⚽ FPL Gameweek 27 Tips

👋 Hello 👋

Gameweek 26 was a disaster, unless of course you held onto your Liverpool players.

As someone that Wildcarded them all out, I'm hoping for a much better outcome in Gameweek 27...

Four teams have a Double Gameweek this week - Brighton, Brentford, Crystal Palace and Southampton.

Gameweek 27 deadline - Saturday 11 March, 11:00 UK ⏰

 🔥 Gameweek 27 - Hot Topics 🔥

Double Gameweek Best Players

I'm just going to come out and say it - I can't see many (if any) reasons to bring in players from Southampton or Crystal Palace.

The only three players I'd even consider are James Ward-Prowse (£6.3m), Wilfried Zaha (£7.2m) or Vicente Guaita (£4.4m). Even then I think there are better midfielders and goalkeepers to consider.

The fixtures just aren't good enough in the Double itself, or immediately after to justify using transfers on them.

From Brighton it's a different story, there's lots of great options in a team that has another Double in Gameweek 29. They'll also have another 2-3 Double Gameweeks after Gameweek 29, so make your picks carefully.

In defence you have Pervis Estupiñán (£4.8m) who's the more exciting attacking pick, but perhaps slightly more susceptible to an early sub or possibly even a benching at some point. Otherwise it's Lewis Dunk (£4.7m) who is very likely to start every game.

In midfield all of Kaoru Mitoma (£5.5m), Alexis Mac Allister (£5.4m), and Solly March (£5.1m) are great options. I'd put them in that order of best to worse right now, with Mac Allister playing in a more advanced role currently. The reason I put March on my Wildcard was because longer term if Mac Allister is played deeper, I think March's potential output is higher.

Brentford not only have a Double in Gameweek 27 and 29, but they also play in Gameweek 28 and 32 which are both Blank Gameweeks.

In goal you have the second highest scoring goalkeeper so far this season - David Raya (£4.8m). He rotates pretty nicely with both Kepa Arrizabalaga (£4.7m) and David De Gea (£5.0m).

None of the defenders are particularly attacking so I'd just pick one or two of the cheapest nailed on options, either Rico Henry (£4.5m) or Ethan Pinnock (£4.4m). I'm not convinced it's worth paying extra for Ben Mee (£5.1m).

It's difficult to justify using a midfield spot on a Brenford player so I'd just skip straight to the forwards. Ivan Toney (£7.8m) is just two yellow cards away from a two game suspension. Despite that, for me he's worth the risk with the potential upside he offers. If you want to play it a bit safer then Bryan Mbeumo (£5.9m) has started every game this season and would be the penalty taker if Toney was to miss out at any point.

What to do with Sánchez?

It looks like Robert Sánchez (£4.6m) may have lost his place in the Brighton team. Against West Ham in Gameweek 26 it was Jason Steele (£3.9m) who played instead.

Roberto De Zerbi had this to say:

It does look like Steele will get a run in the team for now which means Sánchez to Steele would make a lot of sense. The problem is that De Zerbi has shown he's happy to swap goalkeepers midway through the season, so there's no guarantee he won't do it again. You could just get Steele and bench him if he loses his place, but with so many Doubles for Brighton you want to be certain about your picks.

If you have a spare Brentford spot then there's Raya. Otherwise you could pick a Single Gameweek goalkeeper like De Gea who will Double in Gameweek 29, and at least once more later this season (twice if Man United beat Fulham in the FA Cup). Keep in mind he will Blank in Gameweek 28, so you'd need a backup there. Nick Pope (£5.4m) is another to consider, good games in Gameweek 27 and 28, a Double in 29, and another one to come later this season.

The other option is to delay the transfer until Double Gameweek 29 and wait for more information. You'd lose a fixture this week by playing your other goalkeeper, but it might be worth it to see whether Steele keeps his place. I think he will for what it's worth, but there's some risk with the move.

James and Chilwell punts

Is it time to start taking a look at Reece James (£5.8m) or Ben Chilwell (£5.8m)? Possibly.

Graham Potter seems to have reverted to playing a wing-back system, at least in the last couple of games. We know Potter likes to tinker so it's not a guarantee this sticks, but if it does it makes Chilwell and James very appealing.

The upcoming fixtures have potential for defensive and attacking returns and look like this:

• GW27 - Leicester (a)

• GW28 - Everton (h)

• GW29 - Aston Villa (h), Liverpool (h)

• GW30 - Wolves (a)

• GW31 - Brighton (h)

There are some risks with both players mostly around fitness. Chilwell has only played 60 minutes or more seven times in the league this season. It's promising to see that he's played back to back 90 minutes in Gameweek 25 and 26 as well as in the Champions League. He might finally be starting to prove his fitness.

James hasn't been without his own injury concerns. He's only managed 90 minutes twice in the last four games, missing two of them completely. It's clear that Potter is managing him where possible.

Because Chelsea beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 on Tuesday, they're through to the quarter finals of the Champions League which adds more fixtures that will need to be played. These will take place midweek between Gameweek 30 and 31, and then Gameweek 31 and 32.

There's no guarantee either player will play all of the league fixtures mentioned above, but if you're someone who likes a punt on defenders with lots of attacking potential, these two fit the bill. I think given Chilwell has proved his fitness more recently, he's probably the one I would opt for, but James might take a penalty at some point...

📈 Transfer Activity 📉

After his 12 points against Man United, Darwin Núñez (£8.8m) is the second highest transferred in forward this week. Even with Roberto Firmino (£8.0m) and Diogo Jota (£8.8m) back now, I think Darwin is clearly first choice.

I don't have any doubts he'll do well against Bournemouth this week, but he will blank in Gameweek 28 and Liverpool's Double in 29 is Chelsea (a) and Man City (a) so he's certainly not a long term pick. I'd probably avoid bringing him in for now, unless you're using Free Hit in Gameweek 28.

Fabian Schär (£5.1m) is the most transferred out defender. He wasn't even in the squad against Man City in Gameweek 26. Hopefully Eddie Howe will give us positive news in the press conference because when he's fit and available he's nailed on.

I wouldn't be too hasty about removing him from your squads. Newcastle have Wolves (h) this week, a fixture against Nottingham Forest (a) in Blank Gameweek 28, and a Double in Gameweek 29. It's hard to beat Kieran Trippier (£6.0m) for attacking potential, but Schär is a threat in his own right from set pieces. He's putting up 0.14xG and 0.05xA per 90 minutes in the league this season, not bad for a centre back!

👑 Captaincy 👑

Despite there being some great Single Gameweek fixtures this week, I just can't bring myself to not captain someone with a Double. If you didn't want to back Brighton or Brentford in particular, this is probably the order of captains I would go with just one fixture:

• Salah vs Bournemouth (a)

• Kane vs Nottingham Forest (h)

• Haaland vs Crystal Palace (a)

• Saka vs Fulham (a)

• Rashford vs Southampton (h)

I've got Harry Kane (£11.7m) ahead of Erling Haaland (£12.2m) purely because of the fixture. Likewise Bukayo Saka (£8.5m) is ahead of Marcus Rashford (£7.4m) just because he's the first choice penalty taker. In both cases you could make an argument to switch them around. They're all great!

In terms of Double Gameweek options, it's quite close between Toney and the three Brighton midfielders for me. I'd have the order something like this:

• Toney vs Everton (a), Southampton (a)

• Mitoma vs Leeds (a), Crystal Palace (h)

• Mac Allister vs Leeds (a), Crystal Palace (h)

• March vs Leeds (a), Crystal Palace (h)

• Mbeumo vs Everton (a), Southampton (a)

• Estupiñán vs Leeds (a), Crystal Palace (h)

I've discounted Ward-Prowse and Zaha just because of the fixtures.

Toney is ahead of the Brighton midfielders just because of his superior goal threat from open play and the fact he takes penalties. It would be more ideal if Brentford had a home fixture, but both Everton and Southampton are poor defences.

Either way it's really close, if you have a gut feeling towards anyone other than Toney then go for it!

💪 My Team 💪

Despite the Gameweek 26 Wildcard going badly, it still gave me a small green arrow, my third in a row. That's the first time I've done that all season and I hope that's the start of a bit of momentum as it's been a rough ride so far. I'm also well set up for Gameweek 27.

There aren't many decisions to make this week. The team doesn't need any transfers, and I think I have to back Trippier over Gabriel (£5.2m) with the home fixture against Wolves.

I'm intending to play my Bench Boost in Gameweek 29 but there is a case to be made that Gameweek 27 might be better. Although the bench is slightly weaker, I'd get to play it much closer to my Wildcard. Gameweek 29 is still three weeks away and there might be injuries and suspensions to deal with, not great if you also have to have your bench in order.

In Gameweek 29 my bench will likely be:

• Raya vs Brighton (a), Man United (a)

• Henry vs Brighton (a), Man United (a)

• Kane vs Everton (a)

• Saka vs Leeds (h)

I'm going to take the risk that I don't have many issues to deal with and just stick to the Gameweek 29 plan. I'll just hope the four players on my bench don't make me regret it this week.

📽️ My YouTube Content 📽️

If you want some more thoughts about my team then you can check out this video.

The Gameweek 27 Deadline Stream will start between 9:30am - 10:00am UK time on Saturday morning.

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