In his FPL Gameweek 24 review, Fantasy Premier League author David Wardale sees Liverpool ease past Leicester, with Mo Salah only handed a run-out from the bench.

Arsenal won at Wolves, and did it with ten men, while Aston Villa and Leeds produced a dazzling 3-3 draw.

Norwich and Crystal Palace also shared the points, just rather less excitingly and with the gameweek’s most purchased player stuck on the bench.

Man City cruised to an entirely expected victory over a well-organised Brentford and Southampton come from behind to beat Spurs.

Tuesday’s matches involved a spirited Newcastle blowing Frank Lampard’s Everton away, while Man United missed enough chances to allow Burnley to pinch a hard-earned draw.

At least those games had plenty of action – West Ham and Watford was an all together more dour affair lifted only by another goal from an in-form midfielder.

You can catch all of our FPL Gameweek 24 tips right here.

FPL Gameweek 24 Review

Liverpool 2 Leicester 0

A Diogo Jota (£8.5m) double rescued many a gameweek as Liverpool made relatively short work of a determined, if limited, Leicester City.

With Mo Salah (£12.8m) on the bench, the 39.4%-owned Jota and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.5m and 47.3%) were the two players most FPL managers needed to produce the goods at Anfield.

And both did, to varying degrees.

The full-back brought in clean sheet points for the second time in three matches, but there was no attacking return from him.

Instead, the assists came from a Virgil van Dijk (£6.7m) header parried to Jota by Kasper Schmeichel (£4.8m) and – a rarity, this – a pass from Joel Matip (£4.9m).

How rare? It was the centre-half’s third assist in six seasons.

That trio of home players carved up the bonus points between them as well, although spare a thought for Schmeichel, who made nine saves on the night, many of them of the highest quality.

And spare another thought for the 250,000+ who took a punt on Salah, making him the second most popular purchase of Gameweek 24.

The Egyptian was brought on after 58 minutes and looked decidedly keen to make his mark after his Afcon anguish.

In just over 30 minutes of full-on action, Salah had three shots on target – one of them a big chance – and hit the bar with a trademark curling effort from the edge of the area that even the mighty Schmeichel could get nowhere near.

Liverpool were good value for their win, both with and without Salah, thanks in part to a fine league debut from Luis Diaz (£8.0m), who came close to scoring and linked up well with Andy Robertson (£7.1m) down the Liverpool left.

Leicester offered little going forward – Alisson (6.0m) made just one save all night.

But after their FA Cup debacle at Nottingham Forest, it was the nature of the performance, not the result, that was probably key for the Foxes.

Liverpool travel to Burnley next, followed by a Double Gameweek 26 involving home matches with Norwich and Leeds.

Based on Salah’s frantic return to domestic football, he’ll make hay in those fixtures.

Then again, the return of the Champions League will surely demand rotation and Liverpool’s attacking options have clearly been boosted by the arrival of Diaz, so Salah might not be a nailed-on starter for all those games.

Wolves 0 Arsenal 1

A first-half goal from Gabriel (£5.3m) was enough to see off Wolves in a predictably low-scoring game at Molineux.

Only Man City (14) have conceded fewer goals than the home side’s 17 this season, while Wolves’ goal tally is the league’s third worst.

Throw in the fact that Gabriel’s strike was only the second Arsenal goal of 2022, and it was a minor miracle either keeper was beaten.

Alexandre Lacazette (£8.4m) provided the assist, but got nowhere near the bonus awards, with visiting keeper Aaron Ramsdale (£5.1m) gaining two extra points for the second match running.

He made four saves in all as Wolves pushed for an equaliser, spurred on in particular by the peculiar dismissal of Gabriel Martinelli (£5.4m).

The 6.1%-owned starlet managed to commit two yellow card offences in five seconds of badness, the second coming while referee Michael Oliver was still playing an advantage for the first.

But the Gunners held firm and made it five clean sheets from the last seven matches while they were about it.

That might persuade managers to keep the likes of Ramsdale, who will have a Double Gameweek 26, but no match either side of that.

Wolves also have a double – one of those against Arsenal – and four matches to the Gunners’ two across the rest of the month.

But the other three opponents are Spurs, Leicester and West Ham, so easy pickings will be few and far between.

Aston Villa 3 Leeds 3

Philippe Coutinho (£7.1m) and Jacob Ramsey (£4.7m) grabbed the headlines and the FPL points as Aston Villa and Leeds played out a midweek thriller.

The Brazilian loanee was one of the top five transfers-in for Gameweek 24 and he didn’t disappoint his 12.3% fan base, scoring one goal and setting up two others to earn maximum bonus and a 16-point haul.

Villa’s other two goals came from Ramsey, who has now produced double-digit returns for his 3.8% ownership in two of the last three gameweeks.

In fact, three of his last six starts have involved totals of 10 points or more and manager Steven Gerrard suggested post-match that his man is good enough for an England call-up, so the explosive midfielder is unlikely to be dropped anytime soon.

Coutinho is currently Gameweek 25’s most popular purchase, and deservedly so.

But for those in need of a budget enabler, Ramsey is all that and more, especially with Newcastle, Watford, Brighton and Southampton up next.

Villa went behind to a Dan James (£6.0m) goal before the match went full FIFA and the home side were 3-1 up with seconds of a mad half remaining.

James then scored again – his 12-point tally was a season’s best – which gave the visitors a foothold for the second half during which Diego Llorente (£4.5m) equalised to earn Leeds a point their attacking play and tenacity definitely merited.

Assists came from Pascal Struijk (£4.3m) and a double from Rodrigo (£6.2m), while Matty Cash (£5.1m) set up Coutinho’s goal.

That meant another frustrating match for the 15.4% of fantasy managers on Raphinha (£6.5m).

Leeds have scored nine goals across three of their last four matches, but the midfielder has been involved in just one of them, an assist at West Ham.

A trip to an Everton team teetering on the edge of another crisis might not be the time to remove the Brazilian from your squad, but the clock is ticking when it’s Man United, Liverpool and Spurs to come after that.

The other big losers on the night were the 200,000+ who made Lucas Digne (£5.1m) an even more popular purchase than Coutinho.

The left-back’s three starts for his new side have brought in zero, 12 and now one point, underlining both his potential and Villa’s defensive frailties.

Gerrard does love his full-backs to attack, though, so that immediate schedule mentioned above is likely to tempt more managers to Digne’s cause, regardless of the wild swings in points he’s currently producing.

Norwich 1 Crystal Palace 1

When the major fantasy takeaway from a match is the benching of a player…well you can see where this one’s going.

Crystal Palace striker Odsonne Edouard’s (£6.5m) status as the gameweek’s most bought player – around 400,000 brought him in – couldn’t save him from dugout duties at Norwich.

Eagles boss Patrick Vieira handed the forward just 10 minutes at the end of the match as he shuffled his attacking pack, with Wilfried Zaha (£6.8m) back from injury for a first start since Gameweek 19.

The midfielder certainly had a busy night, curling in a brilliant equaliser from a Michael Olise (£5.4m) assist.

He then missed a penalty in spectacularly bad fashion, his standing foot slipping and the ball wandering almost apologetically wide.

Zaha still managed to earn a bonus point despite that mishap.

His four shots was a match-leading total he shared with the unlikely attacking dynamo that was Will Hughes (£4.7m), while assister Olise was the game’s most creative player with three key passes.

That meant a second straight blank (and yellow card) for the 19.3%-owned Conor Gallagher (£6.2m), who has now produced returns in just two of his last nine starts.

Palace were well worth at least a draw, out-shooting their hosts 13-5, with five of their attempts on target to Norwich’s one.

The home side basically peaked when Teemu Pukki (£5.8m) scuffed home Adam Idah’s (£4.9m) lay-off a mere 38 seconds into proceedings.

The Canaries under Dean Smith are improving, just not enough to warrant fantasy interest.

Palace under Vieira offer attacking options, just rather too many if even the in-form Edouard can be consigned to the bench with such managerial ease.

Man City 2 Brentford 0

Man City completed a regulation win over a battling Brentford, but needed defensive errors to turn their superiority into goals.

Some 35 minutes into the match and City hadn’t managed a single shot on target, Aymeric Laporte (£5.8m) going closest with an effort that sailed just past the post.

In fact, it was visiting midfielder Frank Onyeka (£4.9m) who was the first to trouble either keeper, even if his looping header was little more than a glorified back pass to Ederson (£6.1m).

And then Raheem Sterling (£10.8m) was upended in the area, Riyad Mahrez (£8.6m) dispatched the penalty with the minimum amount of fuss and the inevitable journey to a City win involving 75% possession and a slow death by passing began.

Incredibly – for a player owned by just 3%, at least – that was Mahrez’s fifth goal in as many starts. The only reason for his low ownership? He’s not started more than three games in a row all season.

If Brentford keeper David Raya (£4.3m) was surprisingly under-employed in the first half, things changed dramatically after the interval.

He ended the match just one stop away from gaining two save points.

And he even managed to create work opportunities himself, kicking the ball straight to Sterling and saving the resultant shot, only for Kevin De Bruyne (£12.2m) to slide home the rebound and seal the win.

That made it a fourth straight home match with a goal for the Belgian, who’s blanked only twice in eight games, producing three double-digit returns along the way.

His ownership has doubled over the last two gameweeks and with Norwich to come next, it will increase again, no doubt.

Sterling is another bringing in the bacon, a nine-pointer against Brentford his seventh haul from his last 11 starts.

Two words of warning, though: Champions League. That starts again next week, making Pep Roulette an even more fraught game of chance and despair.

Brentford’s most popular FPL asset, Ivan Toney (£6.6m), missed the match with a minor calf issue.

His teammates acquitted themselves admirably in his absence and although it was their fifth straight league defeat, the manner of it was encouraging enough to suggest better results ahead from a schedule involving some massive matches against relegation rivals.

Spurs 2 Southampton 3

Che Adams (£6.8m) capped a superb comeback from Southampton with a late winner at Spurs.

It was just reward for the Saints, who fell behind twice despite dominating the first half and consistently working home keeper Hugo Lloris (£5.4m), who made six saves on the night.

Spurs opened the scoring when Jan Bednarek (£4.4m) turned Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s (£4.9m) cut-back into his own net.

The visitors were soon level, Armando Broja (£5.2m) scoring his second goal in four starts, with the assist coming from Romain Perraud (£4.8m), who then hit the bar as Southampton pushed for the lead.

The hosts improved after the break and were back ahead when the returning Heung-Min Son (£10.7m) converted Lucas Moura’s (£6.5m) pass.

But it was a night to forget for Tottenham’s biggest gun, Harry Kane (£12.3m).

He failed to convert his one big chance, had just two shots all night and offered little in a creative capacity either, although he was denied an assist when Fraser Forster (£4.4m) saved Sergio Reguilon’s (£5.4m) close-range effort.

For context, three Saints players had more shots than the Tottenham talisman.

Southampton levelled with a Mohamed Elyounoussi (£5.4m) goal and Adams won it three minutes later.

Both assists came from James Ward-Prowse (£6.3m) crosses. With maximum bonus heading his way as well, that made it two double-digit hauls from a brilliant run of returns in six of his last seven starts.

And although his ownership has nearly doubled during that spell, it’s still only at 3.4%, which begs the question: is anyone more overlooked in FPL at present than the Southampton skipper?

A trip to Old Trafford might not persuade many managers to change that this weekend, but the Saints have now drawn with Man City and beaten Spurs, so form is currently trumping fixtures.

And their schedule improves dramatically from Gameweek 26 anyway, so maybe it should be JWP ASAP.

Spurs are inconsistent at present and they’ve also lost their defensive assurance.

Five of Antonio Conte’s first eight league games in charge involved clean sheets. They’ve not kept one for the three matches now, shipping seven goals in the process.

A double in Gameweek 26 is clearly tempting managers – Kane snuck into the top 12 for transfers-in this week – but one of those fixtures involves a trip to Man City.

And with Wolves to come before that, there’s definitely some risk in Tottenham investment at present.

Newcastle 3 Everton 1

Frank Lampard’s first league game in charge of Everton ended in emphatic defeat at the hands of a Newcastle side starting to build some momentum.

A second straight win for the Magpies was secured by a barnstorming second-half performance involving goals from Ryan Fraser (£5.3m) and Kieran Trippier (£5.0m).

The latter’s strike came from a fine free-kick and the right-back’s set-piece delivery was a feature throughout the contest – of the teams in action on Tuesday, only Man United’s Bruno Fernandes (£11.7m and seven) produced more key passes than Trippier’s four.

The first half involved two own goals, with one each from Jamaal Lascelles (£4.4m) and Mason Holgate (£4.2m).

But just to balance things up, both players also provided an assist to keep their scores the right side of zero (or worse).

Newcastle’s other assists came from Fraser, who brought in a season’s best 13 points for his 6,604 owners, and the ever-lively Allan Saint Maximin (£6.8m).

Magpies boss Eddie Howe handed Matt Targett (£4.7m) a debut at left-back and new signing Bruno Guimaraes (£5.0m) was subbed on late, to rapturous applause, as the feelgood factor around the club continues to grow.

Whether that translates into fantasy returns remains to be seen.

Saint Maximin has now produced the goods in three of his last four starts and is clearly loving life under Howe in recent weeks, while the defence is starting to firm up, with one clean sheet and only three goals conceded across the last four matches.

But that’s probably not going to persuade many managers to invest just yet, although Trippier would be a tasty proposition if more shut-outs were forthcoming.

As for Everton, they’re being sucked into a relegation battle Lampard might not be the best-equipped to fight, based on the defensive shortcomings of his Chelsea set-up anyway.

New signings Dele Alli (£6.2m) and Donny van de Beek (£5.7m) came off the bench at Newcastle. Neither particularly impressed, while Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£7.9m) was an unused substitute.

Leeds and Southampton are up next, before a spiteful shift in the Toffees’ schedule.

On the basis of Tuesday night, few fantasy managers will be along for the ride regardless of fixture difficulty.

Burnley 1 Man United 1

A stirring second-half from Burnley earned them a point against a Manchester United side left to rue a number of missed opportunities.

The visitors were the better side by a country mile before the interval, even with (or maybe because of?) Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.5m) sat on the bench – a state of affairs obviously not enjoyed by his 28.1% FPL ownership.

The returning Paul Pogba (£7.4m) opened the scoring with his first goal of the season, smashing home Luke Shaw’s (£5.0m) cut-back.

United found the net twice more to underline their dominance, only for both goals to be chalked off for arguable reasons, one following a lengthy VAR intervention.

Home keeper Nick Pope (£5.4m) was the other key reason why the deficit was kept to just the one and the Clarets were a different prospect after the break, playing at a higher tempo which clearly unsettled their opponents.

New signing Wout Weghorst (£6.5m) was particularly impressive, setting up the equaliser for Jay Rodriguez (£5.2m) before forcing a fine save from David de Gea (£5.3m).

United rallied, but Burnley held firm and Ralf Rangnick’s side were again guilty of not converting their superiority – they out-shot their hosts 22-9 – into goals.

Bruno Fernandes (£11.7m) led the way with four attempts, with Weghorst and Ronaldo one back from that total, the latter firing in his three shots during a 22-minute cameo.

Both sides have a double gameweek to come and it is United’s assets who look the more attractive in terms of both fixtures and points potential.

Then again, that’s mainly because they’re being compared to Burnley, who are looking more like a typical Sean Dyche side game by game, but still lack any real fantasy options unless Weghorst can start banging in the goals.

West Ham 1 Watford 0

Jarrod Bowen (£6.9m) continued his red hot form with the winner for West Ham against Watford.

The midfielder made it four goals in as many starts to go with the five assists from the three games before that.

The decisive strike involved a long-range effort that needed a big deflection to find its way past the otherwise unbeatable Ben Foster (£4.1m).

That was entirely in keeping with a grubby little game, the tone set by the inclusion of Kurt Zouma (£5.4m) in West Ham’s starting XI.

Enough of that.

Foster was unlucky not to keep a second straight clean sheet as he didn’t actually have to do a great deal, although a late save to deny Bowen a second was a superb piece of keeping.

His opposite number, Lukasz Fabianski (£5.0m), was even less troubled as Watford boss Roy Hodgson did Roy Hodgson things like setting up his team to defend and try and nick something on the break.

It nearly worked and the Hornets defence should now be considered as good bets for clean sheets against sides lacking major firepower, especially with a double gameweek just round the corner.

The Hammers, meanwhile, have managed two shut-outs in a row at home, albeit against the offensive might of Norwich and, now, Watford.

A brief look at their fixtures suggests there might be more of that to come, although a newly potent Newcastle might beg to differ.

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