Tips

The Complete Guide to Scout’s tips and advice to Double Gameweek 25

Welcome to the Fantasy Football Scout Guide to Double Gameweek 25 ahead of today’s 18:30 GMT deadline.

Leeds United and Southampton are the two teams with the extra fixture – the Saints travel to Elland Road on Tuesday evening.

The other main talking point as we plot our moves for the current round of fixtures and beyond, is the potential of more Double Gameweeks in the near future. Pep Guardiola hinted that Gameweeks 26 and 27 will be Doubles for his side but at the time of writing, we await confirmation from the Premier League.

Captain Candidates

Patrick Bamford (£6.9), Raphinha (£5.4m) and Danny Ings (£8.5m) are the leading trio in the captain poll, with the highly-owned Bamford the popular choice.

The best-value forward in FPL, returning over 19.1 points per million spent, Bamford has garnered over 50 per cent of the vote. This in itself poses Fantasy managers an intriguing shield/sword dilemma:

[Bamford]’s currently in just over 53 per cent of teams, the bulk of those will captain him so if you don’t captain Bamford you will probably get pretty much no ranking gain from him, [and] you could possibly get a red arrow if there’s a surge of support in people drafting him in. Whereas Raphinha was in under three per cent of teams [so] if you captain him the gains could be absolutely huge.

– Joe, Captaincy Video

The potential for either Leeds player to do well is there, especially in that Tuesday fixture. As Jan pointed out in his Captain Sensible article, Southampton have given up 11 big chances in the last four matches, the joint-most in the Premier League, while only Liverpool have a worse expected goals conceded (xGC) figure.

Encouraging stuff. But two bits of team news could influence our decisions.

Marcelo Bielsa confirmed that Kalvin Phillips (£4.9m) will miss the first match against Wolves and could possibly sit out the Southampton game too. While Ralph Hasenhüttl revealed that Southampton will be without Kyle Walker-Peters (£4.7m) for a few weeks. 

Without Kalvin Phillips they are really not the same team, he is the guy that holds the whole thing together both defensively and going forward … he’s missed five games this year and … Bamford’s blanked in three of those five games so it makes me a bit worried about him.

– David, Captaincy Video

Speaking on the Scoutcast, “professor of LeedsSeb, as he was dubbed by Joe, conceded that Phillips offers more than Pascal Struijk (£3.9m) in an attacking sense. But, nonetheless, his optimal Leeds trio for the Double would be Bamford, Raphinha and Jack Harrison (£5.5m).

The absence of Walker-Peters is good news for Harrison in particular. The Saints have conceded 17 chances down their right flank over their last four matches and with Walker-Peters missing out, it means we could see one of the centre-backs filling in.

Although, Brazilian Raphinha could also benefit:

Harrison and Raphinha have swapped sides a couple of times in the last few matches … Harrison was obviously subbed off last match … but Raphinha actually moved to the left with Hélder Costa coming on the right, so there is a chance you’ll see Raphinha on the left.

And on Harrison himself, his last two goals I believe, certainly his last goal, came straight down the middle. So if he’s up against the weak full-back that might be more for the assist [but] for the actual goals we might see him making those runs through the middle.

So I think realistically, what’s the crux of this conversation, it’s all quite close. Get the three attackers if you can, if you can’t get Bamford and Raphinha.

– Seb

Raphinha and Harrison touch heatmap last four matches

When it comes to deciding who to captain, it’s worth noting that Raphinha takes corners while Bamford is expected to stay on penalty duties.

No Premier League team has conceded more spot-kicks this season than Wolves (seven). And Southampton are not doing particularly well in that department, either, having given up four penalties  in 2020/21.

But Danny Ings should not be discounted, the Saints talisman has recorded six attempts on goal in his last two Premier League fixtures, including three big chances. And Southampton’s high-press could prove effective against Leeds, as Arsenal discovered in Gameweek 24 scoring four goals. 

Speaking on FPL Black Box, Pro Pundit Mark revealed that he is contemplating buying Ings with one of his two free transfers, factoring in that Southampton may have three Double Gameweeks in the next four. Although, as Greyhead noted in the 100th edition of The Great and The Good, how many of us will trust Danny Ings’ fragile hamstring to manage two games in quick succession?

And, as Jamie pointed out in his Members-only analysis of Southampton, if Ralph Hasenhüttl’s side are to get the best out of Ings, then they will need to create more chances, with the Saints creation ranking near the bottom in their last six matches.

Nonetheless, Ings is the only Southampton player included in the Scout Picks starting XI alongside a triple up of Bamford, Raphinha and Stuart Dallas (£5.0m) from Marcelo Bielsa’s troops.

Pro Pundit Plans

Along with Jack Harrison, the other players who could exploit the weakness down Southampton’s right side are Timo Werner (£9.2m) and Marcos Alonso (£5.7m).

I get the feeling that [Alonso] could drop a 15-pointer in any game if he continues in the same attacking vein. It looks like Tuchel is going to persist with the 3-4-3 formation and his comments with regards to Alonso seems particularly encouraging.

– Lateriser

As high-flying Pro Pundit Andy mentioned, the Spaniard offers massive potential at both ends of the pitch if you can cope with him missing the odd game.

Chelsea were picked out by both Andy and Lateriser due to their appealing fixtures, despite a difficult-looking Gameweek 26.

West Brom, Leeds and Palace are all in the bottom three for expected goals conceded this season, with Everton the seventh-worst team in the league. The fixtures from Gameweek 27 look prime for goals.

– Andy

Werner, who has started Chelsea’s last four matches under new boss Thomas Tuchel, has accumulated the joint-highest number of big chances (five) over the last four Gameweeks. 

Lateriser also noted that for those who are not Wildcarding in Gameweeks 25/26, there is a decent fixture swing in Gameweek 31, and it could be a good time to Wildcard. Something fellow Pro Pundit Az is planning to do, his thinking no doubt supported by some colourful spreadsheets!

Meanwhile, Werner was not one of the forward options being considered by Hall of Fame No 1 Fábio Borges.

The consistent top 10,000 manager is looking to replace the injured Michail Antonio (£6.6m) in his side and, after running the rule over several candidates, it boiled down to getting Danny Ings now or benching Antonio before buying Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£7.7m) for Double Gameweek 26.

Community Competitions and Head-to-Head Fixtures

This is your last chance to enter the open-to-all Fantasy Football Scout Cup with qualifying for the first round taking place in Gameweek 25. Qualifying for the Members Cup – entry for Premium Members only – gets underway in Gameweek 26.

A total of £300 in prizes is available across the two tournaments.

RedLightning rounded-up the latest Community mini-leagues and competitions.

Impressively, the two main FFScout mini-leagues are the top two Leagues in FPL, followed by Andy’s own mini-league. Well done to the top five managers in each of those mini-leagues.

There’s been another small tweak this week by Mat (aka matzi11a) to the fixtures and results displayed on the Head-to-Head Leagues main page.

From now on the scores and tables will update each night, so managers can see how they are getting on as the Gameweek unfolds.

The fixtures for Gameweek 25 can be found below:

Use the drop-down menus to show your league and division. To find out which league and division you are in, follow the instructions on the main Head-to-Head page.

Once the Gameweek starts, if you click on your opponent’s name you will be linked to their team on the FPL website.

May your arrows be green!

TopMarx Fan of Fantasy Football and Monty Python. "Archimedes out to Socrates, Socrates back to Archimedes, Archimedes out to Heraclitus, he beats Hegel. Heraclitus a little flick, here he comes on the far post, Socrates is there, Socrates heads it in! Socrates has scored! The Greeks are going mad, the Greeks are going mad! Socrates scores, got a beautiful cross from Archimedes. The Germans are disputing it. Hegel is arguing that the reality is merely an a priori adjunct of non-naturalistic ethics, Kant via the categorical imperative is holding that ontologically it exists only in the imagination, and Marx is claiming it was offside. Follow them on Twitter

2,870 Comments Post a Comment
  1. FCSB
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 28 days ago

    Pope
    Cancelo Stones Robertson
    Salah Fernandes Gundogan Raphinha
    Bamford DCL Ings

    Martinez Soucek Coufal Ferguson

    1 FT, 3.5 itb

    1. Use FT ??
    2. Save FT for DGW26

    Thanks.

    1. Better off with a pin and a…
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Save it I reckon.

  2. DagheMunegu
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 28 days ago

    Cavani to Ings -4 yes or no ?

    1. La Roja
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Maybe

    2. Herman Toothrot
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      I did

  3. Quan MisTaka
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 28 days ago

    Bottomed

    Would you do Cancelo to Dias on a WC?

    1. Vlekz
        3 years, 28 days ago

        I did it

    2. Kuqi Monster
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Bring in Ings or Kane?

      1. KAALI_DAAL
        • 3 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Ings for sure

      2. jimmy.floyd
        • 7 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Kane

      3. FPL ElasticO
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Kane if I have to.....
        or wait till next week

      4. Gandalf
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 13 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Ings in isolation, but if it will result in a hit down the line then just get Kane now

    3. Nay08
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      So with what Mou said, should I hold on one more week to transfer Kane in?
      the initial plan was DCL+Pereira to Kane+Raphinha

      if only do raphinha, I would bench DCL still.
      and if I do both, I would bench Watkins.

    4. Dele
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Start Cancelo or Dias?

      1. Third Eye Vision
        • 11 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Dias more likely to start I think.

    5. DA Minnion (Former great)
      • 11 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      No point asking questions at this stage

      1. Leaf
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 14 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        B,

      2. mwa1t
        • 3 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        A

        1. DA Minnion (Former great)
          • 11 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          Cheers thought so.

      3. Nay08
        • 3 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        just for the "tie-breaker" when you really stuck on a decision maybe.
        there still one and a half hours until the deadline.

    6. grooveymatt65
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      hi guys RMWCT pleaseeee

      Areola Martinez

      Lowton White Shaw Stones Dias

      Salah Fernandes Barnes Rafinha Gundo

      Kane Ings Bamford (c)

      1.2 itb

      What do people think?

      reckon i should spend the rest of the money and upgrade anywhere?

      thanks!

      1. AC/DC AFC
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 8 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Very nice.

        Don't think anyone is getting any detailed feedback in the next 25 mins

    7. Pompey5
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Grealish or Son to Raphina?

      Sanchez
      Dallas Cancelo Shaw
      Bruno Son Sterling Gundo Grealish
      Bamford DCL

      Button Antonio Targett Mitchell

      1. Snooze ya lose
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 14 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        I did G

    8. FPL ElasticO
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      What to do with Gundo?

      A. Play him with a playing 1st Sub
      B. Bench him for Lowton

      1. Pompey5
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 10 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        A.

    9. NoName
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Bench Gundo or Sterling?

      1. Abusive_Sgt_Daelrhos
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Sterling cuz he sucks easy

      2. Scots Gooner
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 7 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Easily Sterling. The little troll.

      3. cruzex
        • 11 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Gundo

        1. cruzex
          • 11 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          injury..

    10. Il Capitano
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Never going to get rid of this blasted BB chip, probably a waste to use it this week with Cancelo under rotation threat and Gundo possibly not being risked at the weekend. Team look alright otherwise?

      Pope
      Stones Cancelo Dallas
      Salah Son Gundogan Bruno Raphinha
      Ings Bamford (C)

      McCarthy - Adams Lowton Coufal

      1. Iwantmorepointsthanks
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 10 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        I can see myself using it GW 38 hahaha

        1. Il Capitano
          • 3 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          Should have just played it in GW19 for a princely 13 points and been done with it

      2. pingissimus
        • 5 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        If you're holding Leeds to 29 then they have a juicy fixture in 30 that might be good

    11. aardvark22
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      What are the chances of Struijk playing both fixtures?
      And would you play him anyway??

      1. Nay08
        • 3 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        as long as Philips out he'll play i think

    12. YEAH PITCH!
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Soucek > Raph -4

      And Bench DCL?

      1. ZAMUNDA
        • 7 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Wouldn't take a hit tho

      2. Iwantmorepointsthanks
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 10 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        That's what I did.

    13. Abusive_Sgt_Daelrhos
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Meslier,Button
      Cancelo,Coufal,Mee,Mitchel,KWP*
      Salah,Son,Bruno,Gundo*,Maddison
      Antonio*,Bamford,Cavani

      1) Any midfielder to Raphinha?
      2) Antonio to Ings?
      3) KWP to Dallas?
      4) Save

      Thx!

    14. Party mode
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Which one would you bench this week?

      A Son
      B Grealish
      C DCL
      D Gundo

      Currently swaying between Son and Grealish, have Watkins to cover Villa.

      Cheers

      1. Abusive_Sgt_Daelrhos
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Why bench Son? He could haul easily

        1. Party mode
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 5 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          Good point. Grealish it is.

          1. Abusive_Sgt_Daelrhos
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 9 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            You won't make mistake, good luck

            1. Party mode
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 5 Years
              3 years, 28 days ago

              You too

    15. Camzy
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      No smoke without fire for these Grealish rumors. He is indeed missing from training pics. And there are people talking about it. Still unconfirmed and it's pretty unlikely we'll know for sure before deadline. It's a gamechanger if he's out. I've based a lot of plans around keeping him in...

      1. Fudgy
        • 4 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        I've WC on the rumour

      2. French Gooner
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 11 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Would you get rid of Watkins on WC if grealish was definitely ruled out ?

        1. Camzy
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 13 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          No.

      3. KAALI_DAAL
        • 3 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Too much pressure on Grealish. Damn. Your plans depend on him!

    16. Luton_Fan
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      im not Shaw whether to go with Dunk or go with Sure. Can someone help please.:)

    17. Karan14
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Sell Antonio or DCL this week for Ings?

      The one I don't sell will be first sub for Gundogan.

      1. Camzy
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 13 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Antonio easy.

        1. Karan14
          • 7 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          Cheers Camzy!

    18. jimmy.floyd
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Play Cancelo or Stones?

      1. Pompey5
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 10 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Cancelo

      2. Iwantmorepointsthanks
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 10 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Cancelo

    19. Nemanja Vidic
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      a) Antonio Saka Mendy to Ings Raphinha Forster
      b) DCL Saka to Ings Raphinha

      2 FT 1.2 ITB
      WC TC and FH available

      Mendy Martinez
      Cancelo AWB Stone Couf Mee
      Salah Bruno Son Gundo Saka
      DCL Bamford Antonio

    20. MIDIMAN2010
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      People losing their sh1t for one DGW fixture..

      1. AC/DC AFC
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 8 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        State of the world!

      2. Zladan
        • 6 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        DGW fever.

        Have to be in it to win it.

    21. damiang2233
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Son out Salah in? A good move?

    22. Evasivo
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Captaincy goes to:

      1) Penandes
      2) Bamford
      3) Ings

    23. iL PiStOlErO
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Cavani to Ings? Or roll the ft?

      McCarthy
      Cancelo Lowton Dallas
      Sterling Salah Bruno Raphinha
      Antonio Bamford(C) Cavani

      Pope Gundo Coufal Justin

      1ft, 0.8itb

    24. Tiki-Taka
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Anyone WC'ing this week with BB26 in mind that have managed to fit Salah, Bruno, Kane, Son in without destroying rest of the squad?

      1. AC/DC AFC
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 8 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Hard.

        Have you tho

        1. Tiki-Taka
          • 13 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          nope lmao, not when I'm trying to maximise DGW for 26

      2. French Gooner
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 11 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        O/

        1. Tiki-Taka
          • 13 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          let me see :p

      3. Egg noodle
        • 14 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        I think i have got a good team.

        Marti Areola
        Shaw Stones Struijk Vestergaard Konsa
        Salah Bruno Son Raphinha Reed
        Kane Ings Bamford

        Money for Bamford, Raphinha > Gundo DCL for -4 next week

    25. Bury94
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      5pm comes and goes, I've made peace with the world now we're not getting the fixtures before the deadline. Fingers crossed Ben is right

    26. Genji3lade
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Would you WC this? Would BB next week on assumption Ben's 95% bracket fixtures are correct.

      If Sterling, Gundo and Cancelo are benched I only field 9 players. Already on -4

      Pope
      Dallas Cancelo* Tark
      Raph Bruno Salah Sterling* Gundo*
      Ings Bamford
      (Coufal, Chilwell, Brewster, Martinez)

    27. Sloane426
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Best GK on WC with Martinez for BB26? 4.5max

      1. CRO KLOPP
        • 6 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Sanchez

    28. RAFA THE GAFFA
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Just make your own decisions by now. Most replies will be giving less than 1 second of your thoughts if that!

      Good luck all