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

    Fixtures announced at 18.00 for peak carnage.

  2. rokonto
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 28 days ago

    Any chance of early Leeds team news (b4 deadline)?

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

      What do you want to know?

      1. rokonto
        • 8 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Thinking if Harrison benched I'd swap for Raphina.

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

          Harrison will start I would imagine unless he starts Tyler Roberts who he's been talking up this week.

          1. rokonto
            • 8 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            Yes, that's my concern....

        2. HammersXI
          • 11 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          Why on earth would he get benched? Against Arsenal it was a tactical call to get Costa involved.

          Right now Costa poses no such threat.

          And also Roberts does not replace Harrison. He replaces Klich, they play in different positions lol

          1. rokonto
            • 8 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            Thanks (i have no idea what I'm doin lol)

    2. Hooky
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Who are you waiting on?

      1. rokonto
        • 8 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Thinking if Harrison benched I'd swap for Raphina.

        1. Hooky
          • 8 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          I've not seen anything. I'd be very surprised if he did drop Harrison. He's a much better player than Roberts

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

            Harrison and Roberts do not play the same position... any Leeds fan would be insulted to see Costa or Roberts there over Harrison

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

      All the usual suspects would be playing. Dont worry. Not much volatility there.

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

      Leeds pretty much never rotate, team will be as expected

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

    GTG?

    Sanchez
    Alonso-Shaw-Dallas
    Salah-Fernandes-Gundo-Raphinha(C)
    Werner-Bamford-Kane

    Bench: Martinez, Barnes, Stones, Kilman

    Bench order correct? Kind of tempted to play Barnes ahead of Gundo?

  4. LEFT-FIELD
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 28 days ago

    Play Sanchez or McCarthy?

    1. Cilly Bonnolly
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Yes.

      1. Cilly Bonnolly
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 12 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        But seriously, I’d go Sanchez. I’ve a similar dilemma with McCarthy and a single gameweek keeper and I’m going Pope just because I don’t fancy McCarthy for a clean sheet in either game.

      2. LEFT-FIELD
        • 8 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Thanks! Yeah I'm on Sanchez at the moment. No clean sheet for Southampton the last 6 PL games worries me.

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

      McCarthy

      1. LEFT-FIELD
        • 8 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Thanks!

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

      Its a shame that Mcc dgw is not that good and Pope and Sanchez have such a good sgws. Still Mcc for me, just for fun at least.

      1. LEFT-FIELD
        • 8 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Thanks!

  5. Catastrophe
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 28 days ago

    With all the uncertainty and shenanigans, what's best?

    A) Ings & Konsa (Son on bench). Ings & Raphinha -> Watkins & Barnes (-4) in GW26
    B) Son & Targett (Watkins on bench). Raphinha -> Barnes in GW26

    Cheers!!

    1. Hooky
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      This post is a catastrophe

      1. John Nerdelbaum
        • 11 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        perfect sense for FFS

      2. badgerboy
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 8 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Getting RSI in my thumb.

  6. Reeker
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 10 Years
    3 years, 28 days ago

    Play Dias or Rudiger?

    Play Areola or Martinez?

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

      Dias + Areola

  7. Don Kloppeone
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 28 days ago

    DCL first on bench before Stones right? Higher ceiling?

    1. luk46
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      would put Stones ahead of him, high chance to keep cs

      1. Don Kloppeone
        • 6 Years
        3 years, 28 days ago

        Thanks

    2. Eh, just one more thing ...
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      I’d have DCL ahead personally ... attacking player first.

  8. Aaa
    • 9 Years
    3 years, 28 days ago

    Repost sorry:

    No wildcard or free hit available, would anybody bench boost this? JOHNSTONE/GREALISH/LOWTON/TARGETT Team is: Martinez Cancelo/Mee/Dallas Salah/Bruno/Gundo/Raphinha Kane/Bamford/DCL

    1. My heart goes Salalalalah
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Somebody would I guess

  9. g40steve
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 28 days ago

    Would you WC this to the below?

    Martinez,
    Dias, Mee, Maguire, Dallas
    Salah, Foden, Bruno, Gundo, Son,
    Bamford C,

    Johnson, DCL, Watkins, Coufal,

    Wildcard

    Martinez, Sanchez
    Dias, Stones, Shaw, Dunk, Aina
    Salah, Bruno, Son, Foden, Raphinha,
    Ings, Bamford, Watkins

    + cash for Bam or Watkins to Kane

  10. Vlekz
      3 years, 28 days ago

      Please RMWCT BB26 FH 29

      Ederson (Martinez)
      TAA Dias Rudiger Shaw (strujik)
      Salah barnes Gundo (raphinha jorginho)
      Vardy(bam in 25) kane(ings in 25) DCL

      TIA

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

        Very smart getting Ederson.
        No Son might kill you. Too much Leicester for my liking.

        1. Vlekz
            3 years, 28 days ago

            With grealish out there are no options in that price bracket. Recommend any?

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

              I would downgrade Vardy to Watkins/DCL and upgrade Barnes to Son.

              1. Vlekz
                  3 years, 28 days ago

                  Cheers thanks

          • Garth Marenghi
            • 7 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            taa and jorginho-meh

          • g40steve
            • 6 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            No Bruno start again

        2. wijohnson85
          • 9 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          A) Antonio to ings
          B) Adams to ings

          1. luk46
            • 5 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            A

          2. BobbyDoesNotLook
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 6 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            I did B. Antonio recovering and Adams not in XI currently.

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

          Keeping Cavani.

          No doubt I'll regret it.

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

            I'm keeping too, meh

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

          A) Keep Cavani (Gundo first on bench)

          B) Sell Cavani for Ings -4

          1. Weasel Boy
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 11 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            I'm keeping and crossing my fingers

          2. Hy liverpool
            • 10 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            B

        5. Sanchit
          • 8 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          What the latest on Kane?

          1. My heart goes Salalalalah
            • 7 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            Previous article

        6. luk46
          • 5 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          Ings > DCL for a hit? It means I will have someone like Maja instead of Watkins for dgw26...

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

            No

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

            Why?

          3. luk46
            • 5 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            oh mb, meant to write it other way around ofc

          4. Brehmeren
            • 13 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            If you mean DCL > Ings, then yes.

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

          Repost for the love of God

          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!

        8. MMN
          • 10 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          G2G?

          Areola
          Dallas, Mee, Cancelo
          Gundo, Salah, Bruno, Raphina, Barnes
          Watkins, Bamford (C)
          Martinez, Stones, DCL, Chilwell

          1. IN SANE IN DE BRUYNE
            • 7 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            Yep!

        9. Caleb's Kitties
          • 8 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          Choose only one to transfer in:

          A. Ings
          B. Raphinha

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

            B

          2. Eh, just one more thing ...
            • 12 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            B

        10. Rhodes your boat
          • 7 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          Wc gtg? 1.5itb for raph to barnes for BB26

          Martinez areola
          Stones shaw targett holgate rudiger
          Salah Bruno son gundo raph
          Kane bamford watkins

        11. Taegugk Warrior
          • 5 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          Play DCL or stones..?

          1. Sun Jihai
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 12 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            DCL

            1. Eh, just one more thing ...
              • 12 Years
              3 years, 28 days ago

              This

        12. gomez123
          • 10 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          Keep one of Gundo or Sterling for this GW only??...gunna WC next week

        13. EWH2020
          • 10 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          So even though there is no confirmation what's the likelihood of a DGW 26?

          1. Ruth_NZ
            • 9 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            Certain. The clubs already know the fixtures, it's just waiting on broadcast schedule now.

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

          Son to Salah on FT worth it?

          1. Eh, just one more thing ...
            • 12 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            Not for me.

        15. Kane Train
          • 9 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          Does this team look alright? Will be doing Bamford > DCL

          If DGW26 is announced before lockout am I good to go?

          Martinez
          Dias / Shaw / Konsa
          Salah / Bruno / Barnes / Gundo / Raph
          Kane / Bamford

          Bench: Ederson, Watkins, Soyuncu & Striujk.

          1. Kane Train
            • 9 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            Anybody ??

          2. Redranger
            • 9 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            GTG

        16. Pep Roulette
          • 6 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          A. Play DCL
          B. Play Antonio
          C. DCL to Ings for -4 and bench Antonio

        17. The Red Devil
          • 9 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          KdB or son on WC?
          Son would mean Stones+Cancelo+Gundogan
          KdB would mean Stones+Gundogan

        18. IN SANE IN DE BRUYNE
          • 7 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          Save FT? GTG?

          Areola
          Mee Dallas* Lowton
          Salah Bruno Son Gundogan
          Kane Ings* Bamford*

          (Sanchez Foden Stones Targett) 1FT 0ITB

        19. THFC4LIFE
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 7 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          Holding to Dallas worth a hit? Would mean benching Dias or Cancelo

          1. Eh, just one more thing ...
            • 12 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            No, defiantly not.

        20. FallingDuck
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 3 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          Meslier (Martinez)

          Cancelo, Stones, Mee (Cresswell, Mitchell)

          Salah, Bruno, Gundo, Grealish (Romeu)

          Bamford, DCL, Antonio

          Got 2 ft.

          Should I:
          A) Romeu and Antonio --> Raphina and Ings (Bench DCL)?
          B) Romeu and DCL --> Raphine and Ings (Bench Antonio and bring in Kane next gw)?
          C) Romeu and Cresswell --> Raphina and Shaw (Bench Mee, mitchell, antonio)?
          D) Romeu --> Raphina and save 1 ft?

        21. aapoman
          • 10 Years
          3 years, 28 days ago

          WC team g2g? Bamford -> Kane for gw26

          Martinez Fabri
          Cancelo Dallas Rüdiger Lowton White
          Salah Bruno KDB Barnes Raphinha
          Bamford (Kane) Watkins Brewster

          1. My heart goes Salalalalah
            • 7 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            Like it a whole lot

          2. My heart goes Salalalalah
            • 7 Years
            3 years, 28 days ago

            Maybe Dias over Cancelo? But not sure myself