Bundesliga Fantasy Matchday 23 expert picks and team

With a new round ahead, we look at the latest edition of Bundesliga Fantasy Matchday 23 expert picks and team. @FPLGunnersaurus (Jay) joins us to give his top picks for the Matchday ahead. In addition, he also shares his squad going into the new round with his general thoughts.

Twitter is full of the most experienced fantasy football players around. Those managers can be some of the best people to look to when trying to gain clarity when making their own decisions within their teams. Checking out the Matchday 23 expert picks and team can help for the round ahead.

Phillipp Hofmann (FOR – 5.9m – 1% owned – Vfl Bochum 1848)

My original pick for Matchday 23 was going to be Niclas Füllkrug (9m – 52% owned). However if you’ve any fantasy nous about you the Bundesliga’s top-scorer will already be in your team. Even more so for a trip to an Augsburg side with the worst xGA in the league.

Instead I’m going differential and recommending Hofmann who’s his club’s leading scorer in 2022-2023 with a must win crunch clash at the bottom of the table. The forward has scored seven this season, six of them all in home wins, and before Bochum’s Matchday 21 defeat to Freiburg Die Unabsteigbaren had won four in a row at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion. Although opponents Schalke are unbeaten in five they are yet to win away this campaign, which perhaps bodes well for Hofmann and company. A win, and revenge for former Bochum boss and current Schalke boss Thomas Reis would see Bochum replace Schalke at the foot of the table, so Thomas Letsch’s side will be going all out to win. If you’re looking for a differential forward for the round ahead you can’t get much more differential than a 1% owned Hofmann.

Jae-sung Lee (MID – 7.8m – 6% owned – 1. FSV Mainz 05)

Jae-sung Lee is currently in the form of his Bundesliga career and with two tasty fixtures coming up against Hoffenheim (H) and Hertha Berlin (A) it’s definitely time to pick the mid-priced star up if you’ve not already done so. The South Korean international has starred for the 05ers lately seeing Mainz pick up four wins in their last five games, with the team scoring a staggering 15 goals in those victories.

Lee himself has contributed with four goals (six total in 2023) and two assists in those triumphs, hitting three double-digit fantasy returns of 19 points, 10 points and 17 points in the last thee matchdays alone. Lee’s opponents this matchday Hoffenheim find themselves in a surprising relegation battle, sitting 16th in the table and without a league win since 14th October. Since then horrendous Hoffenheim, as I shall now dub them, have lost ten and drawn twice in all competitions. The average goals stat sits at 3.24 for this Matchday 23 fixture and it wouldn’t surprise me if Mainz put three or more past Hoffenheim, with Lee heavily featuring.

Alphonso Davies (DEF – 18m – 28% owned – FC Bayern München)

This fantasy manager regrets selling Davies in Matchday 20 thinking that Cancelo alone could cover Bayern defensive positions in the fantasy game. Despite the premium prices attached and the rotation risk presented due to European action the optimal solution may just be to own both full-backs, and that’s why Davies is coming into my fantasy squad for Matchday 23.

Since selling him Davies has shown why he warrants a permanent position in fantasy squads, with fantasy scores in his last two games of 13 points and 19 points including two assists and a clean sheet. Bayern are facing the toughest title challenge in years with four sides within five points of them, so you would think that even with PSG at home in the UCL mid-week Nagelsmann will put out the strongest XI he can away to opponents Stuttgart. Should Davies start I fully expect him to come off early, however by then hopefully the damage is done and his fantasy score warrants the transfer in this matchday.

Koen Casteels (GK – 11.6m – 8% owned – VfL Wolfsburg)

If you’re paying upwards of 10m for a goalkeeper you want consistent returns to justify that outlay and with Casteels it’s hard to argue you don’t get your bang for your buck. Sitting atop the league goalkeeping scoring charts Casteel enters March with a half-decent trio of games against Frankfurt (H), Union Berlin (H) and Stuttgart (A).

So far this season Casteels has picked up nine clean sheets but perhaps even more impressive is that the Wolves shot-stopper sits fourth for shots saved too. Casteels has picked 90 points in the fantasy game for keeping the ball out. This has helped see him put out a consistent string of fantasy returns all season. He has even registered one assist this season, a proper all-rounder! If you’re looking for a set and forget GK until the next unlimited transfers window you can back him and that is why he makes it into my Matchday 23 expert picks.

Matchday 23 team reveal (subject to change)

Notes

Transfers OUT: Sosa, Szoboszlai and Bellingham IN: Davies, Lee and Wirtz.
Goalkeepers– Blaswich (2.9m ON SALE – RBL) and Pavlenka (5.9m – SVW) DEF – Frimpong (13.8m – B04), Cancelo (13.2m – FCB), Guerreiro (13.1m – BVB), NEW – Davies (18m – FCB) and Schlotterbeck (14.6m – BVB).
Midfielders – Brandt (15.8m – BVB), Grifo (16.9m SCF), NEW – Wirtz (13.1m – B04), NEW – Lee (7.8m – M05) and Hofmann (16.6m – BMG).
Forwards – Choupo-Moting (6.1m – FCB), Musiala (15.9m – FCB) and Füllkrug (9m – SVW).
9.4m ITB.