Tips

The Complete Guide to Scout’s tips and advice for Double Gameweek 26

Strap yourselves in for the biggest Double Gameweek 26 of the season, with 17 matches and 14 teams playing twice. The next six days promise to be another rollercoaster ride of unrelenting (Fantasy) Premier League action.

With potentially season-defining decisions to be made ahead of today’s 11:00 GMT deadline, the feeling among the Fantasy Community is that we are spoilt for choice.

The roll call of potential armband candidates ranges from the reassuringly expensive to enticing differentials. And for those with a selection of chips at their disposal the choice is made even trickier.

A Double Gameweek is the perfect time to deploy one of our four power-ups with the points ceiling raised for Bench Boost, Triple Captain, Free Hit and Wildcard thanks to the extra fixtures.

Indecision is final.

– Alan Hansen

Famous words from the king of pundits and decorated centre-half Alan Hansen. Although, strangely, the former Liverpool captain wasn’t referring to his Fantasy football team. Given the furore surrounding Aston Villa and their players this week you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.

But we’re not about to hesitate at the crucial moment when it comes to FPL decision-making. And you can’t fault the effort, attitude and commitment of our very own pundits and experts. 

Divisive Kane

The captain poll favourite heading into the bumper round of fixtures is Harry Kane (£11.1m). A vote that left David and Joe somewhat perplexed. Never ones to dilly-dally when presented with an opportunity, the pair aren’t convinced of Kane’s credentials, despite the support among Community members.

The fixtures on paper do look nice but both Burnley and Fulham are very capable these days of chucking everyone behind the ball knowing full well that Spurs are having problems breaking people down … Both of these teams will take a point against Spurs, so they’re not going to overstretch themselves to go and win the game.

Over the last four matches, Burnley have the third-best expected goals conceded in the league, 3.18, the only two teams better than that are Chelsea and Man City. Fulham are in the top five, 3.23 goals they should have conceded, and they’ve only actually conceded the one goal. Their defence is doing much better as well and they’ve both got fantastic goalkeepers too … These are teams that can frustrate Spurs.

– David, Captaincy Video

Alan Hansen once said that for Tottenham to be a successful side they will need to get away from the philosophy of ‘pretty football’. Well, with Jose Mourinho in charge they’ve arguably done just that. Except without the success.

But what does Alan Hansen know about Fantasy football? We need a real expert, a man with three top 10,000 finishes and a best-ever rank of 817. Step forward Az

According to the FPL Black Box co-host, Harry Kane is the best captaincy pick. The handsome and dashing Az backs up his opinion with some impressive stats: citing Twitter user FPL_Swede he pointed out that in 10 games against the bottom eight teams, Kane has delivered an attacking return in every one, averaging 9.2 points a match. 

And the trio of wise Pro Pundits appearing on the latest episode of the FPL Wire, Zophar, Lateriser and Tom Freeman, all have the armband placed on the top-points-scoring forward in FPL this season. 

More heavyweight backing for the Spurs striker came from FFScout founder Mark Sutherns. Perhaps not that much of a surprise given that “Mark loves Kane”, to quote AZ, but Mark was worried he was being blinded by his own bias.

The best person to help us understand the flaws in our thinking is Pro Pundit and behavioural economics graduate, Simon March.

Expected Yakult

Stats are probiotics for gut feelings, reasoned the former FPL winner is his latest offering. 

Instinct may help you see opportunities that other managers don’t, or avoid the traps that others will fall into, but it may also create such traps if followed without sufficient interrogation. This is why it is important to sense-check decisions with some form of objective data or a second-opinion.

– Simon March

Jan Sienkiewicz noted in his Captain Sensible article that the form stats don’t favour Kane and co:

Both [Kane’s] and Spurs’ attacking statistics have been somewhat underwhelming in recent weeks. Only Crystal Palace have recorded fewer shots inside the box than Jose Mourinho’s team in their last six matches.

– Jan Sienkiewicz

So was Mark able to find a healthy dollop of Bifidobacterium Statisticalus to support his gut instinct?

The expected data is a problem, but with expected data, you’ve got to bear this in mind – that Kane and Son are just complete outliers … Son and Kane are the top two players in the Premier League [for xG Delta], they have exceeded their expected data by the biggest margins for goal involvement … they don’t need a lot of good quality chances to score goals.

– Mark Sutherns.

So convinced is Mark that he’s using his Triple Captain chip on Harry Kane.

But, as ever, other options are available. 

Mohamed Salah (£12.6m), a player who’s perhaps been slightly overlooked by the masses, is Jan’s top pick. The leading goalscorer in the Premier League with 15 goals, Salah boasts impressive underlying stats: second only to team-mate Sadio Mané (£11.8m) for shots in the penalty box over the last six matches.

In the first of their two fixtures Liverpool take on a Sheffield United side down to the bare bones in defence. Their three first-choice centre-backs that helped them reach dizzying heights last season, John Egan (£4.7m), Jack O’Connell (£4.7m) and Chris Basham (£4.6m), are all ruled out for Chris Wilder.

But it’s their second fixture against Chelsea that, along with Liverpool’s poor form, is putting many off the Egyptian. However, Jan did unearth some encouraging news for Salah captainers:

Klopp holds an impressive head-to-head record against Thomas Tuchel. Out of the 14 meetings between the Germans, Klopp came out victorious on nine occasions. Additionally, those matches have produced as many as 43 goals, which makes it over three goals per game on average.

– Jan Sienkiewicz

Meanwhile, city rivals Everton are top of the fixture ticker when looking at Gameweek 26 in isolation: the Toffees host Southampton before a midweek trip to West Brom. Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£7.7m) therefore comes into contention.

And once again the stats make impressive reading. The forward has been particularly threatening on the road in recent times, accumulating 4.32 xG in his last six away matches – more than any other forward in the Premier League.

But the list of armband contenders goes on. Let’s not forget the Manchester teams with the in-form Bruno Fernandes (£11.6m), İlkay Gündoğan (£6.2m), Raheem Sterling (£11.6m), and the returning Kevin De Bruyne (£11.8m).

If only we could fit them all in.

It’s Mo Sacrifice

Karam, Tom, and Zophar are all using their Wildcards and face several tricky selection dilemmas. 

On the Scoutcast Karam was given a hard time by Joe and David over his omission of Mohamed Salah.

Joe argued that it was easier to run from Salah than it was to run to him, explaining that because of Salah’s lofty price tag, downgrading to the likes of Son or De Bruyne is easy, whereas upgrading would be harder without sufficient funds in the reserve.

However, Tom Freeman is also sacrificing the most expensive FPL asset in order to benefit from a more balanced squad. A particular concern for Tom given that he plans to Bench Boost in Gameweek 27. 

One intriguing pick in his side is Jesse Lingard (£5.9m). West Ham take on Leeds United next Gameweek and Tom feels the direct running of the on-loan Manchester United midfielder could trouble Marcelo Biesla’s side. 

Ricardo Pereira (£5.9m) is another differential to catch the eye, featuring in both Tom’s and Karam’s Wildcard XV’s. 

Karam is going all-in on Leicester City – tripling up with Harvey Barnes (£6.9m) and Jamie Vardy (£10.2m) coming in alongside Pereira. He’s even trusting the evergreen Englishman with the armband.

Manchester City-fan Karam has decided to abandon his conservative approach and take a few calculated risks in the hope of surging up the ranks. Encouragingly, the Foxes are on a par with Man City when it comes to shots on target (21) over the last four Gameweeks. 

Another forward to consider is Mbaye Diagne (£6.0m). The Senegalese has been on the end of five big chances in his four and a half games since joining West Brom, and is included in the Scout Picks, Tom’s Wildcard team, and was talked up by Lateriser.

Interestingly, all three Wildcarders still have their Free Hit chip available but none have committed to using it in Blank Gameweek 29.

When planning ahead in his usual meticulous fashion, Zophar identified Gameweek 33 as a better round for the Free Hit. The League Cup Final takes place between Spurs and Man City, meaning they will blank along with their scheduled opponents Southampton and Fulham.

The six-time top 5,000 manager sees greater potential for a big score compared to the four-match Gameweek 29.

Finally, Neale frisked the upcoming fixtures. The Team News compiler included a look at Gameweek 30 and beyond for those considering “dead-ending” their squads in Gameweek 29 and Wildcarding straight after.

Community Competitions and Head-to-Head Fixtures

This is the last chance for Premium Members to enter the FFS Members Cup with qualifying for the first round taking place in Gameweek 26. Click here for details on how to enter.

The draw for the first round of the Fantasy Football Scout Cup has thrown up a real ‘David vs Goliath’ clash with the highest-ranked team, The Fighting Cock (273rd overall), taking on the lowest-ranked manager in the competition, Ahmed Eid, who is not far off the five-million mark.

A total of £300 in prizes is available across the two tournaments.

Elsewhere, RedLightning rounded-up the rest of the Community mini-leagues and competitions. And the Head-to-Head fixtures for Gameweek 26 can be found below. 

The scores and tables update each night on the Head-to-Head Leagues main page, so you can keep track of the action as the Gameweek unfolds. 

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

3,547 Comments Post a Comment
  1. Shultan
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Play traore or bamford?

  2. FPL_Crisis
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    I know poor form asking so late but...
    Does EVE forward in for non playing Rodrigo justify an extra hit to start over Bamford (already taken -8)
    Gut feel says Richarlison but -4 vs Bamford less convinced

  3. fakelund
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Quick one before the deadline, start Bamford or Raphinha?

    1. FPL_Crisis
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Raph if only one
      i'm playing both unless I take a hit for EVE striker

    2. Studs Up
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Raph

  4. Connor's Calling
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Are EVE going to double game week in 28_ Y / N?

    Entirely effects my whole WC this week!

    1. DARE TO BISCAN
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Nobody knows. Just get DCL & Digne

    2. _Ninja_
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Unlikely

  5. Mighty Banana
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 4 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    I need a defender thats 4.6 or less, that plays in GW29 and will be benched this week. Any advice appreciated!

    1. DMP
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Brighton, Fulham or Villa.

    2. Iwantmorepointsthanks
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Aina or a Brighton defender

    3. Valar(Keith)
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Dawson. He is a beast

    4. mr messi
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Aina

      1. Limit80
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 6 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        This

    5. Studs Up
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Konsa

    6. 3 A
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Konsa.

  6. Giorgi89
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Last WC decision guys:
    - Sterling
    - KdB
    - Salah
    which one?

    Currently on Raz, changing would require surgery elsewhere as 0.0ITB 🙂

    Thanks

    1. Gross Blank Point
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      KDB for the long term

    2. 3 A
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      B.Silva in form.

  7. Azzy
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    A B or C
    PLEASE just pick a letter

    A) Rashford / Antonio out
    Barnes DCL in -4

    B) Rashford Antonio Pope out
    Son, DCL and 4.0 keeper in -8

    C) Rashford out Son in for free
    Would be playing raphinha and Bamford

    1. Muscout
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      A

    2. DuckDuckKroos
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      A DCL

    3. StopItHarold
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      D

  8. FPL Tikka
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    A Grealish > Barnes -4
    B Play Raphinha

    1. Thomas Magnum
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      A

  9. Iwantmorepointsthanks
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 10 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Mee to score the goal we expected from him in DGW24 🙂

  10. Codetto
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Grealish and sterling -> Son and Barnes?

  11. Thomas Magnum
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Martinez or Schmeichel

  12. mr messi
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Why am I tc’ing Kane when Spurs look crap at the minute? Having last minute doubts

    1. RAFA THE GAFFA
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      World class striker against two poor teams

      1. bring_on _the_fantasy
        • 13 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        A lot of assists this season as well. 11 compared to DCL's 1.

        Every season Kane has a freak game where he bangs in 4. Fingers crossed its one of these two

    2. Kay317
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Me too. Bruno is probably the safer bet but feels boring. Dcl also has excellent fixtures and salah is a goal machine playing sheff. ...too many choices.

  13. McHappy_Meal FC***
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Start Targett or Bamford?

    1. Gentle_Turks
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Targett for me out of those two.

      Please help below thanks.

    2. RAFA THE GAFFA
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Bam

    3. DARE TO BISCAN
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Targett

  14. JabariParkersEyelid
    • 4 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Best of luck everyone, no solid advice gonna be coming here on out.

  15. LochineFDC
    • 11 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Who out of sterling, debruyne and Cancelo do you think plays all three of their matches over the next 7 days?

    1. OBAMA
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      most likely sterling imo

    2. JJeyy
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      kdb

    3. Wakanda
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      imo, kdb

    4. just a man
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      KDB but at risk of coming off early in at least Wolves.

  16. OBAMA
    • 9 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Start Mitchell or Mee?

    1. Iwantmorepointsthanks
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Mee

    2. Thomas Magnum
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Probably Mee, at least you’ll get guaranteed 180 out of him

  17. Gentle_Turks
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Play Taylor (DGW), Bamford or Raphina?

    Thanks and good luck this week all.

    1. RAFA THE GAFFA
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Raphina the form he is in

    2. DMP
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Onde of the Leeds.

      1. Iwantmorepointsthanks
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 10 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        this

    3. McHappy_Meal FC***
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      One of the Leeds players. I think Bamford given he scored a hat trick in the reverse fixture and could easily score two on any given day.

  18. RAFA THE GAFFA
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Finally at peace with my team! GL ALL

    1. 3 A
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Gdluck Rafa

    2. Gentle_Turks
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      GL.

    3. Forgetmeknot
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Ha same yeh- a comforting feeling until 11.30am when all of my city players are rested

  19. Nemanja Vidic
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Mee or Raphinha?

    1. 3 A
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      I am Mi and he is Yu.

    2. alsybach
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Raph

  20. Indpush
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Hi All,

    Ran late to get online here to make one transfer.

    Double for gwk 28 not yet announced I take it? If it has, what teams play two matches in that week please?

    Really would appreciate it before deadline.

    Cheers!

  21. 3 A
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Kane in the picture. Dont triple captaining him. There is someone else better.

    1. OBAMA
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      I think Kane is the triple captain choice this dgw

    2. Kay317
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Who's better?
      Can't decide between kane, Salah, dcl???

  22. JJeyy
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Does Lookman -4 score more than Raphinham ?

    1. OBAMA
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      no

  23. FDMS All Starz
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Chasing 100pt mini league , what would you do if the leader is TC Kane? He will probably own DCL aswell...

    A) (TC) kane
    B) (C) kane (wait for another player to TC who the leader won’t have in the future)
    C) (TC) dcl
    D) (C) dcl
    E) (TC) salah
    F) (C) salah

    1. Silver_and_Gold
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Do, what you believe will max out your points 🙂

    2. 3 A
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Maybe C

  24. Malcolm Tucker for England …
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    so what do we class as a level-par score this week?
    my pap season is reliant on a big turnaround from this BB team...

    Martinez Pope
    Lowton Keane Cacelo Stones Shaw
    Son Fernandes Gundo Lookman Barnes
    Kane(c) Watkins Richarlison

    1. JONALDINHO
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      120

      1. Malcolm Tucker for England …
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 12 Years
        3 years, 1 month ago

        i don't fancy i'll be getting that!
        Red card Kane more likely! 😀

    2. badgerboy
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Depends on Salah 😉

  25. pjomara
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Bench order- Dallas or Bamford first?

  26. TAT
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    In for Mee: Targett or Keane (got Martínez and Digne).

  27. Steve McCroskey
    • 10 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    You have 20 minutes remaining

  28. Camzy
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Why do people ask questions now? Your decisions are in or they should be. Now is time for the banter!

    1. Azzy
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Any advice on the below please Camzy

      A B or C
      A) Rashford / Antonio out
      Barnes DCL in -4

      B) Rashford Antonio Pope out
      Son, DCL and 4.0 keeper in -8

      C) Rashford out Son in for free
      Would be playing raphinha and Bamford

    2. NoName
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Captain Kane or DCL?

    3. Iwantmorepointsthanks
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      or to hand out advice hahaha

  29. CoracAld2831
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    Is it worth playing TC with a -8?

    My captain choices are Salah, Fernandes, Gundogan, Son, DCL or Digne

    1. CoracAld2831
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      The one I am thinking for TC is DCL.

    2. chriscosta
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      i have the same players, I gone with Salah ATM

  30. bring_on _the_fantasy
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 1 month ago

    turbo v giggs?

    1. 3 A
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 1 month ago

      Vs