive games this season, and his fixtures are fine 
• Semenyo – Maybe. I wasn’t sure if he’d actually start straight away in the league, but he’s done enough in the cup games to earn a place. I’d definitely hold him if you’ve got him already, but I’d prefer to wait at least one league game if you haven’t 
• Watkins – Yes. Has looked pretty much back to his best in the past couple of months, and the fixtures are fine
• Collins – No. He does get DefCons, but his last couple of big returns have been based on unsustainable attacking returns, he’s not cheap, and Brentford’s cleans have come in very favourable matchups… and now they’re about to play Chelsea, Villa, and Newcastle away, before Arsenal at home, with only a home Forest fixture breaking up that run   
• Mukiele – No. Just get Alderete for 0.3 less. He plays for the same defence and has very similar underlying stats
• Wirtz – Maybe. He feels a bit pricey, when you could get Bruno F for a million more or Rogers, Rice, Bruno G, for less. He’s definitely looked better recently, and Burnley at home is an amazing fixture, but I don’t really love their games after that. I wouldn’t go there, but he’s a high-upside pick this week obviously

Should I Sell?

• Foden – Maybe. Personally, I’m not, but I might just be crazy. He hasn’t returned in forever… but I just can’t bring myself to do it before he plays Man U, Wolves at home, then Spurs back to back
• Ekitike – No. He came back at the weekend, scored immediately, and now he plays Burnley at home – you can’t sell him before that, for God’s sake!

• Semenyo – No. I was sceptical of his value after the move, but he’s definitely done enough in the cup games to hold his place in both the City side and – more importantly by far – your FPL team
• Cunha – Yes. Two tough fixtures in a row, and at that price I’d rather move him to a Bruno G or Morgan Rogers, instead of either benching him or crossing my fingers and hoping 
• Cherki – No. I’d give it at least another week, to see if he was just rotated last game or if he’s actually been benched… which I doubt. I like all three of their upcoming fixtures, so if there’s a good chance he plays, I’d keep him
• Bowen – No. It feels far too soon to me, after he’s been in pretty solid form for a while. He also now gets to play crappy Spurs, then Sunderland at home (who are not good on the road)
• Woltemade – Maybe. I’d probably hold him another week. Obviously I don’t like the Wissa threat, but he did start the last game, and Howe played them both in the cup, so there’s hope!
• Saka – No, unless you really really want to swap him to Rice and save yourself some money. Hasn’t been explosive, but as usual he’s been incredibly consistent, and there’s still plenty of value in that in FPL
• Joao Pedro – Yes. His return to form was short-lived, and I’d expect Delap to keep starting up top under Rosenior  
• O’Reilly – No. I am nervous about the return of Ait-Nouri. But, as with Cherki, it feels too soon to bin him, after one benching. And – once again – I really like these City fixtures

Captaincy Corner 

It’s usually Haaland, and it probably is again this week. Who knows if Man U get up for the derby, and maybe Carrick gives them a mini interim manager bounce, but on paper City are obviously the vastly better team, and… Haaland is Haaland.

Ekitike home to Burnley is obviously mouthwatering. But there’s no guarantee he starts, and if he doesn’t it’ll probably be one point off the bench. 

Saka is another solid option, playing Forest away. He’s generally only good for an assist though, so I prefer the upside of Haaland’s potential to batter Man U.

Final Thoughts

Well, that’ll wrap things up very neatly indeed for your Gameweek 22 preview. 

Personally, I’m excited to have FPL back after our recent deprivation. Partly, I admit, because I’m eager to try and get back into form, after an awful few weeks over the holidays. Mostly, though, because I (and James too) am simply addicted, and – however much I complain about it – miss Fantasy Premier League whenever I don’t have it for more than a mere one week. 

What a sickness. 

Anyway, I hope you’re excited too, and that you’ve enjoyed this little article, and that you join me in scoring a ton of points in Gameweek 22!

Best of luck out there, everybody, and thanks – as ever – for reading.