The Scout looks at clubs who can be paired together effectively to help Fantasy Premier League managers make a strong start in 2023/24.
Brighton and Nott'm Forest
Brighton & Hove Albion were among the top-performing sides in defence across home matches last season.
They kept nine clean sheets in such encounters, placing them joint-third along with Liverpool and Newcastle United.
On the road, though, it was a different story. They managed only three shutouts in away matches, a total better than only four other sides.
Nottingham Forest also proved far more reliable in home matches, recording six of their eight clean sheets at the City Ground.
Essentially, this means 15 of the two clubs' combined 20 clean sheets in 2022/23 were recorded at home.
2022/23 clean sheets
| Club | Home | Away | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brighton | 9 | 3 | 12 |
| Nott'm Forest | 6 | 2 | 8 |
Notably, Brighton and Forest are one of the 10 pairings which rotate home and away over the entire 38 Gameweeks of 2023/24.
It would be a smart tactic for FPL managers to pick a player from each club in their squad and then rotate between them each Gameweek, starting the one who has the home fixture and benching the one with the away match.
See: How to get a home match every Gameweek
By doing so, in six of the the first 10 Gameweeks managers would have a player with a home fixture against a team who have been promoted to the Premier League in the last two seasons.
How to rotate from the start
| GW | Team | Opponent |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | BHA | LUT (H) |
| 2 | NFO | SHU (H) |
| 3 | BHA | WHU (H) |
| 4 | BHA | NEW (H) |
| 5 | NFO | BUR (H) |
| 6 | BHA | BOU (H) |
| 7 | NFO | BRE (H) |
| 8 | BHA | LIV (H) |
| 9 | NFO | LUT (H) |
| 10 | BHA | FUL (H) |
The Seagulls’ Pervis Estupinan (£5.0m) is the most-popular defender in Fantasy, already found in over 51 per cent of squads.
While the Ecuadorian's backers will very likely play him regardless of his fixture, there are cheaper options in the Brighton defence in Adam Webster and Joel Veltman (both £4.5m) for managers who are looking to rotate.
Webster averaged 4.1 points per home start last season, the same as winger Solly March (£6.5m), compared with the 4.4 points per start of Estupinan.
See: The Scout's golden rules for picking an FPL squad
For Forest, Serge Aurier (£4.5m) could prove a handy rotation pick with Webster for a combined cost of £9.0m.
Playing as a wing-back, the Ivorian averaged 3.9 points per home start last season.
Also in this series
Part 1: How to get a home match every Gameweek
Part 3: Pair up Villa and Everton for fast start
Part 4: Find early value with Brentford and Newcastle