Marc Jobling: Gameweek 23 Team Reveal - Fantasy Football Community

Hi Marc and thanks for the team reveal. How did Gameweek 22 go?

Terribly, yet again. My punishment for being semi-pleased with three consecutive green arrows over Christmas is to almost undo the rise in one drop. 38 points, down from 520k to 640k.

Not owning Chris Wood’s poor underlying stats continues to punish me – he hauled and has huge local effective ownership (EO). Beyond that, it was mostly the incompetence of my theoretically good players. Nicolas Jackson is an absolute disgrace to FPL, while Ismaila Sarr and Joao Pedro keep disappointing.

What does your defence look like?

A further frustration is my double coverage of Arsenal’s backline. They’re without a clean sheet in four matches but have a shot at redemption when visiting Wolves on Saturday.

In a week where my XI’s fixtures look brilliant, I’m therefore expecting the usual unfathomable red arrow. But Trent Alexander-Arnold at home to Ipswich has huge potential – he and Daniel Munoz were the only sources of joy last week.

Meanwhile, what about your midfield and attack?

With attacking double-ups versus Southampton and Ipswich, alongside Sarr and Morgan Rogers being at home to leaky Brentford and West Ham respectively, the prospects look glorious.

There’s even a benching dilemma. At first, the thought of sidelining Joao Pedro at home to Everton is ludicrous. But I’m losing faith in him as an asset – the only goal in 10 was a penalty – and the Toffees at least had a solid defence under Sean Dyche. Whilst they’re now playing for David Moyes, I don’t see their sole strength being sacrificed.

So what are your transfer plans for Gameweek 23 and beyond?

One of my two free transfers has already taken place – a Monday night rage sale of Nicolas Jackson for Cody Gakpo. I just cannot stand the sight of Chelsea’s forward in my team any longer. Plus I’ve already lost £0.2m on his purchase price and he was about to drop again.

Luckily – I think – I bought the Liverpool forward before the news that he didn’t start in the Champions League. An unused substitute, he should start at home to Ipswich before having Double Gameweek 24 on his plate.

I’ll probably roll over my other transfer, as these fixtures look so good. I’m still planning on a Gameweek 29 Free Hit, where most of the 11 transfers between now and Gameweek 34’s big blank will take place nearer the time. We’ll know the FA Cup semi-finalists by Gameweek 30, meaning a dead-end can be plotted.

Finally, what about captaincy?

If managers simply chose to aim for Southampton in recent weeks, it would’ve worked brilliantly. Bryan Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and then Chris Wood hauled. With that logic, it’ll next be Alexander Isak.

However, he’s simply my vice to Mohamed Salah. I think the Egyptian will unleash all of his anger at successive blanks on poor Ipswich.