At the moment of writing, the gameweek 15 games between Everton and Newcastle and between Spurs and West Ham, still need to be played, so do keep that in mind. Having said that, gameweek 15 has already given us plenty to ponder, including an incredible last-minute Arsenal victory over Luton (which only became even more incredible after Manchester City’s 1-0 loss at Villa Park a day later) and Manchester United’s home win versus Chelsea, courtesy of a Scott McTominay brace. Fulham also shared in the headlines by wiping the floor with Nottingham Forest at Craven Cottage, winning 5-0 with a hattrick of assists by one of last season’s stand-out budget fantasy performers Andreas Pereira.
With just about 38 hours between the final gameweek 15 whistle on Thursday and the kick-off of gameweek 16 between Crystal Palace and Liverpool on Saturday, there is no time to lose in terms of preparation. From an FPL point of view, the Man City visit to Kenilworth Road on Sunday naturally stands out, though the visit of Liverpool to Selhurst Park and the clash between Man United and Bournemouth at Old Trafford are brimming with fantasy potential as well. Considering Sheffield United’s recent form, the visit of Brentford to Bramall Lane on Saturday should have owners of Bryan Mbeumo in particular hopeful for another nice gameweek.
Check out FISO’s FPL Forum for the latest discussion and don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 16 is set at 11h00 (UK time) on Saturday, December 9th, 2023.
Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per December 6th, 2023)
TRANSFERS OUT | TRANSFERS IN | POSSIBLE REASONS | |
GK | Pope (NEW), Alisson (LIV), Turner (NOT) | Dubravka (NEW), Ederson (MCI), Onana (MUN) | |
DEF | Cash (AST), Andersen (CRY), Saliba (ARS) | Alexander-Arnold (LIV), Colwill (CHE), Trippier (NEW) | Cash benchings, Newcastle fixtures, TAA form |
MID | Doku (MCI), Diaby (AST), Luiz (AST) | Hee Chan (WOL), Palmer (CHE), Gordon (NEW) | Gordon back-to-back hauls, Villa difficult fixtures |
FOR | Nketiah (ARS), Darwin (LIV), Alvarez (MCI) | Cunha (WOL), Watkins (AST), Joao Pedro (BRI) | Return of Jesus, Cunha and Watkins form |
Premium pick
After Aston Villa’s somewhat surprise victory over Man City on Wednesday (we say somewhat, because the Cityzens have been fumbling points of late, struggle without Rodri and Villa look like Champions League contenders at the moment), the reigning champions now find themselves in fourth place, six points behind leaders Arsenal. That’s not something the skyblue side of Manchester has been used to this decade, so we do expect them to regain some of their winning ways soon. The upcoming visit to Luton Town looks like a perfect opportunity to do just that, which is why our premium fantasy pick for gameweek 16 is Erling Haaland (£14.0m). The Norwegian has now gone an unbelievable two consecutive league games without a goal, despite recording an Expected Goal ratio of 0.77 in GW14 and 0.83 in GW15. Despite their recent struggles, we expect Man City to dominate this one and Haaland to add at least one to his current 14 goals from 15 league starts.
Non-premium pick
Sheffield United have conceded 10 goals in their last three league games and the 5-0 defeat at the hands of Burnley back in gameweek 14 felt particularly worrisome for the Blades. They are now bottom of the table with just five points and 11 goals scored, while having conceded a worrying 41 goals. They can therefore be considered the Premier League whipping boys of the moment and Brentford is the side facing them coming weekend. Now, Brentford have had a decent run, winning five games and losing six to get them to their current 11th place in the league. We are mentioning them here though, because the Bees count on Bryan Mbeumo (£7.1m) for much of their attacking threat in the continued absence of Ivan Toney, and the Cameroon international has not disappointed so far. The attacker, who is listed as a midfielder in FPL, has managed 7 goals and 4 assists from 15 league starts, and lately he has been back in the returns. He provided an assist versus Luton in GW14 and then scored his side’s only goal against Brighton on Wednesday. Our hope is that he can extend this run of consecutive attacking returns to three when Brentford visit Sheffield United on Saturday, despite his current yellow flag.
The budget enabler
We know that we included Wolves forward Matheus Cunha (£5.6m) as our budget enabler in the preview for gameweek 15 as well, but his assist in the 1-0 victory over Burnley made it four consecutive league games with an attacking return in a row. Since his assist against Spurs back in gameweek 12, the Brazilian youngster has collected 22 FPL points for an average of just over 5 FPL points per game. Not bad at all for a starting forward priced at just £5.6m for the moment. From gameweek 17, Wolves’ schedule becomes considerably more difficult, but before that happens, there is still the home game against Nottingham Forest this Saturday. The Tricky Trees are coming off a rather surprising 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Fulham at Craven Cottage, so we don’t expect their defence to be brimming with confidence for their visit to Molineux. Cunha is one of the men in form for Wolves at the moment and we honestly don’t see why he could not make it five returns in five games this gameweek.
The differential
In more or less any way you look at it, Chelsea are having a horrid season. Despite spending almost a billion (!) pounds on new blood in about two season, the Blues currently find themselves in tenth place in the league, no less than 11 points behind the top four. Manager Mauricio Pochettino’s men got a bit of a boost of confidence when they beat Brighton 3-2 back in gameweek 14, but that confidence was brittle as the Blues went under against Manchester United a few days later. The upcoming run of fixtures should inspire hope in the Chelsea faithful though, as the Londoners have one of the best schedules of all teams for the foreseeable future. We are therefore highlighting Levi Colwill (£4.5m) as an interesting budget enabler on both the short and the long term. The left-back position seems his to lose at the moment, which is great news for owners with Everton away, Sheffield United at home, Wolves away, Crystal Palace at home and Luton Town away in the next five. With Ben Chilwell’s return from injury unknown, we would not be surprised to see Colwill feature in more than a few wildcards over the coming gameweeks.
The (vice-)captaincy
As far as we are concerned, Erling Haaland away at Luton Town screams captaincy. He already has 14 goals and 5 assists to his name so far, and despite Luton’s encouraging first half of the season, we find it hard to see them make it three consecutive league games without a goal for the Norwegian.
As usual, Mohamed Salah provides probably the best alternative to Erling Haaland. Liverpool visit a Crystal Palace, who have 21 goals in 15 league games so far, while Salah has already bagged 10 (plus 6 assists) this season. Other interesting though riskier picks for the armband are Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo away at Sheffield United, Wolves forward Matheus Cunha at home to Nottingham Forest and even Man City’s Phil Foden.