Dugout Discussion
26 April 2025 1158 comments
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Many Gameweek 34 Free Hit picks will be in action in the 3pm BST kick-offs, with four Premier League matches getting underway:

Newcastle United’s starting XI is finally changed after seven matches but it’s not Jacob Murphy or Harvey Barnes making way. Those two wingers start again as Anthony Gordon has to make do with substitute duty once more.

Eddie Howe’s one alteration is actually an enforced one, as Joelinton misses out with a knee issue. Joe Willock replaces him.

Fabian Schar is fit to start, while Sven Botman is named on the Magpies’ bench after recovering from injury.

Ipswich Town’s Kieran McKenna is the busiest boss of the afternoon, making four changes.

Luke Woolfenden, Cameron Burgess, Jack Taylor and Liam Delap come in, with George Hirst and Jens Cajuste dropping to the bench. Leif Davis is suspended and Axel Tuanzebe is unexpectedly absent.

The Tractor Boys do at least have Omari Hutchinson back among the substitutes.

Fulham are also facing a member of the bottom three in the shape of Southampton, who have Ross Stewart starting for the first time in six months. He replaces the absent Paul Onuachu.

The Cottagers themselves are without Antonee Robinson, while Sasa Lukic is demoted to substitute duty.

Willian and Harry Wilson return to an attacking-looking starting line-up, with Ryan Sessegnon presumably dropping back to left-back to cover for Robinson.

At Molineux, Jose Sa and Matt Doherty are fit enough to return to join Matheus Cunha and co in Wolverhampton Wanderers’ starting XI.

Dan Bentley and Santiago Bueno are the unfortunate men to make way.

Facundo Buonanotte replaces the injured Stephy Mavididi in Leicester City’s only change.

Finally, at the Amex, there are three alterations apiece.

Two of Brighton and Hove Albion’s changes are enforced as Jan Paul van Hecke is injured and Joao Pedro is suspended. Yankuba Minteh also drops to the bench.

Solly March, Simon Adingra and Yasin Ayari get recalls but Kaoru Mitoma again has to make do with substitute duty. Joel Veltman and Tariq Lamptey are on the bench after recovering from injury.

For the Hammers, Niclas Fullkrug, Carlos Soler and Vladimir Coufal drop to the bench.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Tomas Soucek and Konstantinos Mavropanos replace them.

LINE-UPS

Brighton and Hove Albion XI: Verbruggen, Hinshelwood, Dunk, Baleba, Estupinan, Wieffer, Ayari, O’Riley, March, Adingra, Welbeck.

Subs: Steele, Lamptey, Gruda, Cashin, Minteh, Mitoma, Gomez, Veltman, Tasker.

West Ham United XI: Areola, Wan-Bissaka, Todibo, Kilman, Mavropanos, Emerson, Soucek, Ward-Prowse, Paqueta, Kudus, Bowen.

Subs: Fabianski, Cresswell, Soler, Coufal, Fullkrug, Guilherme, Ings, Rodriguez, Irving.


Newcastle United XI: Pope, Trippier, Schar, Burn, Livramento, Bruno Guimaraes, Tonali, Willock, Murphy, Isak, Barnes

Subs: Dubravka, Ruddy, Botman, Wilson, Gordon, Krafth, Osula, Longstaff, Miley.

Ipswich Town XI: Palmer, O’Shea, Woolfenden, Burgess, Greaves, Morsy, J Taylor, Johnson, Enciso, Clarke, Delap.

Subs: Walton, Chaplin, Cajuste, Hutchinson, Luongo, Hirst, Godfrey, Boniface, T Taylor.


Southampton XI: Ramsdale, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stephens, Walker-Peters, Downes, Ugochukwu, Manning, Fernandes, Sulemana, Stewart.

Subs: McCarthy, Aribo, Smallbone, Bree, Wood, Archer, Dibling, Welington, Robinson.

Fulham XI: Leno, Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Sessegnon, Berge, Pereira, Willian, Wilson, Iwobi, Jimenez.

Subs: Benda, Reed, Cairney, Traore, Vinicius, Cuenca, Lukic, Castagne, Smith Rowe.


Wolverhampton Wanderers XI: Sa, Semedo, Doherty, Agbadou, Toti, Ait-Nouri, Andre, Joao Gomes, Munetsi, Cunha, Strand Larsen.

Subs: Bueno, Hwang, R Gomes, Sarabia, Forbs, Bellegarde, Guedes, Djiga, Bentley.

Leicester City XI: Hermansen, Ricardo, Faes, Coady, Thomas, Ndidi, Soumare, El Khannouss, De Cordova Reid, Buonanotte, Vardy.

Subs: Justin, Okoli, Kristiansen, Skipp, McAteer, Monga, Ayew, Daka, Stolarczyk.



  1. Bagheri Arce
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 10 Years
    7 months, 21 days ago

    Congrats to all the free hitters this week. What a crazy set of results - almost everyone returned!

    I didn't free hit but luckily had RAN, Burn, Sa, Bowen all in my team already. Cunha absolutely destroyed me though. Still can't complain

    1. WVA
      • 9 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      Barnes was a disaster, lost Trippier for him!

      1. Bagheri Arce
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 10 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        Ye Barnes, Palmer, Leno, Raul the only popular picks to flop

        Tough break.

        I'm sure there will be a few out there who took Leno over Sa AND Barnes over Tripps. Would be rough

        1. WVA
          • 9 Years
          7 months, 21 days ago

          Picking Palmer was ridiculous

          1. Bagheri Arce
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 10 Years
            7 months, 21 days ago

            Ye I would have picked Diaz if I was on FH.

        2. bitm2007
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 11 Years
          7 months, 21 days ago

          Barnes, Palmer, Leno weren't anywhere near my FH team at any point.

          1. WVA
            • 9 Years
            7 months, 21 days ago

            Barnes was the most inform player with a crazy easy fixture lol

            1. bitm2007
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 11 Years
              7 months, 21 days ago

              which he may for may not have started.

              1. WVA
                • 9 Years
                7 months, 21 days ago

                He was always starting, they even said they had done enough to keep their places

      2. Gazwaz80
        • 6 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        Same, ‘‘twas a last minute decision also

    2. bitm2007
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      Well played. I thinking we've all missed out somewhere. 7 returns out of 7 for me including RAN, Sa, Bowen & Cunha, but no Newcastle defender on FH for me.

    3. Tinfoil Deathstar
      • 5 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      I played FH last week and I have to say the swing in positive variance for this week is ridiculous. Particularly given only one fixture vs doubles.

      I also had Sa, Trippier, Burn, and Bowen in my current team, but still on a red given likes of Sessegnon and Cunha!

  2. bitm2007
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 11 Years
    7 months, 21 days ago

    How have non FH'ers faired today ? I rueing not using that chip in GW29 until today's point fest.

    1. Mr. O'Connell
      • 13 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      The painful thing about the FH in 29 was it was Wolves that ruined me. Same has happened this week.

    2. Bagheri Arce
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      66 with Salah(c), Bruno and Williams left

      Very happy 🙂

      1. bitm2007
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 11 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        Well played beating my FH. 65 with Salah(c), TAA, Diaz, Wood to come.

        1. The Bandit
          • 15 Years
          7 months, 21 days ago

          Lol, beating you? I know who I’d rather be

          1. bitm2007
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 11 Years
            7 months, 21 days ago

            this week maybe but I expect his FH in GW29 out scored my 57 points by more than anything I gain this GW.

    3. Hairy Potter
      • 10 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      50 with Kepa, Collins, Salah(c), Mbeumo and Elanga to go.

      Got 85 points on FH29.

    4. Count of Monte Hristo
      • 12 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      I wasted Free Hit months ago and just fielded my team -4.

      71 points with Sels, Salah, Bruno, Mbeumo to play. That’s with Robinson no show also.

    5. Tinfoil Deathstar
      • 5 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      58-4 with Salah (c), Kluivert, Kerkez, Mbeumo, Wissa left to play

  3. Pariße
    • 10 Years
    7 months, 21 days ago

    Got no blanks in my team so far. Even Sa managed a pen save haha.

  4. keefy59
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    7 months, 21 days ago

    A great gameweek for most of us
    How about FPL running a side competition alongside the main game
    Free hit league with fixed £100m budget
    Basically play the main game as usual but have another team in the Free hit (every week) league

    1. Hazz
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      FPL Challenge isn't massively different from that.

      1. keefy59
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 7 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        Sorry I forgot about that as I rarely play it
        It's not a full 15 man squad game though .
        My idea would be a copy of the main game but with FH every week
        It could still have BB TC & maybe an unlimited budget chip

    2. Pep bites Kun
      • 9 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      I barely have time for this, as it is! Very enjoyable competition though. ML's make it.

    3. Sun Jihai
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      It would be good if the FPL cup was that kind of concept, like a separate thing that kind of replaces FPL Challenge (which I think has low uptake and is a bit gimmicky in some weeks) where you have a separate FH team for just that cup competition

      It would also kind of fit as managers do tend to rotate their teams in the cup IRL

    4. The Suspended One
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      It’s call dfs..

  5. Steamboat Willy Boly
    • 9 Years
    7 months, 21 days ago

    I didn't go sess as I knew nothing about him prior to the content creator hype. It seemed sheepish. So I went trent because I know what he can do. And he better do something

  6. Tonyawesome69
    • 7 Years
    7 months, 21 days ago

    Reminder of possible DGW36/BGW37

    GW37
    - Aston Villa v Tottenham Hotspur:
    Postponed if Aston Villa beat Crystal Palace in the FA Cup semi-finals

    - Crystal Palace v Wolverhampton Wanderers:
    Postponed if Crystal Palace beat Aston Villa in the FA Cup semi-finals

    - Manchester City v Bournemouth:
    Postponed if Manchester City beat Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup semi-finals

    - West Ham United v Nottingham Forest:
    Postponed if Nottingham Forest beat Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-finals

    https://www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk/2025/04/18/when-will-double-gameweek-36-blank-gameweek-37-be-confirmed

    1. The-Red-1
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      Not much time / many transfers to negotiate the doubles / blanks when they land!

      I'm probably set up ok for any doubles but the blank after I'll have quite a few gaps, especially if it's palace and city blanking

  7. TAnderson
      7 months, 21 days ago

      Rashford OUT - Update expected in post-match press conference https://www.premierleagueinjuries.com/3792-marcus-rashford

    • Manani
      • 14 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      play 2:
      A. Ruben
      B. Munoz
      C. Mateta
      D. Sarr
      E. Milenkovic

    • denial
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 16 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      Fair play to those who started sess but if you went for Trippier, RAN TAA, there's no spot for him and trips and RAN both did great the business.

      1. Tonyawesome69
        • 7 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        Yup, it was Cucurella v TAA v Sessegnon for the 3rd defender spot for me

      2. WVA
        • 9 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        I changed from TAA Trippier RAN Sess last minute and went Barnes over Tripp!

      3. Sun Jihai
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 14 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        I should have gone Sess + Sanchez not Cucu + Leno

        I did genuinely think that Sess would get hooked around the 60 min mark, that's what made me wary

        1. The Suspended One
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 12 Years
          7 months, 21 days ago

          Same here.

          Nobody would have played him they knew he was at fullback; massively fortunate for owners

    • Scapegoat Salah
      • 9 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      I must say, it’s quite impressive to score 3 points on a full bench boosting, then to score 16 the following week with just 2 on bench in FH

      1. denial
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 16 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        Yeah I had a crap BB last week too. I really wouldn't miss all these chips tbh.

        1. Pep bites Kun
          • 9 Years
          7 months, 21 days ago

          I do like the strategy side of the chips, but agree they do tend to be luck-based. I've actually done well with them for the most part, but I could live without it.

          1. Scapegoat Salah
            • 9 Years
            7 months, 21 days ago

            I’ve noticed every season goes downhill when I start activating them

            1. Pep bites Kun
              • 9 Years
              7 months, 21 days ago

              I have the same issue with the 2nd WC every season, but I'm putting that one down to me 🙂

    • Viper
      • 15 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      I checked the Fulham team sheet at 2pm and couldn't see Sessegnon anywhere, presumed I had TAA auto subbing in. Next time I seen Sessegnon's name pop up was when he scored. Where did he play?

      1. The-Red-1
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 8 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        Left back I think

      2. The Suspended One
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 12 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        Left back

        1. The 12th Man
          • 12 Years
          7 months, 21 days ago

          in the changing room

      3. WVA
        • 9 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        At the back

    • Pointless
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      Is it better to activate Assistant Manager this week or leave it to 36?

    • Qaiss
      • 9 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      This game will go to penalties won’t it?

      1. Make United Great Again
        • 13 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        Yep

      2. Qaiss
        • 9 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        Or not

    • Make United Great Again
      • 13 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      Had Cunha (C) but went Liveramento & Cucu over Trippier and Sess.

      68 with Salah & Diaz left. Could have been so much more!

    • F4L
      • 11 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      dont think thats a foul

      1. Bobby Digital
        • 8 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        Looked like Konsa dove in panic when he realised Mateta got ahead

        1. The Suspended One
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 12 Years
          7 months, 21 days ago

          Villa’s defenders are just not up to par. The whole backline and keeper should go.

          1. Not again Shirley
            • 9 Years
            7 months, 21 days ago

            lol most are established internationals. Martinez probably best keeper in world.

            1. The Suspended One
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 12 Years
              7 months, 21 days ago

              Lmfao

            2. Nightcrawler
              • 6 Years
              7 months, 21 days ago

              Best penalty saver yes

              Nowhere near the best keeper

          2. Qaiss
            • 9 Years
            7 months, 21 days ago

            Martinez is great but the rest need to be upgraded for them

    • Qaiss
      • 9 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      Referee has taken Palace’s moment away there

    • tiger
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      Eze G

      1. F4L
        • 11 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        karma works in mysterious ways

    • Tonyawesome69
      • 7 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      Na that wasn't a foul, should have been a Mateta goal

      1. Bobby Digital
        • 8 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        Agreed

    • Glasner Ball
      • 13 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      Ref finding a way to rule out Eze goal lol

    • F4L
      • 11 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      eze g
      sarr a

      1. bitm2007
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 11 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        Wolves DGW36 on the cards.

        1. F4L
          • 11 Years
          7 months, 21 days ago

          love a Palace dgw.... 😛

          1. bitm2007
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 11 Years
            7 months, 21 days ago

            me too but more for the fact that it gives Wolves a DGW as well.

      2. Bluetiger1
        • 3 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        not with me in BB last week - classic

    • The Suspended One
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      What a goal

      1. BeaversWithAttitude
        • 7 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        Even Eze looks shocked! Hahaha!

    • BeaversWithAttitude
      • 7 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      Hootenanny! Yes, Eberechi!

    • Tonyawesome69
      • 7 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      Eze only scores low xG goals!

      1. WVA
        • 9 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        Scored every game since I got Sarr over him on WC

    • The Suspended One
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      Commentator blaming Martinez when Torres handed them the ball in the 18

    • WVA
      • 9 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      F off Sarr

    • Waynoo
      • 12 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      Sarr gets an assist finally.....

    • Nightcrawler
      • 6 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      Have triple Palace but still don't want a palace DGW haha now they're winning

      1. WVA
        • 9 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        Gonna have to sell Sarr for Eze

        1. Qaiss
          • 9 Years
          7 months, 21 days ago

          They’ll only play once

        2. Nightcrawler
          • 6 Years
          7 months, 21 days ago

          Not too worried about sarr over Eze but would rather palace have a game in 37 than DGW 36 followed by a blank

      2. Qaiss
        • 9 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        Game could just go on the Thursday in GW37

        They’d probably prefer that if you gave them the choice

        1. Nightcrawler
          • 6 Years
          7 months, 21 days ago

          That would be ideal

    • Gazwaz80
      • 6 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      75 with Salah Diaz and VVD to go. It’s been a long time since I’ve made a’subtle’ brag 😀

      1. Bluetiger1
        • 3 Years
        7 months, 21 days ago

        congrats - a long 38 GW season - nice to see balance when do well or reverse & have a shocker - pleased for all FPL Managers who have scored well this GW

        1. Gazwaz80
          • 6 Years
          7 months, 21 days ago

          Cheers Bluetiger, hope the rest of your season goes well for you…

    • Qaiss
      • 9 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      Spring time Mateta needs to be studied

    • BeaversWithAttitude
      • 7 Years
      7 months, 21 days ago

      Mitchell, man – c'mon!