Tips

The Complete Guide to FPL Blank Gameweek 27 tips and advice

Drowning in mayonnaise? Swimming in ketchup? Floating in salt and vinegar?

Chip planning can leave you feeling engulfed in a sea of condiments. Thankfully, like David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson striding down the beach ready to dive in and save us, we have our own David (aka DavidMunday815) and Neale (aka Skonto Rigga) to keep our heads above the vinegar.

And if that doesn’t cut the mustard, the Fantasy Football Scout guide to Gameweek 27 features a healthy dollop of fixture planning with a generous serving of discussion, strategising, and debate.

First a warning – don’t miss the deadline: remember this week we have a 18:45 UK Time deadline as two matches are taking place this evening.

The main topic of discussion in the lead up to the deadline has been the fixture developments following the draw for the FA Cup quarter-finals. The ensuing Blank and Double Gameweeks present opportunities for Fantasy managers. Neale, in his article last Tuesday, outlined the three popular strategies for navigating these crucial Gameweeks. However he pointed out that:

“There is no right or wrong way to deploy chips in FPL … Last season, Yusuf Shiekh Wildcarded in Gameweek 25, Bench Boosted in Gameweek 37 and used his Triple Captain chip in Gameweek 38 – and finished first in the world.”

This sentiment was echoed by the FPL General in his opinion piece on why you should tailor your chip strategy to your squad:

“The most important thing is to do what is right for your team. We are all going into this period from a different starting point.”

Discussion continued on the Scoutcast this week as David, Luke, and Az answered questions about chip strategies and outlined their thinking. Plans have also been debated on site with Flapjack looking at deploying his Free Hit chip in Gameweek 31 and Deulofail highlighting which players could do well.

Meanwhile, in his community article, Pep Pig put forward an alternative view focusing on which teams and players to target for those not using their Free Hit or Wildcard chips in Gameweek 31.

Elsewhere, Geoff started a Hot Topic on the three main chip strategies.

Although at this stage the picture is not entirely clear – we know about the Blank fixtures for Gameweek 31 and we have a good idea about the Gameweek 33 Blanks, but we don’t yet know when the rearranged fixtures will take place.

We could find out today when the broadcasters announce which matches they have chosen to show live in April, but there’s a chance we may not find out until after Gameweek 31.

For the moment, many FPL managers have assumed that the fixtures will simply move along to closest available Gameweek but others, such as Jarvish, have had a stab at predicting what would suit the TV companies. A Double Gameweek for Manchester City with fixtures against Fulham and Cardiff anyone?

No I’m not trying to give you nightmares but yes, that was Leroy ‘one-point-in-a-Double-Gameweek’ Sané scoring a belter of free-kick in the Champions League on Wednesday evening. City players continue to be the subject of debate – they Blank this Gameweek and in Gameweek 31, but they have three appealing fixtures in between and are in scintillating form. David gave his thoughts on what to do with their players in FPL Question Time.

Someone who never wants to give you nightmares is Greyhead, who this week enlisted the help of Britney Spears for his regular look at The Great and The Good. One manager who must feel like screaming and shouting after no doubt being driven crazy by his recent run of form is Ville Rönkä – it’s now 10 (ten!) red arrows in a row for the Career Top Ten Hall of Fame Manager.

Elsewhere in ‘The Great and The Good’, Torres Magic continues to stockpile his reserves – he’s made one transfer already this week with his money in the bank increasing from £7.7m to £8.9m. FPL Transfer Spy suggests he’s sold Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso for Leicester’s Ricardo Pereira.

The Portuguese international was the subject of a recent Members’ article, comparing him with his Leicester colleagues Chilwell and Maguire. The Foxes are the only club to avoid any of the “big six” in the next nine Gameweeks, with all five of their home matches during that time against teams currently in the bottom half of the table.

Attacking defenders were the focus of a community article by Chris Kish this week, who lamented the unreliability of clean sheets. While another Leicester City player, James Maddison features in the differentials article, spotlighting players with under 5% ownership.

However both Maddison and Chilwell were mentioned as injury doubts in Claude Puel’s press conference, as reported by Neale in his first team news bulletin. Neale will round up all the team news later on today after the remaining press conferences, and there should be a summary from Rotation’s Alter Ego.

With City and Chelsea Blanking this week, and Manchester United hosting Liverpool, attention in the short term turns to Arsenal. David has delved into the numbers to uncover who are the best Arsenal players to sign for Blank Gameweek 27. While on this week’s Captaincy video David and Neale discussed Aubameyang’s armband credentials.

With Gabonese international playing the full ninety minutes in last night’s Europa League action, perhaps a rested Alexandre Lacazette could prove the better option. David’s Captain Sensible article will no doubt help us to make up our minds, but it is a tricky debate this week.

According to G-Whizz, who serves up the latest DS stats, fixtures and clean sheet odds, Arsenal are joined by their north London rivals Tottenham as the stand out options ahead of the Gameweek. The inclusion of Spurs is a little surprising given that they travel to a Burnley side who are undefeated in their last seven matches.

Finally, Liverpool players should not be discounted either this week or in the long term: after their trip to Old Trafford they have a favourable fixture run and matches in both Blank Gameweek 31 & 33. David asked whether it might be time to bring in Sadio Mané alongside, or perhaps instead of, Mohamed Salah?

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

Gameweek 26 saw the finals of both FFS cup competitions take place. The free-to-all FFS Cup was won by Man-Chest-Heir F.C, who transferred in Son for Richarlison on his way to a score of 67, while Jay # was victorious in the FFS Members Cup. Jay # took a bold 8 point hit ahead of the final but each of this new signings – Son, Pogba, Lacazette – delivered.

Well done to both managers on their success in the competitions, and commiserations to our losing finalists Jambo17 and Get It Inter Ya.

Happily they don’t have to wait long for another chance at cup glory as the next FFS cup competitions start within a week – FPL managers have from now right up to 18:45 GMT on Tuesday February 26 to enter their teams. For details on how to enter please follow this link.

In TorresMagic’s Last Man Standing competition the safety score in Gameweek 26 was 57, this saw 82 managers eliminated. 534 teams are through to Gameweek 27, when the threshold for elimination moves up to 14%, a minimum of 75 managers will depart. The final will take place in Gameweek 37.

Jay Lovejoy is the new leader of our main FFS League, with Sean Tobin second on the same number of points. They are both 3 points ahead of Omer Weisberg, the previous leader, who drops to fourth. Jay and Sean move up to sixth and seventh overall, only 19 points behind the new world number one Joel Tesfai.

Jay is in his thirteenth FPL season with one previous top 10,000 finish – 9,256 in 2013/14. Sean has had five top 5,000 finishes in eight seasons, the best of which was 923 in 2014/15. He is number one in our Live Hall of Fame and recently appeared in one of J0E‘s Meet the Manager videos.

For insights into the Hall of Fame managers, last week Neale put together an analysis of the current top ten in the Live Hall of Fame, including player ownership and chip usage.

Adam Levy has increased his lead over Tore Bjørheim to 18 points at the head of our FFS Members League. He’s up to eighth overall, only one point behind Jay and Sean. It’s getting very tight at the top! This is Adam’s sixth season, his best finish of 10,847 came last year.

Mark maintained his 39-point lead over David in the FFS Mods & Cons. He is number two in our Live Hall of Fame and recently appeared in another of J0E‘s Meet the Manager videos. Rumour has it that he’s brought in Newcastle’s Salomón Rondón as one of his two transfers this week.

James Wells strengthened his grip on first place in RedLightning’s Top 10k Any Season mini-league. He holds a 32-point lead over Callum Croal (aka Jambo17) the runner-up in our FFS Members Cup.

Jonathan Horrocks is the new leader in RedLightning’s January to May League following an impressive Gameweek score of 96, as previous leader JOZ V drops to tenth. Jonathan has had five previous top 10,000 finishes in twelve seasons, the best being 1,673 in 2010/11.

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

1,640 Comments Post a Comment
  1. JELLYFISH
    • 11 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Just noticed AWB is red flagged. What’s the consensus on here re the best replacement option to navigate through the minefield of the next few gw’s?

    I have 2m banked so could do Peirera but not at the expense of loosing funds for future transfers

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

      Sod it, I’ll just play Bednarek

  2. GuillermoDickero
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 1 month ago

    Fpl stats have Richarlison as nearing a fall today where as FF fix says tomorrow.

    For those that follow price changes religiously, which is usually the more reliable?

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

      Fplstatistics

    2. MTPockets
        5 years, 1 month ago

        atheist, but fpl stats

    3. Lignja
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Clayne or Lejuene fh32

      1. how now brown cow
        • 9 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Is that your most pressing issue?

        1. how now brown cow
          • 9 Years
          5 years, 1 month ago

          Ah i see, sorry. Newcastle def for me.

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

          Yes kinda need 11th player

          1. how now brown cow
            • 9 Years
            5 years, 1 month ago

            Sorry, I misunderstood.

      2. Amey
        • 5 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Clyne

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

      With AWB out

      A Play Bednarek
      B Play Gunnarsson
      C Use free transfer on AWB to Lascelles and play

    5. how now brown cow
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Sorry bottomed....

      Fab
      Robbo chilwell* doherty* schindler
      Salah fanderson pogba son
      Rashford Jimenez

      Hamer hojberg awb** aguero**

      A - stick
      B - play hojberg over schindler
      C - awb to lascelles -4. Only plan to play awb gw30 I think.

      1. Last Raulist Alive
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 5 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        A or B.

    6. Shatner's Bassoon
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Locking in. Gonna just use Bednarek as cover for AWB.

      Auba (C)

      Good luck all.

      1. dr.No88
        • 7 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Dont go Auba for C .

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

      Which one for a hit?

      1) AWB > Kolasinac (c Son, vc Anderson)
      2) AWB > Pereira (c Son, vc Anderson)
      3) Firmino > Auba (c Auba, vc Son, playing Bednarek)
      4) Firmino > Lacazette (c Laca, vc Son, playing Bednarek)

      1. The Count of Monte Cristo
        • 11 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Me again! Arsenal fan, and I think a or B is a better shout. If we play a back 4 I don’t think kola will start.

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

          Thanks!

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

      Auba or Laca?

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

        Im going Laca

      2. GianniBanani
        • 5 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Auba is better if he starts

      3. dr.No88
        • 7 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Laca

    9. Pique and De Bruyne
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      How’s this looking, any transfers, changes and bench order ok?

      Guaita
      Kolasinac / Pereira / Doherty
      Salah / Pogba / Son(vc) / Anderson
      Lacazette(c) / Rashford / Jiménez

      Boruc / Jota / Robertson / AWB

      A bit torn on (c) choice between Laca, Son and Anderson. Any advice appreciated, thanks in advance.

      1. Gentlemens club
        • 5 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Play Robbo?

        1. Pique and De Bruyne
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 7 Years
          5 years, 1 month ago

          Yeah wasn’t sure on that one either but thought with me having 2 attacking players from utd then better to bench him given my other options.

      2. dr.No88
        • 7 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        For c Son

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

      Schar or Lascelles?

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

        Lascelles - Schar close to a suspension

      2. Genji3lade
        • 6 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Lascelles or Yedlin is my dilemma atm

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

        Lascelles

    11. Atters
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Have Valery and Hojbjerg playing vs arsenal. Is it worth bringing in Periera for Kiko for a hit?

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

      Holebas + Kamara + Luiz + Aguero > TAA + Arnautovic + Lacazette + Pereira for a -8?

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

        Is this worth a -8?

    13. Transferred Out
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      Play Foster or Guaita ?

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

        Tricky - I would go Guaita personally, Leicester may be without Maddison so looks like a low-scoring game

    14. palace ash
      • 14 Years
      5 years, 1 month ago

      AWB to Tomkins or other 4.5 for free?
      Too sideways?
      Waste of transfers with BGW31 coming?

      1. how now brown cow
        • 9 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        If you are going to do it get someone who plays in blanks.

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

          This - look at Bournemouth/Newcastle/West Ham defenders

      2. MTPockets
          5 years, 1 month ago

          MUN next week so not ideal

        • n-doggg
          • 11 Years
          5 years, 1 month ago

          Newcastle fixtures are tasty

        • Rupert The Horse
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 11 Years
          5 years, 1 month ago

          Depends on your team.

      3. Dead Lift
        • 7 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Is Maddison fit? Has he trained today? Any Leicester's fans here, please help!

        1. how now brown cow
          • 9 Years
          5 years, 1 month ago

          And chilwell please!

      4. MASTER ROSHI
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 6 Years
        5 years, 1 month ago

        Maddison would be such an easy choice to replace Richarlison if it wasn't for his un-guaranteed game time

        1. MTPockets
            5 years, 1 month ago

            Indeed. Have risked Barnes instead

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

              Interesting, I think I prefer him to maddison as he looks good to grab the odd goal and probably will have similar gametime or more, only worry is similar to maddison in that they might be benched in 31 when i'd need them

          • jaybradlights
            • 14 Years
            5 years, 1 month ago

            He hasn't exactly been on fire recently...

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

              Stats suggest form improved recently

          • GOTHAM City F.C.
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 7 Years
            5 years, 1 month ago

            How about Tielemans?

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

              Don't think he's as likely to get attacking returns

        2. DV8R
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 12 Years
          5 years, 1 month ago

          Feels bad ditching AWB but can we assume he'll be out for the Wednesday game too if he has a hamstring injury?

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

            Would you have played him on Wednesday if he was fit? I'm holding until his fixtures pick up again, Hodgson said it didn't seem serious

            1. DV8R
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 12 Years
              5 years, 1 month ago

              No but I'm on 9 players this week so want to ditch to Pereira

        3. n-doggg
          • 11 Years
          5 years, 1 month ago

          Best Newcastle defender?

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

            Lascelles

          2. Genji3lade
            • 6 Years
            5 years, 1 month ago

            Lascelles or Yedlin imo, Schar has 8 Yellows.

        4. The Hoff
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 11 Years
          5 years, 1 month ago

          Would be very grateful for your help. Have 5 GW31 players, 2 FTs and 6.0m ITB. Will FH GW32, WC GW34.

          Guita
          Robbo / SWB / Doherty
          Salah / Pogba / Son / Fanderson / Camaras
          Rashford / Jiminez

          Ederson / TAA / Digne / Kamara

          A. AWB -> Pereira
          B. AWB/Kamara - > Pereira/Vardy
          C. Kamara-> Lacazette (and then C Lacazette this week and keep Lacazette for 2 GWs)
          D. Something else

          Am tempted to B, but it would mean no City attackers until GW 32.

          Thanks!

          1. MTPockets
              5 years, 1 month ago

              A or Guaita to GK for the blanks and roll FT?

              1. The Hoff
                • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                • 11 Years
                5 years, 1 month ago

                Thanks. Leaves me a bit short on captaincy choice this week, but tempted to do this or B.

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

            Is playing your FH in GW 32 hampering the TC Chip?

            1. Niho992
              • 5 Years
              5 years, 1 month ago

              Thinking to use TC in GW 32 maybe...

            2. Ajax Hamsterdam
              • 9 Years
              5 years, 1 month ago

              Imo a bit....general view here is that fh gw 32 brings more points .

            3. jaybradlights
              • 14 Years
              5 years, 1 month ago

              Have you got BB as well? If so yes - one of the chips will need to be used in a SGW, providing there are only two DGWs left which seems to be the general consensus amid all the unknowns

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

                Yeah I have mate, it's all very confusing atm.

          3. gomez123
            • 10 Years
            5 years, 1 month ago

            Is Arnie worth a transfer in and put the armband on??...chasing!!

            1. Rupert The Horse
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 11 Years
              5 years, 1 month ago

              Yes.

            2. Niho992
              • 5 Years
              5 years, 1 month ago

              Nah. He can get injured in 3 minute

          4. Niho992
            • 5 Years
            5 years, 1 month ago

            Fellas you still stick with FH 32 plan? Or you changed your mind?

            How many games will be double in GW 32 ? 3-4?

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

              Nope.
              Still playing FH 32
              Don't know about number of double games but ones that are possible are so amazing that I can't imagine not playing FH their. (Especially with no TC for me)

              1. Niho992
                • 5 Years
                5 years, 1 month ago

                See i have TC and thats my concern..

            2. DV8R
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 12 Years
              5 years, 1 month ago

              The only issue is fielding a team for both GW32 and GW33. Assuming you use FH in 31

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

            Repost

            Lloris
            Shaw, Robbo, AWB, Doh
            Salah, Pogba, Son, Jota
            Rash, Long

            Aguero, Laporte, Punch

            Best option?
            A Shaw > Pereira
            B Long > Barnes
            C Laporte > Pereira
            D Laporte & Jota > Pereira & Anderson -4

          6. Bobby
            • 14 Years
            5 years, 1 month ago

            if youre chasing (by a lot!) - anderson or son as captain?

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

              Anderson - Less ownership

            2. dr.No88
              • 7 Years
              5 years, 1 month ago

              Then Anderson. Son is a safe option

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

            Hit an admittedly dumb free-hit straight after last GW, so any advice on this?

            Lloris (Speroni)
            Pereira - Schar - Kolasinac (- Peltier - Bennett)
            Salah - Pogba - Son - Eriksen - F. Anderson
            Auba (C) - Arnie (VC) (- Gallagher)

            Possibly missing Rashford but preferred Arnie at home to Fulham

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

              Looks strong does that

            2. how now brown cow
              • 9 Years
              5 years, 1 month ago

              I'd try and get laca in if possible.

              To be honest I don't see there being too many high scoring games.

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

            Is this worth -8

            Out:
            Aguero
            D Luiz
            Holebas
            Kamara

            In:
            Lacazette
            Arnautovic
            TAA
            Pereira

          9. Zebras
            • 8 Years
            5 years, 1 month ago

            Is AWB > Schär worth a -8 if I've Puncheon as my only bench player?

            Keep convincing myself that Schar could get returns on both ends in this fixture.

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

            best defender up to 4.6 for next few GWs?

          11. Jonty Rhodes
            • 8 Years
            5 years, 1 month ago

            Apologies for long post but I wanna break the rule of no hit for defenders

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

              TLDR

          12. Jonty Rhodes
            • 8 Years
            5 years, 1 month ago

            Apologies long post but I wanna break the rule of no hit for defenders