In his FPL Gameweek 23 review, Fantasy Premier League author David Wardale follows up The Never Ending Double GW21 with reports from a schedule involving 12 whole days/a winter break between matches 10 and 11 this time around.

And the 11th wasn’t exactly worth waiting for, seeing as it involved a goalless draw between Burnley and Watford.

The rest of the matches were so long ago, you’ll need to read on to remind yourselves of what happened.

It’s fair to say, however, that many were rather more exciting.

You can catch all of our FPL Gameweek 23 tips right here.

FPL Gameweek 23 Review

Burnley 0 Watford 0

A long time ago in a fantasy galaxy far far away, FPL Double Gameweek 23 started.

Fifteen days ago, to be precise.

And it finally finished with one of the least memorable of clashes of what had already been, for most managers, a gameweek to forget.

The encounter threw up a couple of questions in need of resolution.

1) New Burnley striker Wout Weghorst (£6.5m) is one of the few players to have an FPL price close to his height. But is he worth the money?

2) Will Roy Hodgson summon all his powers and make Watford dull enough to warrant investment in their defence for the first time this season, especially with another double to come in Gameweek 26?

The answers?

Too early to say, although he did loop one effort onto the bar.

And maybe.

Burnley were boosted by the return, from Afcon, of top scorer Maxwel Cornet (£5.9m).

His and and Weghorst’s link-up showed some route one-based promise in the first half, but as the match wore on, so Watford grew into it, with Josh King (£5.9m) starting to get opportunities.

One of the double gameweek’s go-to men for armband duties, King’s two matches ended in just three points, however.

The Norway international had little more than half-chances at Turf Moor and they only required regulation saves from home keeper Nick Pope (£5.4m).

He was also booked, just to reinforce how bad the idea to captain any of Watford’s front line turned out to be.

Never mind captaincy duties, even picking a Hornet defender would have been the stuff of madness under former boss Claudio Ranieri.

But Hodgson runs teams made of sterner, or at least more organised, stuff. And right on cue, Watford’s, first clean sheet of the season arrived.

Some of that could be explained by the opposition – only Norwich have managed fewer goals than Burnley (16) this campaign – and plenty more by wet and windy conditions that were never going to enable a feast of fluent football.

But the visitors defended well, much to the delight of those bosses who presumed the return of Ben Foster (£4.1m) would mean the decent returns of their benched keepers would go to waste.

Pick of the bunch was new left-back Hassane Kamara (£4.5m), who was set to bring in nine points for his 10,395 owners should maximum bonus go his way.

The slightly more popular Pope (2.3%) was due to record the same tally, thanks to save and bonus points.

He also kept a second straight clean sheet and, with 19 points all in, was the double gameweek’s highest scorer, five clear of teammate James Tarkowski (£4.9m).

It’s fair to say few bet on that outcome – Pope was brought in by 1,767 net managers, Tarkowski 3,164.

Both sides have another double to come in Gameweek 26.

Burnley will travel to Brighton and host Spurs, while Watford go to Aston Villa before a home match with Crystal Palace.

Neither set of fixtures screams investment, but if the Hornets’ new-found solidity is more than a one-game wonder, the budget charms of Foster and his back line brothers could be worth a look.

And those still bitter at Emmanuel Dennis (£6.2m) and his negative return in that far away galaxy of January 21 might be wise to keep him for a shot at redemption.

Chelsea 2 Spurs 0

Two second-half goals settled a relatively measured, if still entertaining London derby in Chelsea’s favour.

Tottenham came to Stamford Bridge with a pleasingly old school Italian tactic from coach Antonio Conte involving soaking up pressure and looking to counter.

With that in mind, Conte picked six defenders and Spurs kept Chelsea at bay easily enough before the interval.

In fact, a Harry Kane (£12.3m) goal disallowed for a vague push on Thiago Silva (£5.6m) was the major event of the first half, with VAR disinclined to overturn referee Paul Tierney’s decision to award a foul.

Chelsea came out after the break with more pace and purpose and they broke the deadlock when Hakim Ziyech (£7.3m) scored with a superb shot curled from the edge of the area into the very definition of Hugo Lloris’ (£5.4m) top bins.

It was the midfielder’s second match running with a goal, a mini-burst of form enjoyed by 0.5% of managers, 2,001 of whom brought him in for the derby.

But with one Blues fixture to come between now and early March, only those paying zero attention to anything of FPL relevance will be tapping into his talents any time soon.

The assist came from Callum Hudson-Odoi (£5.3m), his first return since Gameweek 19.

Chelsea soon doubled their lead when Mason Mount’s (£7.7m) free-kick, awarded for a foul(ish) on Hudson-Odi, was diverted in by Silva, just to incense the Tottenham faithful that little bit more.

Spurs huffed and puffed in an attempt to get back into the game, but aside from a Kane header well saved by Kepa (£4.7m), they never looked like possessing sufficient firepower to truly hurt the Blues defence.

As mentioned, it’s time to sell any Chelsea assets still hanging around your squad.

Replacing them with Spurs players doesn’t look overly enticing, seeing as they have to play in-form Southampton and Wolves and some other team called Man City over the next three gameweeks.

Arsenal 0 Burnley 0

Burnley began their double gameweek with hard-fought clean sheet points for all those managers who bou…wait, did anyone buy Clarets players for DGW23?

Well, Matt Lowton (£4.4m) was brought in by just 17,915 smart cookies, only for him to be benched for the first time all season.

A quick look at the bonus points system for the match revealed that the top five Burnley players by that metric all belonged to the defence.

And none of that quintet proved overly popular for transfers-in.

Ben Mee (£4.8m) led the way with a net 8,942 new managers, while two of them actually lost owners.

Top of the pile on the day, points-wise, was keeper Nick Pope (£5.4m), who made five saves and was on for the maximum bonus award, which would take him to a first double-digit haul of the season.

It was also a third clean sheet in Pope’s last four starts as Burnley are finally getting round to being, well, Burnley-like again.

That should be worth noting when they finally get to play all those postponed matches.

Arsenal have a couple of games to catch up on as well, but their form is deeply uninspiring at present, seeing as they’ve now failed to score in four consecutive matches in all competitions.

Pope denied Emile Smith Rowe (£5.9m), who returned to the starting XI, and Martin Odegaard (£5.6m) with fine stops, while Alexandre Lacazette (£8.4m) blew a great chance when the keeper was taken out of the equation by Smith Rowe’s excellent cut-back.

At least the (relatively) popular members of their defence, including keeper Aaron Ramsdale (£5.1m and 18.8%), came away with a clean sheet for the second time in three matches.

Arsenal have the parsimonious Wolves up next, followed by two blanks in three gameweeks, while Burnley have to face Liverpool and Man United over the same period.

Investment in either side seems…unwise at present.

Leicester 1 Brighton 1

Leicester and Brighton played out a draw as the home side set about getting over the horrors of their last-gasp defeat to Spurs in midweek.

The Foxes opened the scoring through the in-form Patson Daka (£7.1m).

He’s now scored in three straight starts and has also produced two assists over the last four games in which he’s been involved.

Harvey Barnes (£6.5m) provided the assist.

Unfortunately, a combined 3.5% owned one or other of the pair, so the main fantasy winners on the day were the vaguely more impressive 6.8% on Neal Maupay (£6.5m), who set up Brighton’s equaliser for substitute Danny Welbeck (£5.9m).

Both keepers were kept busy enough, but in fantasy terms the only event that would have pleased decent chunks of FPL managers was a Brighton clean sheet, and that’s happened just the once since Gameweek 13 now, or a return from the 14.1%-owned James Maddison (£7.0m), who blanked.

Leicester have a couple of nasty fixtures after the winter break is done, while Brighton aren’t currently scheduled to play until Gameweek 25 at present.

As a result, we’ll likely be looking elsewhere for our next move in the transfer market.

Crystal Palace 1 Liverpool 3

Liverpool rode their luck to close the gap on Man City with a fortunate win at Crystal Palace.

The Reds started well, got markedly better and thirty minutes into the match, it was a wonder that the Eagles were only two down, such was the visitors’ dominance.

Virgil van Dijk (£6.6m) headed in an Andy Robertson (£7.1m) corner after just eight minutes to open the scoring, which marked the left-back’s third assist in as many starts.

He added another on 32 minutes, setting up Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (£5.8m) for a second consecutive goal.

That made it eight Robertson assists for the season. Only three players – two of them teammates – have more.

At that stage, Liverpool had had 10 attempts to Palace’s zero as the Reds continued to prosper without their illustrious African strikers.

The shot count was 11-2 by half-time, with the Eagles gifted a couple of decent chances by the visitors’ sloppiness in possession rather their own craft.

Perhaps inspired by those opportunities, the home side were vastly improved after the break. By contrast, Liverpool were oddly passive and their determination to play a high line was frequently fraught with danger.

Palace grabbed a goal back when Jean-Philippe Mateta (£5.2m) was sent clear and, with Alisson (£6.0m) to beat, he squared the ball to Odsonne Edouard (£6.4m) to pass it into the empty net.

The Liverpool keeper produced a couple of excellent saves to thwart the hosts and a late penalty, awarded with the help of VAR, finally saw the Reds home.

It looked a harsh decision, involving Diogo Jota (£8.4m) going down under contact from Vicente Guaita (£4.6m), but Fabinho (£5.4m) rolled home the spot-kick regardless and the game was up for Palace.

The assist for Jota helped 39.7% of FPL managers to some desperately-needed points in this most wretched of gameweeks, especially as the 46.7%-owned Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.5m) blanked while Robertson notched a second straight double-figure total of an incredibly rich vein of form for his rather more niche 3.8% fan club.

The Scotland international’s attacking returns have certainly helped paper over some large cracks at the back – Liverpool have kept just one clean sheet in six matches now and might struggle to keep another when Leicester visit Anfield next time out.

Palace will feel aggrieved by the result, but if they can bottle that second-half form, their key players are worth a look with Norwich, Brentford and Burnley to come over the next four gameweeks.

Southampton 1 Manchester City 1

Southampton battled to a draw against runaway league leaders Man City in a match where fantasy winners were few and far between.

The Saints started fast and went ahead early when the 0.4%-owned Kyle Walker-Peters (£4.8m) scored his first ever Premier League goal, superbly steering home a Nathan Redmond (£5.9m) pass.

City were strangely one-paced for portions of the match, and they could have conceded more than once, striker Armando Broja (£5.2m) hitting the post for the impressive Saints.

But once Aymeric Laporte (£5.7m) headed in Kevin De Bruyne’s (£12.2m) free-kick after 65 minutes, the home side’s backs were never going to stray too far from the wall for the rest of the encounter.

That they stopped City from recording a 13th-straight league win was down to a combination of resolute defending – Mohammed Salisu (£4.5m) was particularly excellent – and some near misses by the visitors, with substitute Gabriel Jesus (£8.5m) and De Bruyne both coming close to winning it for Pep Guardiola’s side.

That would have been harsh on the Saints – keeper Fraser Forster (£4.4m) only had to make four saves despite the waves of pressure.

But the fantasy takeaways from an entertaining affair were mostly negative ones.

Ruben Dias’ (£6.3m) 27.9% ownership would have been delighted that their man returned to the starting XI, only for their hopes of a clean sheet to last seven whole minutes.

That also meant Joao Cancelo (£7.1m and 45.5%) blanked for only the second time in seven starts, while the previously red-hot Bernardo Silva (£7.5m) has gone right off the boil, with just the one return since Gameweek 16.

The one player flying well under the FPL radar is the 7.3%-owned Laporte, his goal making it a staggering eight straight returns. Knowing how Guardiola operates, he’ll probably get rested now.

De Bruyne, meanwhile, is back to his imperious best and with Brentford and Norwich up next, his ownership is likely to swell by another half a million (or more) sooner rather than later.

Southampton will want to feed off this result, which is just as well when it’s Spurs and then Man United to come.

The one downside was a first blank since Gameweek 16 for the still criminally-unloved James Ward-Prowse (£6.3m and 3.4%).

Manchester United 1 West Ham 0

Marcus Rashford’s (£9.4m) renaissance as a super-sub continued with a second straight goal from the bench as Man United edged a tight game against West Ham.

The England man struck three minutes into time added on in a match that some would call ‘one for the purists’, but the rest of us would describe as dull.

The assist came from an offside-looking Edinson Cavani (£8.4m) as United manager Ralf Rangnick threw on three attackers – including former outcast Anthony Martial (£7.6m) – in a desperate bid to break the deadlock.

It worked, just, but fantasy bosses were more invested in Bruno Fernandes (£11.7m and 20.6%) and the 28.8%-owned Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.5m), who survived an injury scare to start and blank for a second match running.

Instead, the FPL joy was mainly felt by the 13.2% on David de Gea (£5.2m) as the hosts kept a first clean sheet since Gameweek 16.

The Red Devils out-shot their visitors 18-6, but rarely bothered stand-in keeper Alphonse Areola (£4.7m), with Hammers boss David Moyes slightly cryptic as to why Lukasz Fabianski (£5.0m) didn’t feature.

“Like every other club, we’ve got some injuries & we’ve got some Covid, so we’ll have to play with what we have. It’s unfortunate that Łukasz misses out – he’s been playing so well for us this year.”

Ronaldo led the way for shots, with three, and Fernandes had the most key passes (four), whereas the 28.1%-owned Jarrod Bowen (£6.8m) had just one of each and Michail Antonio (£7.9m) managed only a single attempt, although it was his side’s sole effort on target.

That neatly summed up the Hammers’ ambitions on the day, and they came so close to realising them to claim a second clean sheet in seven matches before Rashford’s late, late show.

Brentford 1 Wolves 2

Second-half goals from Joao Moutinho (£4.9m) and Ruben Neves (£5.3m) earned Wolves a fourth win in five unbeaten matches despite Brentford’s best efforts.

The home side, by contrast, have now lost four on the bounce, although Ivan Toney’s (£6.6m) second goal in as many matches levelled matters before a VAR reversal of the decision to send off Wolves centre-back Toti (£4.5m) flipped the encounter back in the visitors’ favour.

Assists came from Bryan Mbeumo (£5.3m) for the Bees and Nelson Semedo (£4.8m) and Moutinho for Wolves.

Unsurprisingly, Moutinho walked away with the maximum bonus as he recorded a second double-digit haul in three gameweeks.

The game was not exactly a thriller – the three goals came from the only shots on target the teams managed between them – and a 15-minute stoppage when a drone flew overhead was the most memorable moment for many.

Wolves’ fixtures stiffen now, although clean-sheet points are always a possibility, regardless of the opposition.

Brentford have to face Man City and Arsenal before a run matches against sides below them in the table.

If Toney can continue his mini burst of form, he could be worth a look when he has the likes of Newcastle, Norwich and Burnley to face.

Leeds 0 Newcastle 1

A Jonjo Shelvey (£5.3m) free-kick gave Newcastle only their second win – and clean sheet – of the season in a full-blooded affair at Elland Road.

Leeds had good chances to breach the Magpies’ back line, but Dan James (£6.0m) fluffed his two big chances, Raphinha (£6.6m) couldn’t find the target with three efforts and the in-form Jack Harrison (£5.5m) had an effort cleared off the line.

The visitors’ winner came after a fine run by Javier Manquillo (£3.9m) ended with the substitute being fouled and Shelvey scoring his second goal in four starts as a result.

But fantasy interest, alongside the Leeds blanks, was mainly centred on the one-pointer brought in by the 12.8%-owned Allan Saint-Maximin (£6.7m).

That was scant reward for his 200,000+ new owners, attracted by the back-to-back goals the Newcastle forward had previously produced.

Very few managers enjoyed the Toon’s clean sheet, with the 5.6% of FPL bosses on Manquillo mainly there for his rock bottom price, seeing as he’s been a bit-part player all season.

The win might be the start of something great for Newcastle, although only the bravest of fantasy managers will be adopting anything other than a wait and see approach regarding their assets for now.

Leeds have been finding some form of late, but their fixtures aren’t the easiest in the short term, suggesting there will be few transfer moves for their stars either.

Everton 0 Aston Villa 1

An Aston Villa midfielder, although not necessarily the right one, scored the winner in a scrappy affair with Everton at Goodison Park.

Emiliano Buendia (£6.2m) was that midfielder, as Gameweek 23’s most purchased player, Philippe Coutinho (£7.0m), provided close to 700,000 new owners with just the three points.

The winning goal came on the stroke of half-time from a Lucas Digne (£5.0m) corner.

That didn’t go down well with a home crowd that had sat through a first half very much to script when your caretaker manager is Duncan Ferguson – bags of bite, not so much guile.

The Toffees didn’t have a single shot until after the break, although they managed 15 of them in a frenetic second half.

But visiting keeper Emi Martinez (£5.5m) was forced into action just the once, from a Ben Godfrey (£4.8m) header, that was as much a Tyrone Mings (£5.0m) intervention as a save anyway.

With maximum bonus scheduled to come his way, the fantasy winner on the day was undeniably Digne, who was set for a first double-digit haul of the season.

Owned by just 6.0%, he has a great run of matches to build on his fine return to Goodison, although it should be noted that this was only Villa’s second clean sheet in nine games, and the other came against Norwich.

Coutinho looked a touch off the pace, Ollie Watkins (£7.7m) was lively but blew his one big chance, and it could well be Buendia, who has produced returns in two of his last three starts, who is the next Villa man to figure high in the transfers-in table.

Everton have a decent enough schedule themselves. But they have few players demanding much fantasy attention at present.

Watford 0 Norwich City 3

Norwich won a game of unwaveringly poor quality in which a floodlight failure and a catastrophic red card easily upstaged what passed for the football served up by the teams.

The match was meant to be the first of a glorious pair of fixtures from which Watford strikers Emmanuel Dennis (£6.1m) and Josh King (£5.8m) would make hay.

Instead, King blanked and Dennis surpassed that, picking up two yellow cards to provide his many captainers with -2 points and, lest we forget, no place in Watford’s second fixture of Gameweek 23, away at Burnley.

Norwich midfielder Josh Sargent (£5.4m) was the star of the show, scoring twice.

Amazingly, 294 managers brought him in for the gameweek. If you know of one, maybe ask them what lottery numbers they’ve been thinking about recently.

The assists for his goals came from Teemu Pukki (£5.8m) and Milot Rashica (£5.2m).

Ten-man Watford, to their credit, took it to Norwich despite their reduced circumstances.

But as the match ticked into 15 minutes of added time – courtesy of the lengthy stoppage when one of Vicarage Road’s floodlights took an unscheduled break – an Adam Idah (£4.9m) cross was turned into his own net by substitute Juraj Kucka (£5.5m) to seal the deal for the Canaries.

Fair play to the unfortunate Watford midfielder – his untimely intervention meant a second Hornet walked off with a negative score to his name, albeit one having an impact on 0.1% of bosses rather than Dennis’ 42.2%.

Ironically, the well-owned Watford keeper Ben Foster (£4.1m and 18.5%) managed to outscore the pair despite missing the match with Covid.

Such is the length of time between the team’s two fixtures (as mentioned in the intro to these match reports), the stopper could well be back for the Burnley encounter.

It surely can’t be as bad as this match, not that Norwich fans will care as they bask in a second straight league victory that has taken them out of the bottom three, for now anyway.

Despite that surprising uptick in form, there’s still little to recommend fantasy-wise in their squad, even if they did score three goals for the first time all season and kept a first clean sheet since Gameweek 13.

That amply demonstrates how poor Watford were, although King, at least, still has a shot at redemption in Gameweek 23, so there’s some hope onto which his 10.3% ownership can cling.

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FPL Gameweek 23 Review and Reaction – It’s Finally Over!

FPL Gameweek 23 Review and Reaction – It’s Finally Over!

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