The best FPL midfielders for Double Gameweek 26: Free Hit or free transfers

Eight top-flight teams are due to play twice in Double Gameweek 26 and we’ll be running down a position-by-position guide to the pick of the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) options in each position, whether you’re using a Free Hit or even just free transfers.

Just over 10% of Fantasy Football Scout users have said they are planning to activate their Free Hit, making it the second-most popular chip option.

Having taken a look at the pick of the goalkeepers and the stand-out defenders, we now switch our attention to the midfielders.

All stats taken from this article are from our Premium Members Area.

MOHAMED SALAH/DIOGO JOTA

*written before Jota’s injury in Liverpool’s win over Inter

The Premier League’s two leading goalscorers up against the division’s worst two teams for goals conceded. No matter what caveats we might apply to Mohamed Salah (£13.0m) and Diogo Jota (£8.5m) about managed minutes, the fact is that the two best midfielders for shots in the box, big chances and expected goal involvement (xGI) have two favourable opponents, back-to-back, in a Double Gameweek.

Norwich City’s recent improvements at the back were put in some perspective by Manchester City’s 4-0 win at Carrow Road last weekend, while Leeds United are arguably the division’s worst defence on current form, having conceded 26 goals and not kept a single clean sheet in their last nine matches. There are fitness concerns over the Whites’ first three options at left-back, too, to further Salah’s appeal.

The rotation risk has to be acknowledged: Jurgen Klopp has a fully fit squad at his disposal, and with a Champions League tie and an EFL Cup final sandwiching Double Gameweek 26, it wouldn’t be a shock to see a degree of tinkering from the Reds’ boss against Norwich and/or Leeds. The addition of Luis Diaz (£8.0m) in the transfer window and Sadio Mane‘s (£11.7m) return from the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), not to mention the availability of the likes of Divock Origi (£4.8m) and Takumi Minamino (£5.1m), means that Klopp could name a different front three in each league game.

But you’d back any Liverpool midfield option for a tidy return even in the scenario of them just starting one of the next two games, and that’s reflected in our points projections in the Premium Members Area: Jota, despite his ‘expected minutes’ (xM) taking a big hit as a result of the aforementioned competition for places, is still forecast to return over 10 points in Gameweek 26. Salah, you won’t be surprised to hear, is top of the pile.

Jota, for Free Hitters umming and ahhing over their third Liverpool option, also narrowly sits ahead of Andrew Robertson (£7.1m) in our ‘expected points’ (adjP) table for the upcoming Gameweek. The Scot has his own positional rival in the form of Kostas Tsimikas (£3.7m), who could feasibly be used in one of the next two matches, and substitute appearances are also less commonplace at left-back: there have only been three such changes this season. Robertson probably has more chance of starting both Gameweek 26 matches but, if he gets a benching, is considerably less likely than Jota to do damage in a cameo.

We haven’t mentioned Mane much here but £11.7m for a midfielder who is arguably just as much at risk of rotation as Jota thanks to the arrival of Diaz, and not delivering as much either in terms of FPL points or underlying numbers, does seem like an expensive gamble.

BUKAYO SAKA/MARTIN ODEGAARD

Whether you’re playing a Free Hit in Gameweek 26 or 27, Arsenal assets will be near the top of the shopping list for many Fantasy managers this week.

The Gunners have a double in Gameweek 26, a guaranteed fixture in Blank Gameweek 30 (when as many as 14 other teams could blank) and three more Double Gameweeks to squeeze in between now and the end of the season.

Their defenders look like good picks-ups given that Gameweek 26 opponents Brentford and Wolves are not exactly free-flowing going forwards but what of their midfield assets?

Firstly, let’s remind ourselves that Gabriel Martinelli (£5.4m) is suspended for the first Gameweek 26 match, while Emile Smith Rowe (£5.8m) – his likely replacement on Saturday – has been benched in six of Arsenal’s last seven league matches. Smith Rowe might have a stormer against the Bees and keep his place but it’s important to acknowledge the rotation risk that has accompanied the England international recently.

So attention switches to Bukayo Saka (£6.4m) and Martin Odegaard (£5.5m).

Saka is second among midfielders for goal attempts over his last six matches, while Odegaard is third for chances created over the same period. The pair have seven and six attacking returns respectively in the Gunners’ last 10 Premier League games.

Above: Saka and Odegaard’s expected goal involvement (xGI) figures over their last six matches. They are ranked 16th and 19th respectively among all midfielders for this stat.

The xGI numbers above neatly sum up the two players’ appeal: Saka offering a bit of both assist and goal potential, with Odegaard the more creative but lacking in much goal threat. The Norway international, in fact, hasn’t had a single big chance all season, despite scoring four goals.

Both players are heavily involved at set plays, meanwhile.

The all-round appeal of Saka means that he gets the nod in a straight fight, despite the extra outlay: his minutes-per-xGI figure over the course of the season (197.7) is not only better than Odegaard’s (312.2) by some distance but also that of Smith-Rowe (247).

SON HEUNG-MIN

With rotation risk abounding elsewhere, there’s really just Son Heung-min (£10.7m) – who Antonio Conte said only last week was one of his near-undroppables – who comes into the reckoning from the Spurs midfield.

But it’s perhaps not just other midfielders who Son is competing against for a place in our FPL squads/Free Hit teams – it might also be Harry Kane (£12.2m).

FPL bosses would be understandably sceptical of a Spurs attacking double-up given that the Lilywhites are on a three-game losing run and face Manchester City in one of their two Double Gameweek 26 fixtures.

Since Conte took charge, Son has outscored his teammate by quite the margin in FPL and is currently on a run of eight goals and assists combined in as many starts.

Kane, however, does have the edge when it comes to xGI: no player in any position in the division has ‘underachieved’ more than the Spurs forward since Conte assumed control (Kane has five attacking returns from an xGI of 8.79 from Gameweek 11 onwards), and you’d think that profligacy wouldn’t last forever given his historic pedigree.

Above: Midfielders with two fixtures in Gameweek 26 sorted by minutes per xGI from Gameweek 11 (Conte’s first match) onwards

As for direct competition with other midfielders with two fixtures in the upcoming Gameweek, Son ranks fairly well and has a very good chance of racking up more minutes than the five players ahead of him.

City and a defensively improved Burnely are far from ideal opposition but the Korean does have good recent form against the two sides, racking up three successive double-digit hauls against the Clarets and scoring in three of his last four meetings with Pep Guardiola’s troops.

For managers who aren’t using a Free Hit in Gameweek 27, Son is also a savvy buy as he has the advantage of playing a defensively abject Leeds then – although beware of the possible Gameweek 30 blank.

OTHER DOUBLE GAMEWEEK CANDIDATES

Raphinha (£6.5m) picked a bad time to deliver two of his worst performances in a Leeds shirt, with his non-display against Everton leading to a half-time substitution last weekend. The Whites have arguably the least appealing double-header of the eight teams with two fixtures (home to Manchester United, away to Liverpool) but it should be said that the Red Devils look suspect defensively, with one of only two clean sheets in their last nine league matches coming against the 10 men of Brighton on Tuesday. Liverpool might also be a tad more vulnerable if rotation does occur next Wednesday.

Raphinha, for all his post-international break slump, is still posting some decent underlying numbers in his last six matches (see above). Unfortunately, we’d need a psychologist and not a data analyst to determine whether his current malaise is a two-game-only affair or something deeper.

A bit like the Leeds man, Maxwel Cornet (£5.9m) hasn’t quite looked at his best since reporting back from international duty and is “finding his Premier League fitness” according to his manager – not words that you’d want to hear before a Double Gameweek. Six goals in nine appearances, many of them curtailed by substitutions, before he left for AFCON hinted at his potential but he’s flattered to deceive since and was moved back wide in Gameweeks 24 and 25, registering only one shot on goal and one key pass. Should he become an ‘out of position’ prospect again, say in the event of a Wout Weghorst (£6.5m) injury, then he’s more of an attractive proposition, particularly for those managers looking to cover Double Gameweeks 26 and 27 with free transfers; Burnley are the only club with four matches over those two rounds.

Patrick Viera has a full complement of attackers at his disposal, which leaves us cold on most of their options due to the rotation risk. Wilfried Zaha (£6.8m) looks the safest bet: he’s started 18 of the 19 matches he has been available for this season with his only benching coming after he returned from Covid-19 and was short of fitness. Vieira’s recent comments suggest Zaha remains on penalties despite a miss in Gameweek 24, which is a bonus, but the Eagles have struggled on the road (one win and an average of 0.9 goals per game) and head to a defensively improved Watford after they entertain Chelsea this weekend.

We could probably do with seeing a couple more Watford games to see where Ismaila Sarr (£5.7m) features in Roy Hodgson’s plans and how the veteran coach plans to improve on a goalless start to his reign, otherwise the five-goal Senegalese winger – who averages more shots in the box per 90 minutes than Son in 2021/22 – would have been more prominent in the Gameweek 26 conversation.

JARROD BOWEN AND THE SINGLE GAMEWEEKERS

No, not a ’60s beat group but rather our swift look at the midfielders who play only once in Gameweek 26.

Effectively, we’re concentrating on three teams with plum home fixtures – Aston Villa, West Ham United and Manchester City – and a Manchester United side away at porous Leeds.

An in-form City attacker might still be a ‘keep’ (budget permitting) despite the lack of a double, with Spurs in poor shape at the back and the possible absence of Gabriel Jesus (£8.5m) and Jack Grealish (£7.5m) leaving the front three easier to predict than usual.

Jarrod Bowen (£7.0m) has 27 more points than any other FPL player over the last six Gameweeks, and is second only to Salah for points overall among midfielders, so he’s not an easy sell given that West Ham are at home to a Newcastle side who are weakened by the loss of the injured and influential Kieran Trippier (£5.0m).

Philippe Coutinho (£7.3m), who has 22 points across his first two appearances at Villa Park in the claret and blue, now faces a Watford side who are seemingly caught between staying tight at the back and the need to open up to improve on their dismal recent ‘goals for’ tally. If you’re building/dead-ending towards Gameweek 30, a Villa asset is also a ‘hold’.

Finally, might the Salah makeweight have a final laugh at our expense? Top for Gameweek 26 transfers out, Bruno Fernandes (£11.7m) renews acquaintances with a Leeds defence who he scored a hat-trick and 20 points against in Gameweek 1 – and the Whites are arguably in even worse shape now than they were then.