The week of Christmas is finally here and that means a week full of friends, family and FPL. Compared to the same period in previous years, this year’s Premier League schedule is relatively manageable, from a fantasy point of view at least. We’ve got two deadlines coming up in the span of about four days, with Gameweek 18 kicking off at 11:00 AM on Thursday and Gameweek 19 a few days later, in the afternoon of Sunday, December 29th. While relatively doable, it is true that there will be just around 32 hours between the final whistle of GW18 on Friday and the start of GW19 on Sunday, so be aware of fitness and especially rotation risks.
Let’s start at the beginning though, and that means the upcoming Gameweek 18. Struggling reigning champions Manchester City open the ball on Thursday with a home game against Everton, but that’s not the only fixture that looks good for FPL managers. Chelsea, for example, are hosting Fulham right after that, while Liverpool welcome Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Leicester City to Anfield in the evening. The remaining two games of GW18, Brighton versus Brentford and Arsenal versus Ipswich Town, are reserved for Friday and both look like they have considerable FPL potential as well.
Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 18 is set at 11h00 (UK time) on Thursday, December 26th, 2024. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.
Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per December 24th, 2024)
| TRANSFERS OUT | TRANSFERS IN | POSSIBLE REASONS | |
| GK | Kelleher (LIV), Onana (MUN), Pope (NEW) | Pickford (EVE), Raya (ARS), Sels (NFO) | Pope injury |
| DEF | Gvardiol (MCI), Porro (TOT), Van Dijk (LIV) | Aina (NFO), Gabriel (ARS), Alexander-Arnold (LIV) | |
| MID | Saka (ARS), Smith Rowe (FUL), Mbeumo (BRE) | Diaz (LIV), Maddison (TOT), Rogers (AST) | Maddison form, Saka injured, Smith Rowe injury doubt |
| FOR | Haaland (MCI), Welbeck (BRI), Pedro (BRI) | Isak (NEW), Jesus (ARS), Duran (AST) | Isak + Duran form, Welbeck injury doubt |
Premium pick
In Gameweek 18, practically all of the popular premium fantasy picks have a decent to very good fixture coming up. Chelsea’s Cole Palmer is facing Fulham in front of his own fans and Erling Haaland, whose downturn in goal-scoring form cannot be seen separately from Man City’s terrible form of late, is facing Everton at home. Despite those favourable matchups, we are still going with Mohamed Salah (£13.5m), who himself has a favourable match up as well: Leicester City at Anfield. We doubted for a while about this pick, especially with Palmer facing Fulham, but in the end, there was very little way around Liverpool’s Egyptian talisman. Thanks to his brace of braces (2 goals, 2 assists) against Spurs in GW17, he became the first player in Premier League history to reach double digits for both goals and assists before the Christmas period. His totals now sit at an incredible 15 goals and 11 assists from 16 league starts and with Leicester at home up next, right after the Foxes lost badly against Wolves in front of their own fans last weekend, chances are Salah will only be improving his record on Saturday.
Non-premium pick
Gameweek 14, 1 goal and 1 assist versus Liverpool at home. Gameweek 15, 1 goal away at Brentford. Gameweek 16, 1 goal and 1 assist at home to Leicester. Gameweek 17, a hattrick of goals at Ipswich Town. To say Alexander Isak (£9.0m) has been on fire lately is almost an understatement as the Sweden international collected no less than 47 FPL points over that same run. That’s three double-digit hauls in four Gameweeks, by the way. On paper, Newcastle do not have the easiest set of fixtures coming up (Aston Villa at home, Man United away, Spurs away), but in reality, apart from Villa, these opponents are far from having any reliable form at the moment. In other words, we can see Isak continuing his excellent form over the next few Gameweeks. On top of that, Newcastle are coming into the Christmas period with back-to-back 4-0 victories (4-0 vs Leicester, 0-4 vs Ipswich Town) in their back pockets, which has seen them rise to 8th place in the league. Booking a couple of good results over the coming Gameweeks will likely see the Magpies fully back into the battle for the European spots and possibly even the top four, and Isak will play a big role in that scenario.
The budget enabler
Since manager Enzo Maresca started using Enzo Fernandez (£5.1m) further up the pitch, the Argentinian has been showing glimpses of why the Blues decided to splash around £100 million on him back in January of 2023. He got his first attacking return of the season in GW11, in the form of an assist, and he has been ticking along more than nicely since then. Including that assist, Enzo now has seven direct goal involvements to his name: 3 goals and 4 assists, good for 47 FPL points over that period. That comes down to an average of 6.7 FPL points per game. At his current price of just £5.1m, those numbers are nothing short of great and we would not be surprised to see him add a few more notches to his belt over the coming Gameweeks, starting with the home game against Fulham on Saturday. After that, it’s Ipswich Town away, Crystal Palace away, Bournemouth at home and Wolves at home for the Blues. If you’re looking for a budget player who is a guaranteed starter (over the Christmas period as well) with a considerable ceiling on the medium term, Enzo should probably be around the top of your scouting list.
The differential
In recent history, whenever Manchester City would play against Everton in front of their own fans, FPL managers would flock to skyblue fantasy assets by the millions. This season though, the situation is different as the reigning champions are going through a serious rough patch after winning just one of their last eleven games. With that information in mind, plus Pep Guardiola’s love for rotation, we have decided to go for an ultra differential fantasy pick for Gameweek 18. Phil Foden (£9.1m), with his 1 goal and 1 assist so far this season, definitely fits that description. Last weekend, the England international scored his first league goal as his side went under at Villa Park, which catapulted him onto our differential fantasy pick list for Gameweek 18. The Cityzens are preparing for a home game against Everton, who have not been very successful outside of Goodison Park this season. They won just one of their eight away games and they conceded 13 goals in those games. We are fully aware that anything can happen with Man City in their current form, but if they can find any kind of fire on Saturday, we can see a few goals in this one. Hopefully, Phil Foden will be amongst the scorers as well.
The (vice-)captaincy
As Liverpool are hosting leaky Leicester City on Saturday evening, we are placing the armband on Mohamed Salah in Gameweek 18.
Of course, Cole Palmer at home to Fulham is an excellent alternative, while we are tempted to mention Erling Haaland at home to Everton here as well, despite his average form at the moment. Alexander Isak at home against Aston Villa would probably be our choice though, should the decision come down to Haaland versus Isak.
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