Brighton FPL Gameweek 18: Pedro the man for the big occasion
FPL Gameweek 18 kicks off on Thursday night with Brighton making the trip to Crystal Palace – and if there is one Albion player who has thrived on Thursday nights so far this season, it is Joao Pedro.
Beyond his six Europa League goals making him the leading scorer at the end of the group stage of the competition, Pedro offers plenty of appeal for FPL managers seeking Brighton assets ahead of the busy Christmas period.
By the standards of each season’s usual festive fixture madness, the Seagulls have a nicely spread out set of Christmas matches on the horizon.
Brighton receive a week’s break between facing Palace and their Gameweek 18 clash against Spurs at the Amex. There are then five further days before the Albion to West Ham United on Tuesday 2nd January.
Such a relative period of rest might persuade FPL managers to invest in Brighton assets. If that is the case, Pedro and Kaoru Mitoma should be top of the shortlist.
Joao Pedro (£5.4 million)
Pedro has been the most-brought Brighton player size Gameweek 17’s deadline. Those FPL managers including Pedro in their squads get a cheap option who enables squad depth and is nominated penalty taker for Brighton.
The Brazilian has taken six and scored six of his spot kicks so far, whether it be in domestic football or Europa League. Pedro’s second goal in the 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest came from 12 yards and contributes to a haul of three from his past five league matches.
Considering his relatively few on-field Premier League minutes, Pedro ranks impressively amongst FPL forwards in the 2023-24 campaign to date.
He has created the joint-sixth most chances (14) and been involved in the third-most penalty area touches (94). Of the forwards who have played at least 750 of the 1,530 minutes completed in the Premier League so far, he has the third-best rate of minutes per chance (28.8).
Kaoru Mitoma (£6.5 million)
Mitoma has become a firm FPL favourite over the past 14 months since bursting onto the scene just before the World Cup winter break last season.
He currently ranks fourth-highest for number of touches inside the penalty area (12) throughout the whole Premier League.
To further highlight the attacking threat offered by Mitoma, he is the leading Brighton player for both creating big chances (five) and having them himself (eight).
Mitoma ended last season with seven goals and nine assists. He will be determined to make some more contributions towards those numbers before heading off to the Asian Cup with Japan in Gameweek 21.
Captaincy
It could be an exciting week for deciding on team captains. Of the premium assets, Erling Haaland (£13.9 million) has a Blank Gameweek because Manchester City are competing in the Club World Cup.
Mohamed Salah (£13.2 million) faces a strong Arsenal defence and Son Heung-min (£9.8 million) is up against an in-form Everton side currently on a run of four successive clean sheets.
With so much uncertainty over those big three, Ollie Watkins (£8.6 million) looks a very tempting armband selection ahead of Aston Villa hosting Sheffield United at Villa Park.
Not only are Villa thriving at home, but Unai Emery’s side have a realistic chance of being top of the Premier League on Christmas Day with victory.
You can pick up expert advice throughout the 2023-24 Fantasy Premier League season with Fantasy Football Scout
