The first Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Double Gameweek of 2025/26 is fast approaching!
With bigger Blank/Double Gameweeks ahead, the Bench Boost and Free Hit aren’t too popular this week.
Instead, the leading chip in our Double Gameweek 26 poll is the Triple Captain. Around 25% of responders say they’re playing that chip this week.
Some of those will be thinking the unthinkable: using Triple Captain on a defender! Not just any old defender, though: Gabriel Magalhaes (£7.1m).
Here, we’ll assess some of the arguments for and against Triple Captaining the Brazilian in Arsenal’s Double Gameweek 26. We also take a look at some of the other potential windows to play the chip for those who choose to hold off.
TRIPLE CAPTAIN GABRIEL – THE PROS
DECENT FIXTURES, WITH A DECENT GAP BETWEEN
The immediate appeal boils down to the Premier League leaders having a Double Gameweek in which they play the division’s bottom side and also avoid any of the other so-called top teams, like Manchester City, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Chelsea, and Manchester United.
If you had to pick a ‘dream’ Double Gameweek on paper, those would almost certainly be some of the top conditions.
There’s also a full six days between Arsenal’s two Double Gameweek 26 fixtures, which is a relative rarity when it comes to doubles in years gone by and may hopefully lead to less rotation. An FA Cup fourth-round tie comes in between, of course, but the expectation is that Mikel Arteta tinkers in that game instead.
🤜F I X T U R E C R U S H🤛
GW25 — GW29
💚 5+ full days recovery between matches
💚 4 days
💛 3 days 😳
❤️ 2 days🥴
❤️ 1 day 🥵#FixtureCrushMatrix#WeAreHere #FPL #GW26 pic.twitter.com/po9b3C4u8N— Legomané (@Legomane_FPL) February 8, 2026
90-MINUTE MAN
Another condition, more specifically for an ideal Triple Captain, is that we want to try and choose a player like Gabriel who’ll get the maximum gametime within which they can earn us FPL points.
He ticks that box as a pretty much surefire 90-minute man when fully fit.
Above: Arsenal players sorted by minutes per start this season
He also appears to be more or less rotation-proof, in a way that many of his peers – Arsenal or otherwise – may not necessarily be, particularly in a Double Gameweek.
That means, provided he doesn’t pick up an unforeseeable injury or suspension during the first match, you’re almost guaranteed not just two starts in this upcoming double but quite possibly 180+ minutes of potential point-scoring opportunities.
CONSISTENT OUTPUT AT BOTH ENDS
Gabriel has a well-documented potential for points at both ends.
Firstly, he’s an integral staple in the country’s most airtight backline, which boasts a league-best 13 clean sheets in 25 games. The Brazilian is also the current leader among Arsenal defenders for defensive contribution points (12) and bonus points (18).
His appeal is further boosted by being one of the Gunners’ top targets for set-piece deliveries, with his aerial presence helping him register a joint career-high five attacking returns (three goals, two assists) already this season. Meanwhile, a total of six Opta-defined ‘big chances’ also ranks among the top defenders in the division, suggesting more attacking returns may be around the corner.
This level of output, delivered on such a consistent basis, has seen Gabriel average a league-second-best 7.4 points per start in 2025/26:
(minimum: 10 starts)
Look at the consistency, too. In terms of starting blanks (sBln), his rate of 22% (four in 18) is the lowest in the league.
That reliability puts Gabriel above Declan Rice (£7.5m) in the Triple Captain conversation this week.
UNKNOWNS LATER IN THE SEASON
Right now, we know that Arsenal are gunning (no pun intended) for the league title. The Champions League and the EFL Cup are on the backburner until March. The B team will likely be used in the FA Cup against League One strugglers Wigan Athletic.
But what about the doublers in Gameweek 33/36? Will the Champions League or the FA Cup then be the primary focus of the teams that play twice? Will the league/relegation/top-five spots be sewn up by Gameweek 36? There could be more Premier League rotation by that point, as a result.
TRIPLE CAPTAIN GABRIEL – THE CONS
