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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. Klein
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Whats wrong with rashford?

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

      PSG

    2. Holmes
      • 10 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      some rumours of sub appearance due to PSG game

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

        source?

      2. Adam West - Team Serbia for…
        • 13 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Did anyone at the club say anything or did people on here just start a rumour ?

        1. Holmes
          • 10 Years
          5 years, 1 month ago

          people on here, as always

          1. Pras (FPL)
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 12 Years
            5 years, 1 month ago

            Manchester evening news have a leaked lineup. Links are in previous pages.

    3. Yome
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      He will be rested, Lukaku needs gametime

      1. It’s gonna Ben Mee
        • 10 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Sauce?

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

          Ketchup on chips, HP on jacket spuds.

  2. Nightf0x
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Bench 2? Sane awb taa auba

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

      AWB and TAA

  3. Teror
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Richarlison >

    A. Fanderson

    B. Save FT

    1. Meinhoff
      • 11 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      A

    2. Holmes
      • 10 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      B

    3. Tshelby
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Fanderson back a must have?

    4. Limbo
      • 13 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      B. Wait. Old club today. 2FT tomorrow will be invaluable.

  4. Thomas M.
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Who to bench
    A. Rich
    B. Awb
    C. Bednarek

    1. Thomas M.
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Or TAA

  5. Meinhoff
    • 11 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Rashford -> Jimenez (-4) ?

    1. No Professionals
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      As per my previous comment...

      Everyone calm down about rashford. We all have him, him not playing is the same net impact as him playing and scoring 10.

      1. Limit80
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 6 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Not quite - different benches 🙂

        1. No Professionals
          • 6 Years
          5 years, 1 month ago

          So him not playing is a differential

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

        Yes, but if Jimenez scores more goals than Rashford who is on the bench, then I will get more points in this game.

        1. No Professionals
          • 6 Years
          5 years, 1 month ago

          Jimenez is on your bench?!

          1. Meinhoff
            • 11 Years
            5 years, 1 month ago

            No, Rasford is benched in real life. I am asking if I should buy Jimenez, considering his great fixture run.

            1. No Professionals
              • 6 Years
              5 years, 1 month ago

              I wouldn't take rashford out personally, would you lose money?

            2. No Professionals
              • 6 Years
              5 years, 1 month ago

              Sorry, you made that clear in your post

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

        Absolutely incorrect statement JHATM.... We all have scoring equal points from our bench?

        Think....

        1. No Professionals
          • 6 Years
          5 years, 1 month ago

          It was a principle. The point is there is no need to react to the news.

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

      I wouldnt

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

    Aubameyang to Lacazette? I'm actually fancying Lacazette a bit more anyway (for the next 3).

    1. FDMS All Starz
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      If you need the funds yes

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

    BREAKING NEWS -

    The FA are investigating claims that Man City manager Pep Guardiola is guilty of crimes against fashion.

    These claims relate to an apparent hideous and offensive turtle neck Pep wore during his most recent press conference.

    If found guilty he could be facing lengthy bans from all competitions.

    SOURCE - I made this up because I was terribly offended by the accused turtle neck in question.

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

      Waste of time comment

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

        Get a sense of humour lad

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

        Lighten up grumpy pants. 😆

        Your comment counts as a double negative anyway, lol. 😉

      3. Limbo
        • 13 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Haha. The irony of this comment on a comment is priceless.

    2. Syd.
      • 14 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      He is the only manager who could wear a jumper like that and still look cool

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

        I actually like it, I dunno what the problem is 😆

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

          He looked like 'The Emotionally Unstable Wiggle'. 😆

        2. Hotdogs for Tea
          • 8 Years
          5 years, 1 month ago

          Any team leak news ? 😉

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

        I use to think Pep was pretty cool until I saw that turtle neck, lol.

        Some things the eyes just can't unsee. 😆

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

            Ahhh, that makes more sense then.

            Kind of like when they first brought in this bright fluro colored GK strips because studies showed they distracted opposition players. 😆

            IT'S SCIENCE!! 😆

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

          When I saw it I thought he must be wearing one of his wives jumpers for a bet

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

            You mean because he lost a bet. 😉

  8. Gimli son of Gloin
    • 11 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Would you start Richarlison over Rashford in light of this news?

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

      Yes

    2. Cilly Bonnolly
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      What news?

    3. No Professionals
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Nope, let your bench do the work. I benched rashford by mistake when he was supposed to be injured v Newcastle, didn't sleep for a week after...

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

      I'm thinking the same

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

      I'd start both.

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

    1. Rich & Laporte to Son & Bennett (-4)

    2. Roll FT

  10. Maddamotha
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Play 2 :

    A)AWB
    B) Laporte
    C) Digne

  11. AdamJ91
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Digne > Kola worth using a FT?

  12. Lionel Ronaldo
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Help a matey out, please 🙂

    - Play who of AWB (WHM), Jonny (NEW) or Bednarek (CAR) ?

    - Captain Auba (hud) just in case, with Salah (BOU) as VC?

  13. Superledger
    • 10 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Is anyone considering Salah as triple captain this week or am I just being stupid?

    1. Maddi Son
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      The thought has crossed my mind tbh.

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

      might be worth waiting, we should know what teams have a DGW before the GW27 deadline

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

      I considered it. Looked at Salah's numbers recently and decided against it. He has one more goal attempt then Kane in the last six and Kane has missed the last three game weeks. IF TAA is back, he would put Milner on the bench and Salah back on PK's.

    4. Limbo
      • 13 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Repeat after me:

      Double.
      Game.
      Week.

  14. Toblerone52 - Zlatan Ibra-H…
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Think I'm the only one who doesn't own rashford and would love to see him miss out.

    1. Maddi Son
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      I own him and would love for him to miss out. Much prefer points from Jonny or Holebas on my bench.

      1. Toblerone52 - Zlatan Ibra-H…
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 7 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Could be a nice haul coming off your bench. Fancy holebas to do well with his share of set pieces against Everton!

        1. Maddi Son
          • 6 Years
          5 years, 1 month ago

          I might take the risk and just start him tbh. I think Rashford probably gets 20-30 mins. Could still do well obviously but not a fan of cameo's

  15. FDMS All Starz
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Should I bench Rasford for Bednarek then ?

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

      I'm considering the same - but how sure are we he doesn't start? Think he'll come on for a bit if he doesn't as Lukaku won't have the legs for 90

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

      Worse case scenario imo, 30 mins of Rashford vs FUL > 90 mins of Bednarek

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

        Doubt Rashford will get 30 mins.. Will be less as Lukaku won't start PSG. No point in not starting rash and then giving him more then 10-20 mins

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

    Play?

    a) Shaw (FUL) away
    b) Sane (CHE) home
    c) WBisaka (WHU) home

  17. Sz21
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Final call~ assuming Rashford is rested.

    1. TAA or Kolasinac for Digne this week- Which one?
    2. Rashford-> Jimenez.
    3. Save the FT to take stock next GW.

    Fabianski.
    Digne, Doherty, Holebas.
    Pogba, Salah, Rich, Son.
    Firmino, Auba, Rashford.
    Hamer, Bednarek, Camarasa, AWB.
    1ft, 1.4m ITB

  18. MANGE TOUT RODNEY
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Could conceivably have no strikers this weekend

    Auba; Rashford; Ings

    1. ⭐ Bemba_Da ⭐
      • 13 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Ings can only get better

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

        %)

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

        Nicely done 🙂

      3. Limbo
        • 13 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Finally.

    2. Mithrandir, the Grey Pilgri…
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      At last I get to play Long....

  19. Ady87
    • 10 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Start one

    A) Holebas (EVE)
    B) AWB (WHU)
    C) Bennett (NEW)

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

      Holebas.

  20. Rhodes your boat
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Bottomed

    Gtg or remove sterling?

    Foster
    Robbo taa awb bednarek
    Salah(c) sterling son martial
    Auba Rashford

    Hamer Jonny guendouzi success

    1FT 0.6itb

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

    That's it everyone, sell Rashford! Sell Pogba, Salah, Son, and Jimenez too while you're at it 👿

    1. Toblerone52 - Zlatan Ibra-H…
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      And buy kamara!

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

        I have him.

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

          me too 🙂

  22. Team17
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Bench is currently:

    TAA Laporte Fraser

    In my starting XI:

    Auba, Sane and AWB.

    Thinking Auba out if ill for TAA (might not start). Sane more likely to get returns than Fraser (away Liv). AWB better clean sheet potential than Laporte. Or is that madness?

  23. Belli2007
    • 13 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Is anyone sticking TAA in on the chance that he plays?

    Have Bednarek, Bennett, AWB and Shaw and so thinking I might take a punt on TAA with Bednarek and one out of Bennett and AWB, think I have to go with home defs

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

      Yep

    2. After Supper Ghost Stories
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Yes - playing TAA plus Robertson and Shaw - City v Liverpool was 0-0 at start of season - this could be the same (fingers crossed). AWB out anyway now.

  24. Cilly Bonnolly
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    I give up. Which two do I play?

    Digne, Shaw, Wan Bissaka, Bennett

    1. Belli2007
      • 13 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Similar dilemma as have 3 of these. I know if I leave Shaw on the bench he'll get a cleanie but home matches is swaying me towards.

      I think you go with the two homes

  25. konrad.sygula95
    • 6 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Am I GTG?

    Fabianski
    Awb/Jonny/Robertson
    Salah/Pogba/F. Anderson/Sane
    Rashford/Jimenez/Lacazette

    Subs: Hamer/Digne/Hayden/Laporte

  26. The Yorkshire Pirlo
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Most likely clean sheet?

    A) AWB
    B) Shaw
    C) Bednarek

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

      Look at G-Whiz's article in the hot topics that's titled "clean sheet odds"

  27. Mithrandir, the Grey Pilgri…
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 14 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Will team news be out before deadline concerning Rashford?

    Was going to BB this week. Not now.

    1. Mike82
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Doubt it

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

      With Champions league midweek I would hold off as players minutes with be reduced for those with a midweek game

  28. Mike82
    • 6 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    If Rashford does come off bench chances are he could still score, keep him in it he 1points so will most get 1 point, if he starts great, if not make sure your 1st sub is decent can I’ve got to choose between Milivojevic, Bednarek or AWB.

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

    Yay or Nay?

    Sane, Hazard, Ings -> Laca, Son, Anderson(-4)

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

      Yaaay

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

    There's a rumour circulating that Rashford will be benched for Lukaku.

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

      You don't say

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

        I do!! :O