FPL 2023-24: Best Fantasy Team for Gameweek 18 | FPL Tips

We're entering another festive season Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Gameweek in GW 18 which has an even earlier deadline, with the first fixture taking place on Thursday night.

GW 17 was a fairly low-scoring affair but there was joy for the many owners of Cole Palmer and Ollie Watkins, with Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen also finding the net.

The popular captaincy options Salah and Son both blanked, however, with Haaland missing the GW entirely due to injury. There was also an unfortunate abandonment of the Bournemouth-Luton fixture due to a medical emergency for Luton captain Tom Lockyer. Thankfully, he has recovered and is in a stable condition.

However, the fate of the FPL points from that game remain unknown, especially for owners of Dominic Solanke, with the Bournemouth forward netting a second-half goal and on three bonus points before the game was called off a few minutes after the 60-minute mark.

I had a good GW 17 even without the Solanke points, with a rank jump to as high as 1.1 million if Solanke's points stand, with a 1.2 million finish if they don't. Hauls from Cole Palmer, a truly differential haul from Andre Onana and a timely auto-sub from Livramento (for Isak) helped me get my third successive green arrow.

Ahead of GW 18, Watkins is the most transferred-in player, followed by Solanke and Palmer. With Manchester City and Brentford blanking in GW 18, the injured Haaland and Julian Alvarez are among the most transferred-out players.

Whatever your GW 18 team is, ensure it's locked in before the deadline on Thursday evening UK time.

Gameweek 18 Deadline: Thursday, December 21, at 06:30 pm (GMT)/00:00 am (Saturday) (IST).

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FPL Gameweek 18 Fixtures

GW 18 begins with the A-23 derby between Crystal Palace and Brighton at Selhurst Park on Thursday night (December 21), with Aston Villa taking on Sheffield United at Villa Park on Friday night (December 22).

Tottenham Hotspur take on Everton at home on Saturday afternoon before Liverpool and Arsenal clash at Anfield in the marquee fixture of the GW. The GW concludes with the solitary match on Sunday at the Molineux where Wolves go up against Chelsea.

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FPL team suggested for previous GW

Here's the suggested team for the previous GW:

Goalkeepers: Andre Onana (MUN) (£4.8 m), Matt Turner (NFO) (£3.9 m)

Defenders: Kyle Walker (MCI) (£5.3 m), Tino Livramento (NEW) (£4.3 m), Pedro Porro (TOT) (£5.3 m), Konstantinos Tsimikas (LIV) (£4.6 m), Matty Cash (AVL) (£4.7 m)

Midfielders: Raheem Sterling (CHE) (£7.0 m), Cole Palmer (CHE) (£5.5 m), Bukayo Saka (ARS) (£8.8 m), Son Heung-Min (TOT) (£9.5 m), Mohamed Salah (LIV) (£12.8 m)

Forwards: Alexander Isak (NEW) (£7.5 m), Dominic Solanke (BOU) (£6.6 m), Cameron Archer (SHU) (£4.5 m)

Captain/Vice-Captain: Mohamed Salah / Son Heung-Min

GW 17 Transfers made: 1.

Points Scored (- hits): 68 (-0): 68.

Overall Points: 956

Free Transfers available: 1

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Transfers

1) Alexander Isak (NEW) (FWD) (£7.5 m) - OUT | Ollie Watkins (FWD) (AVL) (£8.7 m) - IN

Given Alexander Isak's injury and the return of Callum Wilson, neither of the two Newcastle forwards are viable options, and it's a straightforward switch to Ollie Watkins that I'm doing this Gameweek.

Watkins touched the 100-point mark in GW 17 after scoring the winner against Brentford, and with a kind upcoming schedule and a high ownership, he's also a must-have.

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Best FPL Team for Gameweek 18

Gameweek 18 Bench: Matt Turner (NFO) vs BOU (H), Tino Livramento (NEW) vs LUT (A), Cameron Archer (SHU) vs AVL (A), Kyle Walker (MCI) vs None.

Pau Torres' injury paves the way for a potential Matty Cash start at home to Sheffield United, and that certainly boosts my prospects of getting a good score in GW 18.

Starting in goal, I'm persisting with Onana away against West Ham United because Manchester United has actually looked pretty solid defensively in a lot of matches, and Onana is finding his way to FPL points consistently.

Raheem Sterling is my other big differential aside from Onana, although an away fixture against Wolves could go either way.

Saka, Tsimikas, and Salah will be in action in the same match, and it's anyone's guess how that'll go, although I feel it'll be a narrow Liverpool win, hopefully a 1-0 to have Tsimikas get the clean sheet points.

Son and Pedro Porro have scored plenty of points for me in recent weeks, and I'm hoping that trend continues when Spurs take on Everton at home and look to make it a hat-trick of wins.

Lastly, Solanke and Ollie Watkins are well-owned by FPL managers but contributions from them will still go a long way in helping me get that elusive green arrow to enter the top 1 million in the FPL leaderboards.

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Gameweek 18 - FPL Captaincy

The GW 18 captaincy is a bit tricky, with Salah facing a strong Arsenal defense, albeit at home. He blanked last week and the Egyptian hasn't done so in successive GWs so far but the tough fixture means it could be the first time.

Ollie Watkins and Son Heung-Min are the top contenders apart from Salah, and because he also has penalties in his locker, Son has a slight edge over Watkins despite the latters' significantly better fixture at home to Sheffield United.

Son does also have a tricky fixture against Everton, so I might decide to switch to Watkins before the deadline.

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Best FPL XI for Gameweek 18 - Summary

Starting XI

GK: Andre Onana (MUN) vs WHU (A)

DEF: Matty Cash (AVL) vs SHU (H), Konstantinos Tsimikas (LIV) vs ARS (H), Pedro Porro (TOT) vs EVE (H)

MID: Raheem Sterling (CHE) vs WOL (A), Cole Palmer (CHE) vs WOL (A), Son Heung-Min (TOT) vs EVE (H), Bukayo Saka (ARS) vs LIV (A), Mohamed Salah (LIV) vs ARS (H)

FWD: Ollie Watkins (AVL) vs SHU (H), Dominic Solanke (BOU) vs NFO (A)

Formation: 3-5-2

Bench: GK - Matt Turner (NFO) vs BOU (H), 1st Sub: Tino Livramento (NEW) vs LUT (A), 2nd Sub: Cameron Archer (SHU) vs AVL (A), 3rd Sub: Kyle Walker (MCI) vs None.

Chips activated: None

Captain: Son Heung-Min. | VC: Mohamed Salah.