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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. Football Heaven
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    I’m playing Guaita and Doherty but benching AWB and Jonny. It’s really difficult to want a cs from their respective sides now...

    1. Football Heaven
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Don’t have bb

  2. Modest Bob
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Help please. OR 1006087.

    Pick one

    (a) this
    (b) that

    1. Kiwivillan
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Neither tbh

    2. Fantasy Gold
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      C) there

    3. Peter Ouch
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      The middle one, the longer

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

      (d) the other

    5. Homer21
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      What about these and those????

      1. JT11fc
        • 5 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        These and those have bad thingys imo.

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

      Tough one but I'd opt for option B here.

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

    Morning good people :)!
    Play one of
    1.rich
    2.sane
    3. Laporte

    Guaita
    Kola, bednarek, Jonny, xx
    Salah, pogs, son, xx
    Kun, rash, llorente

    TY, and good luck to everybody

    1. Kiwivillan
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Laporte

    2. gaurava1216
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Sane.... higher ceiling.

  4. Runaway
    • 12 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    For the ones planning to bring Auba next week, 0.1 drop willl be perfect!

    1. Kryten
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      That would be nice 🙂

    2. Fantasy Gold
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Yep it’s beautiful

    3. Homer21
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Especially if Kun goes up bt 0.1

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

    Would you do:
    A Ings to Auba
    B Sane to Son
    C Both

    Guaita
    Robertson Doherty AWB Laporte
    Salah Pogba Richarlison Sane
    Jimenez Rashford

    Fabianski Bednarek Gunnarsson *Ings

    5m ITB 2FT

    1. Fantasy Gold
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      B

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

      B because not sure on aub fitness

  6. leo_messi
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Jota(I have Doherty and Jimenez already) or Gross(I can easily bench him next gw) from now on??

    Thanks

    1. The 5% Team
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Gross...better for longer term as well

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

      Gross

  7. C'mon the Fylde
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Anyone giving Pogba the armband?
    Will he haul?

    I know Salah is the one most would go for, but a differential captain could be rewarding, but could also be costly.

    I'm leaning towards Pogba, rather than Salah, I think!

    1. THFC4LIFE
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Thought about Pogba or Rashford but playing safe with Salah this week

    2. Homer21
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Worth a punt, currently have arnband on Salah though

    3. gaurava1216
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Curse of the early KO... not for me

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

      No way I would not captain salah at home to Bournemouth.Its just a nobrainer regardless of EO

    5. El Lobito 10
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      On Pogba and keeping it there. Salah off the boil. Pogba form and fixture. Central to Utd play. Liverpool are nervous, this is enough for me to avoid them, plus Howe's bullish outlook on the game is encouraging. Cue a 4-0 hammering now from Liverpool and Salah double ha

  8. Here's Tom with the We…
    • 12 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Bench 1

    A AWB
    B Digne
    C Bednarek
    D Doherty

    1. C'mon the Fylde
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Digne

      1. Here's Tom with the We…
        • 12 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Thanks. It’s what I’m currently on

  9. Football Heaven
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Who’s likely to get a cs
    A. Palace
    B. Wolves

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

      Wolvess

    2. Homer21
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Both?

    3. gaurava1216
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      wolves

    4. Rust Cohle
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Wolves

  10. Numb
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    The press would have reported it by now if Auba hadn’t travelled. Therefore it’s probably a late assessment at worst.

    1. Fantasy Gold
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Thanks Doctor

      1. Numb
        • 9 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Just simple logic

    2. Shiva_Destroyer
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Agreed. Just a little worried that he’ll be benched

  11. Eat my goal!
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Hazard to haul again against City

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

      Yess

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

      Get out

    3. Fantasy Gold
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      yeah, Sarri will haul him off after 59 minutes

    4. Homer21
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Here's hoping

    5. Markus10
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Yes repay the faithful plz

  12. 2hotty
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Fabs or Guita got AWB

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

      I'm going Guita over Fan this week. It's a toss up though.

  13. Ask Yourself
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    West Ham will wear their 3rd kit today with which they have never scored in. Maybe bench Anderson chaps

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

      How many clean sheets for AWB in their 1st kit?

  14. Kszaq
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    inSane... too expensive to score 1 point in dgw. And now... not sure he will play. Sell him for -4. For whom? Jota?
    I already have: Pogba - Salah - Son - Torreira

  15. jimmy.floyd
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Play AWB, Bednarek or Sane?

  16. Acrux66
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    I think about 3 options:
    1) Sane->Son ( I think Totenham looks bad right now)
    2)Kun - > Auba
    3)Keep Sane and Kun

    1. manu4life99
      • 14 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      I did 1

  17. manu4life99
    • 14 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    A) Play Haz, save FT (Aub in next wk)
    B) Haz to Mane FT (No Aub next wk)

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

      2

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

      A

  18. Dezrar
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Fab
    VVD Doherty AWB
    Salah Haz Pogba Son
    Rashford Mitro

    Laporte Digne Success

    Already done Sane > Son

    a) haz + success > Laca + 7.4 mid (-4)
    B) hold, have 2 FT next GW
    C) any better ideas?

    For the 7.4 mid I was looking at Felipe/Miliojevic/Gross...

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

    Play WB or Bednarek??

    1. gaurava1216
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      wb

  20. OptimusBlack
    • 10 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    On WC so which is better?
    A- Alison - Duffy - Pereira +1.2 M
    B- Ryan - Robbo - Bednarek + 1.9 M

    1. Peter Ouch
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      B

  21. joinho
    • 14 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Jota or Moutinho?

  22. vityovics
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Bench one please
    A) AWB
    B) Bennett
    C) Digne

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

      B

  23. NWA
    • 6 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Hi lads,

    I have Patricio as my GK and my bench is milivojevic, bennett and bendarek.

    Is starting AWB over bennet or bednarek the good choice?
    a- yes
    b- no (if no who?)

    Who should be first on my bench ? I have Aubam
    1- mili
    2- bennett
    3- bednarek

    thx

  24. Football Heaven
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    I think I have my biggest benching headache ever

    Can only play 3 of (unless I bench sane)
    Robertson TAA Doherty AWB and Jonny

    And only one of Guaita and fab

    Would basically guarantee me bench points if one of the teams does well

    1. joinho
      • 14 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Benchboost?

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

      Robertson TAA Doherty Guitar

    3. vityovics
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Gua
      Rob TAA Doh

  25. Differentiator
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    God knows why you would captain Salah over Son

    1. Piggs Boson
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Leicester are tough to break down.

      1. Van der Faart
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 12 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Conceded 5 at Wembley last game of the season

        1. Van der Faart
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 12 Years
          5 years, 1 month ago

          Which I'm aware means zero just putting it out there

  26. azz007
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    If you wildcard. Can you also use BB same GW

    1. Van der Faart
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      No

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

      No

  27. Weilong7
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Lloris
    Robbo TAA AWB Lindelof
    Pogba Son Salah Sane
    Rashford Jimenez

    Bench: Button, Luiz, Masuaku, Kamara

    1) gtg
    2) Sane out for Anderson/someone else?
    3) Luiz out for Doherty/someone else?
    4) something else?

    1FT 3.9ITB

    thanks!

  28. fenixri
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    1st bench Alonso or Fraser?

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

    Thoughts on:

    Hazard and kamara to auba and fodder - 4?

    Thanks

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

      No way

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

      No to Auba
      Arsenal only won 1-0 at home
      v Huddersfield plus illness ,whatever it is, can be draining

  30. Majestic Chanka
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Alonso to Kola for a hit?

    Kola would replace Laporte in my lineup.

    Seems fairly sensible but I just do not trust Arsenal or Emery for that matter. Can I trust that HUD are that bad now???

    1. Kiwivillan
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Kosc

    2. The Darkest Knight
      • 13 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      keep laporte .. city can keep CS against chelsea

      1. g40steve
        • 6 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        No chance