Who were the best 2022/23 FPL midfielders?

With the Premier League season over, let’s use points and underlying data to pick out the best FPL midfielders.

The list of candidates takes several things into account, such as overall score, value and points per match. It also considers those who excelled in the second half of 2022/23, following the World Cup break.

Here are the nominees.

Best FPL midfielders

Mohamed Salah

239 points, start cost £13.0m, end cost £13.1m

A slow first half of the season was summed up by somehow blanking during Liverpool’s 9-0 thrashing of Bournemouth, to the frustration of his many captainers. Heading into the World Cup, Salah was only on six goals, reaching just eight by the start of Gameweek 25.

And yet here he is, the top-scoring FPL midfielder as one of two players to end with goal and assist totals both over ten. The Liverpool star’s spectacular end saw him bag 11 and seven of these in 15 matches – even finding time to miss two penalties!

Salah ends first for touches in the box (333) and second for penalty area shots (104), double-digit hauls (10) and expected goal involvement (xGI, 27.31).

Marcus Rashford

205 points, start cost £6.5m, end cost £7.2m

Another player who showcases how long an FPL season is, Rashford was on a poor four goals and two assists before his strong showing with the England squad in Qatar. He came back like a machine, scoring ten goals in his first ten matches, making a mockery out of his initial £6.5m price tag.

It was Rashford’s best-ever campaign and, despite the goals slowing down from Gameweek 24, he ends in top spot for post-World Cup points per start (7.52) and shots on target (36). He hit a peak of 6.1 million owners.

Martin Odegaard

212 points, start cost £6.5m, end cost £6.9m

Now onto the cheap Arsenal trio. Odegaard bagged 15 goals, eight assists and nine double-digit hauls, being one of a handful to reach 200 points.

The Norwegian finished second amongst midfielders although, of those to net 14+ times, he had by far the fewest big chances (9). A big price rise is coming for 2023/24, where we’ll discover if he’s here to stay as a regular goal scorer.

Gabriel Martinelli

198 points, start cost £6.0m, end cost £6.5m

This breakout season for Martinelli gave managers a £6.0m route into the long-time league leaders. A solid start ensured he the Brazilian was in over five million squads for a while, with the expected rotation not happening until Gameweek 24.

When that happened, he came off the bench, scored and began a great ten-match run of returns. He actually beats Odegaard for assists but the latter had far more bonus points. Impressively, Martinelli’s 244 penalty area touches were more than any forward (third overall).

Bukayo Saka

202 points, start cost £8.0m, end cost £8.0m

The other player to have at least ten goals and ten assists, Saka finished between Odegaard and Martinelli. His 14 goals and 12 assists came at a steady pace, producing in 17 of his first 25 appearances – helped by being on penalties.

Things flipped for a poor season’s climax, where all but two matches from Gameweek 28 saw blanks. However, only Salah ends with more penalty area touches.

Kevin De Bruyne

183 points, start cost £12.0m, end cost £12.1m

The 18 league assists of De Bruyne were the most by far, whilst still only being his joint-third-best number. Rotated fairly often by Pep Guardiola in the final weeks, the playmaker’s final total of 25 goal involvements has been untouched since Gameweek 33 but he ends with the best rate of chances created (every 24.7 minutes).

Despite this, it often felt like De Bruyne was the ‘fourth premium’ when FPL budgets only covered two or three of Salah, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane.

Miguel Almiron

158 points, start cost £5.0m, end cost £5.4m

Symbolic of Newcastle’s rise under Eddie Howe, the autumn flash of Almiron will not be forgotten. It’s likely a purple patch – considering his unspectacular first three-and-a-half years on Tyneside – but he scored twice at Fulham in Gameweek 9 to start a run of eight goals and two assists in nine matches.

Suddenly hot property, he shot up to £5.8m by the World Cup. Yet things have regressed to normality with two goals and two assists in the last 18 matches.

Solly March

147 points, start cost £5.0m, end cost £5.2m

Also starting at £5.0m was March who’d similarly been an FPL non-entity until this season. Goalless since November 2020, things changed from the Gameweek 17 restart with six of them alongside six more assists.

Over this period, he ranked fifth for big chances created (14) and seventh for setting up all chances (50). He’s certainly the best of these three Brighton FPL midfielders for creative stats.

Kaoru Mitoma

138 points, start cost £5.0m, end cost £5.7m

Meanwhile, Mitoma has been better for take-ons and actions inside the box like touches (173) and shots (43). This only takes post-World Cup data into account, as that’s when a £4.9m Mitoma first burst onto the scene.

115 points have arrived since then – the seventh-best of midfielders – although no goals came after Gameweek 29. But because this late spell had three Brighton Double Gameweeks, Mitoma remained a huge part of the FPL template until the very end.

In fact, following his five-match introduction between Gameweeks 18 and 22, he only once delivered more than seven points in a match.

Alexis Mac Allister

140 points, start cost £5.5m, end cost £5.6m

Of the Brighton three, World Cup winner Mac Allister was best for total shots (86) and an xGI (16.34) heavily influenced by six successful penalties.

He ends as the third-best midfielder for expected goals (xG, 11.98) but most shots were from long range. Nobody else reached his 52 attempts from outside the box.

Andreas Pereira

123 points, start cost £4.5m, end cost £4.3m

Priced as a Man United reserve when the game went live last July, he quickly joined Fulham and became a regular in FPL squads. That’s because the set-piece king scored four and assisted ten, making his low price feel like a cheat code.

Then again, the downside is that many of these returns likely stayed unused on managers’ benches, although receiving one of the double-digit scores as an autosub must have felt great.

Other FPL midfielders

Elsewhere, Bruno Fernandes sat fairly high for midfielder points, it was an underwhelming season of returns. He did lead the way for chances created, though.
Right near him is the late form of Eberechi Eze. The late arrival of Roy Hodgson inspired the Crystal Palace man towards six goals and two 16-point hauls.
Finally, an honourable mention goes to Leeds’ Rodrigo. A blistering start to the season brought 35 points by Gameweek 3, later becoming the first in his position to reach ten goals. Injury has limited recent months but he ends with the best minutes per goal rate (150.5) of regular midfield starters.

So who do you think were the best FPL midfielders of this 2022/23 campaign? Votes have been counted over at Fantasy Football Scout, with an XI named on Sunday.