Gameweek 23 - Daily Fantasy Premier League Tips

Starting 11 is a new Daily Fantasy Premier League football game and app, which has become extremely popular amongst the FPL community since August 2017, as managers get to pick a brand new fantasy team each week, without the headache of managing a season-long team.

As always, this week’s picks are suitable for all fantasy football game formats and will suit most scoring systems, so we hope you find good use for them, whether you’re playing Fantasy Premier League, or daily fantasy games over at Starting 11.

If you’d like to get involved this week by challenging us, simply create your lineups for Gameweek 23 today via the FREE Apple or Android apps.

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Forwards

Safe Pick - Alvaro Morata vs Leicester (H)

Morata has received some criticism lately, after missing 5 big chances during his last 2 league games.  I personally like to look at the positives. He is continuing to get himself into those positions and with Hazard pulling the strings alongside him, more chances will come his way.

Their next opponents, Leicester, have conceded 9 goals in their last 5 league games and have only recorded 5 clean sheets all season.  I can see Morata proving his critics wrong on Saturday.

Differential - Glenn Murray vs West Brom (A)

West Brom are without their captain and, in my opinion, their best defender on Saturday.  Call it transfer rumours or call it a foot injury, his presence will be missed.

The man that can take advantage is Glenn Murray.  After scoring against Bournemouth in Gameweek 22, Murray will be looking to add to his goal tally. He will cause the Baggies problems and their win-less run may continue to persevere.

Midfielders

Safe Pick –  Heung-Min Son vs Everton H)

Often the 'forgotten man' as he is often overshadowed by Kane, Eriken and Alli.  Son has proven his importance to this Tottenham side by scoring 7 and providing 4 assists this season.

On Saturday, Spurs take on Everton who have lost both of their previous 2 games, in both of which they conceded twice.

With 2 goals and 2 assists in his last 3 games, Son gets the nod for me this week.

Differential Pick – Abdoulaye Doucoure vs Southampton (H)

With 6 goals since August, Doucoure is equal with Kevin De Bruyne and Leroy Sane in the scoring charts.  This week Watford host Southampton, who have conceded 13 goals in their last 6 games.

With points scored on Starting 11 for passes and tackles, Doucoure is a valuable asset and could prove also to be a valuable differential for you on Saturday.

Defenders

Safe Pick – Ben Mee vs Crystal Palace (A)

Burnley's defence has suffered lately from missing personnel and by experiencing a tough fixture run.  Well, with the return of Tarkowski last week plus a trip to Crystal Palace in Gameweek 23, I am expecting us to see the return of a clean sheet with that solid Burnley defence.

Having only conceded 19 goals all season, only the league’s top 3 sides can better their defensive record.

Differential Pick – Shane Duffy vs West Brom (A)

Brighton enter their fixture with West Brom having kept 3 clean sheets in their last 5 league games.
West Brom’s poor form has taken them to second from bottom in the Premier League, equal on points with bottom club Swansea City.

With their captain’s head turned elsewhere this is the time to take advantage, I expect a Brighton win on Saturday and for them to keep a clean sheet in the process.

Goalkeepers

Safe Pick – Thibaut Courtois vs Leicester (H)

11 clean sheets this season for the Chelsea shot stopper, including 4 in his last 5 outings.  In recent weeks I have backed Leicester’s attacking players, in particular Riyad Mahrez, however we all saw the decline in the Algerian's form last time he was linked with other clubs.

With the transfer window open, I think Mahrez will have his head turned again, weakening Leicester’s attack and handing Courtois his 12th clean sheet of the season.

Differential Pick –  Adrian vs Huddersfield (A)

After an impressive run of 3 clean sheets in 3 games, West Ham have now failed to shut out their opposition in their last 4.  However, Saturday’s trip to Yorkshire gives them the ideal opportunity to tighten up at the back.

Huddersfield have only managed to score 2 goals in their last 4 games.  I expect West Ham to keep them out again.

CAPTAIN PICK

Morata will continue to get himself into the right positions, the chances will continue to be created, can the Spaniard find the back of the net this week?

Leicester have not been reliable defensively all season, even when they went on a winning run in early December, they continued to concede goals.

Sometimes you have to go with your gut and this week my gut says Morata will come good.

Whatever you decide, I hope you’ll join us this Gameweek by downloading the FREE Starting 11 app in the App Store or the Google Play Store.

Chief's #FPL Team - Gameweek 23

  Latest Rank: 43,479 (8k fall)

 

  Transfers:

Albrighton/Costa OUT (-4)*

Walcott/Defoe IN

  

Bank Balance: £0.4M 

*I considered buying Cazorla, Ward-Prowse, Walters, Puncheon and Pelle.

Why did I buy Defoe and Walcott?

Both have FPL pedigree via historical stats.

Defoe and Walcott aren't simply risky purchases.

Both are "Super Differentials" (less than 1% ownership).

Arsenal and Sunderland have a good run of games & need wins/goals.

I'm not a fan of template teams & I hope this is the beginning of 2 bandwagons.

I have slumped dramatically down the rankings & I need to try something different.

They haven't shown prolonged form of late due to different reasons, but they are special.

Extra Notes:

I initially wanted to sell Chadli for Walters as I already have Kane and Stoke have a good run of games till April.  In addition, as a result of Chelsea and Tottenham reaching the League Cup final, GW27 is a truncated GW with no Chelsea, Tottenham, QPR or Leicester.  However, GW28 is now a DGW for Tottenham and QPR.  Chelsea and Leicester's DGW should be announced soon.  I am hoping to sell Hamer and Chadli before GW27.

Weekly Fantasy Football Show via FanFeud (#GW23)

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#CalledIt Differential Pick - GW24

To tell you the truth, if it wasn't for this self imposed limitation (#CalledIt picks can't be repeated over the course of three GWs) Santi Cazorla would have been made my pick. On form, has scored three goals in the last two games and still owned by only 3.5% of FPL managers. At the same time, he has two VERY tough match-ups following the home game versus Crystal Palace (a match-up that probably looks better on paper than in real-life). A possibly great 1 GW differential.

David Silva, despite going against Chelsea, should be involved in the play if City manage to score a goal or two, so I would gladly give him the call - yet he is now owned by 5.1% of managers. This 0.1% makes him ineligible, which makes me go Aaaaaaargghhhhhhhh!

Another potential great option would be Kevin Mirallas who is set to lead the attack following the injury of the big Belgian and was very lively against Liverpool as well, as one of the few. Would make a great pick, but also just over with 6.8% ownership. 

With all this in mind, I have decided to turn to a team that is also scoring goals with ease (less than MCFC mind you, but still not bad), Liverpool. Somewhat of an underperformer this year, he has all the prerequisites to be an amazing FPL asset, but has just failed to click yet. Why not this week? #CalledIt pick for GW24, Phillippe Coutinho. He had 2 shots on goal against Everton and also created 4 chances, with one being an assist out of those. 

P.S. Can you imagine that even Ben Arfa is owned by more than 7% of managers? 

Oh yeah, follow me at @CalledItFPL account now. :D

#CalledIt Differential Pick - GW23

*** ANNOUNCEMENT ***

It has come to this - I have created my very own, #FPL-centric Twitter handle. Yes, I know, you must be thinking to yourself: "Oh lord, not ANOTHER FPL account!". If you asked me half a year ago...scratch that, 1 month ago, if I wanted to create an FPL account, my answer would be something in the lines of "Are you insane?". Honestly speaking, god knows that the world doesn't need yet another FPL account. However, my friends and some people who do not follow me because of FPL (Huh? There are people like that? ;) ) have told me that I am annoying a bit at times with all the fantasy football communication. So I decided to oblige them and create a new account - @CalledItFPL. 

Effectively, this means that as of GW24 I will move the communication related to FPL to my new handle, so make sure you are following it in case you want your daily/weekly dose of FPL from my side. That's it! In the 24 hours since its' inception, I already have 333 followers - Thank You in case you are already one of them, if not, looking forward to you joining!

*** END OF ANNOUNCEMENT ***

To start things off, Santi Cazorla proved to be a great #CalledIt pick in GW22 with two goals and 16 points alltogether. I hope you seized your chance and improved your overall and mini-league positions. But, as a wise man once said: "Don't congratulate yourself too much. Or berate yourself either." With that in mind, let's move on quickly. 

This week, I am (again) presented with the abundancy of choices for the #CalledIt differential pick. The matchups that have me thinking are CHE vs WHU, SUN vs STO and SWA vs FUL. And the options? No surprise, after his hat trick in GW22 (and injury to Torres), Samuel Eto'o could potentially be even captain material as Chelsea will be looking to dismantle West Ham. 8.2m and 1.5% ownership make him a great differential. His midweek performance was less than stellar and with Mourinho, who knows who will be starting as the lone forward, so I will look the other way. If you, for some reason, need a differential that no one will have, then he is your man.

Adam Johnson? His three goals and an assist against Fulham didn't impress me enough to consider him as a viable long (or mid) term option. But then he goes and follows that up with a goal and an assist against Southampton. Errrm, really? While I still don't consider him as a viable long-term option (I know, weird old me), he may be a good option this week. 6.6m and 4.9% ownership.

Instead, I am going with Wilfried Bony. Despite Swansea's woes and relegation-fear form, he seems to be in great form lately with three goals in the last three GWs (and 3 in the Cup). And they play Fulham. At home. Midfield problems? Yes. But Bony can deliver out of nothing. We've seen that. I am taking a punt on him as #CalledIt pick for GW23 AND putting him in my Wildcard team.