Watkins leads Villa line as Barkley benched for Leeds trip

Ollie Watkins (£6.5m) leads the Aston Villa attack for their first Double Gameweek 26 match: a trip to Leeds.

Any pre-deadline rumours about an injury for the forward were assuaged as he was named on the team-sheet this afternoon.

Dean Smith has still tweaked his Villa side though, moving to a 4-3-3 which involves a drop to the bench for Ross Barkley (£5.9m), who has failed to impress of late.

Anwar El Ghazi (£5.3m) and Bertrand Traoré (£5.9m) flank Watkins while Jacob Ramsey (£4.5m), Marvelous Nakamba (£4.3m) and John McGinn (£5.5m) comprise the central midfield trio.

Matt Targett (£4.9m) is the most fashionable member of Villa’s back-four with 13.4% ownership while the 0.4%-owned Ahmed El Mohamady (£4.3m) offers a differential route at right-back.

Leeds assets may only have one fixture in Double Gameweek 26 but they do come into the round full of confidence.

Marcelo Bielsa makes just one change from the win over Southampton, affording himself the line-up that won the second half 3-0 on Monday night.

Hélder Costa (£5.0m) comes in for Jack Harrison (£5.5m) on the left-hand side of midfield while Pascal Struijk (£4.0m) continues in the holding role.

Patrick Bamford (£6.9m) remains in 52.7% of Fantasy Premier League teams worldwide, Stuart Dallas (£5.0m) still backed by 21.0%.

Double Gameweek 26 Line-ups

Leeds United XI (4-1-4-1): Meslier; Dallas, Cooper, Llorente, Ayling; Struijk; Costa, Roberts, Klich, Raphinha; Bamford.

Aston Villa XI (4-3-3): Martínez; Targett, Mings, Konsa, Elmohamady; Ramsey, Nakamba, McGinn; El Ghazi, Watkins, B Traoré.

Double Gameweek 26 so far…

West Bromwich Albion recorded a much-needed second clean sheet of the campaign as they beat Brighton 1-0.

Crucially, it makes for back-to-back shutouts for the first time this season, good news for those who invested in either the out-of-position Ainsley Maitland-Niles (£4.6m) for Double Gameweek 26.

The Arsenal loanee was deployed on the right-hand flank of attacking midfield once again and enjoyed a decent chance to score in the first half.

Still, it was an interesting afternoon for Sam Johnstone (£4.5m) owners. They benefitted from the Baggies’ clean sheet and also secured a raft of extras, two for saves and two bonus (provisional).

However, his Double Gameweek 26 score could have already stood at close to 20 points had Brighton’s penalties gone a different way on Saturday.

Pascal Groß (£5.8m) and Danny Welbeck (£5.5m) both missed spot-kicks but each of them struck the woodwork, denying Johnstone the chance to earn a Fantasy reward in each instance.

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