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The Complete Guide to our FPL Gameweek 26 tips and advice

The Gameweek 26 deadline approaches after the most tumultuous Gameweek in recent memory. For those who Triple Captained Manchester City’s Sergio Agüero it brought 57 points and unbridled joy, for others, despair – Leroy Sané’s solitary point was way below expectations. You thought triple captaining Andy Carroll was a disaster.

The bad news is that, for those who suffered, it could get worse.

This week’s Meet the Manager guest, former FPL winner Simon March, a recent graduate in behavioural economics, cautioned that managers who lost out in Gameweek 25 could fall victim to the “What the heck? Effect” – where we are more likely to take risks following a loss.

Simon’s advice is to try to be objective about risk and reward values. If you are wondering how to do that then fear not, help is at hand. The writers, contributors, and posters here at Fantasy Football Scout have been busily sorting the wheat from the chaff.

The first step is to clear your head, and what better place to start than last week’s cathartic episode of the Scoutcast. In an open and revealing discussion, J0E, Az and David talked about how a bad gameweek can affect your mental health. This lead to a hot topic on the subject in which FFS members including SuperMane Returns and Pep Pig shared stories about their personal struggles with addiction.

Having put things in perspective, let’s take a look at this week’s opportunities.

Neale (aka Skonto Rigga) has perused the upcoming fixtures to determine which teams are best placed to take advantage. According to Hutch_James, a number of teams are predicted to do well in Gameweek 26 as he revealed in his Wisdom of the Crowd article. Although for G-Whizz Liverpool are the standout option in the latest DS stats, fixtures and clean sheet odds.

David’s Captain Sensible article makes for fascinating reading as ever. After back-to-back blanks, are there serious contenders to take the armband away from Mohamed Salah?

A lot of the discussion this week has centered around what to do with our City players. The FPL General, a victim of Pep’s unpredictable whims, collected his thoughts ahead of Gameweek 26. While Geoff started a conversation about Sané replacements.

If you noticed, during this tempestuous week, the strange sight of a man being pursued by a bear, it was probably old Greyhead. Our community writer’s regular examination of The Great and The Good took on Shakespearean proportions. Mark and Niemi aside, the rest suffered “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”, for Ville it’s now nine red arrows in a row.

The irony is that this season, it is The Great and The Good who should be pursuing Greyhead. He’s doing superbly well and is currently ranked 549 overall. According to FPL Transfer Spy, the high-flying scribe has sold the Belgian Wizard Eden Hazard for the free-scoring South Korean Son Heung-min ahead of the transfer deadline.

The picture ahead of Blank Gameweek 31 became a little clearer with Brighton’s progress in the FA cup. For those planning ahead, Liverpool appear an attractive proposition as they don’t have any Blank Gameweeks this season. It wasn’t so long ago that many managers were considering a defensive double-up, however the Reds have struggled for clean sheets recently. Neale’s looked into what is behind their recent defensive woes.

One reason is perhaps the injuries they’ve had, but could Trent Alexander-Arnold be ready to return to the fold?

Find out in the team news rounded-up in full by Neale, together with a handy hot topic from Rotation’s Alter Ego.

Finally, for players of the Sky Sports game, Luke (aka disable) brought us a breakdown on player ownership for the top 1,000 managers.

To view all our discussions please visit our Hot Topics page, and if you’ve got some analysis, scout reports or features brewing, be sure to visit our community section to submit your article.

If you’re a member and are yet to get to grips with the custom statistics tables, you can view this movie for an explanation of how they work. Also, remember to tag them so that people can find the tables with ease.

COMMUNITY TOURNAMENTS

The finals of the two FFS cup competitions take place this gameweek.

In the semi-finals of the FFS Members Cup Jambo17 was the outstanding performer – a whopping 114 points was easily enough to see off his rival AKÉ MEYER DANN U. Jambo17 had the optimal City combination of Agüero, Sterling, and Laporte, and he used his Triple Captain chip on Sterling. He moves into the top 100 overall and must start as favourite in the final.

Does his opponent stand a chance?

Jay # scraped through his semi-final against Eedee by 62 points to 56 and is ranked 59,782 overall, so on the surface you would say probably not. However, he looks well positioned to have a good gameweek with Arsenal’s Aubameyang and Kolasinac already in place along with Jiménez up front. He’s also helped by the fact his opponent has already taken a hit. So an upset isn’t out of the question.

In the semi-finals of the FFS Cup Get It Inter Ya overcame Justmatt, and Man-Chest-Heir F.C. saw off the challenge of Tibbles.

Get It Inter Ya did very well to score 75 points despite captaining Sané, double digit returns from De Gea and Chelsea pair David Luiz and Eden Hazard bailed him out. He remains in the top 1,000 overall. Heading into the final, he owns Kolasinac although not his teammate Aubameyang. Instead he has a cheap front line, but with two free transfers available we could see funds shifted forward to buy the Gabonese international.

Man-Chest-Heir F.C had Laporte to thank for his semi-final victory as he was another to captain Sané. The lowest ranked of the finalists at 124,414 overall, he has one free transfer and £2.4m in the bank to bolster his squad. With a cheap front line, including Josh King away to Liverpool, and an injured David Brooks, he has an important decision to make on how to invest those funds.

In the final of the FFS Manager Melee Community Tournament American Dycho have triumphed over The Godfather: Pardew with a 7-2 victory. An official match report will follow shortly.

In TorresMagic’s Last Man Standing the safety score in Gameweek 25 was 49, this saw 70 managers eliminated. 616 managers are through to Gameweek 26, when the threshold for elimination increases to 12%. The final will take place in Gameweek 37.

It’s all change at the top of the featured mini-leagues after the divisive double gameweek.

There’s a new leader in our main FFS League with Omer Weisberg taking top spot as Miroslav Pujic drops to eighth after only managing 52 points. Omer ignored the clamour to captain a City player and plumped instead for Chelsea’s Eden Hazard. The diminutive Belgian, along with Laporte and Higuain, helped Omer to a gameweek score of 100. He is now sixth overall in only his second FPL season.

Tore Bjørheim has lost his 15 point lead at the head of the FFS Members League as Adam Levy surged past him. Adam triple captained Agüero for a gameweek score of 126 and moves up to 17th overall. This is his sixth season, his best finish of 10,847 came last year.

David’s reign atop the FFS Mods & Cons is at an end. Overthrown by his boss, Mark stormed past David with a stupendous 102 points to leave his employee floundering in his wake. Am I making this sound more dramatic than it actually is? Possibly. Mark had a decent gameweek with Sterling, Hazard, and Laporte contributing to his total. I’m sure David will bounce back.

Mark moves up to second in the FFS Live Hall of Fame behind Sean Tobin. Sean managed an impressive 93 points in Gameweek 25 and now finds himself in the top 10 overall. Yet to make a transfer this week, Sean could be doing the Auba to Agüero hokey-cokey. Sean featured recently in one of J0E’s Meet the Manager videos.

James Wells is the new leader in RedLightning’s Top 10k Any Season mini-league, as long-time leader Luke Aiello drops to third. James is a new entry to this mini-league and is perhaps lucky to be top after triple captaining Sané. He dropped from eighth to 39th overall. This is his 13th FPL season, he has two previous top 10,000 finishes, the highest one being 2,330 back in 2006/07.

JOZ V moves into first place in RedLightning’s January to May League as previous leader Lesego Maforah drops out of the top ten. JOZ V triple captained Agüero on his way to a mighty 125 points. This is his sixth FPL season, his best finish being 2,799 in 2014/15.

Finally, some managers may have noticed a new mini-league appear – RedLightning has reactivated and renamed his Doubles Blanks & Chips mini-league from last season to Last Ten GWs. The code for others who may like to join is 1637-1351886. The league will begin scoring in Gameweek 29.

The reason for the name change is that having just had a pivotal double gameweek, the January to May League is a perhaps a better way of seeing which chip strategies are proving to be the most effective in dealing with this season’s Double and Blank gameweeks.

If you are running a community tournament and would like the latest scores included in future Community Round-Ups, please email us a summary of the current leaders and a link to your league, spreadsheet or head-to-head competition at geoff@fantasyfootballscout.co.uk


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

2,132 Comments Post a Comment
  1. FlockofSeagulls
    • 6 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Anyone contemplating a cheeky captain punt on Aguero this gw, or is it smarter to just back to more poplar pick in Salah?

    1. FlockofSeagulls
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      *the more popular pick

    2. Miguel Sanchez
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Think there are cheekier punts this GW

    3. Jönny
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Rashford for me, I think...

    4. fr3d
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Depends on the size of your balls

      1. FlockofSeagulls
        • 6 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        THEY ARE MASSIVE.......

        DUE TO A HORRIBLE MEDICAL CONDITION.

    5. Champione
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Definitely a decent pick but Salah has a much higher ceiling this week imo. Won't be surprised if Salah gets a 15 pointer. Can't see Aguero scoring more than two goals

    6. Taking one for the team
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Aguero could work!
      Or Rash, Pogs, Son

    7. Now I'm Panicking
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Pick who you think is likely to score most points

  2. Eze Really?
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Who are the best long term options to GW31?

    Kun Lamela to
    Vardy Mane or
    Laca anderson

    1. abaalan
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Laca + Maddison??
      Not really a fan of Vardy, scores against the big boys, does nothing in the easy games. Also at annoying price point.

      1. Eze Really?
        • 9 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        My choice to cover for GW31. Laca obviously good but Arnie also a choice

  3. thomashl
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Who to bench for TAA?

    Patricio
    Robbo Kola Doherty
    Salah(c) Son Sane Pogba
    Rash Auba Jimenez

    (Hamer - TAA Wan-B Højbj)

    1. Champione
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      probably Sané if you really want to play TAA

      1. thomashl
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 7 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Cheers. Who would you play out of those?

    2. Miguel Sanchez
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Sane

    3. @FPLDIARYFPL
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Doh

  4. JenkoJunko
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Morning all! Advice needed 🙂

    Current squad:
    Foster Bego
    Robertson Shaw WB Doherty Digne
    Sane Salah Pogba Deulofeu Camarasa
    Rashford Jimenez Aguero

    1FT Options:
    1. Wild card to:
    Foster Boruc
    Robertson Shaw WB Doherty Bednarek
    Dsilva Salah Pogba Son Dendoncker
    Rashford Jimenez Auba

    2. Aguero to Auba
    3. Save transfer till next GW
    4. Anything I've missed????

    Any thoughts and advice would be amazing! Ta 🙂

    1. Champione
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Sané to Son or Mané imo

      1. abaalan
        • 7 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Looks like the obvious move to me this week. Could look at maddison or anderson to save some cash otherwise

        1. JenkoJunko
          • 5 Years
          5 years, 1 month ago

          Yeah Sane to Son does look like a good move this week. Sane looks out of favour again with Pep.... saying that he'll prob start and bag a brace! Cheers guys

    2. bobwils
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Some doubt over the fitness of Aubameyang???

      1. JenkoJunko
        • 5 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        That has ruined my plans... think ill stick with Aguero now!

    3. Fpl Richie
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Wildcard? By all means 🙂

      Don't do that Auba move. Too risky now.

    4. @FPLDIARYFPL
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Wouldnt wc. Aub to Aguero seems a good pick.

    5. Eze Really?
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Cannot risk Auba injury.
      Move Dilva or Sane to Anderson?

  5. Chicxulub
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    What to do?!

    A) Play Rich
    B) Play Deu
    C) Play Digne
    D) Digne-> Kola (play Kola)

    1FT 1.2 ITB

    1. Taking one for the team
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      A

    2. Champione
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      C

  6. bobwils
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 13 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Thoughts please,
    Sane to Pogba or
    Sane to Mane

    I have Salah and Ederson

    1. Taking one for the team
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Pogs

  7. abaalan
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Was originally going to bring in Auba this week for the nice next 3 fixtures.

    Best option now: (7!! ITB, 1 FT)
    A) Bring in Laca (for Barnes)
    B) Do something with Richarlison (noone im that keen on - everyone seems to be going crazy for Son, but not convinced fixtures and spurs form that great + already own Salah, Pogba, Sterling)

  8. Fpl Richie
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Play 2 thereof...
    A. TAA (injury doubt, have Robbo).
    B. AWB (have Guaita, Tomkins out).
    C. Digne (Everton form...)
    D. Richarlison (as above!)

    Have Auba and TAA so bench likely to be needed, so I'll take any bench order suggestions too 🙂

  9. Atimis
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Any changes between starting XI and bench? Play Bednarek?

    Fabianski
    Doherty/Shaw/WB
    Salah(c)/Mane/Son/Pogba
    Auba/Rashford/Jimenez

    Hart/Bednarek/Digne/Puncheon

    1. Rinseboy
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      stick

  10. Rinseboy
    • 12 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Can we have the vote to end all votes!
    Play Digne or AWB?!!!
    Thanks all

    1. Now I'm Panicking
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      AWB

    2. Taking one for the team
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Digne

    3. Atimis
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      WB

    4. Fpl Richie
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Do you have any other Everton or palace? I'm hedging my bets currently (have Guaita).

      1. Rinseboy
        • 12 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        nope only those 2. AWb feels like a 6 points tops. Digne feels like most likely 1 or 2 but could get 10 points out of no where!

    5. Rinseboy
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      no one concerned this a week where Digne gets 2 goals again!

    6. TheBrazilianRonaldo
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      In Scotland they ‘Digne think a vote was needed’.

      I have Siggi and need to ship. Everton are a disaster. Everton to finish 10th

      That count as a vote?

      1. Rinseboy
        • 12 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        they are but is this a classic FF twist and Digne bounces back with a bang?!

        1. TheBrazilianRonaldo
          • 5 Years
          5 years, 1 month ago

          Digne could well do, but then he’ll get sent off again or carded next game or they’ll concede 5, so I shipped him

  11. ooooo
    • 6 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Save? 0.3itb 1FT
    Fabianski
    Vvd Robbo Bennett
    Salah sane Son Richarlison
    Auba Rashford Jiminez

    Button Wb Bednarek Hojberg

  12. Lightbody
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 14 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Anyone captaining Auba on the off chance he starts? With vice on Mo? Surely Auba either starts or is too ill to play at all...

    1. Taking one for the team
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Yeh why not

    2. Now I'm Panicking
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Anytime scorer best odds: Salah 7/10, Auba 23/20

    3. Bodie
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      I’m 50/50 at the moment it’s a tricky one. Not too many salah owners in my league so is a better differential!!

  13. FPL-(VAR)dy
    • 6 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Playing 3 at the back
    Bench 2 out of the following:
    1)Digne( v Wat)
    2)Robbo( v bou)
    3)TAA (V bou)
    4)Kola( v hud)
    5)Bednarek (v Car)

  14. SpaceCadet
    • 10 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Is laca cap a good differential to have this gw?

  15. MrFootieIsHere
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Best mid for £4.3m?

    1. Taking one for the team
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Either Dendoncker or romeu

  16. George James
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Sane >> Jota?

    1. Taking one for the team
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Yup

  17. Bodie
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Just done my wildcard.
    All ok?!?

    Guaita
    van Dijk Doherty Kolasinac
    (C)Salah Mane Son Pogba
    Jiménez Rashford (v)Aubameyang

    Bench
    Boruc
    Wan-Bissaka
    Hayden
    Peltier

  18. Sgt Frank Drebin
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Best midfielder for 9.0m? I've already got Pogba and Son...

    1. jomikijiq
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Anderson

  19. jomikijiq
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Bench one:

    A) Laporte
    B) AWB
    C) Rich

    1. kawaiii
      • 13 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Laporte

    2. Taking one for the team
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      A

  20. HaffNanner
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 6 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Which 2 to play?

    A. Wan Bissaka (WHU H)
    B. Bednarek (CAR H)
    C. Digne (WAT A)
    D. Richarlison (WAT A)

    1. Tom Heat-is-on
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      maybe A, D

    2. Taking one for the team
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      CD

  21. FPL ElasticO
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Who to bench??

    A. Ward-prowse
    B. Digne
    C. AWB

    1. kawaiii
      • 13 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Digne

  22. Chandler Bing
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Is Laca a good pick if Arsenal get a DGW or is Aubameyang the only Arsenal attacker worth picking?

    1. IAWC ( It's a Wonderfu…
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      We will find the answers depending on how Emery approaches uel next 2 weeks

  23. kawaiii
    • 13 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Laporte, WB or Digne to play with Doherty & TAA.
    Suggestions welcome. Thanks.

  24. Tom Heat-is-on
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Play one:
    A) Digne (wat)
    B) AWB (WHU)

    1. kawaiii
      • 13 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      AWB

      1. Tom Heat-is-on
        • 7 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Thanks. That's what I thought.

      2. nico05
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 5 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        B

  25. minges
    • 12 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Having a crap fpl year. Need something special to finish the year..
    Firminho, hazard, richarlison (-8) to Auba, Anderson, Pogba

    Yay or nay?
    1ft 2.8itb
    Fab
    Doherty Robbo Awb (tarksowski bednarek)
    Salah haz rich son jota
    Firm rashford (success)

    1. MrFootieIsHere
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Wouldn't;t bring Auba in - too risky.

    2. Juhlers
      • 11 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      I think it is a bit rushed..

      Firmino plays in 27
      Anderson has great fixture in 27 even
      Aubameyang would be nice, perhaps you can fit him in next week, and ship out Haz by then?

      1. minges
        • 12 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        That's fair

  26. Denis Tueart on the wing
    • 14 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Can't decide which of these to play in 1st eleven, and then order of benching

    a) Richarlison WAT (A)
    b) Shaw FUL (A)
    c) Holebas EVE (H)
    d) Suárez HUD (A)

    Any thoughts appreciated
    (I had 24pts on the bench last GW!)

  27. BOATIES FC
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Play TAA or Shaw?

  28. GoonerSteve
    • 14 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Dropped from inside top 30k to outside 100k in a few weeks!

    Help needed drastically, current team:

    Fab (Hamer)
    Robertson, Doherty, Holebas, (wanb, Simpson)
    Salah (c), Son, Pogba, Sane, Richarlison
    Auba, Rashford (Kamara)

    Current thoughts:

    A) Sane to Mane
    B) Sane to FAnderson, Kamara to Jiminez
    C) something else?

    Help!

    1. BOATIES FC
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      B

  29. madame shelly
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Redmond a good option ? Cant afford Jota

    1. Eze Really?
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Outside of Fraser there has been no consistent high scoring low value mid.

  30. Flynny
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    What to do here??

    A....stick

    B....hazard and Kamara to auba and fodder -4

    Fab (ederson)
    Robbo Doherty lindelof (bednarek awb)
    Salah hazard son pog richi
    Rash jiminez (kamara)

    Thanks

    1. BOATIES FC
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Risky getting in Auba for a hit