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‘My Chelsea U-Turn’, Pep Pig revealed that his thinking has now switched from Higuaín to Hazard after the Belgian was withdrawn on 59 minutes in Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Spurs.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. Holmes
    • 10 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    do Kamara to Vardy/Higuain for free just incase Doherty/Jim/Jota are benched?

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

      Tamara to vardy bench jota

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

        Who's Tamara?? Would love her to be my captain

    2. MASTER ROSHI
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      If the worry about them being benched is due to the wolves fan forum I wouldn't worry - that was regarding the Chelsea match gw30 to rest for the 31 fa cup game

  2. Rash
    • 6 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Madness to consider salah Anderson to mane sterling -4 FH32?

    1. GS456
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Good moves

    2. FPL Pillars
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Rash moves

      1. Sim Simma
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 13 Years
        5 years, 28 days ago

        This.

    3. tokara
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      i did almost similar and cap Sterling for -4

    4. Make Arrows Green Again
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Absolutely not

  3. Gaffa914
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Considering selling salah to fund hazard and sterling

  4. andymck
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Etheridge (Hamer)
    Robertson TAA Doherty (Diane AWB)
    Salah Pogba Son Jota (Hojberg)
    Auba Jimenez Barnes
    2.6 itb

    A) Son > Hazard
    B) Auba > Higuain
    C) Roll FT

    1. LeicesterA
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      I went B, but I was planning for 31 too.

      1. andymck
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 8 Years
        5 years, 28 days ago

        I’m building for 31, probably should have mentioned that! And ty

        1. LeicesterA
          • 9 Years
          5 years, 28 days ago

          Welcome! Good luck!

  5. LeicesterA
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Pat still expected to not play today, right?

    Might bring Fab in for a -4, as have no playing keeper today, nor 31, so it will cancel itself out with play points alone.

    Meh. Hate GK hits.

    1. GS456
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      I did it for free but would have took the hit too.

      Still think West Ham are useless for clean sheets but he might get those save points

  6. britlander
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Aguero+Son > Higgy+Haz?

    Planning FH 32. Wary of losing Aguero this week, but can't get Haz without dropping him. Could do Son > Mane though...

  7. Shark Team
    • 6 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Can someone plz solve my problems?

    1)Captain:
    Sterling BOU A
    or
    Pogba SOU H

    2)Play:
    Foster LEI H
    or
    Fabianski NEW H

    3)Bench one:
    Taa EVE A
    or
    Stones BOU A
    or
    Jonny CAR H
    or
    Rondon WHU A

  8. Ronnies
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Play 1 ?

    A) Wan Bissaka - away to Burnley

    B) Westwood - home to Palace

    Thanks guys.

  9. DR0GBA
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    On wildcard, where can I find the money to upgrade Bennett?

    Ryan - Boruc
    Luiz - Robbo - TAA - Jonny - Bennett
    Sterling - Hazard - Pogba - Mane - Brooks
    Barnes - Higuain - Rashford

    1. DR0GBA
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      I could leave the team as it is, and next week take out Rashford for King and upgrade to a 5.5 defender?

      1. Eat my goal!
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 5 Years
        5 years, 28 days ago

        Sounds reasonable as a plan

    2. ItOnlyTook9Years
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      What's your other chip plan?

      1. DR0GBA
        • 7 Years
        5 years, 28 days ago

        i'll have 11 for GWs 31 and 33 so planning to FH32

  10. YEAH PITCH!
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Captain Pogba or Salah?

    Pogba playing deep? Salah due to explode?

    1. GS456
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Torn between these two myself.

      Leaving towards Salah now

      1. YEAH PITCH!
        • 5 Years
        5 years, 28 days ago

        Same here mate. Bit worried Pogba will cover Matic. Salah hasn't gone more than 2 games without scoring I think. This will be his 4th potential game without scoring.

    2. el polako
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Pogba for me.

      1. YEAH PITCH!
        • 5 Years
        5 years, 28 days ago

        I've had it on Pogba all week lol

  11. Oh Maddison
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Who's the most attacking out of Hayden and Longstaff?

    Doing Son + Rich -> Sterling + any of the above.

    Who to captain?
    A. Haz
    B. Salah
    C. Sterling

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

    Son will score a goal

    1. GS456
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Hope so

    2. clodhopper
      • 10 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      He is due

  13. RamaJama
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 11 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    So captain Pogba over Haz looks consenus if you have both?

    1. Leeds-Utd
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      I'm currently on that..I have both . Capt Pogba..

    2. threeputt
      • 14 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      I don't have Haz but of the 2 Haz is less likely to complete 90 if it helps

  14. Miguel Sanchez
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Bench order?

    A) Lascelles (whu)
    B) Niasse (wol)
    C) AWB (bur)

  15. 2EyedTurk
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Well, I've gone for it. Just wildcarded, with one eye on DGW32. Plan to FH in GW31. Don't seem to be following the crowd, but need to try something to get back in my ML. Feel free to rip to shreds!!

    OK, take 2. Thinking of DGW32, with FH planned for 31, how about this team
    Ederson Ryan
    Luiz TAA Shaw Duffy Bednarek
    Mane Pogba Sterling Maddison JWP
    Aguero Rashford Zaha
    1.3itb

    Could do Bednarek to Kolasinac buy tempted to keep the cash just in case.

    1. jtreble
      • 7 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      What happens in GW33?

      1. 2EyedTurk
        • 8 Years
        5 years, 28 days ago

        Ha, good point! I just plan to cross my fingers

  16. Riggs
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    1. Who to play:
    AWB, Pereira or Jonny (need to pick up one)
    2. Who to bench:
    Jota, Felipe Anderson, Rondon (2 to play and need to pick up one for the bench)

  17. Daxus
    • 6 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Who would you captain?
    A Salah
    B Pogba
    C Hazard

    Leaning towards Hazard!

    1. RamaJama
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      C

    2. Leeds-Utd
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      I'm switching between Pogba and Haz all morning.. Currently on Pogba

    3. Runaway
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      C

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

    Play Almiron (whu) or Fanderson (NEW)?

  19. Pompel
    • 10 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    With Wolves rotation rumours floating about, and Agüero likely benched, my expectations for this GW has taken a nose dive...

  20. Tinydancer
    • 10 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Kola > Shaw as I have 2 FT's, planning Free Hit GW31 ?

  21. Ed
    • 12 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    A) Barnes + Son > Hazard + Hayden (2FT)

    B) Rashford + Son > Hazard + Barnes (2FT)

    C) Forget Hazard

  22. Grounderz
    • 12 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Am starting TAA and VVD. Last spot, to start Bennett or Maguire?

  23. The Fed
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Play Kola or Wan-Bissaka? I have Guaita in goal.

  24. myteamissheeeeeeeet
    • 14 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Help needed please!
    Bench 1:
    A. Trips
    B. Kol
    C. Doherty
    D. TAA

    Captain:
    1. Pogs
    2. Salah
    3. Aub
    4. Son

    Cheers!

    1. Sim Simma
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      A2

  25. enrico.palazzo
    • 11 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Son > Haz for free

    Yay or nay?

  26. threeputt
    • 14 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Would you play:

    A) Pickford (LIV)
    B) Lossl (bri)

    Thanks

  27. KINGVIZO
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Hi All

    Just wondered for those who are FH gameweek 32. Who are the players you are most interested in for 31 and 33, and just as importantly - who are you taking out of your team?

    I think wolves players might need to go - possibly some leicester players come in if Rodgers works his magic...

    Thoughts?

    1. Eat my goal!
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Bournemouth also have good fixtures

    2. threeputt
      • 14 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      If I can I'm leaning towards keeping Jimenez for the dgw atm

  28. Nightf0x
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Bench?
    A) awb
    B) yedlin

    1. Runaway
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      A

  29. ⭐ Bemba_Da ⭐
    • 13 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    have a feeling doherty won't start, just one of those weeks where nuno will screw doherty owners.

    Do you think he will come on if benched?

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

      He will.

  30. Smudger’s Dirty Dozen
    • 12 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    No Sterling and concerned by potential rest for Kun so Captain
    A Salah
    B Pogba ?

    First to 5....GO

    1. Runaway
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      B