Top 5 Arsenal Assets in Fantasy Premier League

As an Arsenal fan, I’ve been on a complicated journey with Arteta. I thought he did a fantastic job of working with the wreckage he was initially left with, culminating in the FA Cup win. The following season I thought he was pretty crap, culminating in the Europa League semi-final disasterclass against Villareal. Last year he somehow seemed to both overachieve and underachieve, which is an impressive feat. 

This year – as you might have heard – Arsenal have won every game. Are we going to win the title? Yeah, probably, and a fair amount of credit will have to go to every Amazon Prime-subscriber’s favourite Spanish psychopath. I can begrudgingly admit that. 

For now, let’s just worry about Fantasy Premier League, not the real thing. 

In 2019/20, when Mikel first came in, you’d hardly want an Arsenal player even sniffing your fantasy squad. Fast forward to 2022/23, and the Gunners are brimming – brimming, I tell you – with FPL assets. Has the schedule been easy so far? Absolutely, but they’re not exactly running the gauntlet with their next several fixtures. 

FPL tips - Arsenal fixtures(Yep, Man U are a 4/5 on the Fixture Difficulty O’Meter! For the record, the next game after these four is Spurs, with a 3/5. I’ve never bothered to look up the logic behind these crazy ratings – some beautiful mysteries in life are better left untouched). 

In short, Arsenal are really good right now, and they’ve still got good fixtures coming up. Time to dish out some Fantasy Premier League advice for aspiring Gunners owners. 

Top 5 Arsenal FPL Players Ranked

There are at least nine Arsenal players who could conceivably be owned in Fantasy Premier League right now. I can’t believe I’m saying that, considering the state of Arsenal’s squad a couple of years back, but it’s somehow true. 

Here are my top five rankings. 

1) Gabriel Martinelli – 6.4

The cat got out of the bag pretty quickly on Martinelli this year. He started off at 6.0, and has already risen to 6.4. He’s 41.5% owned, at the time of writing, meaning that over half of Fantasy Premier League managers still don’t have him. If you’re one of the mistaken majority, get Gabby in immediately. 

2) Martin Odegaard – 6.5 

Martinelli over Odegaard was actually a tough decision. If you’ve seen Arsenal play – particularly in the Fulham game – you’ll know that the skipper is playing out of his mind right now. His technique has always been pretty flawless, but this has now been coupled with a confidence, speed of thought, and quality of decision-making which has made him largely unstoppable. 

Odegaard actually has Martinelli beat in FPL points right now, with 31 compared to 24, and is only 0.1 more expensive. The underlying stats slightly favour Martinelli, with 1.35 xG vs 0.93, and 0.78 xA vs 0.64. Martinelli also has 23 penalty area touches, versus only 10 for Odegaard, which backs up the eye test conclusion that he’s simply getting in more dangerous positions. 

Basically, if I had to choose, I’d narrowly pick Martinelli over Odegaard. What I’m beginning to strongly like, however, is simply getting the pair of them in. Both are playing fantastic football, and their prices – for the production you’re getting – are pretty ridiculous. Crucially, while Martinelli’s ownership is high, Odegaard’s is only at a middling 16%, still making him something of a differential.

3) Gabriel Jesus – 8.2

You’ve already got him. 

4) Saliba – 4.6 > Gabriel – 5.0

I’ve bundled Arsenal’s centre back duo together. Both are nailed-on to start every game right now. Both are excellent. Both have even made god awful mistakes in the last two games leading directly to opposition goals – talk about peas in a pod. 

I’d take Saliba right now, mostly due to the price difference. He gives you a 0.4 saving, which can be better invested elsewhere. Gabriel is technically a bigger goal threat, but he still only scored four last season, and that was from an xG of 1.81. 

5) Aaron Ramsdale – 5.0

Whether you go for Ramsdale or Saliba/Gabriel depends purely on team construction. Any of the three are fine. Arsenal look good at the back again this year, with – as noted – two of the goals they have conceded coming from ridiculous mistakes at the back, which that madman Arteta will surely stamp out. 

If you’re Big at the Back, as in my case, Ramsdale is a better shout. He’s also one of the best options for digging yourself out of a Danny Ward-shaped hole, which I am also in. If you prefer budget defenders instead though, Saliba is a great option at 4.6.

Best of the Rest

The most notable absence from the previous ranking is obviously Saka. He’s still up at 13.5% ownership, but I wouldn’t go near him right now. 

The FPL stats are poor compared to the rest of the attacking quartet (16pts so far, versus 31, 26, and 24 for Odegaard, Jesus, and Martinelli respectively). He’s not passing the eye test either. Ignoring the hilarious caption, this is a goal last season:

Saka is one player I’d never accuse of lacking confidence, but he’s bang out of form – nothing he’s trying seems to be coming off right now. Saka at 7.9, versus Odegaard at 6.5, isn’t even a debate. 

The two other options worth mentioning are both defenders. 

Zinchenko’s ownership is up at 28.7%, which is just mad to me. He got plenty of hype over the first three games, and rightly so – he played brilliantly, and has changed Arsenal’s entire attack down the left. 

He’s not an FPL-type player, though. In the last three seasons for City (arguably a better team than Arsenal), he got four assists total, and zero goals. That means you’re banking on defensive returns, which you can get from Saliba or Gabriel. He’s not even that cheap, with his price of 5.3 putting him in the same ballpark as Trippier (5.1), Perisic (5.5), and Cucurella (5.1), all of which I’d rather have.

Ben White is a much more budget-friendly option, at only 4.5. He’s started every game at right-back so far, and has looked great defensively and decent going forward. The only reason I have him behind Saliba and Gabriel is rotation risk. I think he keeps his place for now, but – of the three – he’s probably the most likely to get benched. 

Moving Forward

Arsenal are entering the Liverpool Zone. You know you want three of their assets – the hard part is deciding which ones to pick. 

You’ve got Jesus already, so that’s one. You need to have at least one of Martinelli or Odegaard – that’s two. 

In a vacuum, I like the Martinelli and Odegaard pairing most (in addition to Jesus). Midfield is so-so this year, they’re both out-producing far more expensive players, and both the underlying stats and eye-test back them up. 

That said, Saliba is a solid pick if you need a cheap defender. Ramsdale is also a decent option for replacing Danny Ward, but I’d probably still take Sanchez (4.6) – or to a lesser extent Pope (5.0) – over him. 

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