We have chosen our best Fantasy Premier League (FPL) players for Gameweek 26.
As ever, we are limited to £83.0m for our first XI. And, after a reader vote ahead of 2022/23, an overall price cap of £100.0m is in place for our 15-man squad, too.
GOALKEEPER
Kepa Arrizabalaga (£4.7m) is our chosen goalkeeper in Gameweek 26. The Spaniard is averaging 6.0 points per start at home this season and hosts a Leeds United side who have failed to score in five of their last eight matches in all competitions. Goals have been hard to come by for Chelsea since the restart, but their defence has been solid, allowing just 1.04 expected goals (xG) per game from Gameweek 17 onwards.
DEFENDERS
Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhaes (£5.2m) kept two clean sheets in Double Gameweek 25, earning 15 FPL points. The Brazilian has the highest xG tally of all FPL defenders across the season and could potentially profit at both ends of the pitch at home to Bournemouth. That’s because Gary O’Neil’s side have conceded the most attempts from set pieces in 2022/23 and scored just one goal in their previous five away contests. As for The Gunners, they have kept 11 clean sheets in 25 Premier League games – and seven of those have come in matches against teams ranked from 12th to 20th.
Pervis Estupinan (£4.7m) was a consensus pick among the Scout Squad panel. He’s become an influential figure in Roberto De Zerbi’s 4-2-3-1 formation and has established a good understanding with Moises Caicedo (5.0m) and Kaoru Mitoma (£5.3m) down Brighton and Hove Albion’s left side. The full-back missed the midweek FA Cup win over Stoke City but has since been passed fit, making him a savvy pick against a West Ham United outfit with just one away win all season.
While Aston Villa’s underlying defensive stats don’t fill us with much hope, a nice home fixture against Crystal Palace sees budget defender Tyrone Mings (£4.3m) included. The Eagles have still only scored one goal from open play in their last 11 matches and have managed just 48 shots across their previous six, the lowest in the league in that period. They have also been at the wrong end of the table for chances conceded from set pieces all season, so Mings may not get a better opportunity to open his account in 2022/23.
MIDFIELDERS
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COMMUNITY CHAMPION
Each week, a member of the Fantasy Football Scout community takes on the Scout Picks.
The community member who beats our team by the largest margin will win a £100 Amazon voucher and a place in our Moderators and Contributors League for the following season.
Boleyn Boy’s 81-54 victory in Gameweek 6 gave them the biggest win (27 points difference) of 2022/23 so far.
Our champion this week is Could get Messi who has gone for the following: Ederson; Royal, Chilwell, Zinchenko; Mac Allister, Fernandes, Martinelli, Salah, Trossard; Toney, Kane (c)
The Scout Picks are tied 12-12 with the community this season.
FOLLOW THE SCOUT’S WEEKLY TRANSFER PLANS
We’re running a Scout community team in FPL this season, with regulars like TopMarx, Geoff, Tom Freeman and more contributing to the weekly decisions.
And we’re not just looking one week ahead like we are with the Scout Picks but instead planning in advance for the weeks and months to come.
You can follow our team via the Premier Fantasy Tools Pro Planner, which you can learn more about here.
