FPL 22/23 Season Preview
The 2022/23 FPL season is just around the corner, with the season kicking off on Friday 5th August with a 6:30pm deadline.
The game has launched already with snazzy new graphics and colour scheme with a couple of tweaks to the game, which is where we should start…
Given a raft of account hacks last season, FPL have added Two Factor Authentication to the site and app for added security. To enable it, go to the ‘Pick Team’ tab, scroll down to the Admin section, then select User Profile > Account Security.
It is of course World Cup year, with the tournament taking place in Qatar between November 21st and December 18th. You’ll notice this isn’t the usual summer tournament, but set to take place during the winter, and as such eats into the football season.
What FPL have done to work around this is to give everyone Unlimited Transfers for the duration of the tournament. In FPL terms this is between Gameweek 16 and 17.
We get our second Wildcard after Gameweek 18, so we effectively get 3 Wildcards, with the World Cup Unlimited Transfers being like an enforced Wildcard.
One strategy is to Wildcard after Gameweek 8, then again in Gameweek 16 for the Unlimited Transfers, so you get two blocks of 8 games.
The rest of the game is the same as usual, but we’ll break down each position to take a deeper dive into my top picks.
Premium Goalkeepers have been handed a huge price drop, with Liverpool’s Allison and Man City’s Ederson coming down to £5.5, making them both viable options for our squads. Chelsea’s Mendy and Arsenal’s Ramsdale come in at £5.0 with the best £4.5 picks in Brighton’s Sanchez and Brentford’s Raya coming in at £4.5. There are currently no prospective £4.0 playing goalkeepers.
Premium Defenders have avoided significant price hikes, with Liverpool’s Alexander-Arnold coming in as the most expensive defender at £7.5. Team mate Robertson and Man City’s Cancelo come in at £7.0. Chelsea wing backs James and Chilwell arrive at £6.0 while new Spurs wing back Perisic comes in at £5.5. Arsenal’s Zinchenko, Aston Villa’s Cash and Digne and Newcastle’s Trippier come in at £5.0. Arsenal’s Tomiyasu, Brighton’s Dunk and Man Ut’s Dalot come in at £4.5. Forest’s Neco Williams comes in at £4.0 after moving from Liverpool. This group represents my picks for the start of the season, looking 6-8 weeks ahead.
Midfielders, we need to start with Salah who enters the game as the most expensive player in the game at £13.0. Is he worth it? Absolutely. What you are paying for is a reliable Captaincy option every week. However, Tottenham’s Son comes in at £12, as does Man City’s De Bruyne. In the £8.0 category we have a wealth of talent, with Arsenal’s Saka, Chelsea’s Mount, Leicester’s Maddison, Liverpool’s Diaz, Man City’s Foden and Mahrez and Tottenham’s Kulusevski. They are all great options, but the standout for me is Diaz, but the choice of third Liverpool asset after Alexander-Arnold and Salah is between Robertson and Diaz.
Man Utd’s Rashford comes in at £6.5m, Arsenal’s Martinelli £6.0 and Wolves pair Podence and Neto £5.5. The standout £4.5 is Fulham’s Andreas Pereira after his move from Man Utd.
Up front we have an £11.5 price point for both Haaland of Man City and Tottenham’s Kane. Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez is £9.0 and Arsenal’s Jesus and Chelsea’s Havertz £8.0. In the mid-price region, Brentford’s Toney is £7.0, Fulham’s Mitrovic £6.5, Bournemouth’s Solanke £6.0 and Broja £5.5 if he moves away from Chelsea.
I always recommend having 2 Premium assets, for Captiancy rotation. I would strongly consider one of Salah, Son or De Bruyne then one of Haaland or Kane. This gives you flexibility to change between players in each position on one Transfer. For example, having both Haaland and Kane makes it harder to move to Salah, Son or De Bruyne, taking Transfers. A Salah to Son takes only one Transfer, however you need to take into account the Price difference.
Looking at the Fixtures, it is the big teams with the best opening run. Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City have a good run, with Brighton, Brentford and Wolves also looking nice. The re-pricing of players allows us to have 8-10 assets from the top 5 sides so there is less need to dip into the lower table assets.
As for Captaincy, Salah away to Fulham is hard to look past, put Spurs home to Southampton is a good alternative.
Deadline is Friday 5th August, 6:30pm.
There is a AHTTC FPL League, simply follow the link to join, https://fantasy.premierleague.com/leagues/auto-join/zz95cm
There will be a weekly article Previewing the upcoming Gameweek every Gameweek so keep your eyes peeled for them.
Denny Ledger
Twitter: denny_ledger