Welcome back for another article. 📖
Who are the best players to buy for GW22?
FPL is back next weekend, so we're back to the usual content schedule. Let's break down the best players by position as always, nice and simple. 🎯
🧤 Goalkeepers
A goalkeepers discussion first. Something that's easier to miss if you're a less experienced player is that best defence does not equal best points necessarily. Arsenal's defence right now is one of the best the league has ever seen, but Raya is the third top-scoring keeper.
What always tends to happen is mid-table keepers that rack up tons of save points and overperform a bit for clean sheets end up ahead, which is what's happened with Roefs and Pickford who are the top 2 keepers for points. 📊
-
Arsenal have conceded 15.2 xG.
-
Sunderland have conceded 31.3 — just over twice as many.
-
Raya has 32 saves; Roefs has 73.
Those games where Raya hits 2 saves don't result in any extra points; GW1 is the only time all season Raya has got 2 save points. 🧤
However, with an elite defence, you get the assuredness that they will score pretty well. Raya is only 9 points behind currently after all, whereas predicting those overperforming mid-table keepers can be very hard. For example, many started the season with Sels or Petrovic, who haven't been good FPL picks.
Sunderland's next 3 are pretty good as well: Palace (H), West Ham (A), Burnley (H), but then it's Arsenal and Liverpool. Roefs is 4.9m as well, so you'll probably score similar with a Verbruggen in goal for 0.4m cheaper or Sanchez for the same price. 💰
I'm curious about Rosenior and the Chelsea defence. He's a manager that likes his keeper to be heavily involved in the build-up play, which means a keeper who is good with his feet and very comfortable playing out of pressure. This is more of a Jorgensen mould than Sanchez.
Jorgensen was good in the City game and started in the FA Cup vs Charlton where they won 5 - 1. When Rosenior was in charge of Hull a few years ago, they signed Pandur who is still their #1, but he opted to play Allsop in goal because he was a better passer. It does put me off Sanchez a bit now, just in case he gives them both opportunities.
🛡️ Defenders
Defenders next. What are the stand-out fixtures for clean sheets? The main three are Liverpool home to Burnley, Arsenal away to Forest, and Villa home to Everton. 🏡
-
Van Dijk is top this week on 5.2 projected points. Burnley have conceded 73 headed attempts; only West Ham have conceded more with 82.
-
Bradley is sadly out for the season after suffering a significant knee injury last gameweek.
-
Frimpong is third on the table after Van Dijk and Gabriel. 🎖️
Can Frimpong stay fit enough to keep starting? He's got 3 clean sheets in his last 5 games, though two of those were off the bench (3 starts in 5).
The Liverpool defence and Van Dijk get a lot of hate, and you'll get different opinions depending on who you ask, but I'm not sure it's fully justified. 23.8 expected goals conceded ranks them fourth best. Van Dijk is the third best defender after Gabriel and Timber for projected points over the next 5 on FPL Review.
I'm likely to keep hold for another four gameweeks, then jump on Palace's fixture swing in GW26 with Munoz, where he has Burnley and Wolves in back-to-back home games. Though of course, if you don't have Gabriel or Timber, then selling Van Dijk for either is an upgrade—just not this week. 🔄
Howe has confirmed that Livramento has picked up a hamstring injury and will be out for a period of time, so we might see more of Miley at right back. However, Trippier is back, so definitely don't buy Miley. 🚫
Hall is on 4.5 points, same as Cash and Romero this week. The Spurs defence is a hard avoid, but Cash looks great for 4.8m. You get a 0.5m saving on Hall with basically the same projected points for the next 5.
Any good cheaper defenders? * Richards has dropped down to 4.4m and is back from injury; I expect him to start vs Sunderland.
-
Mukiele is top of all defenders under 4.5m for projected points over the next 5 (18.3).
-
Richards (16.8) and Rodon (16.2) follow.