The Current International Window Is The Perfect Time For FPL Tweaks

With the English Premier League again taking another enforced break to entertain the latest round of international matches, ahead of yet another break in the 2022/23 calendar to accommodate the World Cup out in Qatar, given the start we have seen to this years top flight action, the break is actually well timed for avid fantasy football players.

With players having long selected their preferred squads for the 2022/23 campaign, there have already been some entirely predictable player performances, but there are also some surprise packages – one of which was Manchester City capture Erling Haaland, given the expectation was the Norwegian would need a month or two to settle into life in the north of England and adjust to the pace of the Premier League given his recent Bundesliga experience.

Those expectations could not have been further from the truth and more wrong, the 22 year old starlet has immediately continued his fantastic goalscoring exploits at the Etihad Stadium, scoring 14 goals in his opening ten games and for those who like a flutter and would have predicted he would hit the ground running, they could be immediately quid’s in if they hedged their bets on sites like this click here. Despite his start, odds are probably very favourable still on Haaland break existing records by the end of the year.

So during this lull in the fixture list there will be many out there who are trying to think of a way to tweak their squad given the current form of players and with Haaland’s current strike rate (11 in 7 in the PL alone) he is already well on track to threaten to beat, if not outright beat, several Premier League goalscoring records and easily secure this years Golden Boot award. He must be a firm favourite for many in their squads now.

The biggest question for many given the goal-scoring rates this year are whether to go big in midfield for the extra points, or go big up top – especially with the wildcard in mind.

Ever since 2014/15, the top scoring player in fantasy has consistently been a midfielder, although the more traditional would dispute that Liverpool and Egyptian legend Mohamed Salah occupied that position, however, the £12.9 million fantasy buy, has topped the charts three times, with Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes (£9.8 million) and Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne (£12.3 million) have each gained more points than anyone else in the previous five campaigns.

With midfielders gaining an extra point over forwards for each goal scored, whilst also gaining a point for each clean sheet achieved by the relevant defence – carefully and cleverly overloading in midfield can bring obvious gains on a points front.

Such a decision would naturally come at a cost to the remainder of the squad, particularly the frontline, so in the alternative, players might choose to now prioritise the top of the pitch in search for a quick points bonus.

As things stand, the top three point scorers in the 2022/23 season are forwards. The previously mentioned Haaland (£12 million) is obviously top of the points pile here with his goalscoring exploits, and he is followed by Tottenham Hotspur and England striker Harry Kane (£11.4 million) and then Brentford attacker, and new to the England camp this international window, Ivan Toney.

Depending on your overall selections, if you want to go heavy up top, you can get Haaland and Kane in a line up with new Liverpool signing Darwin Nunez, and yet still feature a wider squad including the likes of Nick Pope, William Saliba, James Maddison and Wilfried Zaha with a bit of thought.

Some will prefer the wildcard boost, others will think longer term and make major tweaks – but there are massive gains to be made for those who are more competitive.