Fantasy Forecast 2019/20: FPL Gameweek 23
Ahead of each Gameweek in the Fantasy Premier League, The Hype Train's three front-men, Robert Austin, Sam Austin and Phil Jones, duel for FPL supremacy in predicting Premier League scores, as well as going head to head in picking a Scout Picks squad for each round of games. In addition, we provide general insight that we believe might be relevant for FPL players, such as our personal captaincy picks, differentials for the week, and more. Welcome to the Forecast. All aboard.
Fantasy Premier League: Gameweek 23 Deadline
For the 2019/20 Premier League season, the FPL deadline will be one hour before the commencement of the week's first game. Our website provides a real-world countdown timer for the the upcoming Gameweek, whilst you can read our latest Fantasy articles from the season on our 2019/20 FPL weekly hype sub-section.
How does our Forecasting work?
For three years we invited guests from the FPL Community to tackle us with picks for the upcoming Gameweek in Fantasy Premier League. We'll be taking a break from inviting guests onto this article for a year, and have introduced a new feature, Fantasy 5's, which we'll be asking weekly guests their top pick in each position ahead of each Gameweek.
For the sake of respecting the rules of the Forecast, we have provided an example of what we're sending out to interested parties that will feature throughout the season.
Premier League Fixture Prediction: As pundits, we are testing our football acumen with PL predictions and will be providing regular updated tables and stats in each edition of the FPL Forecast. A perfect score is worth 3 points whilst a correct result is worth 1 point.
FPL Gameweek Forecasting: Answering the regular questions that come up every single week in the Fantasy Premier League community that helps with identifying captaincy picks, transfers, attacking options, clean sheet potential, teams to look our for and avoid, players to consider for the Draft game, the wildcard differential players, as well as general analysis and comments.
Scout Picks: Picking a squad of 15 for a single Gameweek, without any budget, using the rules of the FPL - formations, captains and vice captains, and the player limits of 3 per club (chips will not be feature of these weekly picks)
Each team must pick a Captain, labelled as (c) and a Vice Captain listed as (vc).
Fixture Prediction: Gameweek 23
Watford 2-1 Spurs
Arsenal 1-1 Sheffield United
Brighton 2-1 Aston Villa
Man City 3-0 Crystal Palace
Norwich 2-2 Bournemouth
Southampton 1-1 Wolves
West Ham 1-2 Everton
Newcastle 1-3 Chelsea
Burnley 0-3 Leicester
Liverpool 4-0 Man United
FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 23
Top FPL transfer targets for the weekend:
GK: Alex McCarthy (SOU, GK, £4.4mil, 2.4% ownership)
DEF: Lewis Dunk (BHA, DEF, £4.8mil, 14.4% ownership)
MID: Abdoulaye Doucouré (WAT, MID, £5.6mil, 1.5% ownership)
FWD: Alexandre Lacazette (ARS, FWD, £9.3mil, 2.0% ownership)
Who are the teams to look out for and avoid?:
Chelsea (Watch) / Newcastle (Avoid): The Blues are back in the driving seat of their pursuit of a Champions League place, and with Abraham back in fine form, and things just going well, I can see the Blues brushing aside an injury ravaged Newcastle team.
Wolves (Avoid) / Southampton (Watch): Leicester got a shellshock as Danny Ings sunk Leicester to another defeat in recent weeks. This is the one of the best relegation races I’ve ever witnessed, and Southampton are currently in the vein of form that it should be worrying Wolves who have been rocked by a difficult period of fixtures.
Watford (Watch) / Spurs (Avoid): Doucouré, Deeney, Sarr, and Deulofeu are running the show for Watford in their attempt to prove everyone wrong in their survival bid. What a setup Nigel Pearson has quickly put together, and despite the opposition you cannot rule out the form the Hornets are in. Mourinho’s Spurs are not going to like this fixture one bit.
FPL Captaincy Picks:
(C) – Sadio Mane (LIV): A huge game calls for the league’s best player, and right now the man guiding Liverpool to a title alongside Virgil van Dijk is the Senegalese forward, Sadio Mane. The winger is overdue a big game to remind everyone of his stature, and I can see Liverpool triumphing in a statement win over the blood rivals. Mane has five returns from his last six starts, and it could be yet another productive game for Mane.
(VC) – Jamie Vardy (LEI): A very predictable pick, and that is Vardy. Sooner rather than later he will pick up form again, and Burnley are just, well…so-so this season. I can see Vardy breaking their lines and making lots of chances in this game.
FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 23
Formation: 3-4-3
Starting 11
GK: Kasper Schmeichel (LEI)
DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV)
DEF: Virgil van Dijk (LIV)
DEF: Ricardo Pereira (LEI)
MID: Riyad Mahrez (MCI)
MID: Ismaïla Sarr (WAT)
MID: Sadio Mane (LIV) - (C)
MID: Kevin De Bruyne (MCI)
FOR: Jamie Vardy (LEI) - (VC)
FOR: Tammy Abraham (CHE)
FOR: Sergio Aguero (MCI)
Substitutes
GK: Ederson (MCI)
MID: Abdoulaye Doucouré (WAT)
DEF: Lewis Dunk (BHA)
DEF: John Lundstram (SHU)
Fixture Prediction: Gameweek 23
Watford 2-1 Spurs
Arsenal 1-1 Sheffield United
Brighton 2-0 Aston Villa
Man City 3-0 Crystal Palace
Norwich 1-2 Bournemouth
Southampton 1-1 Wolves
West Ham 0-0 Everton
Newcastle 1-2 Chelsea
Burnley 1-3 Leicester
Liverpool 2-0 Man United
FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 23
Top FPL transfer targets for the weekend:
A few Fantasy players will be looking for Marcus Rashford replacements after the Forward pulled up lame in United’s FA Cup replay win over Wolves. Top picks include Danny Ings (SOU), Neal Maupay (BHA), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (EVE), Roberto Firmino (LIV), Troy Deeney (WAT) as an outsider and maybe even Sergio Aguero (MCI) if you have the money.
Personally, I’ve dropped 4 points this week, with Rashford out for Ings, and Zaha out for Mahrez. The Algerian is in amazing form for City right now, so naturally, Pep will bench him against Palace, especially now that I’ve got him on my books in FPL.
Who are the teams to look out for and avoid?:
West Ham (avoid): The Hammers have a Double Gameweek upcoming, but a testing fixture list. There are no real options to consider and an overwhelming lack of ambition and desire from within the club, which in turn has their fans rolling their eyes as far back as The Undertaker. All of this rubs off on the pitch.
Arsenal (avoid): Arteta has The Gunners working well, grinding out results, though he hasn’t mastered a winning formula (naturally, having been in the job a matter of weeks), with a lot of draws being contested. With how compact Sheffield United are, it wouldn’t surprise many if the points here are shared.
Watford (watch): The Hornets have gone back to basics. A back four, fast wingers, a box-to-box attacking midfielders, and a bulldozer of a Forward leading the line. Spurs will struggle breaking Nigel Pearson’s side down. The only plus for Spurs is having a player like Son Heing-Min on Jose’s books, a player capable of running it past entire teams.
Bournemouth (watch): This might just be me looking at Bournemouth as a Premier League side. This is a watershed game in terms of relegation. Lose, and everything condemns The Cherries as relegation favourites. Win, it’s a statement win that gets Eddie Howe back on track. Norwich are bad enough for the latter to happen.
Obvious wins:
Liverpool, Chelsea, Brighton, and Man City, surely?
FPL Captaincy Picks:
(C) – Kevin De Bruyne (MCI): Depending on the line-up, City could run riot against an injury-struck Crystal Palace side. He’s a fan favourite this week, a points magnet and a certain lock to play. Can’t think of a better option.
(VC) – Sadio Mane (LIV): Arguably the best attacking player in the world right now is playing at home against a Man United side low in confidence. What better way to mark the occasion than with a goal against their natural enemies?
How do I think the story of the season will go at the top of the Premier League table?:
If Liverpool win their next 8 games, and City drops 6 points in their next 7 games (with some tricky fixtures upcoming), The Reds could win the title at Goodison Park against Everton. With Champions League upcoming, Pep will focus on that and I can see Liverpool likely to win it during Gameweek 30’s Merseyside derby.
City have to travel to Sheffield United, Spurs, Leicester, and Man United before Gameweek 30, and host Arsenal during Gameweek 28… Imagine if Arteta costs City the title at The Etihad. That would be an absolute sight seeing Pep’s former Number 2 end it once and for all.
Other Gameweek Comments:
Personally, my team has had 13 green arrows in a row. I’m not bragging or gloating about it relentlessly on Twitter or Reddit. Sometimes managing your team takes little effort and it is best to just take a step back.
Last week, even though I run a Fantasy Football heavy website, forgot to set my team due to commitments with Hype Train FC, and found myself rolling with Marcus Rashford as captain against Norwich (thankfully). I’ve been taking a lot of hits without suffering any drops in rank. For me, it’s one of those seasons where in a world of predictive stats, that gut instinct has taken control.
Banking on English or British based players is the way to go, Liverpool are back defensively and having the basics right (KDB, Vardy, TAA) is working, leaving me searching for things to say on any real note on a weekly basis.
FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 23
Formation: 3-4-3
Starting 11
GK: Mat Ryan (BHA)
DEF: Caglar Soyuncu (LEI)
DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV)
DEF: Virgil van Dijk (LIV)
MID: Sadio Mane (LIV) – (VC)
MID: Kevin De Bruyne (MCI)
MID: Riyad Mahrez (MCI)
MID: Todd Cantwell (NOR)
FOR: Danny Ings (SOU)
FOR: Jamie Vardy (LEI)
FOR: Neal Maupay (BHA)
Substitutes
GK: Ben Foster (WAT)
MID: Adama Traore (WOL)
DEF: George Baldock (SHU)
DEF: Mason Holgate (EVE)
Want to know more about The Hype Train?
The Hype Train is an entertainment website founded in 2015, specialising in Fantasy sports reporting, starting with Fantasy Premier League (FPL), before expanding to MLS Fantasy coverage in 2018.
We pride ourselves in providing beautiful graphics, statistics, in-depth analytical reporting and free weekly insight for hopeful players attempting to climb rankings tables. We are also occasional media reviewers, with a keen interest to review games, live sport, and professional wrestling.
In 2019, Hype Train Football Club was formed, becoming the first Fantasy Football website to take to the field. HTFC is a socially active team across social and web channels, providing regular match highlights, match reports, comprehensive player statistics and unique player profiles.
The Hype Train were nominated and shortlisted for the 'Best Football Blog' in 2016 by the Football Bloggers Association at their annual Football Blogging Awards (The FBA's), and were again shortlisted as a finalist in 2019 in the 'Best Fantasy Football Blog' category.
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All aboard.
