FPL Scout: Gameweek 23 hints, tips and advice | OneFootball

Brentford have teamed up with Fantasy Football Scout to help bring you hints, tips and advice during the 2024/25 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) season.

Scout will be using their expertise to provide info, advice and Gameweek tips which may prove useful in ensuring you sit on top of your mini-leagues.

Best of the Bees

Table-toppers Liverpool had to work extremely hard for their win at Gtech Community Stadium. In fact, the Bees became only the third team to successfully cause a Mohamed Salah (£13.7m) blank as the Egyptian was unable to register an attacking return.

Up the other end, Thomas Frank’s side had 11 shots, forcing goalkeeper Alisson (£5.5m) into action. Both he and Mark Flekken (£4.4m) collected a couple of save points.

Nobody in the league matched Bryan Mbeumo’s (£7.8m) four shots on target in Gameweek 22. Additionally, the Cameroon international kept threatening with his set-piece deliveries.

The Spotlight

Rico Henry (£4.3m) is back in the Brentford squad. The 27-year-old’s recent FA Cup start brought his first minutes since picking up a long-term knee injury in September 2023.

Once a good level of match fitness has been reached, it’ll be refreshing to see him at left-back again and Keane Lewis-Potter (£5.0m) return to his natural attacking position.

Henry’s two full Premier League seasons highlighted his attacking ability. In 2022/23, he finished as the joint-10th best defender for creating big chances (five) and joint-ninth for having his own big chances (three). Only Ivan Perišić and James Tarkowski bettered him at both.

Before that, Henry scored three goals and came joint-eighth for big chances (four) during Brentford’s first campaign back in the top flight. Such a comeback can add an exciting new dimension to the team and he’ll soon be an intriguing FPL differential.

Best of the Rest

On a low-scoring Fantasy weekend where Salah, Cole Palmer (£11.4m) and Alexander Isak (£9.4m) all blanked, the main joys came from Chris Wood (£7.1m), Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.2m), Antonee Robinson (£5.1m) and Bruno Fernandes (£8.4m).

Very few owned Justin Kluivert (£5.6m) for his second away hat-trick of the season, where an additional assist took the Bournemouth midfielder to 22 points.

The next best was the 19 of Phil Foden (£9.3m). A slow start has prevented last season’s second-best FPL asset from having much relevance this time but he’s recently burst into some great form. Nobody has more points (59) over the last six Gameweeks, thanks to six goals and two assists.

In Demand

Those numbers explain why Foden is one of the most-bought players heading into Gameweek 23, even though Manchester City are about to face Chelsea, Arsenal, Newcastle and Liverpool.

The absence of a lunchtime kick-off means that Saturday’s 1.30pm GMT deadline comes before five immediate matches. Kluivert unsurprisingly leads the way for transfers in but, with Double Gameweek 24 on the horizon, Alexander-Arnold is also in the top five.

Expect Cody Gakpo (£7.4m) for Nicolas Jackson (£7.9m) to be a popular switch, too, though a lot of managers must deal with injuries to William Saliba (£6.2m) and Dominic Solanke (£7.5m).

Captaincy

Picking a captain versus Southampton seems to be a strong tactic right now, with Mbeumo, Wood and Amad Diallo (£5.6m) all hauling when facing the Saints. Therefore, Isak is a leading contender, despite his eight-match scoring streak being over.

At the same time, Salah is also against a promoted side currently stuck in the relegation zone - Ipswich. It’s strange to see him sit on consecutive blanks but the Liverpool star is still miles ahead of everyone else for points (214) and attacking returns (31).