FPL GW23 Transfer Tips: Chelsea Players to Hold, Monitor and Sell

Welcome to the Gameweek 23 insights!
The Pride of London’s Fantasy Premier League expert, Alani, is back with tips and analysis to help you climb the ranks.

The second half of the season is where FPL magic happens—Double Gameweeks, Blank Gameweeks, and strategic chip usage can make or break your season. Let’s dive into the key decisions for GW23.

State of Play for GW23

Chelsea festive struggles was brought to an end against struggling Wolves in Gw22. Chelsea defenders stole the show and the points against Wolves in GW22 as two Chelsea defenders Cucurella and Chalobah featured in the team of the week.

• Win: Chelsea won for the first time in six GWs.

• Scoring Stats: The Blues are tied third with Manchester City for goals scored (44), trailing Liverpool (50) and Spurs (45).

• League Position: Chelsea have moved up to fourth in the Premier League, two points ahead of fifth-placed Manchester City – who are the next opponents.

Chelsea's Opponent – Manchester City

Manchester City head into GW23 after blown away Ipswich with relentless attacks in GW22. They are currently fourth in table, two points from Chelsea. This game is gearing to up to be a master class.

• Form: City have won three of their last five games. They are now slowly returning to form after losing six games in eight. All City last three games have gone over the 3.5 scoreline. Both teams have scored in seven of City last ten games.

• Goals Scored and conceded: City have scored 44 goals this season – same as Chelsea. 21 of those goals are from home. City have conceded 28 goals – 14 in home matches.

Head-to-Head

• Chelsea Wins: 27
• Manchester City Wins: 19
• Draws: 9

In these encounters, Chelsea have scored 76 goals, while City have netted 61. City have won three of the last five meetings between the two sides with the other two ending in draws. City defeated Chelsea 2-nil in the first encounter this season.

Player to hold

Cole Palmer

Cole Palmer has been transferred out by more than 190K FPL managers this GW, and I am still finding good reasons for such a movement. However, he has only been transferred out by one per cent of the experts. Palmer, on the positive side, is still the second-best player this season with 165 points – better only by Salah.

The stats are good and in favour of Palmer.

Player to sell

Nicolas Jackson

Jackson’s FPL returns have been frustrating, with just one return in six GWs. He has wasted key chances in many of those games and was a culprit in Chelsea's recent struggles in front of goal as well.

He is the most transferred out forward this gameweek – over 300K, and his ownership has dropped to less than 16%. 36 of the 41 experts who owned him have already transferred him from their team - the highest for the GW. The next is João Pedro, with just seven transfers out.

Jackson has massively underperformed in recent games, and it would be better to move on from him for now, as there are better FPL assets out there to target if you want to gain rank in the second half of the season.

If you have him, you can downgrade to Mateta, Wissa, or even Gakpo, with a double-game week coming in GW24

Player to Monitor

Reece James

Reece James made his second league appearance since GW11 with another return against Wolves. That is two returns in two game weeks for the £4.8m Chelsea captain.

James offers more attacking threat than any other Chelsea full-back, but he’s just returning from injury. The last thing you want at this stage of the season is to bring in a player who gets injured again after one or two games—it would waste a valuable free transfer.

While risks can bring rewards, caution is key. Monitor James over the next two to three Gameweeks before making a move.

Deadline

The transfer deadline for GW23 is Saturday, 25th January, at 13:30 GMT.