The spotlight might be on Casper Tengstedt, but tipster Jacob Silkstone believes that strike partner Ole Christian Sæter is also one to consider in Eliteserien Fantasy with his brilliant form at home.
Eliteserien Fantasy GW22 Recap
Let’s begin by moaning about flags: Fantasy Premier League players are probably familiar by now with a system in which injuries are meticulously monitored. Training photos are exhaustively analysed to see who might be missing; reports are available to show who boarded the team bus or stayed at the team hotel; if someone’s sister’s friend’s friend works in catering and noticed a player leaving the team dinner early, news of a possible stomach bug will be all over Twitter/Reddit within minutes.
In the Wild West (or unnavigable North) of Norwegian football, we’re more reliant on paywalled local newspaper reports and the game’s often-unreliable flagging system. At the time last week’s article was written, Molde’s wing-back Martin Linnes was flagged while Kristoffer Haugen was clear. Mohamed Ofkir, Osame Sahraoui, and David Datro Fofana were all unflagged, but local reports suggested they’d missed training due to an unspecified sickness; no one seemed exactly sure what was going on with Amahl Pellegrino.
As things turned out, one of the sick players started (and blanked), one was benched (but hauled anyway), and one wasn’t in the squad at all. Linnes returned from injury to haul (conveniently subbed just before Molde last their clean sheet) while Haugen missed out with a knock that had gone completely unreported prior to the deadline. Pellegrino was also absent, but is now back in training ahead of Gameweek 23. It all feels like a bit of a lottery sometimes: being on top of the injury news mostly backfired last week if you ignored Fofana, captained Sahraoui, or preferred Haugen to Linnes – all reasonable moves given what we knew before the deadline.
Despite a disappointing performance from our strikers, including a first blank for captain Casper Tengstedt, our Team of the Week (reduced to ten men by Haugen’s absence) scored a total of 50 points, comfortably ahead of the overall average (37). The Molde midfield duo of Markus Kaasa and Ola Brynhildsen both scored, as did Lillestrøm defender Vetle Winger Dragsnes.
Eliteserien Fantasy GW23 Picks
Goalkeeper
Magnus Smelhus Sjøeng (4.6M) has been an unlikely hero for Vålerenga this season, conceding just once in his last three home games. Opponents Sandefjord are on a poor run of form, winless in their last seven and drifting perilously close to the relegation zone. A lot may depend on whether they can get Mohamed Ofkir fit in time for this game.
Defence
Eliteserien Fantasy’s top-scoring defender, Martin Linnes (7.2M), returned to full fitness last weekend and should be in prime position for another start as Molde host Aalesund. Linnes continues to trail teammate Kristoffer Haugen for expected attacking involvements, but he has fairly consistently been the best pick in fantasy over the course of the season (the author of this article may or may not be a slightly bitter Haugen owner).
Still on the subject of flags, Alfons Sampsted (5.9M) is marked as a having a shoulder injury in the game, but was back in training and ready to play from the start in the Europa League. Bodø/Glimt’s defence remains among the strongest in the league according to the underlying numbers, and Sampsted is the most likely defender to provide an attacking return.
The first of a Sarpsborg triple-up (not a sentence anyone could possibly have imagined writing a few weeks ago), Eirik Wichne (5.4M) finally registered his opening attacking return of the season last gameweek. We’re primarily interested in the prospect of a clean sheet against a Jerv side that frequently struggle to score away from home, but some added attacking threat certainly doesn’t hurt.
Odd have tightened up at the back since receiving a 7-0 thrashing against Bodø/Glimt, conceding just three in their last four games. Odin Bjørtuft (4.6M) represents excellent value ahead of a home game against HamKam, who will be looking nervously down towards the relegation spots after a poor run of form. Bjørtuft has five attacking returns already this season, and should probably have had far more…
Midfield
Expected assist king Osame Sahraoui (8.8M) was transferred in by close to 5000 fantasy teams last week (close to 15% of the entire game) after consecutive double-digit hauls. Inevitably, he blanked against relegation-threatened Kristiansund. Still, the underlying numbers suggest he’s one of the best picks in the game, and Vålerenga now face a Sandefjord side that have conceded nine goals in their last three away games.
Since ending a run of eight consecutive defeats, Sarpsborg have now won two on the bounce. Tobias Heintz (7.6M) is their most-selected player in the fantasy game, with an ownership of just over 8%. With attacking returns in four of his last five games, he’s showing signs of a return to top form at just the right time. Sarpsborg brushed aside Jerv 5-0 last time they played, and will be optimistic of a similarly emphatic win in front of their own crowd.
Markus Kaasa (5.8M) has recorded consecutive double-digit hauls, with three goals in his last two league games. He played just a single minute in the Europa Conference League on Thursday, and he’ll be expected to come back into the starting eleven against Aalesund.
Attack
David Datro Fofana (10.9M) was our captain in the first draft of last week’s article, only for sickness to cast some serious doubt over his expected game time. As it happened, he required just four minutes on the pitch to score twice against Jerv. A (harsh) red card in the midweek Europa Conference League game should remove any lingering concerns about Fofana being rested against Aalesund in this round; among all Eliteserien players, only Pellegrino outranks Fofana for expected goals.
Sarpsborg’s Swedish summer signing Gustav Engvall (8.0M) makes his first appearance in our Tipsters selection. Engvall is emerging as a key player in Sarpsborg’s struggle to lift themselves comfortably clear of the relegation play-off spot, with attacking returns in two consecutive games.
With Casper Tengstedt left out for budgetary reasons, our attention turns to the significantly cheaper Ole Christian Sæter (6.8M), his strike partner at Rosenborg. Sæter has been particularly effective at home, scoring four in his last three games and blanking just once in front of his own fans since gaining a regular place in the starting eleven.
Team of the Week Gameweek 23
You can find additional Fantasy Eliteserien resources for the 2022 season here.
Jacob is an all-round fantasy expert with 2 top 10K finishes in FPL, a best finish of #82 in GAFFR and #124 in Fantasy Eliteserien.