The Gameweek 14 Fantasy Challenge combines similarities with last week’s Challenge and the original Fantasy Premier League game, plus the added bonus of a “Red Hot Deal.”
Just as Liverpool and Manchester City stars did in Gameweek 13, this time it’s Manchester United players who will earn DOUBLE points in Wednesday night's match at Emirates Stadium. With the Red Devils finding form under their new head coach Ruben Amorim, is the promise of double rewards enough to make a tricky trip to the Gunners more enticing?
Meanwhile, this week’s Challenge budget has been upped to £75.0m - but managers will have to spread those funds over 11 players, arranged in any of the standard FPL formations.
Pick your Fantasy Challenge team NOW!
As always, once a player's team has started their first match of the Gameweek, they will be locked from any changes. However, you can otherwise tweak any remaining slots in your team - and even enter a full squad - right up until 19:30 GMT on Thursday, when Fulham v Brighton & Hove Albion gets under way.
Here, Alex Dakers identifies some of the best remaining Fantasy Challenge picks for Gameweek 14.
20:15 GMT Fantasy Challenge Deadline
Arsenal v Man Utd
Aston Villa v Brentford
The main focus of this week’s Fantasy Challenge, an encounter between Arsenal and Manchester United in north London, may just be trickier to call now than it would have been several weeks ago.
Firstly, the hosts. The Gunners looked back to their free-flowing best last week, with Martin Odegaard (£8.3m) pulling the strings once more and securing a third straight attacking return (a goal to add to consecutive assists) since his comeback from injury.
Bukayo Saka (£10.4m) was the star of the show, though, netting one goal of his own and crafting three assists for an 18-point haul, while Leandro Trossard (£6.8m) - starting over Gabriel Martinelli (£6.8m) for the second match running - got a goal and an assist, finishing with 12 points.
Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.2m) also delivered a goal and an assist in a dramatic first half, but was replaced at the interval as he continues to manage a knock - one to keep a keen eye on the late line-ups for, then.
Then there’s United. The Red Devils secured a second straight victory in all competitions in Amorim’s third match in charge, and this one largely looked to be a walk in the park at both ends of the pitch.
At the back, there was a sixth clean sheet of the season for Andre Onana (£5.2m), helping the Cameroonian maintain his status as FPL’s top-scoring goalkeeper over Forest’s Matz Sels (£4.7m). Despite what could be a challenging trip to the Emirates, Onana - who has conceded a league-low five goals over the last six Gameweeks, may be the standout option between the sticks given any points he earns are DOUBLED in this week’s Challenge.
For those preferring an outfield defender, Diogo Dalot (£5.2m) has featured most heavily under Amorim so far, starting and finishing both league matches. That could suggest a starting berth as a wing-back is his to lose.
In attack, Alejandro Garnacho (£6.3m) scored in Europe last week but may - save for fitness-enforced rotation - have to settle for a place on the bench going forward in the Premier League, such has been the resurgence and continuation of form exhibited by Marcus Rashford (£7.0m), Amad (£5.0m) and Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m).
The former, who led the line from the get-go against Ipswich but operated behind lone forward Joshua Zirkzee (£6.6m) on Sunday, bagged a brace to take his tally to three goals in two matches under his new boss, while a pair of assists for Amad against Everton means he has now delivered supplied four in his last three outings in the league, as well as playing the full 90 minutes each time.
Fernandes - expected to be fit to feature against Arsenal despite being subbed early at the weekend - also added another two assists to his tally in a little over an hour of playing time, with United’s captain leading all top-flight players for chances and big chances created over the last six Gameweeks.
Fantasy managers may need to check the line-ups to see who is given the nod up front on Wednesday night, though. Both Rasmus Hojlund (£6.9m) and Zirkzee have scored a brace in the past week, but it was the Dutchman who did so (and started) against Everton, while Hojlund’s came after lining up in the UEFA Europa League.
As evidenced, Amorim hasn’t been afraid to chop and change his XI so far, and the quick turnaround into Gameweek 14 could present the perfect opportunity to tinker again, as well as keeping Mikel Arteta’s men on their toes.
Aston Villa’s season has taken a turn for the worse over the past month, with Unai Emery’s men on an eight-match winless run in all competitions. They face Brentford next and will be pleased that the match is in the Midlands, as the Bees have picked up just one point on the road all season.
Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) and Morgan Rogers (£5.3m) remain their side’s two most popular picks and main attacking threats, though it is of course possible that one or both could be given reduced minutes on Wednesday to account for the stresses of balancing their UEFA Champions League campaign.
Any of Jhon Duran (£5.8m), Jaden Philogene (£5.3m) or Leon Bailey (£6.2m) are the most likely beneficiaries, so make sure to check the teamsheets.
Brentford’s poor away form alone still may not stem the bleeding at the back for Villa, though, particularly with Emi Martinez (£5.0m) sidelined after fracturing his finger at Stamford Bridge last weekend.
The Villans have conceded a league-high 11 goals across their last four matches, and even if the attacking returns have dried up recently for Bryan Mbeumo (£7.7m), the likes of Yoane Wissa (£6.2m), Mikkel Damsgaard (£5.0m) and last week’s hat-trick hero Kevin Schade (£5.1m) have continued to keep the Bees near the top of the league in terms of goals and goal conversion rate over the past month or so.
Thursday
19:30 GMT Fantasy Challenge Deadline
Fulham v Brighton
AFC Bournemouth v Spurs
It’s now five matches without a goal for Raul Jimenez (£5.6m), despite some of the Mexican striker’s underlying stats remaining among the best in his position over that spell.
Clean sheets have been few and far between for the Cottagers all season long, so the fact that attacking returns have also dried up for Antonee Robinson (£4.7m) means he too is quickly losing his Fantasy appeal, despite a promising start and some advanced positioning. Indeed, Kenny Tete (£4.5m) on the opposite flank has been more creative in recent weeks, and was rewarded with an assist in Gameweek 12.
On current form, Alex Iwobi (£5.6m) has been the main man for Marco Silva’s side, with an attacking return in each of his last three matches and a total of 30 points across his last five appearances.
Two double-digit hauls in a row were followed by a quieter night for Joao Pedro (£5.8m) last Friday, despite the Brazilian playing the most minutes against Southampton of any of his three matches since returning from injury.
Danny Welbeck (£5.9m) also blanked - his third in a row - against Saints, meaning it was instead Kaoru Mitoma (£6.5m) who stole the show, scoring for the second successive Gameweek. The Japanese winger has 19 points during that time, but it’s actually Georginio Rutter (£5.6m) who is bossing the underlying stats.
The Frenchman is fourth - behind only Salah, Haaland and Saka - for total attempts over the last two Gameweeks. Although he blanked last week, he also still has six returns across his last eight league matches.
Interestingly, Brighton have conceded the most shots (77) across the league over the last six Gameweeks, while Fulham have allowed fewer (40) than all teams bar Arsenal and United - suggesting a clean sheet, while far from promised on either side, may be more likely to come from the hosts.
Bournemouth and Spurs picks
For all the action in Gameweek 13, no team had a performance quite like AFC Bournemouth, and no player had an outing quite like Justin Kluivert (£5.4m).
The Dutch midfielder scored a hat-trick, all of which were penalties, as the Cherries won 4-2 at Wolves in a game that saw three goals in the first eight minutes.
Kluivert may find the same opportunities difficult to come by again this week, but the fact that Evanilson (£6.0m) won all three penalties - therefore coming away with three FPL assists, and 12 points in total - was no fluke; the in-form Bournemouth forward recently scored in three straight matches, including against Man City, and also bagged an assist against Arsenal just prior to that run.
Coming in slightly cheaper if your budget is squeezed by this week’s Challenge limit, high-volume shot taker Antoine Semenyo (£5.7m) is also available once more, after serving a one-match suspension.
In Spurs, Andoni Iraola’s men now face a side who have conceded just six times in their last six matches, yet still kept only one clean sheet over that period, which was against the reigning Premier League champions. Ange Postecoglou’s side are also without first-choice goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario (£4.9m) for the foreseeable future, leaving Fraser Forster (£4.3m) to deputise.
Spurs are, however, top for goals over the same stretch of matches, with 14, helped by three wins in which they have scored four goals on each occasion. Brennan Johnson (£6.7m) was back on the scoresheet for the third time in four matches to rescue a draw against Fulham at the weekend, battling with James Maddison (£7.6m) for the title of Spurs’ most consistent performer this season, as Son Heung-min (£9.9m) struggles for form.
Timo Werner (£6.2m) started against Fulham thanks to the illness-enforced absence of Dominic Solanke (£7.5m), and the German grabbed his second assist in as many weeks, but may find himself back on the bench come Gameweek 14, particularly if Solanke is passed fit or Dejan Kulusevski (£6.3m) - who has bossed the underlying creativity metrics so far this season, but himself was benched last time out - returns to the fold.
