The last 4 gameweeks have been chaotic to say the least, filled with multiple blanks, last minute postponements, big double gameweeks which turned into much smaller double or blank gameweeks. Few decisions went right but many did not, leading to another set of gameweeks where my rank went up and down with a minor improvement in rank to 440k.

GW19 which turned out to be another ad-hoc blank gameweek like GW18, but this time things did not work that well for me, major captaincy fail, multiple blanks by starters in my team leading to a below par 33(-4) against the weeks average of 36. Odegaard was the only saving grace, with his double assist against Norwich.

GW20 and 21 were brilliant for me with sub 500k gameweek ranks in both the GWs. GW20 again had just 7 games, but Foden and Ronaldo, who were not owned by a lot of managers fired and took me to 59 points against the average of 37, and GW21 turned out to be Captain Bowen show with him adding 42 points as captain to take me to a total of 85(-4) as against the average of 46.

GW22 was below average one, wherein I managed to score exactly the average score, 51. Bruno hauling in the double gameweek hurt, specially with my captain managing a meagre 4 points, but kudos to all those who picked and captained Bruno.

Planning for GW23 and ahead…

As we head into GW23, there are as many as 20 games which will have to be rescheduled, so we are bound to have multiple DGWs (or even TGWs) in the upcoming gameweeks, and hence planning ahead could come in really handy, specially with all chips intact as things stand. FPL Community had been anticipating double gameweeks for multiple teams in GW23, but as things stand, Watford and Burnley are the only 2 teams getting a DGW this week, so transfers could be used to address that. In addition to that, teams like Aston Villa, Leicester and Leeds are showing great attacking potential, so their mid range attacking picks could be high value for money.

However, over the course of last few weeks I have realized it is better to not plan ahead and plan for the short term (and avoid hits, if possible!) and hence I am not thinking ahead of GW23 (for now). Based on this my picks for this GW are:

Joshua King (assuming we all own Dennis already) – Double games against Norwich and Burnley for any team is worth a shout and Watford has been decent going forward in the past and could be a great opportunity for the Watford forwards to reward their owners to big hauls. Lately Watford’s xG has been low (5.04 across last 6 games), but they still have great fixtures and ignoring them could be a huge risk.

Aston Villa attackers | Watkins, Buendia, Ramsey and Coutinho (even Digne)- Aston Villa look dangerous going forward and with their heavy press and they are up against Everton team struggling for form. Although with Rafa sacked, we might see some change in tactics for Everton but I think Aston Villa game is coming too quickly for Everton’s new coaching team to effect major changes.

Raphinha – Leeds seem to have their mojo back, at least to some extent and playing against Newcastle only compounds Raphinha’s attacking potential. They also have a double gameweek on the horizon so Raphinha could be a good investment.

Kevin De Bruyne – Probably highest on the captaincy list this GW, if I could get him in, I would definitely captain him (over Dennis and King). Challenge is, with Salah coming back soon, I do not want to spend too many hits to get KDB right now and I have Foden, so he might be able to cover for KDB. Cancelo is another good captaincy pick in my opinion

Differential Captaincy Picks

Raheem Sterling (3.8% owned) – Part of front three for Man City, playing against Southampton, 5 goals in last 6 starts, enough said.

Joshua King (8.9% owned) – Over last couple of weeks FPL manages have had to take multiple big decisions involving DGW players [Bowen or Antonio; Bruno or Ronaldo] and this could be another one of them. King offers great differential captain potential but Dennis has been a bigger scorer this season. Joshua is definitely worth a shout

Buendia (1% owned) – You could replace him with others in Aston Villa team but I have a feeling he is due a big haul (either with goals or assists) soon.

Martinelli (6.6% owned) – Game against Burnley for the ever attacking Martinelli could be a great shout for attacking returns. I assumed he was owned r number of managers after his haul few GWs back, but I was surprised and hence he is an easy pick for this list.

Transfers for GW23

This week I am looking to make just one transfer and avoid any hits. Antonio has looked leggy in the past couple of gameweeks and hope he won’t score against United this GW. Taking him out allows me the options of getting in King or Watkins. I generally tend to target the double GW but Watkins seems a great long term pick, maybe for that reason itself, I will avoid Watkins and go for a short term pick in King. Any announcement of the DGWs would change this, obviously!

Best of luck, green arrows everyone!