Premier League 2021/22 Season: FPL Gameweek 17 Fantasy Forecast

Ahead of each Gameweek in the Premier League, The Hype Train's team - Robert Austin, Sam Austin and Phil Jones - compete for FPL and league standings supremacy in predicting Premier League scores, as well as going head-to-head in picking a Scout Picks squad for each round of games. We also comb over other relevant statistics, impressions and insight from around the game and the league to best navigate you through the weekly helping of fixtures. Welcome to the Forecast. All aboard.

Premier League 2021/22 Season: FPL Gameweek 17 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, or on Instagram!

Fixture Predictions: Gameweek 17

Brentford P-P Man United

Norwich 1-3 Aston Villa

Man City 3-1 Leeds

Brighton 0-0 Wolves

Burnley 1-2 Watford

Crystal Palace 2-0 Southampton

Arsenal 1-0 West Ham

Leicester 2-1 Spurs

Chelsea 3-0 Everton

Liverpool 3-0 Newcastle

FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 17

Who are the teams to look out for and avoid?:

Chelsea & Liverpool (Watch): Same description for both, so why waste words. The two powerhouse teams are in good home games and performing regardless of form. They both play inferior opposition that will struggle breaking them down. I expect both goals and clean sheets for both the Reds and the Blues.

Brighton & Wolves (???): This is the weekly draw alert, out of all the teams facing each other this week I see this game ending goalless.

West Ham (Avoid): I can see Arsenal pipping them this week, the Gunners have been getting better with every game this season and the Hammers have shown that they can have the occasional slip in concentration which is something I believe will be the deciding factor in this game. With a space in the top four on the line I can see a tight, tense game, that is decided by one goal.

Top FPL player targets this weekend:

GK: Alisson (LIV, GK, £6.0mil, 8.0% ownership)

DEF: Virgil van Dijk (LIV, DEF, £6.7mil, 19.0% ownership)

MID: James Maddison (LEI, MID, £6.8mil, 8.6% ownership)

FWD: Ollie Watkins (AVL, FWD, £7.6mil, 7.1% ownership)

Gameweek 17 – FPL Differential Picks:

NOR/AVL: Ezri Konsa (AVL, DEF, £4.9mil, 1.1% ownership)

MCI/LEE: Manchester City (MCI, MID, £10.6mil, 1.7% ownership)

BHA/WOL: Neal Maupay (BHA, FWD, £6.3mil, 4.0% ownership)

BUR/WAT: Daniel Bachmann (WAT, GK, £4.2mil, 2.0% ownership)

CRY/SOU: Jordan Ayew (CRY, FWD, £5.8mil, 0.6% ownership)

ARS/WHU: Martin Ødegaard (ARS, MID, £5.4mil, 2.7% ownership)

LEI/TOT: Harvey Barnes (LEI, MID, £6.5mil, 2.7% ownership)

CHE/EVE: Jorginho (CHE, MID, £5.8mil, 4.7% ownership)

LIV/NEW: Andrew Robertson (LIV, DEF, £7.0mil, 3.1% ownership)

Differential Captain: Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)

The mercurial English winger joins Mo Salah and Ronaldo in my captaincy picks for the week, with the Man City attacker having found himself during a purple patch. Having secured four returns in his last five games, and starting in all of them, Sterling has found a footing again in the City squad as they engage in a three way title tussle. Sterling’s quality is in no doubt, but due to his inflated price, and the competition he faces from other premium midfielders he has largely been ignored. City host Leeds in a no-brainer fixture.

Gameweek 17 - FPL Captaincy Picks:

Essential: Mohamad Salah (Liverpool)

Alternative: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)

Differential: Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)

England vs. FPL:

This week in ‘3 Lions vs. Mo Salah’ the Islanders bounced back from two dreadful weeks to have one of their better weeks this season, comfortably beating the average points. Best yet, Mo Salah’s captaincy points weren’t enough to stop four Islanders recording more than 10pts a piece: Trent (C, 18), Maddison (16), Gallagher (15), and Ramsdale (11). There were also returns from White and Mount to round off a good week. The forwards are still the only area of concern, with only three fit Islanders available in the entire game, and they are all currently in the team. Worse yet, Vardy didn’t even start the win over Leicester.

Ins: Raheem Sterling (MCI)

Outs: Jadon Sancho (MUN)

I am keeping my transfers simple, and potentially adding a goal-scorer to the 3 Lions midfield. Ever since I dropped Kane the team is flushed with spare money, and I am going to one of Gareth Southgate’s other reliable faces in the form of Raheem Sterling who has been in some great form lately with four returns in his last five games, starting all of them as well. Jadon Sancho has been very disappointing and seems to only be getting the bare minimum points.

I am sticking with Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV) as captaincy, every time I select a midfielder or forward, they never return, and a home game against Newcastle smells like big points for the attack minded Liverpool full-back.

GW16 Returns: 6/11

GW16 Points: 80pts (76pts: -4pts)

GW16 Average Points: 55pts

England FPL XI

Formation: 3-5-2

GK: Aaron Ramsdale (ARS)

DEF: Reece James (CHE)

DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV) - (C)

DEF: Ben White (ARS)

MID: Raheem Sterling (MCI) - (VC)

MID: Emile Smith Rowe (ARS)

MID: James Maddison (LEI)

MID: Mason Mount (CHE)

MID: Conor Gallagher (CRY)

FWD: Jamie Vardy (LEI)

FWD: Ollie Watkins (AVL)

Substitutes:

GK: James McCarthy (SOU)

FWD: Callum Wilson (NEW)

DEF: Conor Coady (WOL)

DEF: Eric Dier (TOT)

FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 17

Formation: 3-5-2

Starting 11

GK: Aaron Ramsdale (ARS)

DEF: Reece James (CHE)

DEF: Virgil van Dijk (LIV)

DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV)

MID: Raheem Sterling (MCI)

MID: Connor Gallagher (CRY)

MID: Mason Mount (CHE)

MID: Mohamad Salah (LIV) - (C)

MID: James Maddison (LEI)

FOR: Emmanuel Dennis (WAT)

FOR: Ollie Watkins (AVL)

Substitutes

GK: David de Gea (MUN)

FOR: Neal Maupay (BHA)

DEF: Tyrone Mings (AVL)

DEF: Antonio Rüdiger (CHE)

Fixture Predictions: Gameweek 17

Brentford 1-1 Man United

Norwich 1-2 Aston Villa

Man City 3-0 Leeds

Brighton 0-1 Wolves

Burnley 1-1 Watford

Crystal Palace 2-1 Southampton

Arsenal 2-2 West Ham

Leicester 3-2 Spurs

Chelsea 2-0 Everton

Liverpool 4-0 Newcastle

FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 17

What are the potential stumbling blocks to a good Gameweek 17?:

1) Fixture postponements & Covid-19: It’s public knowledge that a host of Man United players are ill and/or may be hit hard with Covid – which has led to their game against Brentford being called off. Spurs had their GW16 game postponed, and there are outbreaks at Aston Villa, Leicester, Brighton and Norwich. There will be a lot of disruptions in the coming weeks, which the Premier League said that they were ready to deal with, but aren’t as we’re back at square one like the last two Xmas periods of football.

2) Chelsea conceding (again): It’s been a long month owning Reece James (£6.3m) and Edouard Mendy (£6.3m), with The Blues conceding in each of their last 4 league games. In that time, James has managed a huge 1 point in FPL and has been booked in 3 of his last 4 outings. If Chelsea concede again, seeing as most are still holding their Chelsea players, it’ll be another week

3) Newcastle playing well: Everyone and their dog will be captaining Mohamed Salah this week, with the fates of the Gameweek, in a weakened round of fixtures, looking like The Egyptian King will be the cornerstone to a good or bad Gameweek.

Who are the teams to look out for and avoid?:

Clubs that have any doubts over Covid should 1000% be avoided. It’s unlikely that FPL players will know of every instance of Covid, so don’t be bummed out when disaster strikes. Life happens, not always according to your rules.

Liverpool (Watch): Seemingly unaffected by the Covid mess that this Gameweek offers, Klopp’s team seem to be in the clear so the backbone of your points will come from The Reds in what should be a routine home fixture against Newcastle.

Spurs (Avoid): Hit with Covid, expect a different looking Spurs team for a tough game at Leicester, who also have a strained squad.

Man City (Watch): Raheem Sterling is in a good patch of form, so is one to potentially pick up if you can entrust in Pep’s cruel rotation policies during the busiest time of the season. Leeds will offer a good test for City, but it should be a simple home win.

Crystal Palace (Watch): The Eagles are playing well at home and should get a good result against a Southampton side lacking in attacking options.

Aston Villa (Watch): Dean Smith against his old club should be a good watch, though I feel that Villa are already showing stubborn edges under Gerrard that will make them a stronger unit in the coming weeks and months.

Gameweek 17 - FPL Captaincy Picks:

Essential: Mohamed Salah (LIV)

Alternative: Raheem Sterling (MCI)

Differential: Ollie Watkins (AVL)

Other Gameweek Comments:

Please take any insight with a MASSIVE pinch of salt. Most content creators are seriously clutching at straws at who to select or what to do. There will likely be a thousand wrong answers for every right one. The Premier League promised that tight regulations were going to be put in to force for Covid-19, but like the government’s stance on it all, everyone in the league seemingly has a lax culture over protecting its players and staff – the league need to take a leaf out of the NBA and NFL, who have tightened restrictions on their players which limits cases.

It's a tough situation though this week as postponements are now part of the norm in December in the Premier League – it’s just a reality that we all have to come to terms with as long as the pandemic and new variants continue to pop up across the world.

Diverting away, Newcastle are looking in ridiculously rough shape at the moment ahead of three games which on paper, and most likely in practise, will see us without a point. January is going to be very, very interesting – the more losses we get, the bigger the spend will surely be as the Saudi’s look to retain the club’s league status.

FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 17

Formation: 3-4-3

Starting 11

GK: Edouard Mendy (CHE)

DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV)

DEF: Ruben Dias (MCI)

DEF: Tyrone Mings (AVL)

MID: Mohamed Salah (LIV)

MID: Diogo Jota (LIV)

MID: Raheem Sterling (MCI)

MID: Conor Gallagher (CRY)

FOR: Emmanuel Dennis (WAT)

FOR: Gabriel Jesus (MCI)

FOR: Ollie Watkins (AVL)

Substitutes

GK: Vicente Guaita (CRY)

MID: Emile Smith-Rowe (ARS)

DEF: Rayan Ait Nouri (WOL)

DEF: Ben White (ARS)

Want to know more about The Hype Train?

The Hype Train is an entertainment website founded in 2015, specialising in general football and 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. We won both Goal of the Season Awards in the Berkshire and County FA regions, with Callum Parr-Jones winning the Berks & Bucks FA award, whilst Martin King won the PlaySport UK award. In 2021, we formed the Reading Sunday Social League (RSSL), a competitive Sunday League involving 8 teams in its debut season.

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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