Tips

The Complete Guide to our FPL Gameweek 29 tips and advice

Ten Gameweeks to go. In a week in which we asked “why are so many top managers struggling?” Gameweek 29 could present a season-defining opportunity to make up lost ground.

FPL’s most expensive player, Mohamed Salah (£13.5m), has polled only 7.92% of the captain vote. Opinion is split on who to transfer and who to captain, and this means there is an opportunity to climb the ranks if you get your differential picks and your captain choice right.

A principal reason opinion is split is due to Salah’s disappointing return at home to Watford in Gameweek 28. Last year, in the same fixture, he returned 29 points after scoring four goals in a 5-0 win for Liverpool. The same result for Liverpool this year delivered a measly 3-point return for Salah.

An ankle injury to Roberto Firmino meant a reshuffle up front that lead to Sadio Mané playing in the centre-forward role. Many are now tempted to switch from Salah to Mané after the Senegalese continued his impressive recent form with a brace. As the FPL General noted:

“Salah out, Mane in, could be a popular move this week. The cash saved can go a long way…”

However former Career Hall of Fame number 1 Peter Kouwenberg cautioned:

“personally, I wouldn’t advocate downgrading the Egyptian unless you too need some spare cash.”

In this week’s captaincy video, David echoed views voiced by Kenneth Tang, one of the most successful FPL managers of all-time and a guest on one of J0E’s Meet the Manager videos, that: “if Firmino [does] not play … I may down-value Salah … [and I’m] a lot less likely to captain him.”

The latest team-news is inconclusive for Salah owners, Klopp gave the following update :

“He was out there running yesterday but we will have to see how he reacts. He is very positive. It looks really good but if he will be ready for tomorrow, I don’t know.”

If you are minded to sell the Egyptian, where could you spend the extra cash?

Chelsea have a plum fixture away to local rivals Fulham, after reduced minutes in the recent League Cup final and two goals against another struggling side in the shape of Huddersfield – is this the time to invest in Gonzalo Higuaín?

In his community article entitled ‘My Chelsea U-Turn’, Pep Pig revealed that his thinking has now switched from Higuaín to Hazard after the Belgian was withdrawn on 59 minutes in Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Spurs. His research showed that Hazard has scored three of his double digit hauls in away matches against easy opposition (Southampton, Brighton, Watford). Chelsea have matches in both Gameweeks 31 and 33 for those considering playing their Free Hit or Wildcard chips in Gameweek 32.

Although Manchester City don’t have a fixture in Gameweek 31 and, depending on their FA Cup result, may not have a fixture in Gameweek 33, they have enticing matches against Bournemouth and Watford before. Sergio Agüero scored the only goal against West Ham as he continued his fine scoring form. However Pep’s post match quotes give cause for concern:

“We cannot live, for example, with just Sergio. The last 10-15 minutes he was exhausted. We need Gabriel as quick as possible to come back.”

Then yesterday in his pre-match press conference Pep revealed that:

“Gabriel is back. John [Stones] is coming back too, like Gabriel.”

Raheem Sterling started the match against West Ham on the bench before coming on as a second half substitute, this rest helps him to secures a place in the Scout Picks this week. The midfielder has scored in every Premier League match he has ever played against Bournemouth.

Leading the captain poll this week is Manchester United’s Paul Pogba with 23.56%. He’s another to secure himself a place in the Scout Picks – no player has more shots in the last four home matches as Pogba, who has blanked just once at Old Trafford since Solskjær took over.

David’s Captain Sensible article examines the armband credentials of each candidate. It’s a crucial read in a week when opinion is divided amongst Fantasy Football Scout users, and veteran managers are all making different moves.

G-Whizz, in his regular DS stats, fixtures and clean sheet odds, adds weight to the captain poll and tips Manchester United to have a good weekend, closely followed by Manchester City. Wolves are favourites for a clean sheet this week.

However, the three team news items on Fantasy Football Scout: Neale’s round up, the video from him and J0E, and the summary from Rotation’s Alter Ego – all report that Wolves are set to switch their goalkeeper with John Ruddy replacing Rui Patrício between the sticks. Several managers, including Live Hall of Fame number two Mark Sutherns have replaced Patrício with West Ham ‘keeper Fabianski (according to FPL Transfer Spy).

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 draw for the first round of the FFS Cup has been made. Just under 1,200 managers applied for the 512 places available in the first round draw, with the Gameweek 28 qualifying score set at 56 (after hits). Good luck to those taking part.

In TorresMagic’s Last Man Standing competition the safety score in Gameweek 28 was 46, this saw 78 managers eliminated. 378 teams are through to Gameweek 29, when the threshold for elimination moves up to 18%, a minimum 69 managers will depart. The final will take place in Gameweek 37.

Adam Levy still leads both our main FFS League and our FFS Members League. Although he has dropped one place to third overall, he is now level on points with world number two Hassam CheLSawy and only one point behind Toni Haapanen, who has been number one in the world for 15 of the last 18 Gameweeks.

Mark has increased his lead over David to 51 points in the FFS Mods & Cons. Mark should continue his fine form with Sterling, Pogba, Hazard, Salah, and Rashford all in his team for Gameweek 29. Although he faces a tricky captaincy dilemma.

James Wells remains top in RedLightning’s Top 10k Any Season mini-league despite slipping from 40th to 48th overall. This is partly down to his team being unchanged from Gameweek 27, with the armband still on Felipe Anderson – who was away at Manchester City in Gameweek 28!

Mick Barker is the new leader in RedLightning’s January to May League after an 85 point Gameweek, 40 of those points coming from his triple Liverpool defence. He played his Second Wildcard in Gameweek 23, and eight green arrows in the last nine Gameweeks have seen him rise from 287k to 29k since Gameweek 19.

Finally, with ten Gameweeks of the season to go, RedLightningLast Ten’ mini-league will start scoring this week: 194 teams are already waiting for its first points update. The code to join is 1637-1351886.

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

1,325 Comments Post a Comment
  1. FPL-(VAR)dy
    • 6 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Bench
    Son(v Ars)
    FAnderson (v New)

    1. Do I Not Like Orange
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Anderson for me.

    2. The Overthinker
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Anderson.

      Son will score

  2. The Overthinker
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Captain raz or azza

    1. FPL-(VAR)dy
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Raz

    2. Do I Not Like Orange
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Raz, had the same choice this week regarding who to bring in but Hazard's 59th minute hook spooked me (plus teams who've just sacked a manager are unpredictable).

    3. DA Minnion (Former great)
      • 11 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      I'm on Raz but I don't have Haz

    4. BERGKOP
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      Excuse my ignorance... Raz = Rashford?

      1. QuintonFortune25
        • 7 Years
        5 years, 27 days ago

        Raheem Sterling

    5. QuintonFortune25
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      Sterling

  3. Do I Not Like Orange
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 11 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Bench Felipe Anderson or Rondon today? Both playing each other, Felipe at home but Rondon more consistent recently.

    1. Kiwivillan
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      2 weeks ago I did stat check that 50 mids 7.5 or less had more shots on target than Anderson previous 6 weeks. Now previous 8 weeks it's even more

    2. FPL-(VAR)dy
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Rondon

  4. Lumberjack
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Whick keeper for my 2-pointer this week:

    A - Pat (CAR)
    B - Fab (NEW)

    1. Kiwivillan
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Patricio not playing so problem solved

      1. Lumberjack
        • 8 Years
        5 years, 28 days ago

        Is he not? Missed that one. Thanks/

  5. Tmel
    • 13 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Almiron (whu) or Jonny (CAR) as first sub?

    1. Pukki Party
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Jonny, how about below?

  6. Pukki Party
    • 6 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Which trio would you prefer next two?

    A) Alisson, TAA (eve, BUR) & Son (ARS, sot)

    B) Guaita (bur, BRI), Kolasinac (tot, MUN) & Sterling (bou, WAT)

    Cheers and gl

    1. Tmel
      • 13 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Tricky. Not keen on Guaita or Kola but Sterling could score big.

      A is more balanced so really depends how well you reckon Sterling will do

      1. Pukki Party
        • 6 Years
        5 years, 28 days ago

        That's exactly my problem. Actually think Son will do well against Arsenal.

        1. Tmel
          • 13 Years
          5 years, 27 days ago

          A then probably

    2. FPL-(VAR)dy
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      A

      1. Pukki Party
        • 6 Years
        5 years, 27 days ago

        Thanks

    3. QuintonFortune25
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      A

  7. Redranger
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Who to bench?

    Jota, Lascelles or Pereira?

    1. Pukki Party
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Lascelles

    2. Kiwivillan
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      I'm benching Lascelles 2nd on bench

  8. Tmel
    • 13 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Bench 2:

    a) Jonny (CAR) - have Doherty
    b) Almiron (whu)
    c) Fanderson (NEW)

    1. Lemongrab
      • 14 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Tough. A and b prob

    2. Sting in the Tail
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      A and C

  9. Lemongrab
    • 14 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Play
    A. Fraser
    B. AWB

    1. Sting in the Tail
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      B

  10. Karan14
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Start two out of these?

    A) Doherty (CAR)
    B) Periera (wat)
    C) AWB (bur)
    D) Jota (CAR)

    Doc & Jota possibly rested today.

    1. Lemongrab
      • 14 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Surely start a and d

    2. HVT
      • 13 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      AD

  11. HVT
    • 13 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Auba > Higuain -4?

    Is he any good/are Chelsea assets a trap?

  12. bjarnia87
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Fanderson or Gylfi?

    1. Garlana
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      Probably go fanderson due to fixtures

  13. Tmel
    • 13 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Captain:

    a) Sterling (bou)
    b) Pogba (SOU)
    c) Rashford (SOU)

    1. Pukki Party
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Wow, hattrick of posts on one page. I'd go A.

  14. Ozzy smith
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Any other Pogba triple captainers around?!

    1. VanDijksToWatchOutFor
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      They're all over in gw32

      1. Ozzy smith
        • 9 Years
        5 years, 28 days ago

        gw32 screams FH

        1. VanDijksToWatchOutFor
          • 6 Years
          5 years, 27 days ago

          i'm with you, just that's even he'll be most tc'ed i reckon

          1. Ozzy smith
            • 9 Years
            5 years, 27 days ago

            Yeah probably haul in 32 as well lol

  15. VanDijksToWatchOutFor
    • 6 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Arnautovic owners unite o/

    1. Eytexi
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      Can i join the owners party even though im benching?

      1. VanDijksToWatchOutFor
        • 6 Years
        5 years, 27 days ago

        Yes 🙂

        1. Eytexi
          • 5 Years
          5 years, 27 days ago

          Then im in! Hopefully he looks good but scores 2 this week though haha. Get him fit for Cardiff.

          1. VanDijksToWatchOutFor
            • 6 Years
            5 years, 27 days ago

            Haha, perfect! Could I tempt you with a haul then a benching for another of your players?

            1. Eytexi
              • 5 Years
              5 years, 27 days ago

              I'd definitely take jammy bench points haha.

  16. John Colby (Capt)
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Looking for West Ham attacking coverage but not convinced Arnautovic or Lanzini starts. What do you guys think?

    1. Kiwivillan
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Wouldn't bother with anyone else so no one this week

    2. Eytexi
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      Dont think this is arnies week after such few minutes recently. Got him on a wildcard and benching. I like Antonio at his price point & Arnie from next week onwards.

      1. John Colby (Capt)
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 12 Years
        5 years, 27 days ago

        Cheers guys

    3. Smurf
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      What makes you think you need West Ham “attacking coverage”?

  17. Woody01
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    1 FT and 3.6 ITB. Wanting to get rid of Shaw next week but also worried with no City assets. FH chip in GW 31

    Guaita
    Robbo / Pereira / Doherty / Shaw
    Pogba (C) / Salah / Mane / Son
    Barnes / Jimenez

    Etheridge / Maddison / AWB / Kamara

  18. Magic Box
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Good to go (bench + captain)?

    Ederson
    Robertson Doherty Shaw AWB
    Hazard (c) Salah Son
    Higuaín (vc) Rashford Jiménez

    Boruc Pereira Camarasa Hojbjerg

    1. Eytexi
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      Prefer Pereira to AWB even though don't back either to get a clean sheet. Pereira just offers more going forwards. Otherwise gtg! Good luck!

  19. fridge
    • 12 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Foster
    Robbo. Doherty. Digne
    Salah. Pog. Son. Fanderson
    Rash. Jimi. Auba

    Speroni. Rich. AWB. Bednarek

    Working towards 31 with 2FT and 0.8 ITB

    A) Son , Laca > Hazard, Barnes
    B) Rich, Digne > Maddison, Luiz
    C) Richarlison > Maddison
    D) AWB > Chilwell
    E) Digne > Luiz

    1. Eytexi
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      Says auba in your team but laca in the suggested transfers? Which is it haha?

  20. manu4life99
    • 14 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    G2G?

    Fab
    Tarkowski Robbo Doherty
    Maddison Salah Mane Pog(vc) Sterling(C)
    Jiminez Rashford
    (Pereira, Digne, Long, Hamer)

    1. Eytexi
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      Yep, good luck

  21. Taking one for the team
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    I’m currently on the following:

    Fab
    TAA / Jonny / Shaw
    Haz (c) / KDB / Anderson / Mane
    Rash (vc) / Deeney / Vardy

    Foster / Son / Periera / Peltier

    Have I picked the right 3 x defenders?
    Would you play Son instead of one of those?

    1. Eytexi
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      Definetly play son over Deeney imo. Yes, right three defenders.

  22. Jebiga
    • 11 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Firmino to Higuain worth -4 hit ?

    1. FPL Forward Thinker
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      I think so

    2. MPC
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      Not convinced to be honest

    3. AllanM
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      Higuain hasn’t shown enough yet so big risk. I wouldn’t do it for a +4

    4. Poseidon.
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      I’ve done it

  23. Frank Koscielny
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    I see GW31 is in not too long. Are there any articles or hot topics with different strategies for how and when to play the different chips? Have two FT now, and I have a feeling this should be considered. Cheers!

  24. FPL Virgin
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Heads up for anyone holding Puncheon for the blanks:

    Winger Jason Puncheon is unlikely to feature for Huddersfield again after the 32-year-old, who is on loan from Crystal Palace, was involved in a row with manager Jan Siewert. (Mail)

    1. Richd
      • 11 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      He was a cheap enabler a few weeks ago. The potential for 1 point was a bonus but being able to actually move on is a nice thing now.

      Might upgrade him to this Harvey Barnes chap

    2. Rash
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      Tbh I would only expect 2 points max anyway, if I get chance to sell I will.

    3. The Suspended One
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      Well shite

  25. Richd
    • 11 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Oh dear!

    1. fr3d
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      Doherty benched?

      1. Richd
        • 11 Years
        5 years, 27 days ago

        This wolves maybe making five changes is a real pickle.

        I wanted to save a FT but now thinking of strengthening bench...

        1. Kiwivillan
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 9 Years
          5 years, 27 days ago

          What?

          1. Richd
            • 11 Years
            5 years, 27 days ago

            Some reliable Wolves bloke on their forums said there will be 5 changes for Wolves this weekend.

            I believe he was at a fans forum.

            We already know Patricio benched is the first

            1. The 5% Team
              • 5 Years
              5 years, 27 days ago

              Man, this fixture is the only one I wanted to keep Jota for

            2. tisza
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 9 Years
              5 years, 27 days ago

              No Wolves equivalent of the Lowry????

            3. Kiwivillan
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 9 Years
              5 years, 27 days ago

              Isn't Doherty captain?

            4. Eytexi
              • 5 Years
              5 years, 27 days ago

              What are your guesses for changes? Patricio, Dendonker, Jota, Coady/Bennett, Jonny/Doherty?

          2. fr3d
            • 6 Years
            5 years, 27 days ago

            Nuno has gone mad

  26. Ian Davis
    • 14 Years
    5 years, 27 days ago

    Who to get long term for a draft league (not FPL)?:

    A) J Evans
    B) W Boly
    C) Schär
    D) Diop

    1. Eytexi
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      I like A

      1. Ian Davis
        • 14 Years
        5 years, 27 days ago

        Is he nailed now though?

        1. Eytexi
          • 5 Years
          5 years, 27 days ago

          He seems it to me, but haven't looked too hard at his history. Otherwise, D.

  27. Aaa
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 27 days ago

    Fab
    Rob/TAA/Per/Doh
    Salah(c)/Son/Fand
    Aguero/Vardy/Jim

    (Eth/Rich/Kola/Punch)

    Bench & Capt all good? Anything worth a -4

    1. Eytexi
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      Great team, gtg

  28. melvinmbabazi
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 10 Years
    5 years, 27 days ago

    Thoughts this week? 2FT 2.3 ITB
    Patricio and Laporte replacements?

    *Patricio I Button
    Robertson I Digne I Doherty I Pereira I *Laporte
    Salah| Pogba | Son I Felipe I Hojberg I
    Rashford I Jiminez I Barnes

    Cheers

    1. Merlinsnose
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      Fabianski and Luiz

    2. Eytexi
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      Button to Boruc (bench Paticio) & Luiz/VVD/TAA.

  29. MPC
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 27 days ago

    Which one would you bench?

    Doherty (CAR)
    Schär (whu)
    Ashley Barnes (CRY)

    Thanks.

    1. FPL-(VAR)dy
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 27 days ago

      schar

      1. MPC
        • 5 Years
        5 years, 27 days ago

        Thank you

  30. barcaa7
    • 6 Years
    5 years, 27 days ago

    Ederson
    robertson kola periera bennett doherty
    son salah pogba siggy 4.2
    rondon kun jimenez
    3itb , FH on 32 and WC on 34

    A) Son to Sterling (c)
    B) Son to Hazard (c)
    C) Play Son, Pogba (c)

    Thoughts??