Fantasy football tips for Double Gameweek 26. In this Fantasy Premier League series FPL Junior (four top 13k finishes in last four seasons) shares his FPL tips by selecting a team each week to try and score as many points as possible. In essence, he will be “free hitting” every single Gameweek. Rather than selecting longer-term options, he’ll solely focus on players with the best form and fixtures for the upcoming Double Gameweek 26.
Here we go! It’s the hat-trick of Double Gameweek’s and this is a big one. A massive 14 teams play twice over a six day period, being the biggest ever one, but don’t expect everyone to play 180 minutes with European football also being thrown in the mix. I can’t see many people going without a chip this week as long as they’ve still got one intact. The Hub XI will be fielding 11 players who will have the chance to play 22 games!
Double Gameweek 26 Team
Gameweek 26 Hub XI
Defence
With rotation more likely to be a larger factor for this double Gameweek, defence is one of the least rotated positions. That being said very few positions at Man City are immune to rotation but I’ve tried to pick the safest two. Ederson is one of the few, if not only player who won’t get rotated so I felt like he was an obvious choice this week. I’ve paired him with Stones after he was rested in Europe. I’m not confident in any of their backline to start both games but a minimum of one game still isn’t a bad option. Over the past six games the league leaders have conceded the fewest big chances (3), xGC (3.37) and shots inside the box (21) in the league. Both ties take place at the Etihad with in-form West Ham being the tougher of the two fixtures.
Pereira’s return to full fitness has seen him surpass the 60 minute mark in all of his last four games and with Justin replacing him on the sidelines for a while, his position looks safe once again. He was played on further up the pitch on the right wing against Aston Villa but it’s yet to be seen whether that was just a tactic to nullify Grealish. Leicester’s defensive numbers aren’t too bad either but they’ve been over-performing their xGC of 4.46 over the last six, conceding just twice. Their opponents Arsenal and Burnley rank third and fourth worse for xG over the last four Gameweeks. His ownership sits at under 1% too.
Despite Man Utd’s shaky defence, Shaw’s creative abilities keep him in the XI this week but I don’t want to keep banging the Luke Shaw drum. Despite some mediocre scores as of late, his points floor feels quite high to me and he’s yet to pick up a major haul through keeping a clean sheet and getting an attacking return. He was rested on Thursday night so I’m confident he’ll play both games, but I’d have been more confident if the tougher fixture took place last. In the reverse fixture this season, Man Utd vs Chelsea was a cagey game and with the latter looking much more sound defensively, it could be another low scoring game.
Lucas Digne finishes off the backline with him facing Southampton and West Brom. As could be seen against Liverpool, his baseline bonus was impressive with him being joint top for defenders. West Brom are surprisingly sixth for big chances (9) over the last four Gameweeks with an xG of 4.73 while Southampton are not far behind on average with them playing an extra game. In the same time the Baggies are second bottom for shots inside the box showing they’re not getting shots away from close range that often but when they do they are of good quality.
Stones looks set to start on the weekend following a rest in midweek
Midfield
The games highest owned player is an autopick for me this week. Fernandes is on the road for both games and where his goal contribution’s come from has been split down the middle this season. Palace is the important game with Chelsea massively tightening up their defence under Tuchel.
Despite losing his creative teammate to injury at the weekend, Barnes is back in the XI for his two games. Neither of his opponents have bad defensive numbers with Arsenal and Burnley sitting around mid table for xGC. The left sided midfielder has had two big chances in his last four games, yet has come away with two double-figure hauls in that time. He may be over-performing his underlying numbers but Leicester are flying high at the moment and are bound to be high in morale after a significant victory against Liverpool last week.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Gundogan start at the weekend and less so when he started again in Europe. Despite playing deeper he still kept getting into his usual dangerous positions and get two shots off inside the box. At £6.1m he still remains fabulous value to allow you spread the funds but at the moment that doesn’t seem too much of a pressing issue. I don’t see much between himself and De Bruyne but the price difference makes the decision much easier. I think we’re going to see rotation in attacking positions for the Blues but in his position, I can’t see him being rotated unless he needs a rest. Despite West Ham being in great form and Wolves starting to turn a corner I still see two comprehensive victories whether it be defensively or offensively.
Salah is somewhat reluctantly in the XI, which in any other season I’d be surprised to be saying that considering it’s a double Gameweek. With plenty of cash to use it came down to himself or Son but the former’s underlying stats are much superior despite the pairs average form.
Bruno is an autopick most weeks in his current form
Forwards
Kane’s points tally over the last two games doesn’t do him justice for two. While he didn’t register a big chance in games where Spurs were outperformed, he still attempted eight shots, half of which came inside the box. Spurs clearly aren’t in form and their performances aren’t giving the forward as many chances as he would have liked and has had in the past but for this double Gameweek he’s got big potential with a very high ceiling. In the reverse fixture, he would have come away with 13 points which I would definitely take.
Despite only featuring off the bench against Liverpool, Calvert-Lewin is likely to be ready to start against Southampton in his second double Gameweek in three Gameweeks. Arguably he’s got the best fixtures of the bunch with Southampton’s defence conceding 22 times in their last seven games. West Brom are right behind them over that time shipping two goals a game on average. After five consecutive blanks, the forward has got an attacking return in each of his last three appearances.
Calvert-Lewin arguably has the best attacking fixtures in this double Gameweek 26
Bench
Areola, Watkins, Lookman and Konsa take their place on the bench.
Double Gameweek 26 Captaincy
Bruno Fernandes is the captain for this Double Gameweek.
Notable omissions
Despite Aston Villa having a reasonable pair of fixtures, I’ve stayed away from Aston Villa players. With their talisman, Grealish, unlikely to be fit I feel they are going to be hampered at both ends of the pitch despite the small sample size we’ve got from him being missing. Watkins failed to register a big chance last week, so I’m looking elsewhere. Martinez is the best option in my opinion from the Villa squad with the potential of save points but they’ve massively relied on the keeper to bail them out with the side conceding the most shots over the last six Gameweeks.
A Chelsea defender would’ve been a nice pick this week if it wasn’t for their horrible fixtures. While I don’t think they’re going to ship a load of goals, I think their players’ ceiling is too low this week and their wingbacks are still rotation prone.
Son gets a place in the side despite his kind fixtures. The South Korean has just had a single big chance in his last six games, accruing an xG of 1.28.
No single fixture players got much consideration this week due to the quality of the teams who play twice.
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