There is not a lot of time before the deadline of Fantasy Premier League Gameweek 18 and FPL managers have to react quickly to prepare their squads for this round. We are in a very busy schedule, so we need to adjust our strategy to that.
Without further ado, let’s start with our FPL GW18 Tips with the best picks, fixtures, transfer targets, odds, captain picks, and team selection.
1. Fantasy Premier League Gameweek 18 Tips
- Saka is going to be out for “many weeks“
- Boxing day fixtures tends to be crazy, expect high scores in some matches
- GW18 Differentials: Gabriel Jesus, Diogo Jota
Our FPL Principles:
Best Saka replacements
- Palmer if you do not have him
- Luis Díaz (or Diogo Jota as a one-week punt), if you want to have a bigger exposure to Liveprool attack against Leicester
- Odegaard, Martinelli, Trossard – if you want to keep your exposure to Arsenal attack, especially against Ipswich fixture
- Foden – only if you believe that Man City can improve, they have nice fixture run for that
- Son/Maddison – key players for Spurs, both are proven FPL assets from previous seasons, OK fixtures on the horizon, but Spurs are so inconsistent in their performances
2. FPL Gameweek 18 Transfer Tips and key players to pick
Key players to pick
- Salah – the best player in the game
- Palmer
- Gabriel/Saliba/Raya – have at least one Arsenal defensive player
- TAA/VVD/Alison
- Cunha/Isak/Wood – all are very close, all are talismans for their teams, it is a roll dice
- Bowen/Mbeumo
3. Fixtures to target in Gameweek 18
In which fixtures we could expect a lot of fantasy points? These are the fixtures to target in Gameweek 18 according to bookies odds.
- Liverpool vs. Leicester: The Reds 90 % to win, 70 % to score 2.5+ goal
- Arsenal vs. Ipswich: Gunners 86 % to win, 58 % to score 2.5+ goal
- Man. City vs. Everton: Man City 73 % to win, 43 % to score 2.5+ goals
- Chelsea vs. Fulham: Chelsea 66 % to win, 42 % to score 2.5+ goals
Find 2.5+ goals odds for all teams in our article: Premier League Over 2.5 Goals Odds.
4. Best captain pick in GW18
According to our captaincy index, Salah is the best captain in FPL Gameweek 18 with a captaincy index score of 2.4
Haaland (captaincy index score 1.8) is the number 2 captaincy pick and De Bruyne (1.65) is number 3.
If you are looking for a differential captain, you could consider Diogo Jota or Martinelli.
5. What bookies odds say about Gameweek 18
As usual, we converted bookies odds into probabilities using our Odds to probability calculator, to assess the potential of gameweek 18.
Clean sheet odds for GW18
Aston Villa (59 %) is the most likely team to keep a clean sheet in GW18. Bookies also favor Liverpool (51 %) and Man City (45 %) to potentially keep a clean sheet in GW18.
In the last season (2023/24), we were used to a rate of 4.13 clean sheets per gameweek. (A big decline in comparison to 2022/23 season when we saw 5.45 clean sheets per gameweek!)
Expected clean sheets
Due to correction in the number of clean sheets: Everton, Nottingham
Everton overperformed their defensive expectations the most of all teams. They should have kept 2.91 clean sheets instead of 7 according to our expected clean sheets table.
Due to an improvement in the number of clean sheets: Man. City, Aston Villa
Man. City underperformed their defensive expectations the most from all teams. They should have kept 6.01 clean sheets instead of 3 according to our expected clean sheets table.
You can see the expected clean sheets table and clean sheet odds for all Premier League teams here.
Goalscoring odds for GW18
Coming soon… Premier League Goalsocring Odds.
6. FPL GW18 Team selection
Now let’s look at our FPL team selection for GW18 this would be our GW18 wildcard team. The lack of Arsenal offensive coverage is a short term issue for GW18 only.
7. Fantasy Premier League Tips
Find more tips, strategies and picks for Fantasy Premier League in these articles:
- Beginner? Read our guide: How to play Fantasy Premier League
- Confused about the rules? Read the Official rules of the game or check our FAQs
- Want to beat your mini-league rivals? This article is for you: 7 Key Tips for Fantasy Premier League Success
- Interested in improving your decision-making process when picking players to your fantasy team? Check out Books that will help you to improve your FPL skills
We hope our FPL GW18 tips with the best picks, fixtures, transfer targets, odds, captain picks, and team selection helped you to gather some useful information before the Gameweek 18 deadline.
Good luck in FPL GW18!
Assuming you are playing only 3 defenders, you should save money on 2 cheaper defenders who will be on the bench. You can save more by getting a cheap sub goalkeeper, if your first option is very likely to start. Then use that excess cash to buy strikers better than Brewster and Davis, who are incredibly weak options.
Thanks for the idea! Actually, I plan to play 4-5-1, with Yedlin, Brewster, Davis on my bench (in this order). I like playing on four defenders due tu value distribution in recent seasons.