Gameweek 23 Sleepers XI: Draft EPL

Our Gameweek 23 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 23 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.

After a flying start to the year, we were humbled again in Gameweek 22 with a score of 63.75 FPts. In hindsight, our picks were not the greatest, but with this game you should always expect the unexpected. The score is not as grim as it seems, though, as four of our assets still ended up with double digit scores. So let's start there. Two of our defenders, despite conceding 1 goal each, still did well with James Hill scoring 10.5 FPts and Kadioglu scoring 11.5 FPts. Two of our midfielders also performed admirably with Pino getting the lone attacking return for our XI and registering 16 FPts (1 goal), whilst Soucek scored 11.75 FPts but also received a yellow card. Who let us down? First off, our Crystal Palace DEF Canvot didn't feature at all while Kevin (0.5 FPts), Miley (1.5 FPts) and Spence (5.25 FPts with a yellow card and 1 goal conceded) all came off the bench. Our other starters really have no excuse though. New-boy Castellanos scored 0.5 FPts, no thanks to his yellow card, Arokodare got 2.75 FPTs with an early sub and Verbruggen put up 3.5 FPts after conceding once. We definitely took a few risks with this XI but the upside was there. We just fell on the completely wrong side of fantasy points variance. So we'll dust ourselves off and try again in Gameweek 23.

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 23. 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.

Jose Sa (G, Wolves)

Now I know what you're thinking, a Wolves defensive asset? Are you mental? But what if I told you that Wolves have been the 5th best team in the league over the last 4 gameweeks? Rob Edwards is finally working some magic in the dugout and his Wolves are undefeated in their last 4 games. In fact, they've conceded the fewest goals (2) in that period. Wolves are unlikely to keep a clean sheet in their matchup against Man City but you'll most likely get some save points. It's not like Man City are in great form themselves either. The Cityzens have only scored 2 goals in their last 4 games, drawing 3 and losing one, which puts them in 17th place during that spell. Can Rob Edwards pull off another unexpected result and maybe kickstart a survival push?

Aaron Wan-Bissaka (D, West Ham) 

With a dramatic AFCON done and dusted, one of our draft day darlings is back, and with a bang might I add. Just before AWB left for international duty, he had put up 2 very attractive scores of 14.25 FPts and 15.5 FPts with no attacking returns or clean sheets in either game. Sure, there's a -1 FPts score against Aston Villa, but let's focus on the positives as he scored 19.75 FPts in Gameweek 22, in similar fashion to his aforementioned hauls. Against Spurs, he had 2 key passes, 2 tackles won, 4 accurate crosses, 2 interceptions, 7 clearances and 5 aerials won. The Hammers host Sunderland next, the team with the worst away form in the league over the last 4 games, so expect another big performance from the former England international.

Harry Maguire (D, Man Utd) 

Now that Amorim has left the building, the vibe at Manchester United has completely changed. Carrick has now taken over the reins and what a start to his stint by beating their noisy neighbours in a 2-0 win, which doesn't fully reflect how well they actually played. Next up are league-leaders Arsenal, which doesn't sound ideal, but the Gunners have failed to score in their last 2 league games. So who knows, maybe a clean sheet is on the cards for the Red Devils. Despite only starting 5 games this season, Maguire still has a PPS of 12.1, which is the 3rd best amongst his teammates. His ceiling of just under 20 FPts should also be noted as he's a massive threat on set pieces, which was seen in the match against Man City where he hit the crossbar in the early stages of the game. If he's truly a nailed starter again, then he's arguably a DEF-2/3 ROS.

James Justin (D, Leeds)

Although Stach owners are currently sweating over the fitness of their star-midfielder, James Justin has thrived in his absence, as he's had the opportunity to take over set pieces for Leeds Utd. The English DEF took 5 of 7 corners! That probably explains a bit of why he put up 18.5 FPts with a clean sheet against Fulham. Justin was a new addition to this Leeds team this season but it's the first time that he's actually nailed a starting spot in their XI. He's started the last 4 games for them and been averaging just over 10 PPS, which is pretty good given he scored -1.5 FPts in one of those games. He's mostly been picking up defensive ghosts like interceptions, clearances and aerials but in his most recent game against the Cottagers, he racked up a couple of key passes and a shot on target. A solid DEF-4 punt.

Wesley Fofana (D, Chelsea)

We've been saying it for a while now, you should be grabbing and starting anyone that partners Chalobah in the heart of that Chelsea defence - maybe not Badiashile though. The only issue with rostering Fofana is the consistent starts. The French DEF usually misses games either through tactical rotation or due to random injuries, something that has plagued him over the past couple of seasons. That being said, Adarabioyo is out for the next few weeks with a hamstring injury and so Fofana could get more consistent starts in that Chelsea backline. Even though his 11.7 PPS is the 2nd highest at the club, it's his 11.0 gPP90 that really catches the eye. A DEF-2 for any roster, especially given their incoming fixture run over the next 5 gameweeks.

Conor Gallagher (M, Tottenham)

It's weird to see Gallagher in the Premier League, especially when the once-upon-a-time-Chelsea-captain is playing for a rival London club. Thomas Frank and Spurs have been very unlucky with their central midfielders this season, mostly due to injuries, so Gallagher is a much-welcomed breath of fresh-air in their XI, and one that Fantasy managers could benefit from. Although he only has one game under his belt with Spurs, he has a great matchup against Burnley so he can be your MID-3/4 this weekend. In their loss against West Ham, Gallagher still managed 8 ghost points, which included a key pass, 2 shots attempted and 3 successful dribbles. We're never really worried about his defensive contributions but it's the attacking ones that earn us more points. So definitely grab him if you can.

Dwight McNeil (M, Everton)

The recent news of Jack Grealish's potentially season-ending injury certainly paves the way for Dwight McNeil to become a regular starter again for the Toffees. There's obviously some concern with Ndiaye returning from AFCON and reclaiming a starting spot, but you'd think that they would be able to play alongside each other. In all honesty, McNeil could probably use the additional creativity around him as his scores have been fairly underwhelming of late. In his last 5 starts, he's only been averaging just under 8 PPS. If there's one positive to take, he's also registered 2 assists in his last 4 games. It also helps that he shares some of the set piece duty with James Garner as well. If you need more convincing, according to our Fixture Difficulty Tracker, Everton MIDs have the 3rd best rated fixture this weekend. Don't overthink this.

Vitaly Janelt (M, Brentford)

If you need a MID-3/4, then look no further than Janelt. He has emerged as one of the chief creators for the Bees over the past 6 gameweeks, starting every game and going the full 90 minutes. During this spell, he has registered 11 key passes, 4 assists, 5 accurate crosses and 14 interceptions, 1st in all categories amongst his his fellow Bees. He's basically been at the heart of Brentford's great run of form as they were also the 2nd best team in the league during this 6-game run, only behind the likes of Arsenal. You don't need attacking returns from this gem to get a good score, as was shown by his 13 ghosties last GW, which included 5 key passes alone. I'd definitely start him against an out-of-form Forest team this weekend.

Eli Kroupi (F, Bournemouth)

After the departure of Semenyo to Man City, we started immediately thinking of which asset would start to see more minutes under Iraola. Then we got hit with the Tavernier injury. So right now the Cherries are massively struggling for reliable attacking threat in their ranks. Post-Semenyo, Kroupi sits as the top scorer at the club with 7 goals in just 8 starts. He's actually got the best goals-per-game ratio amongst all his teammates. With a PPS of 9.3, he should be a certain FWD-2 in your roster, especially given the dearth of quality FWDs available to us this season.

Thierno Barry (F, Everton)

After taking 15 gameweeks to get his first goal for Everton, the French FWD has finally hit a run of form and now has 3 goals in his last 4 games. He also seems to have permanently taken over that Everton striker role as he's started 12 of the last 13 games. Barry has also begun to earn some ghost points recently, averaging just under 6 gPPS. Although Leeds have been very resolute over the past few gameweeks since switching to a back-5 formation, I'd still start Barry as my FWD-2.

Wilson Odobert (F, Spurs) 

It's taken a while for the French FWD to break into the Spurs starting XI but given the recent form of Spurs and Thomas Frank's position looking under threat, he's had to change things up in attack. Since his introduction, Odobert has now started 3 of the last 4 games for Spurs and been averaging just over 7 gPPS. Odobert also started the FA Cup game against Aston Villa, where he scored the lone goal for Spurs, and also started their UCL tie against Dortmund, where he got both assists in their 2-0 win. So there's a good chance that the ex-Claret comes up against his old team, and if there's ever an opportunity to start an attacker against Burnley, you should take it!

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