Players from Leeds and Manchester United form the spine of our Double Gameweek 25 Scout Picks.
In a side chosen by David, Neale, Tom and Andy, we have included three Leeds players and two Red Devils.
We line-up in a 3-4-3 formation which comes in at £79.6m, £3.4m inside our budget of £83.0m.
GOALKEEPER
With Brighton’s defence in top form, Robert Sanchez (£4.5m) takes his place between the sticks in the Scout Picks XI. Brighton have the lowest expected goals conceded (xGC) rating in the last six games, even lower than table-topping Manchester City, with five clean sheets in that time. Sanchez has also picked up a bonus point in three of his last four games. Added to that, Brighton face Crystal Palace, who have failed to score a single Premier League goal without Wilfried Zaha (£7.1m) this season.
DEFENDERS
John Stones (£5.2m) looks to be the safest route into the Manchester City after being rotated out of the side for the Everton game. The City defence has formed an iron curtain this season, conceding only 15 goals and 21 big chances in 24 games.
Luke Shaw (£5.0m) continues to catch the eye. Manchester United’s left-back is proving to be a creative power house for this season, playing the most key passes and setting up the most goals among all FPL defenders in the last six matches. In his last game, Shaw added maximum bonus points to his assist, even with the Man United defence conceding a goal. He faces Newcastle on Sunday who will be without star striker Callum Wilson (£6.7m), so he could add a clean sheet to complement any attacking returns.
The first of the Double Gameweek players to enter the Scout Picks is Leeds defender Stuart Dallas (£5.0m). Now playing as an out-of-position midfielder, Dallas has scored an impressive four goals and created three assists this season, and will have two matches to improve on this.
MIDFIELDERS
Despite Liverpool’s recent travails, Mohamed Salah (£12.6m) continues to bang the goals in. Salah is joint-top out of all FPL midfielders for shots on target in the last six games, and is fresh off scoring in the Champions League against RB Leipzig. With both sides leaking goals ahead of the Merseyside Derby, expect an attacking game with plenty of space in behind for Salah to exploit.
Bruno Fernandes (£11.6m) is something of a no-brainer for Double Gameweek 25. The highest point-scoring FPL player this season has scored in each of his last three games, bringing in five bonus points across that period. Fernandes has also had the most shots on goal of all FPL midfielders during the last six games. He faces a Newcastle team that has conceded six goals in their last three games.
Owned by only 6.6% of players, we’re backing Pedro Neto (£5.7m) to produce the goods against Leeds. Neto has been one of the few bright sparks in a poor season for Wolves, laying on 17 chances for team-mates in his last six games, as well as scoring against Southampton. With Leeds missing key defensive midfielder Kalvin Phillips (£4.9m), Neto should have plenty more opportunities to create and score goals.
Another differential making the Scout Picks XI is Raphinha (£5.4m), whose recent form belies his 5.2% ownership. The Brazilian midfielder has delivered attacking returns in his last five games, and has outscored Patrick Bamford (£6.9m) over the same run of games.
FORWARDS
After scoring his first goal of 2021, we are backing Timo Werner (£9.2m) to heap more misery on the beleaguered Southampton defence. No FPL forward has been on the end of as many big chances as Werner in the last four Gameweeks, so if the German has now rediscovered his goalscoring touch, then the goals could be about to flow. Southampton’s achilles’ heel is defending their right-hand side, so with Werner and Marcos Alonso (£5.7m) building up a strong partnership down the left, it could be a very long Saturday lunch-time for the Saints.
Werner wasn’t the only striker to rediscover their goalscoring touch in Double Gameweek 24, with Danny Ings‘ (£8.5m) sweet volley reminding us of how deadly he can be on his day. Even with Southampton sliding down the table, Ings has shown he still knows where the goal is, hitting around 50% of his shots on target. If Southampton can get him the service he needs in their two games, then we’re backing Ings to hit the back of the net.
The third and final Leeds player to make the Scout Picks XI is the aforementioned Bamford. The forward has shown incredible consistency this season, having the most attempts on goal of any striker and the most shots in the box. Around 60% of FPL managers could own Bamford by Double Gameweek 25, so anyone without him in their team faces a stressful few days.
Substitutes
- Alphonse Areola (£4.5m)
- Lewis Dunk (£4.9m)
- Charlie Taylor (£4.4m)
- James Ward-Prowse (£6.0m)
THE CAPTAIN
We choose the Scout Picks captain using a four-way vote between our Scout Squad pundits.
Because we use Fantasy Football Scout data so heavily in this process, the skipper we choose each Gameweek is known only to those with a valid Fantasy Football Scout subscription and revealed to the public only when the deadline has passed.
Here’s how we voted for Double Gameweek 25:
