Firstly a reminder that Fanteam & The Scout Gaming Group have announced the opening of their World Cup 2022 Fantasy Football Games which carry a £50k and £100k guaranteed prize funds (for the single entry and multi entry games) and we’ve already posted some recommendations for Goalkeepers and Defenders in the Fantasy World Cup 2022 game.
Now back to FPL and we don’t have to explain here to what extent Erling Haaland has dominated Premier League highlights this season, so the big Norwegian missing out due to injury last weekend threw gameweek 14 into unexpected disarray. Even though the inevitable Kevin de Bruyne provided some Manchester City compensation with an 11-pointer against Leicester, courtesy of a majestic free-kick and 3 bonus points, it was mostly differential delight again in GW14. The top spot was shared by Newcastle’s Callum Wilson (2 goals and 2 assists vs Aston Villa) and Reiss Nelson (2 goals and 1 assist in 19 minutes vs Nottingham Forest) with 19 FPL points each, followed by Kieffer Moore’s 13 points. The man in form Miguel Almirón managed 12 points, but he has left differential territory behind him long ago, sitting in just over 25% of all FPL teams at the moment. Another form of entertainment played sitting down is online slots Australia.
As far as gameweek 15 goes, we’ve got another Super Sunday coming up as Chelsea are hosting Arsenal in the opener of the day, and Spurs hosting Liverpool for the last encounter of the day and indeed the gameweek. The contrast could not be bigger for Man City, who are welcoming Fulham to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon. From a fantasy perspective, this puts the ongoing injury doubts surrounding Haaland in yet a whole other (fantasy) light, as the logical alternatives all face stiff opposition this weekend. Is he fit? Is he starting? Are you captaining him? And if not, who then? Looks like we’ve got an interesting round on our hands once again.
Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 15 is set at 13h30 (UK time) on Saturday November 5th, 2022.
Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per November 4th, 2022)
| TRANSFERS OUT | TRANSFERS IN | POSSIBLE REASONS | |
| GK | Kepa (CHE), Alisson (LIV), Pope (NEW) | Pope (NEW), De Gea (MUN), Ederson (MCI) | |
| DEF | Schär (NEW), James (CHE), Perisic (TOT) | Dalot (MUN), Trippier (NEW), Cancelo (MCI) | James injury, Perisic rotation, Trippier returns |
| MID | Foden (MCI), Zaha (CRY), Antony (MUN) | Almiron (NEW), Trossard (BRI), De Bruyne (MCI) | Almiron and Trossard form, Antony injury doubt |
| FOR | Toney (BRE), Mitrovic (FUL), Haaland (MCI) | Wilson (NEW), Mitrovic (FUL), Jesus (ARS) | Toney YC suspension, Wilson GW14 goals, Haaland injury doubt |
Premium pick
Erling Haaland (£12.1m) is back in training and Pep says that a final decision on his participation on Saturday will be made after Friday’s last training session. After missing the league encounter with Leicester and the Champions League game against Sevilla, the Norwegian sensation was pictured in training on Thursday. Good news for the 80.2% of FPL managers who still own him, as he will be facing promoted Fulham at home, while Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs have got top-of-the-table clashes on the menu for this weekend. Potentially disastrous news for the approx 185,000 FPL managers who have decided to ship out Haaland this week, as they will now need either an extra transfer to bring him back in or a particularly effective kind of prayer to keep him from his sixth double-digit haul in just eleven games. Bar any extreme rotation anxiety on Pep’s side, Haaland is our recommended premium fantasy pick for gameweek 15.
Non-premium pick
We generally try to vary a bit when it comes to our fantasy picks and the teams they play for, but we’re doubling up on Manchester City picks this week. That’s because, as we wrote just above, gameweek 15’s fixtures are rather tricky with four of the big six facing each other, but City are hosting Fulham. As a result, our non-premium fantasy pick for gameweek is Phil Foden (£8.5m). The talented forward was left on the bench for City’s last two league games and completed the 90 minutes during the mid-week European visit of Sevilla FC, but we think it’s likely to see him return to the Premier League starting eleven for tomorrow’s game against Fulham. He started all of the games until GW11 and was then benched in gameweeks 13 and 14, but this wasn’t a form-based decision by his manager. Foden has already managed 6 goals and 4 assists this campaign, and considering the lack of returns or real game-changing impact from his replacement Jack Grealish, we believe the youngster’s return to the starting fold is a question of time and that time is this Saturday at 15h00 (UK time) at the Etihad against Fulham.
The budget enabler
There is no getting around Miguel Almirón (£5.7m) at the moment, except perhaps in the differential picks category, as the Paraguayan is currently sitting in 25.7% of all teams in the official game already. The Newcastle winger, who is classified as a midfielder in FPL, has been in red-hot form of late, scoring 6 goals and providing 1 assist (plus recording 3 clean sheet points) over his last six league outings. At a price of just £5.7m, those are ridiculous returns and it might not be over just yet. The Magpies are coming off three consecutive victories and are visiting Saint Mary’s on Sunday afternoon, where the home side has already conceded 8 goals in six homes. As a matter of fact, only five teams in the entire league suffer from a leakier defence than Southampton, who have conceded a total of 20 goals so far. In a gameweek where many popular captaincy candidates have a difficult fixture on paper, Almirón could be the out-of-the-box differential captain to help you make serious waves in your mini-league.
The differential
For our differential fantasy pick of the week, we’re sticking to the midfield trend with Philip Billing (£5.3m), who has featured in this category of ours before and who now has two favourable fixtures coming up before the World Cup break kicks in. The Danish international is a fixed component of interim manager Gary O’Neil’s starting eleven since the Englishman took over from Scott Parker in gameweek 5. From GW6 onwards, Billing has been good for 3 goals and 1 assist, though it should be noted that those returns were all recorded between gameweeks 6 and 11. He has been quiet from an FPL perspective since then, but now has two games coming up that could see him getting involved in a goal or two. First up are Leeds at Elland Road this weekend, followed by Everton at home in gameweek 16. At his current price of £5.3m and his current ownership of just 1.1%, Billing has the makings of an excellent differential/budget-enabling/fifth-midfielder pick on the short term.
The (vice-)captaincy
As you probably guessed already after our intro and premium fantasy pick, Erling Haaland is our stand-out captain for FPL gameweek 15. The Norwegian, who has collected 17 goals and 117 FPL points from eleven league starts, was pictured back in training in the build-up to tomorrow’s game at home against Fulham, which facilitated our decision. The armband is on Erling Haaland this weekend.
Not entirely convinced by the news regarding Haaland’s fitness or are you perhaps one of the 185k+ managers who transferred him out early this week? KDB could be the perfect replacement pick, while you might rake in the points with Harry Kane at home to leaky Liverpool on Sunday as well, or perhaps with Mo Salah in that same game. A more differential approach to the captaincy this weekend would bring the likes of Callum Wilson (away at Southampton), Leandro Trossard (away at Molineux) and James Maddison (away at Everton) into the picture.