Premier League 2020/21: FPL Gameweek 22 Fantasy Forecast
Ahead of each Gameweek in the Premier League, The Hype Train's team, Robert Austin, Sam Austin and Phil Jones, duel for FPL and league supremacy in predicting Premier League scores, as well as going head to head in picking a Scout Picks squad for each round of games. With the 2020/21 Premier League season starting tomorrow, we provide our Gameweek Forecast predictions, speculating how we think the latest round of games will be played out. Welcome to the Forecast. All aboard.
Premier League 2020/21: Gameweek 22 Fixtures
Premier League 2020/21: FPL Gameweek 22 Forecast
Enjoy our FPL Forecast article, with each of our team forecasting how we think the Premier League will shape up this upcoming Gameweek. If you agree or want to challenge us on our point of view, get in touch with us on our main Twitter account, @RealHypeTrain.
Fixture Predictions: Gameweek 22
Sheffield United 1-0 West Brom
Wolves 1-2 Arsenal
Man United 2-0 Southampton
Newcastle 1-1 Crystal Palace
Burnley 0-3 Man City
Fulham 0-2 Leicester
Leeds 1-3 Everton
Aston Villa 1-1 West Ham
Liverpool 2-0 Brighton
Spurs 0-0 Chelsea
FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 22
Top FPL player targets ahead of the upcoming Gameweek:
GK: Ederson (MCI, GK, £6.0mil, 8.1% ownership)
DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV, DEF, £7.3mil, 15.1% ownership)
MID: Harvey Barnes (LEI, MID, £6.9mil, 7.5% ownership)
FWD: Callum Wilson (NEW, FWD, £6.7mil, 21.8% ownership)
Who are the teams to look out for and avoid?:
Sheffield United (Watch): Can I see Sheffield United putting pressure on the other teams and making a miraculous escape out of the relegation zone? Maybe. The result against Red Devils should give the team an impetus to do the impossible. They host West Brom, and it is the perfect game to pick up three points.
Leeds (Avoid): Dire at home, but mavericks on the road. That is Leeds. Everton…dire at a whim. I can see the roles reversed this week. I can see Everton get the away win, and Leeds once again struggling at home, again.
Liverpool (Watch): Three games ago I legitimately never saw Liverpool scoring again, they were that abysmal. However, over the last two games the Reds have found some of their old flair and picked up a valuable two wins to help stop the January rot they were in. A home game against Brighton offers both attacking and defensive returns, and it could be a third win on the spin that could see the Reds put Pep Guardiola into a nervous sweat.
Aston Villa & West Ham (???): Two teams with lots of attacking flair, both are keeping clean sheets, and are in the top half of the table. This will be a game where they both teams can cancel each other out. Last Gameweek I said it would be Manchester United and Arsenal, and it finished 0-0, game before that it was also a draw. I like my chances with this one.
Spurs & Chelsea (???): That’s right, I have two uncertain fixtures this week. I see Tuchel’s first big encounter being a reserved encounter, but I can also see Mourinho being cautious like he is in every big game. I can’t see many goals in this game. If I had a gut call winner though, I don’t.
FPL Differential Picks (GW22):
SHU/WBA: Chris Basham (SHU, DEF, £4.6mil, 0.6% ownership)
WOL/ARS: Emile Smith Rowe (ARS, MID, £4.4mil, 2.5% ownership)
MUN/SOU: David de Gea (MUN, GK, £5.3mil, 5.0% ownership)
NEW/CRY: Miguel Almirón (NEW, MID, £5.6mil, 0.4% ownership)
BUR/MCI: Gabriel Jesus (MCI, FWD, £9.2mil, 3.2% ownership)
FUL/LEI: Harvey Barnes (LEI, MID, £6.9mil, 7.5% ownership)
LEE/EVE: Michael Keane (EVE, DEF, £5.1mil, 5.2% ownership)
AVL/WHU: Bertrand Traoré (AVL, MID, £5.9mil, 0.6% ownership)
LIV/BHA: Nathaniel Phillips (LIV, DEF, £4.0mil, 0.6% ownership)
TOT/CHE: César Azpilicueta (CHE, DEF, £5.6mil, 2.7% ownership)
Differential Captain: Gabriel Jesus (MCI)
I can see Man City winning yet another game, and it’ll be just ‘another game’. Jesus grabbed the winner in GW21 against Sheffield United, and will most likely keep his place in the team that won that game, mostly because City are now on the cusp of going into a run of games that will define their title winning status. City will start to less and less rotate, you’d like to think. This is an automatic pick for captaincy as I can’t see Burnley getting a point from this game.
FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 22
Formation: 3-4-3
Starting 11
GK: David de Gea (MUN)
DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV)
DEF: Ruben Dias (MCI)
DEF: Cesar Azpilicueta (CHE)
MID: Harvey Barnes (LEI)
MID: Mohamad Salah (LIV) (C)
MID: Ilkay Gundogan (MCI)
MID: Bruno Fernandes (MUN)
FOR: Roberto Firmino (LIV)
FOR: Gabriel Jesus (MCI) (VC)
FOR: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (EVE)
Substitutes
GK: Kasper Schmeichel (LEI)
MID: Wilfried Zaha (CRY)
DEF: Harry Maguire (MUN)
DEF: James Justin (LEI)
Fixture Predictions: Gameweek 22
Sheffield United 2-0 West Brom
Wolves 1-2 Arsenal
Man United 3-2 Southampton
Newcastle 0-2 Crystal Palace
Burnley 0-4 Man City
Fulham 1-2 Leicester
Leeds 0-2 Everton
Aston Villa 1-1 West Ham
Liverpool 3-0 Brighton
Spurs 0-2 Chelsea
FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 22
Formation: 3-4-3
Starting 11
GK: Aaron Ramsdale (SHU)
DEF: John Stones (MCI)
DEF: Joao Cancelo (MCI)
DEF: Marcos Alonso (CHE)
MID: Mohamed Salah (LIV)
MID: Bruno Fernandes (MUN)
MID: Jack Grealish (AVL)
MID: Ilkay Gundogan (MCI)
MID: Harvey Barnes (LEI)
FOR: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (EVE)
FOR: Michail Antonio (WHU)
Substitutes
GK: Emi Martinez (AVL)
FOR: Olivier Giroud (CHE)
DEF: James Justin (LEI)
DEF: Rob Holding (ARS)
Fixture Predictions: Gameweek 22
Sheffield United 1-0 West Brom
Wolves 1-2 Arsenal
Man United 1-1 Southampton
Newcastle 2-0 Crystal Palace
Burnley 0-3 Man City
Fulham 1-2 Leicester
Leeds 2-0 Everton
Aston Villa 2-1 West Ham
Liverpool 3-0 Brighton
Spurs 0-1 Chelsea
FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 22
Top FPL player targets ahead of the upcoming Gameweek:
Callum Wilson (NEW), Mohamed Salah (LIV), Jack Grealish (AVL), Ruben Dias (MCI), Ilkay Gundogan (MCI) and any variation that gets you up to a healthy number of Liverpool and Man City players will do this week. On the chopping block is Heung-Min Son (TOT) and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (EVE).
Will any of the Deadline Day signings make an instant impact:
The only ones who might make an instant impact are new Liverpool central defender, Ben Davies, as well as Arsenal’s duo, Joe Willock (NEW) and Ainsley Maitland-Niles (WBA). Brexit means that Visa issues might hold up a few of the foreign imports like Ozan Kabak (LIV), Okay Yokuslu (WBA), Moises Caicedo (BHA) will have delayed debuts, so don’t expect anything from then for a while.
Who are the teams to look out for and avoid?:
Sheffield United (Watch): The Blades have been much improved in recent weeks and were unlucky not to pick up a result against Man City in a game that made my have an afternoon nap last Saturday. The visit of West Brom offers a route to potential FPL defensive points, though in reality I’m not sure that many (if any) will rightfully trust their backline. A narrow home win would also drag both further into trouble, which is what I fully expect to happen.
Arsenal (Watch): Wolves are massively out of for and luck just isn’t going their way. On the contrary, Arsenal have passed the recent eye-test and look a solid unit that should dispatch teams lower down the table.
Chelsea (Watch): Logic dictates here that Chelsea under Tuchel are unlikely to concede and they play a Spurs team who can’t score. This one *should* be low-scoring. Cue the 5-4 thriller.
Everton (Avoid): You put your DCL in, your DCL out, and shake it all about… Snip snap, snip snap, snip snap. You have no idea what three transfers for DCL does to a man… I have loads of these little quips about Everton’s form, but my frustrations purely lie with DCL, so I’ve just taken him out as Ancelotti’s side look lost in front of goal and it takes a really bad team to lose to Newcastle at home.
Newcastle (Cautious): I actually couldn’t believe how good my beloved Newcastle were away at Everton. Almiron run the show, Lewis had his best game at left back and up top Callum Wilson could have scored four goals. Crystal Palace are another side that should be on our level and will pose the team an interesting challenge. Both teams might negate one another in honesty as both teams look to preserve their Premier League status.
Man City (Obvious): *Insert generic comment about City’s form being nearly perfect in the last twelve Premier League games.*
Man United (Cautious): The Saints are a good side and another potential banana peel for United.
Gameweek 22 - FPL Captaincy Picks:
Essential: Mohamed Salah (LIV)
Alternative: Joao Cancelo (MCI)
Differential: Callum Wilson (NEW)
It’s clear that Mo Salah leads the way this week for the armband. With Sadio Mane a slight doubt and Bobby Firmino likely going to start, combined with Salah’s insane fitness, it is almost certain he’ll start in a winnable game at home. Bruno Fernandes is another likely captaincy contender, though form has been waning in recent weeks as penalties have dried up for United. Joao Cancelo surely won’t be benched for a second consecutive game, so my advice about Man City rolls over to this week (can’t wait to have my heartbroken all over again).
FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 22
Formation: 3-4-3
Starting 11
GK: Edouard Mendy (CHE)
DEF: Ruben Dias (MCI)
DEF: Joao Cancelo (MCI)
DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV)
MID: Mohamed Salah (LIV)
MID: Bruno Fernandes (MUN)
MID: Ilkay Gundogan (MCI)
MID: James Maddison (LEI)
FOR: Callum Wilson (NEW)
FOR: Ollie Watkins (AVL)
FOR: Roberto Firmino (LIV)
Substitutes
GK: Aaron Ramsdale (BOU)
MID: Jack Grealish (AVL)
DEF: James Justin (LEI)
DEF: Rob Holding (ARS)
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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.
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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.
