Our Gameweek 17 Sleepers XI article provides Draft managers with a lineup of Fantasy EPL hidden gems. Our starting eleven of Draft Premier League differential picks will help you find a golden ticket to a big score this weekend! These hints and tips will give you a better chance of picking up an all-important victory, as any one of these under-the-radar picks could make the difference in a head-to-head game!
We'll be focusing on players that will bring us not only attacking returns or clean sheets, but also those players that score Ghost Points in the sophisticated and statistics based Fantrax Scoring System!
Fantasy EPL Gameweek 17 Sleepers XI
For this article, we use the percentage rostered calculation from Fantrax and Sleeper. Our only rule is that each player we highlight is rostered in 60% of leagues or fewer at the time of writing. Therefore, there's a good chance some of these players will be free agents in your Draft league! As always, we'll take form, fixtures, projected points, and a healthy dose of intuition into account to make our selections.
We are on the up! I repeat: WE. ARE. ON. THE. UP!!! In Gameweek 16, our picks managed to score a respectable 70.5 FPts. So let's breakdown what went right and what went wrong. In net we went with the obvious pick versus Southampton, Fraser Forster, who managed to get a clean sheet with a few saves to end up with 15.25 FPts. In our 5-man defence, Kiwior was our only DEF who was MIA, after a surprise debut by Lewis-Skelly. Two of the remaining four defenders, Livramento and Doherty, got subbed off in the 63rd minute - uncanny - with the former scoring 6.75 FPts with a clean sheet and the latter getting -2.5 FPts thanks to a very unlucky own goal. Zabarnyi and Semedo both played 90 minutes and also had similar scores of 7 FPts and 6.75 FPts respectively after conceding the additional goal. In midfield we only had 1 starter in Jacob Murphy who absolutely carried our team's final score with a 25.5 FPts haul in only 63 minutes, after scoring 2 goals with a yellow card for the Magpies. Jack Taylor also managed to score a goal off the bench but only put up 8.75 FPts as he received a yellow card for scoring Ipswich's winner. Tyler Adams was another player who was called upon from the bench and only scored 2 FPts in 21 minutes, as we suspect he is still being eased back into the starting XI so as to avoid another injury layoff. Our final MID pick was Matt O'Riley, who was nowhere to be found in the team sheet, but then learned later on that the Englishman was also suffering with some small injuries. Finally, our lone FWD Summerville also came on as a substitute for 14 minutes and only scored 1 FPt. So clearly we just need to pick more reliable starters and hopefully we can build on the positive progress made over the last couple of gameweeks.
The Sleepers XI table below includes a full team of Starters, as well as 5 Reserves - high-upside players with some question marks around whether or not they'll start in Gameweek 17. So keep an eye out when lineups are announced and pick them up if you see them starting, especially if you need to fill a spot on your roster. Read below for the rationale behind each of the Starter selections.
Bernd Leno (G, Fulham)
It seems like a no-brainer that we choose an asset that's facing the worst team in the league, especially one that just lost it's manager. Southampton have only scored 11 goals this season, the fewest in the division, and our GW16 pick who faced them got a clean sheet. Surely it works again right?
Harry Maguire (D, Manchester United)
Harry Maguire has started to see minutes again under Amorim, and he seems to be thriving in the new 3-at-the-back system for the Red Devils. Amorim was even quoted by saying “Harry Maguire is perfect when you play with three defenders. He is perfect in the middle”. This bodes well for any player as a potential asset when the manager speaks so highly of him. So Maguire seems a great punt, especially as our fixture difficulty tracker has United's opponent Bournemouth as the joint best defensive option in GW17. His 9.8 gPP90, which is the best of his defensive cohort, is simply the icing on the cake.
Malo Gusto (D, Chelsea)
Gusto has had a very mixed time under Maresca's watch, as the French DEF has not been consistently starting games, let alone scoring points in a reliable fashion. However, in GW16, Gusto put up his highest ghost point score for the season after starting and playing the full match. We'd expect another start, either at right-back or left-back, since Cucurella will be missing the game due to a post-match second yellow card. The fixture is great for Gusto to even earn a clean sheet as the Blues face Everton, a team that has failed to score a goal in 5 of their last 6 games in the league.
Timothy Castagne (D, Fulham)
In GW16, Tete was substituted in the second-half with a possible shin injury which allowed Castagne to play 34 minutes and score 3 FPts which consisted of 1 tackle won and 2 interceptions. Tete, who has been one of their standout performers this season, could be given time to properly recover as the Cottagers play their neighbours Chelsea in GW18. In any case, it seems as though teams are rotating their assets versus Southampton as the Saints are offering very little threat during matchups. With 4 games in 2 weeks, Marco Silva could be tempted to keep his first team options fresh, which means Castagne could be a nice gamble for an easy clean sheet.
Tosin Adarabioyo (D, Chelsea)
Chelsea are absolutely purring this season despite the various injuries across their defensive line. After Fofana was ruled out for a while, his replacement Badiashile seems to have also picked up a knock recently which allowed Adarabioyo to get another rare start in GW16 versus Brentford, only his 4th for the season. If Badiashile is out again, we fancy Tosin to get another start and would also risk starting him versus a goal-shy Everton. They could use his aerial presence versus the likes of DCL, Tarkowski and Branthwaite on defensive set pieces, seeing as the English DEF put up a gameweek-high aerial tally of 7 in GW16.
Christian Norgaard (M, Brentford)
Given how slim some of the options are at the moment, especially ones that start regular matches, Norgaard is one of those reliable steady-eddy options as a MID-4/5 for your roster with 7.4 PPS. Norgaard is currently 2nd for all Brentford assets for interceptions (17) and tackles won (23), so his 7.3 ghost points per 90 is somewhat reliable. The Bees will need their captain's protection more than ever given the recent injury to one of their main centre backs Pinnock, who is actually first for interceptions for the Bees.
Dango Ouattara (M, Bournemouth)
After Tavernier was hit with yet another injury, Iraola earmarked two players as possible replacements in his starting XI, Ouattara and Brooks. On Monday night he went with the former and managers should be very pleased with his choice. We have been screaming for Dango to get more minutes and appearances as he has a huge 17.0 PP90. Dango's start in GW16 resulted in a 19.25 FPts haul, which was all ghost points. In fact he was 1 successful dribble away from a full house. We don't expect Tavernier back anytime soon which means Dango could very well be unchained for the next few gameweeks.
Omari Hutchinson (M, Ipswich)
Hutchinson has not been the most reliable asset from a fantasy point scoring perspective but he's definitely scoring more points than most of our previous non-starter picks over the past few gameweeks. So this one is really a depth pick for any roster that needs to replace one of their missing studs like McNeil. 6.2 PPS is a reliable score for your MID-4/5 and he's definitely the most threatening option from the Tractor Boys, as he leads their midfield contingency with key passes (14) and shots attempted (21). With Liam Delap missing due to a suspension, there's even a slight chance he could be on penalties.
Ryan Christie (M, Bournemouth)
There was some concern that maybe Ryan Christie was past his prime as a Fantrax asset, as he was easily a hidden gem last season by averaging just under 9 points per game. However, in GW16, the Scot registered a season-high score of 21 points. This haul included 5 key passes! It could have been the fact that he played an out-of-sorts West Ham team but Christie has yet to register an assist this season after he got 5 of them last season. Christie currently has an xA of 1.6, so you could say he is "due" and maybe he finally gets one against Manchester United in GW17. The Red Devils have not been solid at the back either as they're still finding their feet under Amorim's new style of football.
Yasin Ayari (M, Brighton)
There are a lot of cooks in the midfield kitchen of Brighton but there seems to be one mainstay despite being subbed off early in 3 of his last 4 games. Ayari might not get many attacking returns but he is definitely a reliable option for ghost points. His 7.2 gPPS is only bettered by Mitoma, which is great as a MID-4/5 option. This ghost point production is fuelled by his interceptions (8), tackles won (15) and key passes (14) which puts him amongst the top 2 of each category for the Seagulls. If Christie smashed it from a similar position versus West Ham, maybe Ayari can do the same.
Conor Chaplin (F, Ipswich)
The FWD options are absolutely dire at the moment. I know that I've said in the past that I would avoid Ipswich assets at all costs, but after a goal and an assist in his last 2 games for Ipswich Town, it's hard to ignore Chaplin's goal involvement for the promoted team, who are fighting tooth and nail to stay in the Premier League. One could say that he was quite fortunate for his assist to the Doherty own-goal but Chaplin has attempted the most shots (7, tied with Delap) for the Tractor Boys over the past 3 gameweeks. So the goal threat is there! Ipswich haven't won a home game in their last 4 attempts, so they will want to rectify that against a Newcastle team that played their full strength XI in midweek for the EFL cup game.
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