Fantasy Football Scout community writer Greyhead analyses the Double Gameweek 36 transfers and strategies of some well-known Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers. 

‘The Great and The Good’ this season are the FPL Godfather Mark Sutherns, the BlackBox pair of Az and Andy North, Scouts FPL General, Joe and Tom, the FPL Wire trio of Pras, Lateriser and Zophar, FPL celebrities FPL Harry, Martin Baker, Pingreen, FPL Frasier and Luke Williams, Hall of Famers Ben Crellin, Fabio Borges and Tom Dollimore, and last year’s mini-league winner Huss E.

“Waterloo”

It was a Eurovision-style Double Gameweek, with Manchester City getting the full 12 points from FPL managers, while Crystal Palace were more a case of nul points after Oliver Glasner warned everyone about restricted minutes, European congestion and a few injury issues. Suddenly, Palace’s players looked less ABBA and more like an awkward Estonian entry.

Among ‘The Great and The Good’, they had saved all their kisses and chips for me. Bench Boosts for the carefully choreographed strategists and Triple Captains for those who wanted an Erling Haaland (£14.7m) headline act.

What followed was a more dramatic week than the Eurovision green room. Arguments over an assist enraged Pascal Gross (£5.6m) owners, though he was finally awarded it.

Then, VAR strutted onstage in full sequins, delivering a series of baffling split decisions that left everyone furious. Yet not as angry as when Pep Guardiola was making his mind up about the benching of Haaland and Rayan Cherki (£6.6m).

OVERALL PERFORMANCE

Gameweek 36 arrived with glitter, drama, unexpected winners, and a few acts completely ruined by questionable decisions. In FPL terms, it meant one thing – the return of Pep Roulette.

Triple Captain users saw their plan sabotaged by this mysterious change in the running order. Instead, Bench Boosters stole the show, seeing Az, Andy and Tom Freeman take centre stage.

In fact, Tom was this week’s winner, with a dazzling 94 points. His unlikely Eurovision supergroup of Yankuba Minteh (£5.5m) and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.8m) somehow delivered the goods, like a Moldovan saxophone act unexpectedly winning the public vote.

Among the non-chip managers, Joe Lepper was best with 81 points, having put his faith in Brighton and Hove Albion via a double defence and Jack Hinshelwood (£5.1m). A performance so strong it swept both the jury and televote.

As for captaincy, the vast majority attached their armband to Haaland, and several smashed the Triple Captain button like pyrotechnics in the final chorus.

But spare a thought for the alternative acts. Lateriser went all diva by Triple Captaining Nico O’Reilly (£5.3m), while FPL General gave Cherki the ding-a-dong treatment… only for both acts to be cruelly benched or dropped for the second performance.

TRANSFERS

Meanwhile, the elite’s transfer activity had all the subtlety of a Europop key change, as there was a mass migration from Antoine Semenyo (£8.1m) to Cherki. A transfer so dripping in luxury that it arrived on stage carried by four shirtless violinists playing Wind of Change with a fog machine. But, on Wednesday night, the cheers soon turned to boos.

Elsewhere, Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) sashayed back into squads like a former winner returning for an interval performance. That’s because Cole Palmer’s (£10.3m) form is fading faster than a Norwegian jury’s credibility.

Pingreen and Tom Dollimore quietly produced the week’s most profitable move: upgrading Pascal Struijk (£4.2m) to Gabriel Magalhaes (£7.3m). There were no fireworks, no wind machines. Just a flawless transfer.

‘THE GREAT AND THE GOOD’ TEMPLATE

Over here, the biggest alteration sees Palmer finally leave the template, replaced by Saka on 66.7% of occasions.

At the back, Daniel Munoz (£5.5m) is the novelty act, now in a third of squads, thanks to the Double Gameweek. Struijk quietly disappeared from the stage after too much hard rock hallelujah.

Naturally, midfield is dominated by Bruno Fernandes (£10.4m) and his 100% ownership; the Sweden of FPL picks. Cherki (83.3%) has become the trendy Cyprus hipster selection, while 50% Danny Welbeck (£6.4m) shines his light by replacing Joao Pedro (£7.5m).

Darlow (77.8%), Verbruggen (55.6%)
O’Reilly (100.0%), Gabriel (88.9%), Hill (66.7%), Van Hecke (50.0%), Munoz (33.3%)
Fernandes (100.0%), Cherki (83.3%), Saka (66.7%), Tavernier (61.1%), Semenyo (22.2%)
Haaland (94.4%), Calvert-Lewin (61.1%), Welbeck (50.0%)

CHIP CHAMP

Next, a look at who the real chip champ is, as we approach the end of 2025/26.

The winner of the overall microphone trophy was that wily chip strategist Pras who, along with his Jemini (Google them) partner Zophar, went his own way with a Wildcard, Free Hit, Bench Boost sequence between Gameweeks 33 and 35.

Plenty of drama came from the Triple Captain category. Gameweek 36’s Haaland crew were celebrating getting one over the Gameweek 26 Gabriel guys, until that midweek benching left him feeling like Olly Alexander when forgetting the lyrics in the Grand Final.

Mark Sutherns emerged as the surprise winner; his Gameweek 26 trust in Declan Rice (£7.2m) brought in 42 points, gaining an incredible 90 of them when combining both usages of his triple.

The Bench Boost award gave us a three-way act, with Fabio, Luke and Zophar scoring 30 in the second half. But Harry took this chip’s crown for both halves of the season, accumulating 49 points.

Finally, Husse E mastered the Free Hit like prime Celine Dion, gaining 40 over the average score.

CONCLUSION

And so we face the final curtain of this FPL season, as there are two more weeks to go. Time for some to pick a differential and for others to stock up on Arsenal. Whatever happens, we will face our Waterloo very soon.

Anyway, that’s all from me for now, and remember: don’t have FPL nightmares. 

For those affected by any of the topics raised above, you can find me here on Twitter or BlueSky.