Tips

The Complete Guide to Scout’s tips and advice for Double Gameweek 19

Welcome to the Fantasy Football Scout Guide to Double Gameweek 19 ahead of today’s 11:00 GMT deadline.

The fixture schedule has shifted once again. Like a surreal game of Grandmother’s Footsteps, it’s moved every time you turn to look at it. 

Aston Villa lost and regained their Double Gameweek in a matter of hours, although they now face Newcastle United instead of Everton in addition to Manchester City. But the clever fixture juggling did not extend to Leeds United and Southampton, with their upcoming midweek game postponed to accommodate Southampton’s rescheduled FA Cup tie.

During these testing times, we can expect further changes with little warning.

In a letter sent last week, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters alerted clubs that they should plan for more matches being postponed or rearranged at short notice. And a joint statement from the Premier League, FA and EFL, restated the desire to complete the season in May.

So, who knows what twists and turns await? Could we yet see Leeds vs Southampton rearranged for Gameweek 19?

Shrewsbury, already without their manager Steve Cotterill for Tuesday’s tie, may suffer more ill-effects from coronavirus (COVID-19), or, by some miracle, could the Shrews beat Southampton on Tuesday? However unlikely, Leeds and Southampton would then both have a free weekend slot.

But that might be taking ‘Fantasy’ football a step too far. Sticking with what we know, here’s Legomané’s updated fixture ticker:

‘TBA’ fixtures Possible Gameweek Slots
Aston Villa v Everton24-to-28, 30-to-34, 37
Aston Villa v Tottenham Hotspur 26, 32, 37
Burnley v Fulham24-to-28, 30-to-34, 37
Everton v Manchester City24, 26, 27, 32, 37
Fulham v Tottenham Hotspur26, 32, 37
Leeds United v Southampton24-to-28, 30-to-34, 37
Manchester City v Southampton24, 26, 27, 32, 37

Triple Gameweek Scenario

Future Double Gameweeks, and possibly Triple Gameweeks, await Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.

The two sides contest the EFL Cup final (coinciding with Gameweek 33), and are both still in the FA Cup and European competitions: should they progress to the latter stages, Spurs will potentially have to squeeze five matches into three available Gameweek slots, and Man City would have to fit five games into five free slots.

So no COVID-19 leeway and additional fixture shenanigans could lie ahead.

To Bench Boost or not to Bench Boost?

After the latest changes, a question facing many managers – and one tackled by our Scoutcast trio of Joe, Seb, and Karam – is now that Leeds and Southampton don’t have two matches in Gameweek 19, is it still worth using the Bench Boost?

The thing is, if you already Wildcarded in Gameweek 16, and you set up your team to Bench Boost, you need something bigger than this to back out from it. Because it’s one of the chips that if you don’t do it now, you will wait for another chance [and] you might have a lot of funds remain on your bench.

– Karam

Leeds-fan Seb added:

Ideally I want to be Bench Boosting all 15 players for double, unless someone crazy has got a great fixture, [but] often they might be more expensive, so typically you’re going to have medium to cheap assets on the bench, that’s the goal … On Leeds, so I think if you’ve been forced into this a little bit and you still want to use that Bench Boost, it’s not terrible. They’re playing Brighton at home … if you’ve got Bamford, Dallas, and Raphina on your bench maybe that is a Bench Boost – Bamford could score three!

However not all managers feel the same. Pro Pundit Az has been reduced to eight Double Gameweek players, scuppering any hopes he had for using the chip.

So, with fixture rescheduling putting any plans I had for a Bench Boost on hold, I am considering which chip I should use if any.

Instead the co-host of FPL BlackBox is contemplating using his Triple Captain. But Manchester United go to Liverpool with Bruno Fernandes (£11.3m) a booking away from a one-match ban, and Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) is out of form. Although both sides have favourable second fixtures against Fulham and Burnley respectively.

Buying Manchester City Players

The other challenge facing Az and those like Pro Pundit Darren Wiles, who used their first Wildcard late to set up a Gameweek 19 Bench Boost, is how to accommodate Manchester City players?

The Citizens didn’t feature in Darren’s original plans, given that they had just a single Gameweek before their fixture with Aston Villa was rearranged.

But they’ve since come into form with an eye-catching 3-1 win away to Chelsea, and Pep Guardiola’s side have now kept six clean sheets in their last eight matches, giving them the best defensive record in the league.

Ahead of enticing homes matches against Crystal Palace and West Brom, Jan Sienkiewicz sides with the captain poll in backing De Bruyne with the armband:

De Bruyne is a truly world class player and it should be only a matter of time before he matches his outstanding underlying statistics. With two home games against non-top-six sides, Manchester City should continue their winning run and De Bruyne is expected to be at the heart of the action.

All this leads Darren, in his latest article, to contemplate a minus 12 to bring in Kevin De Bruyne (£11.8m), Rúben Dias (£5.8m), John Stones (£5.0m) and Michail Antonio (£6.2m) for Harry Kane (£11.1m), Marcus Rashford (£9.6m), Kyle Walker-Peters (£4.8m) and Fabián Balbuena (£4.4m).

I am not rushing into any decisions but I feel multiple hits could be on the cards in order to get two or three Manchester City players in prior to the Double Gameweek and as part of my long term thinking.

– Darren

But the Live Hall of Fame No 2 remains undecided on whether to use the Bench Boost as it would include players like Che Adams (£6.0m), who is available for selection after recovering from concussion.

Tasty Transfers

In direct contrast to Darren’s multiple hit, Former FPL Champion Simon March used Marshmallows to demonstrate that patience is a virtue.

A graduate in behavioural economics, Simon referred to the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment in which children were given the choice of eating a marshmallow now or instead being given a second marshmallow in 15 minutes.

When they followed up 10 years later, the scientists found that the children who delayed gratification and waited for the second marshmallow, had scored better in their SATs, performed better in school generally and even had healthier BMIs.

Pro Pundit Simon likened this to wise FPL managers who save their chips for later in the season (traditionally the better time to play them), and the benefits of rolling a transfer.

Aside from giving you more flexibility in who you can sign, potentially shifting funds to different areas of your team, it also buys you an extra Gameweek of information and more thinking time.

Fantasy Favourite

A player both Darren and Az are tempted by is Michail Antonio. West Ham enjoy an appealing pair of fixtures in Gameweek 19, at home to Burnley and West Brom, but the question mark, as ever, is over Antonio’s fitness.

Ted Talks FPL offered some encouragement, observing that:

With Haller joining Ajax, West Ham must be confident that 1.9% owned Antonio must be back to full fitness, certainly in the short-term. He looks to be an excellent pick for Double Gameweek 19.

Pro Pundits Tom and Andy agreed, giving the Hammers striker the nod:

Michail Antonio is a bit of a favourite of mine and now he’s fit and got through 90 minutes I can’t leave him out. He’s averaging 0.47xG per 90 minutes so far this season. It’s down on 2019/20, but still excellent given his price. – Andy

I’m also backing Michail Antonio. Though he looks short of match fitness, he needs games, and as West Ham United’s only recognised striker, should see enough minutes across the two fixtures. – Tom

While Big Man Bakar, who was looking dashing in pink on the latest installment of The FPL Wire, reminded us of Antonio’s excellent early season form, despite the tricky start.

But is it too soon to take the plunge?

Team News

Frustratingly, as Colm Hayes noted in his press conference round-up, David Moyes did not provide a specific update on his injury-prone centre-forward, leaving Fantasy bosses wondering what to do.

In other news, Anthony Martial (£8.8m) and Pedro Neto (£6.0m) are doubts after suffering knocks in Gameweek 17. But both may still feature this weekend.

And Joel Matip (£5.4m) could return to Liverpool’s backline depending on how well he does in the next two training sessions.

Finally, new Fantasy Football Scout writer Jamie, ran the rule over Manchester United’s latest signing Amad Diallo and assessed the impact Robert Snodgrass (£5.7m) could make under Sam Allardyce at West Brom.

Community Competitions and Head-to-Head Fixtures

RedLightning rounded-up the latest Community mini-leagues and competitions in a hot topic yesterday.

The January to May League, which started scoring in Gameweek 17, remains open for those who want to track their progress until the end of the season. The code to join is h62bh1. The current leader is Denville Tyrell, who has risen from 29,903rd to 5,121st in the last two Gameweeks.

For those interested in the Head-to-Head Leagues, the main page can be linked to here. The fixtures for Gameweek 19 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!

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

5,142 Comments Post a Comment
  1. LewanGOALski
    • 12 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    anyone TC on Salah?

    o/

    1. FPL-Albion
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Tempted to TC KDB

      1. Ron_Swanson
        • 13 Years
        3 years, 2 months ago

        I’m on it. Get it done fella

    2. Front 442
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Antonio

    3. Muscout
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Yes

  2. Slim25
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Martinez,
    James, Stones, Coufal
    KDB, Bruno, Salah, Grealish, Soucek
    Kane, Bamford
    (Button, Brewster, Ayling, Mitchell)

    Do I do the following?
    A: Bamford & Kane - Antonio & Vardy for a -4?
    B: Triple Cap Salah or KDB?

    Cheers!

    1. FPL-Albion
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Just Bamford to Antonio?
      I’m thinking TC KDB

  3. FPL-Albion
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Dier out for minus 4 or save?

    1. Pukki Party
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Save

    2. iL PiStOlErO
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Save, he will have cs

  4. Davros
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    And I’m done...
    BB-ing
    Good luck everyone!

    Johnstone*
    Cancelo* Stones* Coufal* Justin* Robbo*
    KDB(c)* Salah* Bruno* Soucek*
    Antonio*

    McCarthy Wood* Raphinha Bamford

    1. iL PiStOlErO
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Nice. GL.

  5. adstomko
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Son & Kane >> Ziyech & Vardy worth a -4?

    1. Brehmeren
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      No!

    2. KAALI_DAAL
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Ziyech will not explode. And Vardy has slightly tough fixtures. Doubt this pays off. But it might if you're lucky.

    3. FPL-Albion
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Probably not. Vardy could score a ton of points thou

  6. Pukki Party
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    What's the latest on Southampton dgw?

  7. KAALI_DAAL
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Why do people ask for captain advises? Why can't they just take a look at the captain poll?

    1. Ron_Swanson
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Poll doesn’t give advice

    2. Front 442
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      It’s what the site is for isn’t it.
      People like a little reassurance

    3. La Roja
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      captain kdb or salah?

      😛

    4. Pukki Party
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Do people vote for who they'll captain or the best captain?

    5. g40steve
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Because the best C is not always the one on the poll

    6. Pep bites Kun
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      They're probably looking for reasoning that a poll doesn't give

  8. Rover
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Which option would you go for?

    A) Keep Kane and Mee
    B) Mee > Cresswell (-4)
    C) Kane > Werner (-4)
    D) Kane Mee > Werner Robbo (-8)

  9. Oggle22
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Keep or sell Konsa maybe one with covid?

  10. FPL price manipulators are …
    • 10 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Pages flying faster than we can type

    1. DycheDycheBaby
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      I'm playing him.

  11. hustler7
    • 11 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Many people not using a chip at all this week? Im swaying that way.

    I was going to bench boost but have 4 from Leeds and Southampton so only 8 DGW players and Mitchell and Brewster.

    KDB is my captain but not sure whether to TC with the tiredness rumours?Other option is Antonio or Soucek but don’t think I have the cojones...

    1. Front 442
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      I’m doing Antonio TC
      I’ve been pretty dullard all season after a terrible start.
      I’ve made good progress but now is the time!

      1. hustler7
        • 11 Years
        3 years, 2 months ago

        I admire the maverick approach! At the moment I’m saving my chips and will hope for another great DGW or even TGW. Good luck!

        1. Front 442
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 5 Years
          3 years, 2 months ago

          Thanks mate, good luck

  12. Mr Chelski
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    TC KDB worth it considering his DGW fixtures?

    1. Ron_Swanson
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      I’m doing it. All the cool kids are

    2. Maeki2
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Got mane TC last season with 3p can´t be worse right? 😀

  13. Lost in fantasy
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Antonio as C?

    1. wulfrunian
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      of course

    2. KAALI_DAAL
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Yum yum yum

    3. Front 442
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      It’s the way forward

  14. Bonny Scott
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Would you go Son or Rashford this week?

    1. Amey
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Rashy

  15. g40steve
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Wish me luck no KDB, BB!

    Salah C ?

    Johnson,
    Zouma, Robbo, Stones,
    Bruno, Son, Foden, Salah C
    Kane, Bamford, Watkins

    Martinez, Soucek, Coufal, Dias

    1. AC Yew
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Looks good. GL

      1. g40steve
        • 6 Years
        3 years, 2 months ago

        Cheers

  16. Blue Moon Rising
    • 12 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Stones and Vardy in for Kane and Dallas? (-4)

    Repost

    1. Dannyb
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Y

    2. The Tinkerman
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Yh id do that

    3. FDMS All Starz
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Yes imo

  17. winchester
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Bottomed..

    Who to bench?

    Kwp or adams

    1. iL PiStOlErO
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Adams

  18. Sᴄʜᴜ̈RRʟᴇ ⓝ
    • 12 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Dallas > Stones?

    1. F_Ivanovic
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      If for free, yes. For a hit - maybe

  19. F_Ivanovic
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Dier to James for a -4? Not convinced James starts both games but I definitely want him going forward. Could just make the move next week though

  20. FantasyClub
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Is Martínez certain?

    1. The Tinkerman
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Unless he has extended Covid symptoms he will start (we have no idea who was positive at Villa, he may not even have had it)

  21. LLoris
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Stones or Cresswel

    1. b91jh
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Cresswell by a mile if for this week.

    2. j16
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Cresswell this week

    3. iL PiStOlErO
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Cress, more security

  22. b91jh
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    KDB equals to Kevin Double Blank.

    1. La Roja
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      or Kevin Double Boom!

    2. The Tinkerman
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      *Kevin for 65mins then Kevin off the bench for 15 mins

    3. Firminooooo
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      I transfered him in for Mane. 99% sure I will regret it.

  23. IRBOX ⚽
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    10 DGW’ers and TC. Green arrow come at me

    1. TheDragon
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      KDB?

      1. IRBOX ⚽
        • 7 Years
        3 years, 2 months ago

        Negative

  24. Gymer11
    • 4 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Dias or cancelo for kwp for a -4 ?

    1. F_Ivanovic
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Cancelo

  25. PascalCygan
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Holy smokes, these pages are flying!

    Feel like someone in the final round of Crystal Maze trying to grab those flying piece of paper while I try to reply to posts!

  26. Tsparkes10
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Have I missed anything major in the last 7 hours?? Still gtg?

    Johnstone Martinez
    Coufal Justin Stones Dallas Dias
    Salah Son Bruno Soucek Raph
    Bamford Vardy Antonio

  27. Vpan
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Dias

    or

    Antonio

    ?

  28. Nightf0x
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Neto to

    Gundogan - foden - elghazi - traore

  29. bruuuno
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Dallas Raph > Grealish Chilwell -8?

    1. azamn013
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Grealish on 4 yellows and no idea on health so I wouldn't. Just Dallas to Chilwell for me.

  30. AC Yew
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    KDB Captain but not feeling confident. Anyone going wild with their captaincy chouce this week?