Who are the players to add to your Fantasy Premier League team for Gameweek 18 of 2025-26? We assess the Opta data to reveal our top under-the-radar picks.
Did you get everything you wanted for Christmas? We assume you asked Santa Claus for plenty of FPL points last weekend. If the big man let you down, hopefully we can help you in this gameweek.
We’ve crunched the Opta data to identify five players you have to consider owning on your Wildcard, despite them currently being picked by fewer than 10% of FPL managers. There’s some surprising names but our logic is sound.
GK – Senne Lammens | 5.0m | 1.6% Ownership
Have you ever considered buying a goalkeeper who conceded six goals in their last two games? Because you’re about to do exactly that.
There are 10 teams who have a distinct advantage over the next two matchdays as both fixtures are at home. One of the lucky group are Manchester United, who delivered a Premier League classic in their previous match at Old Trafford when they drew 4-4 with Bournemouth.
While that was not a great night for Senne Lammens, he should fare better over the next two games. United first welcome Newcastle, a team that is averaging under one goal per league match on the road in 2025-26. Only three teams in the division have scored fewer away goals.
Next, Wolves visit the Theatre of Dreams. We’re reaching the point where FPL advice could boil down to picking whichever players are up against the team on course to be the worst in Premier League history.
With United shorn of key attackers thanks to AFCON and Bruno Fernandes’ injury suffered on Sunday at Aston Villa, Ruben Amorim may deploy new tactical plans over the next month. But as Newcastle and Wolves are in the bottom four for shots on target per away game, Lammens should collect clean sheets. Just don’t get cold while you’re standing around, Senne.
DEF – Ibrahima Konaté | 5.4m | 3.3% Ownership
One of the quirks of defenders in fantasy football is that they largely live or die as a group. Sure, some might score or assist from time to time, but when it comes to clean sheets, they either all get one or they don’t. Personal performance doesn’t enter into it as much as with attackers.
Liverpool are another team who should benefit from a visit from Wolves. They host Rob Edwards’ side on Saturday then welcome Leeds to Anfield in matchweek 19. The Reds have an excellent chance to round off the first half of 2025-26 in decent form.
Arne Slot’s backline proves the point about defensive units in FPL land. If not at his best this season, Virgil van Dijk has broadly played well. His partner Ibrahima Konaté is having a miserable campaign alongside him, though. Error-prone and anxious, the penalty he conceded the last time Liverpool faced Leeds helped spark a collapse from 2-0 up with less than 20 minutes remaining.
But here’s the thing. Virgil has just two more FPL points than Konaté this season. He costs £0.5m more and features in 20.8% more Fantasy Premier League teams, yet provides little benefit for that. It doesn’t matter that he is better and has played better, their outcome is largely shared in this game.
If you think Liverpool will get clean sheets in their next two games – and they really should – then pick the cheaper player. Konaté has also amassed marginally more expected goals than van Dijk so watch out for Ibou on corners too.
DEF – Keane Lewis-Potter | 4.8m | 0.9% Ownership
Brentford midfielder Dango Ouattara was one of the selections in this column ahead of Matchday 11. It proved a great suggestion as he notched an assist in each of the next three games, combining that with a goal in the third of them, against Burnley.
If he wasn’t representing Burkina Faso at the Cup of Nations he’d be here again. The Bees host Bournemouth and Tottenham in their next two games. Bournemouth are conceding 2.9 goals per game on the road while Spurs have conceded nine in their last three away matches.
With Brentford fifth in the Premier League home table, ahead of the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea, they can be confident of doing well. One of Keith Andrews’ players who will be brimming with belief is Keane Lewis-Potter, who scored both goals in Brentford’s 2-0 win at Wolves on Saturday.
He’s an interesting player from an FPL perspective. Primarily a left-back this season, Lewis-Potter is understandably classed as a defender. Yet he has made three of his seven Premier League starts in 2025-26 further forward.
Goals scored by defenders earn six points, compared to five for midfielders and four for forwards. Andrews will surely keep Lewis-Potter in attacking midfield for the time being so there’ll be a little Christmas bonus if his red-hot form continues. A clean sheet or two, particularly against Spurs, can’t be ruled out either.
MID – Charly Alcaraz | 5.2m | 0.1% Ownership
It has been a rough two weeks for Everton as they lost to Chelsea and Arsenal without scoring. Things should pick up now, even though their next two games are on the road.
David Moyes’s boys are off to Burnley and Nottingham Forest, who are two of the Premier League’s bottom five sides for home points this season. As only Aston Villa have a better points-per-game record against teams that aren’t in the established big six clubs in 2025-26, Everton have a great chance of enjoying the festive season.
They will need one of their lesser lights to stand up, though. They have three players with six goal contributions when nobody else has more than three: Iliman Ndiaye, who is at AFCON, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who is currently injured and Jack Grealish, who is owned by so many of you that he’s persona non grata in the 10% Club.
While the last two games tasted sour for the Toffees, Charly Alcaraz did his best to sweeten the flavour. He created four chances at Chelsea (two more than anyone on either side) then had three of Everton’s five shots against Arsenal.
Only nine players have had more shots without scoring in the Premier League this season than Alcaraz (13). With Everton up against their favourite type of opponent (relatively small clubs), it’s time to end his drought.
FWD – Jarrod Bowen | 7.6m | 7.0% Ownership
With Leeds starting to pick up points on a regular basis, West Ham are in danger of being cut adrift in the bottom three. Their match at Wolves in matchweek 20 is of enormous importance but before that they host Fulham and Brighton.
Both have better points-per-game records on the road than the Hammers have at the London Stadium this season. There’s certainly harder teams to face when needing a win or two though.
Much responsibility will be on the shoulders of Jarrod Bowen. He is their top scorer, with five goals, and while El Hadji Malick Diouf has more assists, Bowen leads the squad for expected assists in open play.
The England international is in decent form. He had what was comfortably West Ham’s highest xG-value chance in their 3-0 loss at Manchester City on Saturday, having either scored or assisted in the three Premier League matches prior to that.
One of the goals was at Brighton too. If that doesn’t convince you, bear in mind that Bowen has the most FPL points of any forward not in at least 10% of teams. You might need him even more than Nuno Espírito Santo at this point.
*FPL player values and ownership data accurate as of 23 December 2025
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The 10% Club: Opta’s Best Under-the-Radar FPL Picks for Gameweek 18 Opta Analyst.
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