And we're back!

I hope last weekend's break for the FA Cup has left you refreshed and ready to crack on with the remainder of the FPL season.

With several Premier League clubs falling at the first hurdle of the FA Cup, it does mean that some teams are left with a single focus for the remainder of the season while others still have a significant number of games to play.

With injuries and squad rotations on the rise, these are important considerations to bear in mind, particularly if your finger is itching to pull the trigger on a couple of the refreshed chips you have at your disposal.

Who's left in which competitions?

Team	League Games Remaining	FA Cup	League Cup	Europe
Arsenal	17	Yes	Yes	Yes
City	17	Yes	Yes	Yes
Newcastle	17	Yes	Yes	Yes
Chelsea	17	Yes	Yes	Yes
Villa	17	Yes	No	Yes
Liverpool	17	Yes	No	Yes
Palace	17	No	No	Yes
Spurs	17	No	No	Yes
Forest	17	No	No	Yes
Brentford	17	Yes	No	No
Fulham	17	Yes	No	No
Sunderland	17	Yes	No	No
Brighton	17	Yes	No	No
Leeds	17	Yes	No	No
Burnley	17	Yes	No	No
Wolves	17	Yes	No	No
United	17	No	No	No
Everton	17	No	No	No
Bournemouth	17	No	No	No
West Ham	17	No	No	No

The table above is ordered from most to least matches remaining this season. Of course, other than the 17 remaining league matches, no one can say for sure how many more games each of these sides will play in the respective domestic and European cups but for some of those teams looking to compete on all fronts, that could easily be another 10+ fixtures...

It's probably most helpful to think of the clubs within 5 distinct groups.

You've got the 4 at the top who are still in every competition and who played midweek this week in the semi-finals of the League Cup.

You've got Villa and Liverpool who are in everything but the League Cup and then Palace, Forest and Spurs who are out of the domestic cups but remain in Europe.

All English sides still in Europe have another 2 group stage matches to play but it is then looking very likely that they will all play at least another 2 matches after that.

You've then got 7 Premier League sides whose chances of glory this season are limited purely to the the FA Cup and finally the group of 4 clubs whose sole focus is now the league.

That of course includes Manchester United whose defeat in the first round of both domestic cups plus their failure to qualify for Europe means that they will play just 40 matches this season - the fewest games they've played in a season since 1914/15!

While the above gives an indication of which players may be subject to rest and rotation for the remainder of the season , what is also now taking shape and is of equal importance is when the blank and double game weeks might fall as administrators try to cram all these remaining games into the next 4 months.

GW26 and GW31 potential blank and double game weeks

There are 3 factors that will decide whether these weeks might break from the standard 10 fixtures.

1. Who reaches the League Cup Final
2. Which English clubs avoid the additional qualification phase of the Champions League
3. The whims of the Premier League's scheduling gods

Based on how things stand at the moment, the most likely set of circumstances would be double game weeks for Arsenal and Wolves in GW26 with both sides then having a blank GW31.

However, we won't know that for sure until around mid-February so watch this space...

Division 1

GW21 Results

Team	Hive Account	Score	Score	Team	Hive Account
Hungry Lions	@gvkanten	52	55	samostically	@samostically
Vickoly FC	@vickoly	62	41	nonzy fc	@nonsowrites
Shamzy FC	@Shamzy	62	52	Hiveheadz	@borran
FC McKane	@mckane	60	58	Steve Herbae	@herbae
Cunha Do Sum' 4 Mee	@deniskj	47	46	Jungle squad	@george-dee
Red Cards of Rohan	@thoth442	45	64	Hijos del VAR	@aaalviarez
Suffragette City	@talesfrmthecrypt	53	49	@blockchainFPL H2H	@blockchainfpl
Formidable Milano�	@damolexy	70	57	Likodra FC	@teofilex11
Skander	@skanderh	49	49	YAGMAN FC	@yagman01
Spero FC	@sperosamuel15	49	44	Legion fc	@b0s

GW22 Fixtures

Team	Hive Account		Team	Hive Account
YAGMAN FC	@yagman01	v	Hungry Lions	@gvkanten
Likodra FC	@teofilex11	v	Legion fc	@b0s
@blockchainFPL H2H	@blockchainfpl	v	Spero FC	@sperosamuel15
Hijos del VAR	@aaalviarez	v	Skander	@skanderh
Jungle squad	@george-dee	v	Formidable Milano�	@damolexy
Steve Herbae	@herbae	v	Suffragette City	@talesfrmthecrypt
Hiveheadz	@borran	v	Red Cards of Rohan	@thoth442
nonzy fc	@nonsowrites	v	Cunha Do Sum' 4 Mee	@deniskj
samostically	@samostically	v	FC McKane	@mckane
Vickoly FC	@vickoly	v	Shamzy FC	@Shamzy

Division 2

GW21 Results

Team	Hive Account	Score	Score	Team	Hive Account
Mighty Fc	@twicejoy	53	50	Hasaaland	@earplugs
Tangram	@desro	59	39	Holohive	@acidyo
SportsNerd	@saif-ul-wahab	54	60	Stevenson Fc	@Stevenson7
Rubilu	@rubilu	43	40	Wongi	@wongi
Micheal Fc	@micheal87	57	48	Corkscrew	@deraaa
PHOENIX FC	@kelvinpeters	46	62	Show Not Tel	@jmehta
Rys FC	@omrys5	44	42	Chrisamuda FC	@hive-world
Bennett's Boys	@olibennett	42	43	Magical McFizzy	@mcfizzy
WIKE BOYS	@gone-hive	23	50	Working 9 to 5	@aunt-granny
The Cellas	@blanchy	49	46	Los Magos del Balón	@el-maestro
gentleshaid	@gentleshaid	69	56	Murima	@youngvic
Garuda XI	@aditya-p	48	28	Sportin	@depar
HappyBoys FC	@happyboy1	49	36	Noobmaster69	@workingdad
Matz Sels Seashells	@doombot75	51	31	ThtHive	@tht
ARFANTASY FC	@arfa	65	60	racibo	@racibo
adewalehafis	@adewaleopeyemi63	41	67	Newton Heath RFC	@samirich
Funwarriors	@Jmis101	26	50	Large in the Rear	@chineduokafor
K Empire Balls	@kenechukwu97	56	46	TheVulcAns⚓️	@the9thcreator
Teamkoko	@myanmarkoko	49	50	Blue Mooners	@leebennett
Eh, No, Ah, Meh.	@stuartcturnbull	51	61	Corner	@artniche
Pepzerbi	@pepzerbi	39	49	Tengo Rangers	@tengolotodo
Uwabbs FC	@uwabbs001	47	41	Six and the City	@princekwame
Deals on Wheels	@derek-trotter	51	55	Bankai	@belemo
Kingsleyy	@kingsleyy	59	29	Akatsuki	@seki1
Jeremie Ping Pong	@pingpongfrimpong	66	57	Cygnus FC	@donjaun
Könttyrät FC	@pvmihalache	41	70	Krake99	@kraken99
valchiz Fc	@valchiz	50	60	Fire Power #N/A
Hadji	@hadji	61	58	Amirirans	@amirtheawesome1
Emeka4	@emeka4	55	54	The People's XV	@publioscelta
Kelsco FC	@kilvnrex	46	38	hamzamusic	@Hamza-art
Queen dynasty	@princess-dara	49	42	Sutter Kane	@suttercane
Itachi FC	@justfavour	27	30	Top 10k?	@elvisking
Dapomola Fc	@dapomolaaaa	68	64	Blugrana	@ronnie10

GW22 Fixtures

Team	Hive Account		Team	Hive Account
Mighty Fc	@twicejoy	v	SportsNerd	@saif-ul-wahab
Rubilu	@rubilu	v	Tangram	@desro
Micheal Fc	@micheal87	v	Hasaaland	@earplugs
PHOENIX FC	@kelvinpeters	v	Holohive	@acidyo
Rys FC	@omrys5	v	Stevenson Fc	@Stevenson7
Bennett's Boys	@olibennett	v	Wongi	@wongi
WIKE BOYS	@gone-hive	v	Corkscrew	@deraaa
The Cellas	@blanchy	v	Show Not Tel	@jmehta
gentleshaid	@gentleshaid	v	Chrisamuda FC	@hive-world
Garuda XI	@aditya-p	v	Magical McFizzy	@mcfizzy
HappyBoys FC	@happyboy1	v	Working 9 to 5	@aunt-granny
Matz Sels Seashells	@doombot75	v	Los Magos del Balón	@el-maestro
ARFANTASY FC	@arfa	v	Murima	@youngvic
adewalehafis	@adewaleopeyemi63	v	Sportin	@depar
Funwarriors	@Jmis101	v	Noobmaster69	@workingdad
K Empire Balls	@kenechukwu97	v	ThtHive	@tht
Teamkoko	@myanmarkoko	v	racibo	@racibo
Eh, No, Ah, Meh.	@stuartcturnbull	v	Newton Heath RFC	@samirich
Pepzerbi	@pepzerbi	v	Large in the Rear	@chineduokafor
Uwabbs FC	@uwabbs001	v	TheVulcAns⚓️	@the9thcreator
Deals on Wheels	@derek-trotter	v	Blue Mooners	@leebennett
Kingsleyy	@kingsleyy	v	Corner	@artniche
Jeremie Ping Pong	@pingpongfrimpong	v	Tengo Rangers	@tengolotodo
Könttyrät FC	@pvmihalache	v	Six and the City	@princekwame
valchiz Fc	@valchiz	v	Bankai	@belemo
Hadji	@hadji	v	Akatsuki	@seki1
Emeka4	@emeka4	v	Cygnus FC	@donjaun
Kelsco FC	@kilvnrex	v	Krake99	@kraken99
Queen dynasty	@princess-dara	v	Fire Power	@emekaj
Itachi FC	@justfavour	v	Amirirans	@amirtheawesome1
Dapomola Fc	@dapomolaaaa	v	The People's XV	@publioscelta
Blugrana	@ronnie10	v	hamzamusic	@Hamza-art
Top 10k?	@elvisking	v	Sutter Kane	@suttercane

Midfield goals galore at Newcastle

As I've noted in multiple previews of late, it's really difficult to find teams and players in form at the moment. The one exception to that rule appears to be Newcastle who have won their last 3 Premier League matches scoring 9 goals in the process.

They hit another 3 against Bournemouth in the FA Cup at the weekend before losing to nil against City in the League Cup.

Of those 12 goals in the last 18 days, 11 have come from midfield with Guimarães (mentioned last week) getting 3, fellow Brazilian Joelinton 2 and Harvey Barnes netting 4 times (2 in the league, 2 in the cup).

Barnes has always had a goal in him as his stats below show. The difficulty has been him getting a regular run of starts either due to injury or competition for places at Newcastle.

Harvey Barnes has maintained a consistent xG per 90 of around 0.4 throughout his Newcastle career

With Jacob Murphy a doubt for the games against bottom club Wolves and Elanga out longer term then it would appear that the in-form Barnes will get some more game time. At 1.5% ownership he could prove a significant differential in GW22.

Filling a Semenyo shaped hole

The 2nd most owned player in FPL 25/26 has finally completed his move to City and has started his new life at the Ethiad with 2 goals in 2 cup matches.

We wait to see whether he'll go straight into the Premier League starting XI with a massive game for City at Old Trafford this weekend. The fact that Semenyo's ownership has decreased over the last 3 GWs is linked in part to the feeling that he won't be an automatic starter for Pep. At previous club Bournemouth, he missed just a single match this season (at West Ham) and played the full 90mins in all other fixtures.

If managers do begin to move away from Semenyo then perhaps the players left to fill his void at Bournemouth would be worth a look at. To be honest, with Semenyo leaving and an ongoing injury crisis the Cherries don't have many options in that part of the pitch to choose from which in itself does at least provide you with the assurance of game time.

Most goal involvements for players at £5.5 mil or under

Marcus Tavernier's 7 goal involvements this season makes him the 3rd best midfield at £5.5 mil or under in the game. I've always felt that his technical ability and flexibility make him an underated player and perhaps it's the later of those skills that has stopped him delivering more FPL points.

He's played across every midfield position this season for Bournemouth including as part of their double pivot but with Semenyo gone, Kluivert out for the season and Lewis Cook coming back to fitness, it might be that Tavernier is finally able to establish himself as Bournemouth's attacking fulcrum. He's likely to take a lot of set-pieces and is probably on penalty duty too...

Alternatively you could go for another Cherries star who is flying under the radar a little. Junior Kroupi has 7 Premier League goals already this season which makes him the joint top goal scoring teenager in Europe's big 5 leagues alongside Lamine Yamal. He's only 3 short of Dele Alli's record 10 goals in an EPL season for a teenager set back in 15/16.

What I like about the highlights package above is that even though it's a small sample size, he's scoring a variety of goals. Left foot, right foot, header, long range and tap in - he's a threat inside and outside the box.

With Evanilson back to fitness and scoring in his last 2 matches, Kroupi may need to make do with a slightly deeper role playing off the Brazilian but as we saw in the game against Spurs, that doesn't mean he won't pop-up in the box in goal scoring positions...

Welcome to the shit show Mr Carrick

It's still slightly difficult for me as fan who grew-up watching the Premier League in the 90s to get my head around the fact that a trip to Old Trafford has zero fear factor in the modern age.

Back in the days of my youth, you'd be lucky to come away from a match at United with anything. Even if you did play out of your skin, the referee would surely intervene to ensure that fortress Old Trafford remained in tact.

United are enduring another difficult season with just 2 clean sheets in 21 games being one of the primary issues that new boss Michael Carrick needs to fix. Of course, kicking his reign off with a home game against City and an away trip to Arsenal isn't exactly easing him into the role. United have just come off a run of matches where they played the current bottom 6 since the start of December but only managed a single victory.

Bruno Fernandes is back to fitness and I'm sure will be on a lot of manager's wish lists from GW24 onwards. However, it remains to be seen where other big name players will fit in to the new manager's system.

Cunha, a player who saw big transfer movements in GW18 and GW19 as managers looked to replace Bruno for the aforementioned run of 'easy games' looks particularly vulnerable if we consider that Carrick is likely to abandon Amorim's failed 2 x number 10 formation. He'll be in direct competition with Bruno for a single number 10 role or Sesko as the lone striker.

As for this week, you'd have to back Haaland as captain against a defensive line that hasn't looked settled in years. Again, you'd assume Carrick will move away from Amorim's back 3 system which he remained wedded to despite it's consistent failure throughout his tenure but will that be enough to stop this City forward line?

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Who are you picking in GW22?