FPL Challenge Gameweek 18 Tips and Team Reveal

In this article, we present to you our FPL Challenge Gameweek 18 tips and team reveal. As well as picking out some of the best players for the round ahead specific to the Challenge structure we also bring in @FPLReaction to share his team and thoughts ahead of the new round.

FPL Challenge Gameweek 18 is here. With exciting new badges to earn and prizes to win FPL Challenge have made some massive changes. With that in mind our tips and team reveal could be exactly what you need to have success.

What is the Challenge this week?

The Challenge for Gameweek 18 is ‘Out of the Box’.

Goals scored from ‘outside the box’ are worth seven extra points.

Challengers have to select nine players with an unlimited budget.

Top Picks – Goalkeepers

Based on the unlikeliness of a goalkeeper scoring from outside of the box, it would be wise to fully focus on clean sheet potential this week.

There are several great goalkeeper options for Gameweek 18. However, the best of the bunch appears to be Alisson Becker (£5.4m). The Brazilian has helped his Liverpool side rack up more clean sheets than any other team in the league thus far. This week he faces Leicester, who rank amongst the worst three sides for metrics including total shots on target and total shots in the box.

Manchester City could be another side we look to for a goalkeeper. Pep Guardiola’ men have been extremely poor recently, but a home match against Everton could be just what they need to bounce back. The Toffees have shown considerable attacking bluntness in front of goal recently – failing to score in six of their last seven league matches. With that mind, whoever starts between Ederson (£5.4m) and Stefan Ortega (£5.2m), could have potential.

Alternative options with clean sheet potential this week include: Arsenal’ David Raya (£5.6m) who faces Ipswich at home and Chelsea’ Robert Sanchez (£4.8m) for his home meeting with Fulham.

Defenders

No defender has scored more than one goal this season. However, several defenders rank highly for total attempts on goal. One of them is Pedro Porro (£5.5m). Porro ranks above every other defender in the game for total attempts so far. The Tottenham full-back faces Nottingham Forest away from home up next, so he may well have multiple routes to points.

Another asset who has the potential to score from outside the box is Josko Gvardiol (£6.1m). The Croatian has scored four goals this campaign, which is more than any other in his position. He has also produced just two less attempts on goal than Porro, showing he too is a constant goal threat.

It could be extremely difficult to ignore Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7m) against a poor Leicester side this week. Although ranking outside the top 10 defenders for total attempts on goal, Alexander-Arnold sits top in his position for non-penalty expected goal involvement this campaign. You can’t rule out the Liverpool full-back scoring from outside the box either, especially when considering how much of a threat he can be from direct free-kicks.

There are lots of great defenders to choose from, with some of the best defenders facing promoted sides. Arsenal host Ipswich in the round ahead, which suggests they have clean sheet potential. Sitting as one of three defenders who have netted three or more goals this season, centre-back Gabriel (£6.3m) has proven he can be a major threat.

Midfielders

Chelsea’ home fixture against Fulham could see the Blues add to their impressive season goal tally this week. No player in the league has scored more goals from outside the box this season than their penalty taker and talisman Cole Palmer (£11.2m). What is even more convincing for Palmer, is that he also ranks second best in his position for total attempts on goal so far.

Eight other midfielders have netted two goals from outside the box. However, of those players, only Bruno Fernandes (£8.4m) convinces when it comes to being a regular shooter. In fact the Manchester United penalty taker ranks among the best four midfielders for total attempts on goal thus far. Fernandes clashes with Wolves this week, who have conceded more goals than any other side in the league. So, it could be a perfect opportunity for him to return.

FPL Challenge Gameweek 18 Tips and Team Reveal

Sometimes you have to look past the Challenge, and focus on the overall potential of a player going into the new round. That is the case with Mohamed Salah (£13.5m). The Egyptian may not have scored from outside the box yet, but with 15 goals in the box and 11 double-digit hauls already this season, excluding him in a fixture against a poor Leicester defence could be unwise.

Going of total goal attempts alone, Challengers could also look to the Bournemouth attack this week. The Cherries host Crystal Palace, who head into the game having shipped five goals in the previous round. One route into the attack is Antoine Semenyo (£5.6m). As well as scoring in Gameweek 17, the Ghanian also ranks above every other midfielder for total attempts on goal.

Other midfielders with the potential to do well this week include: Tottenham’ James Maddison (£7.6m) for his clash with Nottingham Forest, West Ham’ Jarrod Bowen (£7.5m) against Southampton, and Diogo Jota (£7.2m) if he starts for Liverpool.

Forwards

Interestingly, the only player to have scored three times from outside the box this season is Matheus Cunha (£7.1m). At the time of writing, the Wolves penalty taker is yet to be punished for his recent on-pitch behaviour, so until that happens, he remains a great option. Facing a Manchester United side who recently shipped three goals to Bournemouth, Cunha goes into the game ranking second among forwards for total attempts on goal.

Recognising a player in exceptional form, even if they don’t fit the parameters of the Challenge, can be crucial. This is the case with Newcastle penalty taker Alexander Isak (£8.9m). Isak heads into his home clash against Aston Villa, off the back of producing six goals and two assists in his previous four league matches.

There are several other great striker options to choose from this week. Among them, we could also consider Manchester City penalty taker Erling Haaland (£14.8m) against Everton, Chelsea’ Nicolas Jackson (£8.3m) for his meeting with Fulham, and Nottingham Forest penalty taker Chris Wood (£6.6m) as he takes on Tottenham at home.

@FPLReaction Team Reveal

Currently I have gone for Alisson and Trent. Having Liverpool double defence feels good this week, and I also think Trent has the potential to score from outside the box.
The same can be said for both Gvardiol and Porro. I’m still also considering Gabriel for his match against Ipswich.
Due to the Challenge, the likes of Fernandes and Semenyo make sense. Both players love to shoot from outside the box. Joining him is Salah and Palmer, two essentials this week in my opinion.
Up top I have gone for Isak. I like Cunha’ stats. But Isak is scoring that many goals at the moment, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did score from outside the box.
For once, I’m split three ways for captaincy. Salah is likely to go big, but I think Palmer and Fernandes are much more likely to score from outside the box. Taking into account his home fixture, his love to shoot from outside the box, and his potential via direct free kicks, Palmer holds the armband.
I am also considering Jota and Bowen in attack. Both could have huge potential this week. I’m just not sure how likely they are to score from outside the box.

Gameweek 17 Challenge Review

Last week was mixed. I picked up a triple Fulham clean sheet which I was happy with. However, the fact Fulham didn’t score meant that my Muniz (who started ahead of Jimenez) and Iwobi blanked. This meant that those ranked around me who went all in on the Fulham defence benefitted more.
Captaincy was also very dissapointing. I think a lot of the home players were poor in general.
The biggest issue I had was how big Salah went (21 points).
Overall though, I hit 72 points, which was a round rank of 90k. It weirdly meant that I rose in rank to 1.3k globally, which was a surprise.
Good luck this week!