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

    Thank god it's 11. Don't have to mull over these decisions anymore and can get on with my life! Lol

    1. Gobigorgohome
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      soooo muchhhhhh thissss

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

      Time to get out of bed.

    3. 'Broadsword Calling Da…
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Great point, agree. Can feed the kids breakfast before 12:30 now.

  2. Heisenberg W. W.
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Everyone can finally breath now.

    1. Heisenberg W. W.
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Breathe**

  3. FER FUSCH AKE
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    Kdb cap
    10 dgwkers
    1 sdgwker
    No chips

    Good luck all.

    1. Hazz
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      Nice. Same here.

  4. Don F
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 2 months ago

    1) Bench Boost:
    Leno, neco Williams, brewster , strujik

    Or
    2)TC salah
    Or
    3) TC KDB?
    Thanks

    1. Gobigorgohome
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 2 months ago

      toooo late

    2. Party time
        3 years, 2 months ago

        Kevin

      • frenchfries
        • 7 Years
        3 years, 2 months ago

        To late im afraid

    3. Party time
        3 years, 2 months ago

        Kevin De Bruyne(C) Let us feast!!

        1. Brosstan
          • 9 Years
          3 years, 2 months ago

          Shame on you for not capping Vardy

          1. Party time
              3 years, 2 months ago

              I’ll take the points & runaway

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

            way to back yourself Party Time

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

            Let's do this bro!

          4. Qaiss
            • 8 Years
            3 years, 2 months ago

            I'll look out for your team on the Hunting party 🙂 Went for Salah myself

            1. Party time
                3 years, 2 months ago

                Hahaha 😆

                I am in the relegation zone & played WC + I have a total of -140 hits this season & Vardy 🙂

                We feast. Good luck this gw, buddy

          5. Hazz
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 6 Years
            3 years, 2 months ago

            I wouldn't mind if Bamford missed out. Raphinha comes in & BB-ers hurt by it.

            1. Whazza
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 11 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              You seem like a nice guy

              1. John Nerdelbaum
                • 11 Years
                3 years, 2 months ago

                lol

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

                Why thank you.

            2. Cruyff's Eleven
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 5 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              Friendly spirit...

          6. NoName
            • 9 Years
            3 years, 2 months ago

            Captain roll call?

            1. In a Rush
              • 7 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              Mo

            2. Miguel Sanchez
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 7 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              Kev TC

            3. Party time
                3 years, 2 months ago

                Mohamed De Bruyne

              • Stockport Hatter
                • 7 Years
                3 years, 2 months ago

                Mo

              • Gobigorgohome
                • 12 Years
                3 years, 2 months ago

                Mo tc

              • notlob legin
                • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                • 7 Years
                3 years, 2 months ago

                KDB

              • Andy_Social
                • 11 Years
                3 years, 2 months ago

                Mo by default as I don't have Kev or Bruno

              • Luton_Fan
                • 14 Years
                3 years, 2 months ago

                Robbo

              • Guru Mediation
                • 8 Years
                3 years, 2 months ago

                Mo

            4. Brosstan
              • 9 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              Benched Areola, Vardy, Cancelo and Stones to get the most points out of my BB 😎

              1. In a Rush
                • 7 Years
                3 years, 2 months ago

                I mixed mine up Kane and Bramford in starting 11, stones Dallas Bowen on the bench

              2. Cruyff's Eleven
                • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                • 5 Years
                3 years, 2 months ago

                Hahaha, I should have done that!

                Great idea.

            5. Miguel Sanchez
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 7 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              50% of the way through the season now

              1. Milk, 1 Šuker
                • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                • 11 Years
                3 years, 2 months ago

                Seems like only yesterday it started yet so much has happened! GL Migs

            6. frenchfries
              • 7 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              Good luck to everyone! Took my first hit of the season, feel confident it will pay off

              1. Ajax Hamsterdam
                • 9 Years
                3 years, 2 months ago

                Good luck !!!

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

              See you guys in 2hrs after the update

            8. Jafooli
              • 12 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              30mins to sort my active WC....best players to get in?

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

                Good joke mate. I hope...

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

                Andy Caroll
                Ivanovic
                Iwobi
                Auto fill

                1. Jafooli
                  • 12 Years
                  3 years, 2 months ago

                  Already have this three in....looking for differentials

            9. umerlfc
              • 8 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              KDB(TC)

            10. Hybrid.power
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 14 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              I've gone and done it now...m

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

              Should I play BB today?

              1. Stockport Hatter
                • 7 Years
                3 years, 2 months ago

                Too late

              2. clodhopper
                • 10 Years
                3 years, 2 months ago

                I did wish I hadnt

            12. Shark Team
              • 6 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              This 11 can outscore some BB teams imo:
              Martinez
              Coufal Dias Stones Chilwell
              Salah(TC) Bruno Soucek KDB Son
              Bamford

              1. Cruyff's Eleven
                • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                • 5 Years
                3 years, 2 months ago

                I think so too *puts away crystal ball*

              2. Cruyff's Eleven
                • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                • 5 Years
                3 years, 2 months ago

                Not your team is it?

              3. Superflymonk
                • 9 Years
                3 years, 2 months ago

                We own almost all those players and still have our benches, only difference is you have an extra Salah vs four of our players. And they're good players

            13. Flair
              • 3 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

            14. jammie26
              • 3 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              Saved BB and TC for another day. Squeeky bum time.

            15. tbos83
              • 3 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              Last minute went c KDB over Salah. Tough tough call.

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

                Would likely go De Bruyne over Salah if i owned both. GL

            16. FPL_Crisis
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 13 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              Mo armband
              12 dgw’ers plus triple Leeds
              Let’s go!

            17. Arteta
              • 8 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              KDB TC because why the hell not 😀

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

                B.B.?

            18. OverTinker
              • 5 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              It’s over - yesss

            19. TomSaints
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 6 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              Aghhhh took TC off KDB at the last second.

              Gutted I chickened out of Cancelo (c)

            20. Hulk Smash
              • 8 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              BB active: 11 DGWers plus McCarthy, Son, Bamford and Dallas. Salah (c).

              Good luck everyone.

            21. Luton_Fan
              • 14 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              Ive capped robertson. What have i done?

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

                Could outscore Salah and KdB.
                Good luck.

            22. Hazz
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 6 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              Fudgy's GW is already over.

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

                It was over before he was born.

            23. The Yorkshire Pirlo
              • 7 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              10:59

              Changed captaincy from KDB to Salah and activated triple cap... *gulp*

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

                good decision man!

                Zambian witch doctor can't do anything against 4 Salah goals against Burnley!

            24. Ajax Hamsterdam
              • 9 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              Have saved ft buzzing 🙂

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

              So difficult to hold off pressing chips! Expecting turnaround from last week with some big scores and profitable TCs and BBs now!!

            26. Whazza
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 11 Years
              3 years, 2 months ago

              BB Let's go! Anything under 120 points is a fail (134 expected points)

              1. estheblessed
                • 9 Years
                3 years, 2 months ago

                Good luck!

                1. Whazza
                  • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                  • 11 Years
                  3 years, 2 months ago

                  Thanks, you too!

              2. pricycle
                • 10 Years
                3 years, 2 months ago

                You know this never happens right? 😀

                100 + will be just grand

                1. Whazza
                  • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                  • 11 Years
                  3 years, 2 months ago

                  What do you mean? I've seen BBs over 200 points 🙂