FPL Season 2022-23: Double Gameweek 23 preview

After an exciting double gameweek 22 for Leeds and Manchester United, especially for the Rashford triple captainers (congrats on your 60 points), Arsenal and Manchester City are in the spotlight this week. Not just because of their ongoing title fight at the top of the table, but also because of their double gameweek. Arsenal will be hosting Brentford and Man City, while the Skyblues are welcoming Aston Villa to the Etihad on Sunday before their cracker at the Emirates three days later. As a result, Gunners and Cityzens assets are featured heavily in our FPL DGW23 preview.

This gameweek might just be the last “normal” one for a while, as we’ll be dealing with more and more confirmed blanks and doubles over the coming weeks. On top of that, European football is getting underway again next week, with Spurs playing at AC Milan on Tuesday and Chelsea visiting Dortmund the day after, both in the Champions League. On Thursday, Manchester United are travelling to Barcelona to face the local FC at Camp Nou for their Europa League clash of giants. Keep these European duties in mind when planning your transfers to navigate the coming gameweeks.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 23 is set at 11h00 (UK time) on Saturday, February 11th, 2023.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per February 9th, 2023)

 TRANSFERS OUTTRANSFERS INPOSSIBLE REASONS
GKWard (LEI), Alisson (LIV), De Gea (MUN)Kepa (CHE), Pope (NEW), Ederson (MCI) 
DEFCancelo (MCI), Saliba (ARS), Castagne (LEI)Mee (BRE), Shaw (MUN), Aké (MCI)DGW Man City, Mee goal in GW22, Cancelo Bayern loan
MIDAlmiron (NEW), Martinelli (ARS), Rodrigo (LEE)Mitoma (BRI), Saka (ARS), Mahrez (MCI)Mitoma form, Mahrez starts, DGW25 Arsenal, Rodrigo injury
FORToney (BRE), Mitrovic (FUL), Havertz (CHE)Nketiah (ARS), Kane (TOT), Mitrovic (FUL)DGW25 Arsenal, Kane form

Premium pick

No team in the Premier League has scored more goals so far this campaign than Manchester City (53) and 25 of those goals were scored by Erling Haaland (£12.2m), who also provided 3 assists. As a result, with City’s upcoming double gameweek, there really is just one really serious consideration for our premium fantasy pick category this week and that’s the Norwegian. While his double is far from the easiest, a home game against an improving Aston Villa followed by a visit to leaders Arsenal, we all know what Pep Guardiola’s side is capable of on a good day. Expect Haaland’s effective ownership to exceed 200% by some distance this gameweek, as he will be the most-picked captain and more than a few managers are likely to triple captain him as well. He’s currently part of over 85% of squads in the official game, but if you are somehow part of that remaining 15%, there should be no other name on your premium transfer target list.

Non-premium pick

Despite a bit of a slow start to the 2022-23 season, Bukayo Saka (£8.3m) is currently once again one of the most sought-after assets in the Fantasy Premier League. He has 7 goals and 8 assists to his name so far, and four of those goal involvements were recorded over the last six games. The English international brought his owners 35 FPL points over that same run. He now has a double of home games against Brentford and Manchester City coming up, and that’s not all, because the Gunners are also doubling in gameweek 25, when a bunch of other sides will blank. No wonder Saka is amongst the most transferred-in players already in the build-up to DGW23. He’s in good form, he’s a nailed-on starter (and often finishes the 90 minutes), and he is on penalties for the Gunners. At a price of £8.3 at the moment of writing, the Arsenal winger (who is listed as a midfielder in the official game) could prove to be a very smart use of your budget on the short and medium term at least.

The budget enabler

In our FPL preview for double gameweek 22, we included Rico Lewis (£3.9m) as our budget enabler of choice and even though City disappointed away to Spurs, we’re repeating this recommendation again for GW23. As expected, Lewis started for City in a kind of hybrid 3+2-man defence that saw him occupying midfield positions for large parts of the game. The Cityzens failed to keep a clean sheet as they fell 1-0 to the home side, but their breakthrough youngster did complete the 90 minutes, which is what you want from your ideal budget enabler. The starting spot at right-back seems his to lose at the moment, though it’s still City and their manager is still Pep, so rotation drama is never far off. On the short and medium term, we nevertheless see few budget-enabling options with a higher ceiling than Rico Lewis. He will also come in handy in gameweek 25, when City play Bournemouth away while a considerable number of other sides will blank.

The differential

In order to qualify for inclusion in our differential fantasy pick category, a player needs to have an ownership of less than 10% and Eddie Nketiah (£6.8m) still fulfils that condition. At the moment of writing, the young Arsenal forward sits pretty in 9.8% of all teams in the official game and with Gabriel Jesus still not back in the matchday squad, he has all the makings of a potentially game-changing differential this gameweek. Nketiah scored 4 goals since gameweek 17, including a brace at home against Manchester United back in GW21, and now has a decent double gameweek coming up. First, it’s Brentford, who have conceded 18 goals in 10 away games so far, followed by main rivals for the title Manchester City. We’re expecting Nketiah to start both encounters and we would not be surprised to see him coming away from this double with a double-digit haul. Consider this double as a home game against Brentford with a City visit as a bonus on top. The FISO FPL forum has more transfer tips for DGW23.

The (vice-)captaincy

Seeing as leaders Arsenal and chasers Manchester City are both doubling this gameweek, the captaincy discussion logically focuses mainly on players from these two sides. As we mentioned earlier though, based on this season’s history so far, there is only one name for the armband in DGW23 and that’s Erling Haaland.

Are you brave enough to ignore the Norwegian for his double against Villa and Arsenal? Then Kevin de Bruyne looks like an interesting pick after being rested in GW22, as does Riyad Mahrez if you can deal with the rotation worries. At Arsenal, any one pick out of Bukaya Saka, Eddie Nketiah or Martin Odegaard looks good, with our preference our of three leaning towards Saka, as he is the Gunners’ first penalty taker.