Gameweek 17 Sleepers XI: Draft EPL

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.

Despite our stinker of a score in Gameweek 16 of 59.75 FPts, there were actually some positives. Believe it or not, we had 3 players that scored 10+ FPts. Nathan Collins scored 12.25 FPts, despite conceding 1 goal, Dalot managed to somehow score 10.5 FPts with an assist, even though he got a yellow card and conceded 4 goals, whilst Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored his 4th goal in 4 games and put up 17.5 FPts. The remaining assets were a combination of non-starts and a bit of bad luck. We had three players who subbed on, Castagne (0 FPts in 1 minute), Myles Lewis-Skelly (6.25 FPts and 1 goal conceded in 58 minutes) and Zian Flemming (2.5 FPts in 27 minutes). Meanwhile Pau Torres didn't even feature at all. The other starters who underperformed were goalkeeper Verbruggen (3 FPts after conceding twice), Enzo Le Fee (1.5 FPts with a yellow card), Thierno Barry (0.5 FPts) and Igor Jesus (5.75 FPts). Having 4 players that didn't start from the beginning of their respective matches isn't great, but sometimes the high risk ones pay off or the opposite happens and we just fall on the wrong side of a bet. So let's go back to the drawing board and see what we can rustle up for GW17.

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 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.

Caoimhin Kelleher (G, Brentford)

It should be fairly obvious by now that your streaming strategy for the rest of the season should be to start or play any asset that is facing bottom-of-the-league Wolves. Although Wolves scored against Arsenal in Gameweek 16, the best defence in the league, we shouldn't forget that this is the same Wolves team that has also scored 2 goals in their last 6 games, the fewest in the entire league. Although Brentford haven't been resolute defensively, it's still worth a gamble by going with any of the Bees defensive options. Kelleher has still scored decently in his last 3 matches regardless of conceding 1-2 goals, as he's been averaging 8.5 PPS in this small stretch of games without any clean sheets. So there's a good chance you'll end up with a double digit score if Brentford keep a clean sheet.

Alex Jimenez (D, Bournemouth)

According to our Fixture Difficulty Tracker, Bournemouth DEFs have the best rated fixture difficulty of all defenders. Burnley currently sit 19th in the Premier League table and don't seem to be going further up any time soon. In fact over the last 6 games of the league, the Clarets have scored the 2nd fewest goals (6) in the league, which is only better than the likes of 20th placed Wolves. Burnley have also lost all of their last 6 games in the league. Despite Jimenez's mediocre 5.0 PPS, we're banking on the potential upside as he's started in a right-sided attacking midfield/winger position for the Cherries in his last couple of starts. He actually got an assist in the 4-4 draw against Man Utd in Gameweek 16, which was his first attacking return of the season. A solid punt as your DEF-4/5.

Nathaniel Clyne (D, Crystal Palace) 

If you're a Muñoz owner in your league, you're going to need to be patient with the Colombian DEF as he is set to be out for at least a month. That being said, you'll probably want to grab Clyne as he looks to be the immediate replacement. Now I wouldn't be expecting similar scoring numbers or even attacking returns, but Clyne is definitely a great entry point into a Crystal Palace defence that has been one of the best sources of Fantrax points all season. It would be harsh to judge Clyne on such a small sample set of 2 starts and his current 3.4 PPS, especially as one of those was a 0.25 FPts score against Man City. So let's hope for more of the 6.5 FPts performance he had against Fulham, as the Eagles visit a revitalised and challenging Leeds at Elland Road.

Sepp van den Berg (D, Brentford)

Obviously I'm going to double up on the Brentford defence against Wolves. Last gameweek we went with Collins as an option against Leeds and lo and behold, his CB partner Sepp vdB also scored fairly well, putting up 12.25 FPts. Sepp isn't really renowned for his attacking potential, also backed by the fact he has 0 goals or assists this season, but he is top of all the Bees DEFs in clearances (109) and aerials (63). His 7.3 PPS is also a great floor if they manage to keep a clean sheet against Wolves. So if you need a DEF-3/4 this weekend, then Sepp could be a safe bet.

Wesley Fofana (D, Chelsea)

Even though Fofana isn't top of any default scoring category of all Chelsea defenders, his recent run of form is still very impressive. In his last 5 starts, he's had 4 clean sheets and only conceded once. Even when he's conceded a goal or gotten a yellow card, he's still had 5 double digit scores in a row (17.75, 15, 10.75, 17.75 and 19.5 FPts). The concern with Fofana has always been his injury record. Maresca is well aware of this risk and has been managing the French DEF smartly by rotating him with the likes of Adarabioyo and Badiashile. Maresca has also emphasized that the combination of Chalobah and Fofana is arguably his best CB pairing, and that they seem more likely to earn clean sheets. Did you know that Chelsea have actually kept the same number of clean sheets as Arsenal this season? 8 of them to be exact. Fofana is easily a DEF-2 at the moment, so grab him while you can.

Curtis Jones (M, Liverpool)

I've never been a massive fan of Curtis Jones, as he's burnt me in the past when I've rolled him out in leagues. However, the English MID has started the last 2 games for Liverpool, played 90 minutes and put up scores of 7.75 and 8 FPts, against Leeds and Brighton respectively. One of the standout stats from his score against Brighton was the fact that he registered 4 successful dribbles, which I wouldn't say he's known for. His season's PPS of just under 6 FPts is a good floor for a MID-3/4 this weekend, and the fact that he's playing Spurs should mean opportunities for attacking returns. In the last 6 gameweeks of the league, Spurs have been the 17th best team, conceding the 2nd most goals (13) during that timeframe. There is always a risk that Jones doesn't start this gameweek, but seeing as Szoboszlai is still touch-and-go for this weekend, Jones might thrive in his absence.

Emile Smith Rowe (M, Fulham) 

With AFCON starting in the next few days, Fulham's attacking options like Iwobi and Chukwueze have already departed for said tournament. This has now given an opportunity for the likes of Emile Smith Rowe to cement his position in the starting XI. Although ESR has only started 4 games for the Cottagers this season, his 9.9 PPS is actually still the 2nd highest of all Fulham players. ESR has now started the last 3 games in a row and has scored a goal in 2 of those fixtures. Fulham's position in the league table might seem dire at the moment but make no mistake, over the last 4 gameweeks, they have scored the 3rd most goals (10), which is the same as Aston Villa and only fewer than the likes of both Manchester clubs. The ex-Gunner can be a great MID-3/4 option for the festive period.

Lewis Miley (M, Newcastle)

Newcastle have been hit by multiple injuries again. Things have gotten so bad that they might not have a starting right-back this weekend, but this is where Lewis Miley comes in. The young MID was deployed at right-back against Fulham in the quarterfinals of the EFL cup and played an absolute blinder, basically earning himself the MOTM award along with the winning goal in the dying minutes of the game. According to our new fantasy points tracker across all competitions, we learnt that Miley ended up scoring 11 ghost points to go with his goal. He'll have his work cut out for him against Chelsea this weekend, but even if Newcastle were to concede a goal or 2, Miley's OOP status will still provide him with the opportunity to rack up points via defensive contributions with none of the penalties that comes with conceding goals.

Savio (M, Man City)

The news of Doku's injury was music to Savio-managers' ears. Doku is expected to miss around 2-3 weeks of action due to his leg injury, which means that he probably won't feature until the New Year. This could easily mean that Savio could get at least 4 guaranteed gameweeks of action. Savio has definitely frustrated many owners this season, with only 4 league starts to his name so far, and an underwhelming 5.4 PPS. The Brazilian only has 2 assists this season, which is pretty terrible given he racked up 11 of them during the 24/25 season. In Man City's quarterfinal game versus Brentford, Savio was basically the best player on the pitch and scored his 2nd goal across all competitions. Here's hoping he continues this form into the league as Man City host a West Ham team that could be in massive defensive trouble now, as both their starting fullbacks/wingbacks have left for AFCON.

Yeremy Pino (M, Crystal Palace)

I will definitely admit to having benched Pino in all my leagues in Gameweek 16, as he was facing Manchester City. I would have never fathomed the Spanish MID putting up 14.5 ghost points in such a tough matchup. He was the only shining light in a 3-0 loss for the Eagles, but this performance could be a sign of things to come. Since Sarr has left for AFCON and Muñoz is out injured for at least a month, someone is going to have to take up the mantle of creativity and attacking output alongside the likes of Mateta. Pino has been averaging just under 12.5 PPS over Palace's last 5 games and now he is tied with Wharton for the most key passes (20) and leads his teammates in successful dribbles (12). So the ingredients are there for him to become Palace's talisman, and possibly even as a MID-3 for your roster, as they come up against Leeds this weekend.

Omari Hutchinson (F, Nottingham Forest) 

Hutchinson has now started the last 3 games in a row under Dyche, meaning that he might have finally cemented his starting spot for the Tricky Trees. It's a shame that he had 0 attacking returns in a 3-0 win against Tottenham, but he continues to deliver from a ghost point perspective having put up 8.75 FPts. In a season where having reliable scoring FWDs has been insanely difficult to come by, it's bizarre to think that this 9.1 PPS asset is still so lowly rostered. Forest visit Fulham next, and with the West London club having conceded the most goals (10) of all teams over the last 4 gameweeks, there's a chance that Hutchinson could have another big score again.

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