FPL GW22 Tips- Best Forwards, Assistant Manager Strategy, etc

Welcome to StatsmanFPL’s Weekly Tips & Preview for FPL GW22 of the FPL 2024/25 season. This blog will provide FPL GW22 Tips and advice to address key dilemmas and maximize your FPL points.

This blog is written by @StatsmanFPL. Be sure to follow his Instagram and Twitter for daily content and news. 

Link to all our FPL GW22 blogs including scout picks, players to target, buy, hold, sell analysis, differentials, captaincy metrics, best forwards, and more. Completely free to access as well!

FPL GW22 Tips & Preview- Dilemmas Answered

Best Forwards For Your Team

There has been a resurgence recently in performing forwards in the Premier league. Isak, Wood, Mateta, Wissa, Watkins, Jackson, Haaland, Cunha, Joao Pedro and more have been viable options at different stages of the season. Currently, the likes of Isak, Wood, Mateta and Wissa are the more in-form forwards. 

The important thing is to understand that different stages of the season will cause different forwards to be better picks for one reason or another. Personal scoring form, team overall form, fixture difficulty and injuries to teammates can all make huge differences in the success of a forward. I will discuss two of my favourite current choices.

Alexander Isak has scored in 8 fixtures in a row and does not look like slowing down. He has the perfect mixture of great personal form, strong team form, injury to his backup Callum Wilson and also the availability of key creators for him in midfield and wing positions.

This has resulted in 10 goals from 8 matches since the start of December and an additional 3 assists on top of that.

At £9.3m, he is a must-have currently.

Jean-Philippe Mateta will most likely not reach the heights of Isak for a number of reasons but is still a great asset to own for £7.3m. Mateta has now scored in 2 fixtures in a row and Crystal Palace have only lost 1 of their last 10 fixtures. 

The Palace striker started the season slowly due to returning late from Olympic Games duty and the overall poor performance of Crystal Palace. This was partly due to personnel issues with trying to fit new signings into the starting lineup.

Crystal Palace have turned a corner and their next 7 or 8 fixtures are all great for attackers. 

Mateta’s underlying data shows that he regularly attempts multiple shots and posts solid xG data in fixtures where Palace would reasonably expect to. He is a great bet with potentially greater upside. 

Further Read: Upcoming FPL Double/Blank Gameweeks | 24/25 FPL Season

Is Newcastle Defence The Real Deal?

Newcastle have kept 5 clean sheets in their last 6 fixtures and managers should be asking themselves if they need to bring in a Newcastle defender. 

The best bet when looking at the defensive reliability of a team is to look at the underlying data such as xG conceded and big chances conceded. These correlate the best with understanding how strong a team is defensively.

Newcastle Defense Rank since GW10- Per 90 Stats:

• Clean Sheets- 1st
• xGC- 2nd
• Big Chances conceded- 4th

Newcastle have kept their opposition to under 1 expected goal in 5 of their last 6 fixtures which is a great start to show that their numbers are reliable. They have conceded 2 big chances or less to their opposition (other than against Wolves) which is another indicator that they are not allowing great chances to fall to their opponents.

It is easy to be skeptical of Newcastle’s defensive form after their poor start to the season. As mentioned previously in this article, the availability of the squad and the overall form of the team can turn things positively or negatively very quickly and currently Newcastle are in a rich vein of form.

Lewis Hall would be the best choice due to his added attacking ability. 

Most FPL Points since GW16:

• Isak- 66
• Salah- 60
• Lewis Hall- 48

Further Read: FPL GW22 Tips & Ultimate Guide: Differentials, Captaincy & More

Assistant Manager Chip Strategy

The Assistant Manager chip is available from Gameweek 24 which coincides with  Double Gameweek 24 which will see Liverpool & Everton play twice that gameweek.

A quick refresher of the Assistant Manager Chip. Using between £0.5m – £1.5m, you choose an assistant manager who will have their own position in your squad and will score points across three successive Gameweeks. Your assistant manager will get you six points for each win, three for each draw, two for each clean sheet and one point for every goal scored.

If you pick a manger who faces a club ranked at least five places higher in the Premier League table at the start of the gameweek, they can earn even greater rewards with an EXTRA 10 points per win or five points for a draw on top of the previously mentioned points. 

Your manager counts against the “three per club rule” so you could only have two outfield players and the manager from the same club. You can also transfer your manager throughout the three gameweeks, which will use your free transfers or cost a points hit as if they were a player.

Ultimate FPL Assistant Manager Chip Guide: Rules, Tips & More

Liverpool & Arne Slot in Double Gameweek 24 are a good candidate if you want a safe bet. You wouldn’t be eligible for any of the bonus points but you would have the fixtures Bournemouth (A), Everton (A), Wolves (H), Manchester City (A). Not the greatest run of fixtures but a reminder that the chip will block you out from using any other chips in those three weeks so be careful timing the use of it later in the season.

The above fixtures could see potential for clean sheets, goals and wins for Liverpool as they are 14 wins and 5 draws from 20 fixtures and have scored a league high 48 goals. The double gameweek is the key factor and it could be seen as a better option rather than Triple Captaining Salah for two away fixtures. 

Further Read: India’s FPL No. 1 Jayanth Reflects on his Stellar 24/25 FPL Season

GW22 Key Fixture Analysis

Brentford v Liverpool:

This is poised to be a key fixture of the week due to Salah’s blank against Nottingham Forest and the subsequent double digit point hauls for Palmer & Isak captainers. Many managers will now have slightly less trust in Salah.

Brentford have conceded 2+ goals in 7 of their last 8 home fixtures. They have conceded 37 goals in 21 games total this season and this is backed up by their poor underlying defensive data. They have consistently conceded multiples goals and chances across nearly every fixture this season and Salah should be able to profit from this fragility.

Newcastle v Bournemouth:

Similar to the above analysis, many managers will be wondering if they should back Isak to score for a 9th Premier League fixture in a row as Newcastle host Bournemouth at St. James Park.

Newcastle & Isak’s form is clearly at a high level currently and the fixture being at home is another plus. Therefore I will analyse Bournemouth to understand if they are a good opposition for an Isak captaincy.

Bournemouth have only conceded 7 goals at home but have conceded 18 goals in 11 fixtures away which puts them in the bottom 5 for goals conceded away and bottom 8 for expected goals conceded away.

Bournemouth have only kept one away clean sheets (in which they were lucky to against Manchester United)  and have conceded 2+ goals in more than half of their away fixtures against the likes of Liverpool, Everton, Brentford, Wolves, Fulham & Chelsea. 

Bournemouth’s home defensive form is significantly different to their away form and therefore Isak is a solid captaincy option this gameweek. 

Further reads from ALLABOUTFPL ahead of FPL GW22:

2024/25 Ultimate Chip Strategy Guide- Best Windows to play all Chips & Combinations
Top FPL Gameweek 22 Captain Picks Based on Analysis & Metrics
Ultimate FPL Assistant Manager Chip Guide: Rules, Tips & More
Top FPL GW22 Differential Picks to Consider Ahead of Deadline
FPL GW22 Scout Picks Based on Stats, Analysis, and Matchups
Upcoming FPL Double/Blank Gameweeks | 24/25 FPL Season
FPL GW22 Tips- Best Forwards, Assistant Manager Strategy, etc
FPL GW22 Tips & Ultimate Guide: Differentials, Captaincy & More

Link to all our FPL GW22 blogs including scout picks, players to target, buy, hold, sell analysis, differentials, captaincy metrics, transfer targets, and more. Completely free to access as well!

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