Friday afternoon brought confirmation that six teams would ‘double’ in Gameweek 34, adding more information for Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers to use when planning how to navigate the peaks and troughs of this upcoming schedule.
This article sees us assess the clubs and players with, in theory, the strongest and weakest runs of matches over the next six Gameweeks, taking us through Double Gameweek 29, Blank Gameweek 32 and Double Gameweek 34.
Our colour-coded Season Ticker is the primary source for this piece; using this tool as a Premium Member, you can sort by difficulty, rank by attacking and defensive potential or find budget rotation pairings. You can even set your own difficulty ratings, should you disagree with our own.
You can see a tutorial on the Season Ticker here.
SEASON TICKER OVERVIEW
BEST FIXTURES
LIVERPOOL
The Season Ticker puts Liverpool on top over the medium term, despite the imminent run of Manchester City (a), Chelsea (a) and Arsenal (h).
Jurgen Klopp’s side contest eight fixtures over the next six Gameweeks, the joint-most alongside West Ham United. Unlike the Hammers (and several other teams), they don’t have the distraction of cup competitions at home or abroad – so the sole focus is on the Premier League for the rest of 2022/23.
The upcoming double on the road is a concern given that Jurgen Klopp’s side have lost seven of their 13 away games, failing to grab any goals at Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest and Everton.
Yet the fixtures improve afterward, helped by them being one of six teams to have a Double Gameweek 34. It’s hard to predict what mood the Reds will be in but, as shown by this season’s 9-0 and 7-0 demolition jobs at Anfield, Liverpool assets are capable of turning up at any time and hauling big.
Mohamed Salah (£12.8m) leads the way for FPL targets at a time when premium midfielders are seemingly going out of fashion and it’s been even rarer to see £6.0m+ defenders like Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.3m) and Andrew Robertson (£6.8m) in active FPL squads recently.
Although the pair have helped deliver five clean sheets in their last six outings, the 5.69 expected goals conceded (xGC) tally suggests an unsustainable run of luck. Indeed, they’ve allowed the second-most number of big chances since the Gameweek 17 restart.
But the key Liverpool assets are still going to be hard to ignore from Gameweek 31 onwards, given that only one of their remaining nine fixtures comes against a ‘big six’ club.
WEST HAM UNITED
The Hammers will start Double Gameweek 29 in 18th place but with two winnable home encounters against Southampton and Newcastle United.
Following that is a mixture of difficult home games, nicer away trips, Europa Conference League quarter-finals and a Double Gameweek 34.
Whilst Danny Ings (£6.4m) is now a consistent starter and Jarrod Bowen (£8.0m) has the most post-World Cup penalty area touches (60) and expected goal involvement (xGI, 5.07) numbers at the club, there is even greater differential potential in midfielder Said Benrahma (£5.5m).
Since Gameweek 13, the Algerian has been a regular starter for West Ham. His 15 shots on target rank fifth amongst all midfielders during this time – even more than popular options Bukayo Saka (£8.6m) and Gabriel Martinelli (£6.6m).
Despite the paucity of clean sheets (five), the Hammers still boast the division’s fifth-lowest xGC of 2022/23 (32.05).
LEICESTER CITY
As well as for Double Gameweek 29, our ticker says the Foxes have the best fixture of Gameweek 30. That’s part of the reason why 36% of the top 100k already own James Maddison (£8.2m), despite the Foxes being precariously positioned one point off the bottom three.
Maddison is his side’s attacking talisman, although Harvey Barnes (£6.7m) joins him on nine goals and is only three points behind the England international.
The pair combined to equalise against Brentford in Gameweek 28 but, remarkably, Barnes is still without a single bonus point for this campaign. Wasted ‘big chances’ is part of the reason: Barnes has had over four times as many Opta-defined gilt-edged openings as Maddison this season.
Not many other options hold appeal in attack, as there is a near-constant rotation of forwards – something we saw in Gameweek 28 when Kelechi Iheanacho (£6.1m) was benched.
Their defence is also the only one not to bank a clean sheet since the restart but there will be hope that fixtures can breed form for this budget backline, with the attack-minded Timothy Castagne (£4.4m) newly promoted to our Watchlist.
There’s also a cut-price shot-stopper between the sticks, but not the one we have become used to: Danny Ward (£4.0m) owners are no doubt aware that Daniel Iversen (£3.8m) now seems to be the first-choice goalkeeper.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
It’s a chain of blue fixtures for the Magpies, following two massive 2-1 wins that should help them regain some confidence in their chase for fourth place.
No clean sheet has arrived in six matches but their defensive stats still reign supreme, with the lowest post-World Cup tallies for goals conceded and xGC. The question is whether to get more defensive coverage alongside fixture-proof Kieran Trippier (£6.1m), whose 39 chances created in this period are ahead of everyone else.
Goals have been harder to come by – seven in ten matches – but their expected goals (xG) actually add to 15.92, suggesting a huge underachievement. New owners of Alexander Isak (£6.7m) will be hoping this luck soon balances out, and the Swede has certainly looked like a more clinical upgrade on the half-fit Callum Wilson (£6.9m).
Miguel Almiron (£5.5m) will miss the next month with a thigh injury, although Nick Pope‘s (£5.4m) withdrawal from the England squad was precautionary.
ALSO CONSIDER
Manchester United and Brighton and Hove Albion are massively hindered in the difficulty ranking by their blanks of Gameweek 32.
Those FPL managers intending to Free Hit that week can therefore think much more positively about assets such as Kaoru Mitoma (£5.5m), Marcus Rashford (£7.3m), Solly March (£5.1m), Bruno Fernandes (£9.6m) and Luke Shaw (£5.2m). Both teams have Double Gameweek 34 and need at least one more match added to the schedule.
Meanwhile, Leeds United welcome back top scorer Rodrigo (£6.3m) but Wilfried Gnonto (£4.9m) was forced off hurt during Italy’s clash with Malta. What’s interesting is that full-back Luke Ayling (£4.5m) has some outstanding attacking stats of late.
He is the best defender for penalty area touches (31) since Gameweek 17, whilst also being the leader for shots on target (four) and xGI (2.50) from Gameweek 22 onwards.
Crystal Palace will enter Gameweek 29 with a new(ish) manager, as Roy Hodgson returns to replace Patrick Vieira. Is it time for the yearly gamble on Wilfried Zaha (£7.2m)? We’ll get our coats…
WORST FIXTURES
SOUTHAMPTON
Life under new boss Ruben Selles seems to bring more hope for Saints, with a corner being turned during their last six outings: two wins, two draws and three clean sheets, avoiding defeat to Manchester United, Chelsea and Spurs.
Without that, supporters would probably be resigned to relegation already – especially given that Man City (h), Arsenal (a) and Newcastle (a) are on the horizon.
James Ward-Prowse (£6.3m) has been their only realistic FPL option for some time now, considering his talismanic status and set-piece wizardry, but even he’s near-impossible to make a case for given the lack of upcoming doubles and the tricky nature of those three aforementioned games.
Brighton and Liverpool await in the final two Gameweeks, too, just to compound matters.
ARSENAL
Although league leaders Arsenal rank low on our ticker, it can be reasonably argued that their one Gameweek 29 match looks better than most of the doubles.
It was as recently as Gameweek 27 when many benched Gunners assets in the same situation, only to see it backfire thanks to Mikel Arteta’s side’s 3-0 win at Fulham.
Out of Europe and on six successive league wins, no side is near their 19 goals of the last half-dozen, although admittedly it’s from an xG of just 12.71.
Short-term fixture difficulty is set to increase, already tempting 110,000 Martin Odegaard (£6.9m) owners into a sale.
It’d be brave to go against the in-form Saka and Martinelli though, despite the shortage of doubles and five top-ten sides to come between now and Gameweek 36.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Staying in north London, Spurs have no upcoming blanks or doubles but have the uncertainty of a managerial change.
Antonio Conte was dismissed on Sunday night and it remains to be seen whether or not this will rejuvenate them into securing Champions League football.
Talismanic forward Harry Kane (£11.8m) has quietly been a star of this FPL season and England’s all-time leading scorer has recorded 15 goals from 16 matches against Everton.
Beyond that, the news of Emerson Royal‘s (£4.9m) knee surgery paves the way for attacking wing-back Pedro Porro (£4.8m) to make an FPL impact.
But with a quartet of top-four rivals to come between now and Gameweek 34, plus a rejuvenated Toffees up next, the schedule could be a lot kinder.
