Welcome to the Fantasy Football Scout Guide to Gameweek 29. As most of you will no doubt be aware…
It’s a Double Gameweek!
Both Arsenal and Manchester City have two fixtures in Gameweek 29 – double the chance of scoring points!
Their Gameweek 28 encounter – postponed due to the EFL Cup final – has been rearranged for Wednesday. Before facing off at the Etihad Stadium, Arsenal entertain West Ham this weekend while the champions travel to local rivals Manchester United.
Also, following the midweek FA Cup results, we now have a better idea of how the Blank and Double Gameweeks are shaping up. For starters, there will be just four matches played in Gameweek 31.
Read on to find out how this might affect your team. And if you still need time to ready your troops and appoint your captain, you have until 11:30 GMT.
Armband Dilemma
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would appear to be the standout pick from the two teams playing twice.
The most expensive Gabonese player of all time is in good form with three goals in his last two matches. He tops our Rate My Team tool and has garnered 48% of the vote in our captaincy poll.
Talked up by Neale in our video outlining the Best Captaincy Picks, his goal conversion rate since Mikel Arteta took charge is 33.3% – the best in the division.
However David’s Captain Sensible article highlights some enticing alternatives. A weakness in West Ham’s defence could benefit Nicolas Pépé:
There is a heavy concentration of assists given up on the left side of the Hammers’ back-line, the right side of their opponents’ attack, where Pépé, with his impressive creative statistics, will likely be operating on Saturday afternoon.
– David
And as Pro Pundit Holly (aka FFCommunity_) notes in her look at February’s underlying statistics, Pépé has three assists from three fixtures, having created three big chances for his teammates.
Indeed Arsenal’s record signing also gets the Lateriser12 seal of approval:
I see Pépé as a bit of a flat-track bully with set-pieces in his locker, making him a potentially explosive pick with a nice upside.
– Lateriser12
Finally let’s not overlook perennial captain favourite Mohamed Salah, who made a late substitute appearance in Liverpool’s midweek FA Cup defeat:
The Egyptian has been the most reliable Liverpool asset at home in recent weeks, and Bournemouth’s defence arguably looks worse than West Ham’s.
– David
Scout Picks and Team News
Despite only playing once this Gameweek, there’s a place in the Scout Picks for FPL’s most expensive asset.
He’s joined in the select XI by the leading points scorer in FPL, Kevin De Bruyne.
The Belgian – who delivered a season-high 19 points against the Gunners back in Gameweek 17 – missed his side’s FA Cup tie against Sheffield Wednesday with a shoulder complaint. However Pep Guardiola sounded cautiously optimistic yesterday afternoon:
He’s getting better. Today we didn’t train, tomorrow will prove, I spoke this morning with the physio and he said that he feels better. Not perfect, but better. We’ll see.
– Pep Guardiola on Kevin De Bruyne
Although, as David observed, Guardiola is perhaps unlikely to risk the former Chelsea player with two starts in quick succession.
Elsewhere, as Rotation’s Alter Ego disclosed in his team news round-up, Alisson has been ruled out of the weekend’s action with a hip injury. Owners of the popular double-Liverpool defence discussed how this affects their teams.
Although the Reds are still top of G-Whizz’s clean sheet odds for Gameweek 29.
For more injury updates, including details on the crisis facing Chelsea, have a read of Neale’s press conferences recap. Further in-depth information is given in the predicted line-ups.
Full Portion of Chips?
With the short notice for Gameweek 29 and the reduced number of fixtures in Gameweek 31, many have been considering their chip strategies.
Whether you’ve all your chips remaining or even if you’ve had a little nibble already, there is, as NOMONEY pointed out, a chip strategy for everybody!
Depending on your situation, you may favour ‘The Jarvish Strategy’ or even the ‘FPL Virgin Strategy’. Neale set the scene and explored various scenarios in his thoughtful piece on chip deployment. While our Scoutcast trio of Joe, Az, and Pranil (aka Lateriser12) aired their views in our regular video broadcast.
Rather than examining goals, shots, or big chances to highlight players for your team, community writer RichP_LFC turns to Fantasy Points For and Against. Breaking down defence and attack by position, his Double Gameweek special provides food for thought, especially for managers using Free Hit or Wildcard.
He takes the same approach to put together his Gameweek 31 Dream Team.
Jules Breach successfully played her Wildcard in Gameweek 28, as Greyhead reported in The Great and The Good, and has averted her downward slide. Five of the 12 elite managers are now in the top 100k as we enter the ‘business end’ of the season.
If you don’t have your Wildcard available, or would rather save it for later, Pro Pundit Sam (aka Sam FPLFamily) was on hand with sage advice in case you are contemplating a hit:
Just think about whether it’s worth the risk for the player that you want to bring in, whether they’re likely to return more than the player you’re gonna take out AND the minus points hits that you’ve got to take to do it.
– Pro Pundit Sam
For those pondering a transfer, Pro Pundit Tom Freeman (aka avfc82) has been on a good run with his differential picks. This week he singled out Ismaïla Sarr, Miguel Almirón, and Phil Foden. Sarr played a part in all three of Watford’s goals against Liverpool and benefits from a guaranteed fixture in Gameweek 31.
TheFantasyFreÆK backs up the selection of the Senegalese in his Gameweek review:
No midfielder in the league has recorded as many shots inside the box and big chances as Watford’s Ismaïla Sarr in the games he has started under Nigel Pearson. He has the pedigree to be FPL gold whenever he starts. At that price, I think he is easily the best midfielder to own.
– TheFantasyFreÆK
For Fantasy lovers and fans of Norwegian football, Eliteserien 2020 is live!
Our resident expert Niemi outlined the season ahead. The game will have its own dedicated page on Fantasy Football Scout to help you find related content.
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.
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Community Competitions
For an update on all FFS Mini-Leagues and Community Competitions, please click here to read the latest round-up.
For those interested in the Head-to-Head Leagues, the main page can be linked to here. The fixtures for Gameweek 29 can be found below:
Use the drop-down menus to show your league and division. To find out which league and division you are in, follow the instructions on the main Head-to-Head page.
Once the Gameweek starts, if you click on your opponent’s name you will be linked to their team on the FPL website.
May your arrows be green!
