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‘My Chelsea U-Turn’, Pep Pig revealed that his thinking has now switched from Higuaín to Hazard after the Belgian was withdrawn on 59 minutes in Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Spurs.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. Starky22
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Captain Hazard. Let’s go

  2. Maddamotha
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Bench one :

    A) Yedlin
    B) AWB
    C) Rich

  3. Weilong7
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Ederson (boruc)
    Robbo Luiz Doherty (AWB Bednarek)
    Pogba Salah Son F.Anderson
    Auba Jimenez Barnes

    Auba and Son to below for Free

    1) Sterling Vardy
    2) Hazard Vardy
    3) Mane Higuain
    4) Mane Vardy
    5) do one only / any other suggestions

    thanks!

    1. Stats Don\'t Lie
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      1

  4. Roy Rovers
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    People.....just choose your own captain.....it really isn’t that hard.

  5. Uncle Gamst
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Literally haven't a clue!

    2FT, all chips and planning for FH GW32

    Which is best this week please?
    a) Agüero > Vardy
    b) Son > Hazard
    c) Both
    d) Agüero, Son > Vardy, Sterling (c)

    Obviously last one means 1 less player GW31/33 or a hit.

  6. Hansel
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 13 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Is Adam Smith nailed?

    1. Devilish_cherry
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Nope but relatively so, his predominant position is rb and Clyne is playing there. Daniels could still challenge Smith at lb, as that’s not Smith’s favoured position. EH does prefer Smith to Daniels though.

  7. CrouchDown
    • 11 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Would you guys do Son + Auba > Hazard + Arnie (-4) ?

  8. dbuk87
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Aguero must start? Going for golden boot

    1. how now brown cow
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      I love this golden boot logic.

      Got cock all to do with anything.

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

        Just ask Harry Kane

  9. SoShy
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Sterling (c) locked.

    Happy gameweek all!!

  10. OptimusBlack
    • 10 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    What about this move for this Gw and also GW 31 ?
    Doherty & Jiménez > Schär + Vardy
    For -4 PTS
    YAAAAY
    No

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

      Hold that knee

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

      Imagine if rumour was blown out of proportion and they hauled

  11. The Chief
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Thoughts?
    Son & Arnie to Higuaín & Maddison

    1ft
    Patricio
    TAA Robertson Pereira Doherty
    Salah Pogba Son* Fanderson
    Rashford Jim

    (Fabianski Arnie AWB Hojberg)

    1. DandyDon
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Wouldn’t ship out Arnie, was a toss up between him and Higuaín for me to bring in this week. Regret going the other way a bit but WH seem to suggest Hernandez will start today. Still great 4 games ahead

      1. The Chief
        • 9 Years
        5 years, 28 days ago

        Downgrade Patricio to a 3.9, upgrade Son to Hazard?

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

    Uncertain about Pogba captain which I’d never usually do. Can’t say for certain Higuaín (like Aguero) will start though and not totally set on Salah either this week.

    Who do you think Utd central three will be? Mictom, pereira/Fred with Pogba at the front??

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

      Will Pogba have more defensive duties with Herrera Matic injuries?

    2. The Chief
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Pogba C is a good call

  13. Saka Punch
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Where are these Doherty benching rumours coming from?

    1. Rotation's Alter Ego
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Wolves fan pages.

      Anyone with a forum account gets slapped with the ITK tag now, though some of them actually are (can't remember which).

      Take with a grain of salt, though it wouldn't be unthinkable.

      1. Saka Punch
        • 5 Years
        5 years, 28 days ago

        Are you taking it seriously enough to bench (assuming you have him)? Have Pereira first on bench, so would be a pain if he came on for a cameo

        1. Rotation's Alter Ego
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • Has Moderation Rights
          • 12 Years
          5 years, 28 days ago

          He's starting for me.

          Currently. Cameo is the fear, but I'm starting over AWB

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

      Bigger chance Jonny gets a rest imo.

  14. Bees4Lyf
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Start Fab(new) or foster(lei)?

  15. gooberman
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Jeez I can't decide between Pogba and Sterling for captain. I may literally toss a coin.

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

      Sterling easy

      1. gooberman
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 12 Years
        5 years, 28 days ago

        Have you seen Pogbas average PPG in home games since Ole took charge? It's over 10!

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

      Sterling

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

    Would you play Barnes vs Palace or Jonny vs Cardiff?

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

      Barnes

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

      Always go for the attacking player, before Newcastle game Barnes was on fire aswell, easy decision I reckon.

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

        thanks for the reassurance, lets hope for some goals 😛

  17. andrinho
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Bench 2:
    a) Rashford (doubt vs Sou)
    b) Schar (WHU A)
    c) Wan-Bissaka (BUR A)
    d) Lacazette (TOT A)

    1. Tingate
      • 10 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      BC

  18. Srv210
    • 6 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Captain who
    A) Pogba
    B) Higuain
    C) Aguero
    D) Salah or mane

    1. DandyDon
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      A or B or D

  19. Snapes on a Plane
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Pick one to bench this week
    A) F.Anderson
    B) Rondon
    C) Barnes

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

      Rondon

  20. StoichkovFPL
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Next 3 games:

    a) WHU def (who)
    b) Hayden

  21. New article
  22. ScratchingTheMud
    • 13 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Chances of Arnie starting today?

  23. estheblessed
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    G2G?

    Guaita
    VVD, Lindelof, Doherty
    Sterling, Pogba(c), Mane, Son
    Jimenez, Barnes, Hardy

    Boruc, Kante, Kolasinac, wanbissaka

  24. The Red Devil
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Bench 2
    AWB
    Kolasinac
    TAA
    Bennett
    Danilo
    Antonio

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

    Son (ars away) or Deeney (lei home)?

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

      Spurs are home

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

      I know

  26. Adzy
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Play one?
    A) Pereira
    B) Schar
    C) AWB

  27. The Yorkshire Pirlo
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Cap who?

    A) Kun
    B) Pog
    C) Haz

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

      Pogggg

  28. The Red Devil
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Captain who-
    Pogba
    Salah
    Mane
    Aguero
    Higuain

  29. Millie7
    • 10 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Play 1 of each
    AWB or Schar
    Guaita or foster

  30. GUSFRING
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 28 days ago

    Final thoughts on my wildcard team?

    Fabianski
    TAA - Robertson - Shaw
    Hazard - Salah - Antonio - Barnes - Pogba
    Jiminez - Vardy
    Bench: Boruc - Rondon - AWB - Bednarek

    My biggest dilemma is potentially swapping Salah for Mane and having £4m to play with?

    1. Millie7
      • 10 Years
      5 years, 28 days ago

      Don’t like the money invested in the front line, will be difficult to shuffle later on.