Brighton FPL Gameweek 23: Select Robert Sanchez the clean sheet king
Brighton went into their match away at Liverpool in FPL gameweek 22 on the back of three consecutive clean sheets against The Leeds United, Fulham and Spurs but even the most die-hard of Seagulls supporters would not have expected Robert Sanchez to make it four out of four at Anfield.
Not only did Graham Potter’s troops keep the reigning champions at bay on their way to pulling off a shock 1-0 win, but they managed to restrict Jurgen Klopp’s side to just one shot on target all evening.
Robert Sanchez (£4.4 million) has now registered 27 FPL points in the last four weeks for Brighton, including includes four shut outs, one save point and three bonus points.
At that bargain price of £4.4 million – it is so good it needs repeating – he is a gift to FPL managers as he provides surety of starts as well as being the cheapest first choice goalkeeper in the league.
Since Sanchez became Brighton’s number one in gameweek 13, he sits joint-second for clean sheets across all the shot-stoppers in the Premier League – and those above him in the shut out stakes cost at least £0.7m more in FPL. Sanchez also sits second for recoveries, with only Burnley’s Nick Pope (£5.4 million) above him.
Sanchez’s impact on the solidity of the Brighton defence has been marked and ahead of a trip to Turf Moor to play a Burnley side who were without Brighton’s 2010-11 League One title winning strikers Chris Wood (£6.2 million) and Ashley Barnes (£6.0 million) in gameweek 22, the potential for adding another clean sheet to his CV looks high.
Time to Mau‘pay’ the faith?
Neal Maupay (£6.1 million) is one of the safest bets for pitch-time across FPL forwards priced under £6.5 million with 17 starts to his name and three substitute appearances in 2020-21. He has also started five of the previous six Premier League games.
Maupay is second among the same group of players for goals scored with seven, with only Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins (£6.3 million) narrowly ahead of him.
With a fixture against a Burnley side who have conceded at least two goals in each of their last three Premier League games, this looks like a good opportunity for Maupay to improve on his goal tally for the season.
Captain Fantastic
The gameweek 23 fixtures make picking a captain for this week difficult, particularly as Liverpool and Manchester City play each other.
Meanwhile Spurs, who have arguably the best fixture of the weekend, are lacking form and are without their talisman Harry Kane (£11.0 million), who probably would have been one of the most captained players this week.
Kane’s team-mate Son Heung-min (£9.7 million) could offer a good alternative, even if he has failed to register a single goal or assist against West Bromwich Albion in seven attempts in the Premier League.
On the back of his 17-point haul, Bruno Fernandes (£11.4 million) will likely be the captain of many an FPL manager. Bruno’s FPL goal-scoring drought ended in style in gameweek 22, as the Portuguese midfielder provided a goal, two assists and all three bonus points.
Fernandes plays an Everton side who have only kept one clean sheet in their last seven Premier League matches – and that was against the league’s bottom side, Sheffield United.
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