If there is one thing that Gameweek 15 taught us it is that Fantasy Premier League managers should always be prepared to expect the unexpected.
Millions of FPL bosses around the globe had to hastily remove their captain’s armbands from Mo Salah and appoint a last-minute deputy after the Merseyside derby fell victim to Storm Darragh.
Those who gave Cole Palmer the Big C would have felt very chuffed with themselves on Sunday evening after watching the points stack up. Others who backed the wrong horse were left bemoaning their misfortune.
Hopefully, we will all have a full complement of players for Gameweek 16 and this time the forecast looks good with a glut of goals expected at Premier League grounds around the country. Unless, of course, we’ve just jinxed it…
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Choosing your captain is going to be difficult again with the four most popular assets in FPL all playing at home: Salah faces Fulham, Palmer takes on Brentford, Bukayo Saka is up against Everton and Erling Haaland is in action against Manchester United.
This week’s deadline is at 1.30pm on Saturday 14 December.
Gameweek 16 fixtures
Saturday 14 December
*3pm kick-off unless otherwise stated
- Arsenal vs Everton
- Liverpool vs Fulham
- Newcastle vs Leicester
- Wolves vs Ipswich
- Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa (5.30pm)
Sunday 15 December
- Brighton vs Crystal Palace (2pm)
- Man City vs Man Utd (4.30pm)
- Chelsea vs Brentford (7pm)
- Southampton vs Spurs (7pm)
Monday 16 December
- Bournemouth vs West Ham
Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
Backing a player who is currently second in the overall points standings and second only to Mo Salah in terms of FPL ownership to perform well isn’t exactly rocket science.
However, the reason Palmer makes it into this week’s selections is that in i‘s opinion, he is a superior captaincy option to Salah (who faces Fulham at home) in Gameweek 16. Yep, we’ve gone there.
Brentford have been the Premier League’s great entertainers this season, but they have done their best work at home: 22 of their 23 points have come at the Gtech.
Away from home, they rank 17th for expected goals allowed (xGa), a statistic that measures the quality of chances a team gives up. Fulham, on the other hand, are second in that chart.
Advantage Cole and advantage Chelsea?
Price: £11.1m Points: 125 Gameweek 16 fixture: Brentford (h)
Antoine Semenyo (Bournemouth)
One of the strangest statistical quirks from this season is that Antoine Semenyo has had more shots on goal (with 59) than any other player in the Premier League bar Haaland (70).
Bournemouth’s barnstorming winger has had six more attempts than Palmer, despite playing 67 fewer minutes and 12 more than Salah in just five extra minutes of game time.
What separates Semenyo from the elite class is accuracy and efficiency. Only 13 of his efforts (22 per cent) have been on target which explains why he has only scored four goals. His conversion rate is 6.7 per cent compares unfavourably to Palmer (20.7 per cent) and Salah (27.6 per cent).
Given their respective price tags, you would expect that variance. Semenyo is not a captaincy option but he is an excellent fourth or fifth choice midfielder, particularly for favourable fixtures like West Ham at home. The Hammers rank fourth-bottom for goals conceded (28) and shots faced (238).
Price: £5.7m Points: 52 Gameweek 16 fixture: West Ham (h)
Chris Wood (Nottingham Forest)
Despite scoring only 10 points fewer than Haaland, Chris Wood is only the fifth-most selected forward in the game ahead of this weekend.
The New Zealander rarely produces big hauls – he has only one double-digit return so far – but has been extremely consistent by providing goals in nine of his 14 appearances.
Forest have been extremely reliant on his output at the City Ground: Wood has netted five of their eight home goals so far and only failed to score in two games out of seven.
He can continue his fine scoring form on Saturday against an Aston Villa defence that has conceded 14 times in seven away matches.
Price: £6.5m Points: 88 Gameweek 16 fixture: Aston Villa (h)
Joe Gomez (Liverpool)
With Ibrahima Konate out injured, Joe Gomez is currently enjoying a rare run of starts in Liverpool’s backline.
Gomez has been picked in Arne Slot’s last three line-ups, including twice in his favoured position of centre-back alongside Virgil van Dijk. Liverpool have kept two clean sheets in the games that Gomez and Van Dijk have started alongside each other in, against Manchester City and Girona.
The Reds have by far the best defensive record in home matches this season having only conceded three times in seven fixtures at Anfield ahead of Fulham’s visit this weekend.
Gomez offers virtually zero attacking threat – he has famously never scored for Liverpool in 235 games – but at £4.9m he offers a cheap route into the best defence in the league.
Price: £4.9m Points: 10 Gameweek 16 fixture: Fulham (h)
Dominic Solanke (Spurs)
It got forgotten about in the aftermath of Tottenham’s humiliating second half collapse against Chelsea but for the first 45 minutes, Dominic Solanke absolutely bullied Chelsea’s centre-back pairing.
Solanke’s goal to put Spurs in front looked relatively straightforward, but his movement to get in front of Levi Colwill was exceptional. It was the striker’s seventh goal in 19 appearances for his new club which is a reasonable total considering how Jekyll and Hyde they have been throughout the campaign.
FPL managers have been stung when backing Spurs players so far this season, but a fixture against Southampton is as good as it gets for attacking players.
Russell Martin’s side have committed 26 errors leading to a shot, which is 10 more than any other Premier League side, and have also made 10 mistakes leading to a goal, as many as any club managed in the entirety of last season.
Price: £7.5m Points: 56 Gameweek 16 fixture: Southampton (a)
