An early look ahead to Gameweek 23

Fantasy Premier League (FPL) deadline is 18:30 (GMT) on Friday 21 January

STRONG FIXTURE

MAN CITY

When you’ve won 12 consecutive league games, most fixtures start to look strong. It’s not to say that Southampton are a weak side – their Gameweek 5 meeting finished 0-0 at the Etihad – more that the champions are running away with another league title and look unbeatable right now. There have been five clean sheets from their last seven matches, adding to the appeal of Joao Cancelo – who has pulled clear as the game’s second highest-scoring defender with 132 points. Elsewhere, Kevin De Bruyne‘s wonderful winner against Chelsea was his fourth goal in six matches, as he re-establishes himself as a constant in their attacking output.

ARSENAL

It’s all a bit stop-start for the Gunners right now, as the momentum of getting four wins-in-a-row was derailed by two postponements, sandwiched around a defeat to Man City. Looking forward isn’t good for their FPL assets either, as we already know they won’t play in Gameweeks 25 or 27. Yet their four games-in-hand are outdone by Gameweek 23 opponents Burnley, who have only played twice in the six rounds since Gameweek 16. Whether that means they’re fresher than most or lacking match fitness, owners of Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White and Kieran Tierney will be confident of a clean sheet considering they’ve sold Chris Wood and Maxwel Cornet is away at AFCON. Bukayo Saka is perhaps the most nailed-on attacking option.

INJURIES / BANS

Here is a round-up of the injuries we know of, alongside those serving or nearing a suspension.