Getting your team selection correct in Draft Premier League is just as essential as your pre-season draft or your weekly waiver wire claims. And that’s exactly why we’re here to help with our Gameweek 23 Start and Sit article! We’re here to help you with some of the big Fantasy EPL decisions you may need to make for the upcoming fixtures.
Gameweek 23 Start and Sit
Whether you’re an obsessed EPL fan like our Fantrax HQ team, or a casual player new to the world of Fantasy EPL, you know to start your attacking players against relegation-threatened sides. We’re not going to waste your time dealing with the obvious! The goal of this article is to delve into notable players across each Fantrax position and let you know if you should be starting or sitting those players.
Our format is as follows: We will be choosing 2 different teams. One will be our starts of the week, made up of non-obvious, low-rostered players. The other will be our sits of the week, made up of highly rostered, normally started players.
Now let’s see the Gameweek 23 Start and Sit contenders!
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Starts of the Week XI
Player Pos. Team Opponent % Rostered
Jordan Pickford G EVE @LIV 45%
Jan Bednarek D SOU WOL 2%
Liam Cooper D LEE MUN 37%
Nat Phillips D LIV EVE 4%
Max Kilman D WOL @SOU 29%
Amadou Onana M EVE @LIV 18%
Kamaldeen Sulemana M SOU WOL 13%
Hamed Traore M BOU NEW 6%
Pablo Sarabia M WOL @SOU 31%
Paul Onuachu F SOU WOL 11%
Kelechi Iheanacho F LEI TOT 10%
Average % Rostered: 19%
We’re not completely sold on the “Dyche Effect” but Jordan Pickford usually gets saves regardless of the manager. And if the appointment of Dyche leads to more cleansheets, all the better. A date in the Merseyside Derby against sputtering Liverpool could result in a decent haul.
Our traditional 4-4-2 (in honor of the aforementioned Dyche) boasts a backline of Jan Bednarek, Liam Cooper, Nat Phillips, & Max Kilman. No, it’s not 2020, let us explain. Bednarek is coming off of a ridiculous 19 ghost-point display last GW and his Saints are hosting normally goal-shy Wolves. Liam Cooper is back fit and still knows how to score ghost points. Add a new manager bounce and Man United at home is not that frightening. In a roll of the dice, we’re backing Jurgen Klopp to go back to basics to fix his leaky backline by enlisting the enormous forehead of Nat Phillips. The aerials that will be on offer against Dyche’s Everton are a mouthwatering prospect. It is the Monday game so have cover (any Liverpool defender should ghost well in this matchup). Finally, Kilman is coming off a great performance against Liverpool and travels south to face a Southampton squad that is firmly in the mud.
In the engine room, we’re going with all January transfers: Amadou Onana, Kalmaldeen Sulemana, Hamed Traore, & Pablo Sarabia. Onana has seemingly benefitted from Dyche ball as he dropped double-digit ghost points despite ceding a ton of possession to Arsenal last GW. He should do the same against Liverpool & may even nick an attacking return. Sulemana had a tidy debut cameo against Brentford and looked very dangerous. He should get the nod v Wolves and show us what he can do. Traore also impressed in his debut and should remain the focal point of the Bournemouth attack this GW. And while Sarabia was poor in Fantrax, he passed the eye test. A matchup against lowly Southampton will be the last chance saloon for many managers.
Rounding out the XI are our two forwards up top: Paul Onuachu & Kelechi Iheanacho. The giant Onuachu delivered 10 ghost points in 45 minutes last weekend and looked dangerous whilst doing it. A start against Wolves should result in double digits again. And Iheanacho experienced a mini-renaissance last weekend v Aston Villa. A Romeo-less Spurs defense should allow it to continue.
Sits of the Week XI
Player Pos. Team Opponent % Rostered
Ederson G MCI @AVL/@ARS 89%
Eric Dier D TOT @LEI 83%
Ben Chillwell D CHE @WHU 82%
Lucas Digne D AVL MCI 71%
Kyle Walker M MCI @AVL/@ARS 68%
Miguel Almiron M NEW @BOU 85%
Ebereche Eze M CRY BRI 97%
Allan Saint-Maximin M NEW @BOU 94%
Mathias Jensen M BRF @ARS 65%
Bryan Mbeumo F EVE ARS 85%
Leon Bailey F AVL MCI 78%
Average % Rostered: 82%
In what is likely a Start/Sit first, we’re recommending against starting a double gameweek Goalkeeper. Only Ederson – and maybe Lloris – would force us to do so. The reason is that he doesn’t get many saves and neither matchup (@Aston Villa & @Arsenal) is likely to yield a clean sheet. The result is likely a negative score/less than 4. This DGW, as is often the case, is fool’s gold.
We’re sticking with a back 4, which consists of these poor souls: Eric Dier, Ben Chilwell, Lucas Digne, & Kyle Walker. It is baffling to us that Eric Dier still commands such a high rostership but he will be part of a bad defense (sans Romero) up against a Leicester attack that just dropped 4 on Villa. Meanwhile, Chilly could be in line for his first start in months after recovering from yet another bad injury. Great news, right? Wrong. Judging by how Potter used Reece James, who similarly is just back from a long-term knock, even if he does get the start, he is unlikely to go more than 60 minutes. Ask Reece James rosterers how that went last weekend. Moving on, Lucas Digne is in really poor form and if he keeps his spot, a matchup against Man City, financial doping allegations or not, is sure to end in tears. And in another first (probably), we’re warning against fielding Walker in a DGW. This is due to all the reasons listed above for Ederson and adding in the possibility that he may not even start both games.
The middle of the park will be occupied by Miguel Almiron, Ebereche Eze, Allan Saint-Maximin, & Mathias Jensen. Despite his torrid run of goals earlier in the season, Miggy has gone cold of late, and is coming off a negative score. We would be very tempted to relegate him to the bench this GW and force him to think about what he’s done. Eze is on a similar cold streak and also deserves to see the pine. ASM is just not the ASM of old and he may give way to new transfer Anthony Gordon this weekend; don’t count on him. Finally, while Jensen scored a goal in his last outing, he is very unlikely to see as much joy against league leaders Arsenal at the Emirates.
Leading the attack (or lack thereof) is Bryan Mbeumo & Leon Bailey. Mbeumo is also coming off a good performance against Southampton but will find it more difficult to replicate it against the Gunners. While Bailey scored a worldie against Man City last time at Villa Park, one can only win the lotto so many times. Odds are that he struggles to post 4+ points this GW. And that’s your lot!
Make sure you also check out our official EPL content partner, The Draft Society, for all the latest! Check out their Fantrax Weekly Player Projections page for more player evaluations for the upcoming week!