⚽ FPL Gameweek 26 Tips

👋 Hello 👋

This is being sent out a little later than normal, it's been a hectic week!

The FA Cup 5th round has been completed and we now have a better outlook of how the schedule is going to look for the rest of the season.

The long and the short is, a lot of people are now Wildcarding this week, more to come on that when I talk through my own team.

Otherwise, the Gameweek 26 deadline - Saturday 4 March, 11:00 UK ⏰

 🔥 Gameweek 26 - Hot Topics 🔥

Blank Gameweek 28

Now the FA Cup 5th round has been completed, the outlook for the Blank and Double Gameweek is a bit more clear.

In Gameweek 28 only six teams will blank:

• Manchester United

• Brighton

• Manchester City

• West Ham

• Liverpool

• Fulham

The big news is that Tottenham Hotspur, Brentford and Leicester will play in Gameweek 28. That means any of you that have held Harry Kane (£11.7m) can keep him a bit longer as he won't blank for the rest of the season (he also won't have any Doubles either).

Brentford are now key to a lot of peoples plans as they have Fulham (h), Double Gameweek, Leicester (h), and another Double Gameweek over the next four Gameweeks.

The key player is probably Ivan Toney (£7.6m). It's worth noting that he's two yellow cards away from a two game suspension, but I think there's enough upside to just bring him in now if you can. If he's suspended or banned later on, we can remove him at that point.

Elsewhere I'd be looking at Bryan Mbeumo (£5.8m) if you don't want to take the risk on Toney, as another forward option. There aren't too many midfielders to really look at, but for the defensive options you could go for any of David Raya (£4.8m), Ethan Pinnock (£4.4m) or Rico Henry (£4.5m). Ben Mee (£5.0m) is also a decent option, but I'm not sure it's worth paying the extra for him over the others.

Brighton Options

Lots of people will be looking at Brighton players over the next couple of weeks. They have a Double Gameweek in 27 and 29, and later on this season they'll be due another 2-3.

Who are the best options to be bringing in?

Defensively there's only three I'd be looking at. In goal you have Robert Sánchez (£4.6m), and then it's either Lewis Dunk (£4.7m) or Pervis Estupiñán (£4.7m) if you need a defender.

For me there's not really a contest between Dunk and Estupiñán when both start as the latter is far more attacking. The only slight consideration for Dunk is the fact you never expect him to miss any games. With five Double Gameweeks to come in the final thirteen weeks, you want to make sure you have nailed players. For what it's worth, I don't expect Estupiñán to miss many (or even any) games, or to be subbed before the 60th minute, I just think it's more likely to happen than with Dunk. He may well make up for it with attacking returns either way.

Attacking wise it's mostly the midfielders I'm looking at - Solly March (£5.1m), Kaoru Mitoma (£5.3m), and Alexis Mac Allister (£5.4m). I'm looking to pick two if I can with Mitoma plus one of the others. Mac Allister isn't someone we've looked at for most of the season, but he has been playing more of an advanced role recently and is the main penalty taker. My worry is that he'll be played deeper at times which is why I'm leaning towards March, although by the time I actually send this email I might have changed my mind again.

Looking at their expected data, it comes out like this since Gameweek 17:

• March - 5.06 xGI (683 minutes)

• Mitoma 3.06 xGI (706 minutes)

• Mac Allister 2.59 xGI (381 minutes)

It looks promising for Mac Allister if he keeps playing advanced, it's just not a guarantee.

You could also look at Evan Ferguson (£4.6m) who has impressed a lot this season. The issue you have is they often play with just one striker and there's a bit of competition for those places. With Erling Haaland (£12.2m), Kane, Toney, and Ollie Watkins (£7.3m) all being heavily considered for people's teams, I just don't know if there's room for a Brighton forward who isn't guaranteed starts.

📈 Transfer Activity 📉

After an 18 pointer in Gameweek 25, Oleksandr Zinchenko (£5.1m) has been transferred in by 186,158 managers. Arsenal are one of the teams with no Blank or Double Gameweeks for the rest of the season.

Given they have Bournemouth (h), Fulham (a), Crystal Palace (h) and Leeds (h) in the next four Gameweeks, there's every reason to still be using transfers on them. I think Zinchenko and Gabriel (£5.2m) are the best options even though there's not much to split them.

Gabriel is more likely to get you a goal, and Zinchenko is more likely to get an assist. While the assist is worth less, he would likely get bonus as well. Both seem nailed on at the moment, but you'd have to say Gabriel is slightly more nailed after playing 90 minutes in every game. Whoever you decide to go with, you can't really go wrong with an Arsenal defender.

Despite scores of 11, 6 and 11 over the last three Gameweeks, Mohamed Salah (£12.7m) has been sold by 185,455 managers, most likely those on Wildcards. If you are Wildcarding then he's probably not worth keeping as Liverpool blank in Gameweek 28 and their Double in Gameweek 29 is Chelsea (a) and Manchester City (a). Don't completely write them off as options though, in Gameweek 32 they play Nottingham Forest (h) and they will likely Double in Gameweek 34.

If you do get rid, have a long term plan to get them back in, or at least be open to it. If they lose to Real Madrid in the Champions League they'll have nothing else to play for other than the League itself, and that might help give them an end of season push.

It's fair to say that Eddie Nketiah (£6.8m) has been a nightmare to own the past few weeks, especially being benched in both games of Double Gameweek 25. Unfortunately it gets worse as he's a doubt for Bournemouth (h) this week, after Mikel Arteta said "it's a bit uncertain what will happen with him".

I think he's probably a sell at this point, there's no more Doubles anyway, and Gabriel Jesus (£7.9m) will be back soon-ish. Not only that but we've seen that Arteta is happy playing Leandro Trossard (£6.6m) in that position.

I think the easy move if you have the cash is to go straight to Toney. Outside of that I'd probably pick Watkins at a similar price. The other option would be to shift to a 3rd Arsenal player.

👑 Captaincy 👑

We're back with a head to head between Haaland and Bukayo Saka (£8.5m) this week.

Despite Saka's performances all season, especially recently, it's always difficult to back against Haaland. It feels as though we're viewing him as a bit "off it" at the moment, and despite that he's scored 10 goals in his last 11 games.

I've been impressed with the Newcastle defence this season, and they'll certainly be helped by Bruno Guimarães (£5.5m) being available again. But I'm also aware of how good the Man City attack is, and if it's anything like the reverse fixture (3-3), there's attacking returns to be had.

It's also worth noting that Haaland didn't play at all midweek, he was rested in the FA Cup so his minutes look very secure this week as they normally do in the league.

I guess to go against him, there has to be a very good reason, and perhaps Saka provides that. He has six goals and three assists since Gameweek 17, he's bang in form.

Not only that, but he plays a Bournemouth team sitting in 19th place with 48 goals conceded, no team has shipped more so far.

At the moment the armband is on Haaland for my team, but I suspect a lot of that is because I've been burned so many times before by going different. I do love captaining a midfielder where possible though, with the extra points for clean sheets and a goal, it's just that bit easier to get a big haul.

I just can't see any reason for either side to not come away with 2+ goals this week, so I think I'm going to stick by the guy who has already beaten last year's golden boot winner by Gameweek 25.

💪 My Team 💪

I don't think my team is desperate for a Wildcard this week, even with only one free transfer.

I could easily do Dwight McNeil (£5.1m) to Mitoma, or Darwin Núñez (£8.8m) to Toney and be fairly happy with the team, especially when Liverpool play Bournemouth (a) in Gameweek 27.

The problems really come from Gameweek 27 onwards. I have zero Brentford or Brighton players as it stands for their Double, and I'm going to struggle to put out enough players in Blank Gameweek 28. Not only that, but the calibre of players such as James Tarkowski (£4.4m) against Chelsea (a) isn't great.

That's why I'm probably just going to Wildcard this week. I haven't yet hit the button as I want to be absolutely sure about it first, but I have thought a lot about my squad.

With this squad it gives me six players who Double in Gameweek 27. If I sell Haaland in Gameweek 28 ahead of his Blank, I can also get 10 players out for Gameweek 28 (the plan would be to buy Haaland back, don't panic!).

It also allows me to Bench Boost in Gameweek 27 or 29. The only reason I'd decide to go sooner is because there's an international break before Gameweek 29 and that's a long time to hope the bench is still intact.

The reason I feel comfortable thinking about Wildcarding now, is because of the way the FA Cup results went. There's only likely to be six extra fixtures total to become Double Gameweeks throughout the rest of the season. That's as many as there are in Double Gameweek 29 alone. With three of them involving Brighton I'd feel well set, with a plan to buy more Man United players in Gameweek 29 for their Double and the one likely to come in Gameweek 34.

I just don't think there's necessarily a massive benefit for delaying things any longer, it improves my team right now, and allows me to start setting up for future weeks as well.

I'll be surprised if the button hasn't been hit by the deadline tomorrow.

📽️ My YouTube Content 📽️

In my Team Selection video I went a bit more in depth about why I feel a Wildcard could be beneficial, as well as talked through future plans as well.

While not every Blank and Double Gameweek is 100% confirmed, it's getting closer. In this video I went through everything we know, including when is best to play your Chips.

The Gameweek 26 Deadline Stream will start between 9:00am - 9:30am UK time on Saturday morning.

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