In our fantasy EPL Sprint article on Tuesday we highlighted the idea behind the Fanteam EPL Final Sprint, a mini-season fantasy contest starting in Gameweek 30 on 14th March 2026, covering the last nine Premier League Gameweeks (GW30–GW38) of the 2025/26 campaign. Yesterday we focussed on planning your FanTeam EPL Sprint team selection to help you grab a share of the £20,000 minimum guaranteed prize pool. Today we publish another article on selecting teams based on doubling up the defenders/GK.
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First a reminder of the rules:
How the Final Sprint Works
The format is designed to keep the game fast-moving and tactical across the nine Gameweeks. Below is an example of how you might select your team within the £85m budget when focussing on maximising Clean Sheet points and plan your 3 weekly transfers.
One tactic that works particularly well in short formats is the two-club clean sheet stack. Instead of spreading the goalkeeper and defenders across several clubs, you concentrate them into two teams. If either club keeps a clean sheet, multiple players in your squad score points simultaneously.
For this Sprint, the strongest structure is to start with a Liverpool and Brentford defensive stack and later pivot into an Aston Villa and Chelsea stack once the fixture swing arrives after Gameweek 33.
What is a two-club clean sheet stack?
A typical fantasy team might have a goalkeeper from one club and three defenders from three other clubs. That spreads risk but limits upside. If one team keeps a clean sheet, only one player benefits.
With a two-club stack the structure looks like this:
Goalkeeper – Brentford
Defender – Brentford
Defender – Liverpool
Defender – Liverpool
If Brentford keep a clean sheet, two players return points. If Liverpool keep one, two more players return points. In a short nine-Gameweek contest that kind of concentrated scoring potential can create large swings in weekly scores.
Why Liverpool and Brentford first?
The opening Sprint fixtures strongly favour Liverpool and Brentford.
Liverpool begin with Tottenham at home in GW30. Spurs are currently bottom of the six-match Premier League form table and struggling for consistency. Liverpool then face Fulham at home and Everton away, both perfectly reasonable defensive fixtures.
Brentford also begin the Sprint with a favourable run. Their early matches include Burnley away, Bournemouth at home, Everton away and Fulham at home. That gives them several opportunities for clean sheets in the opening weeks.
The key point is that these good fixtures overlap. That means there are several consecutive rounds where your defensive stack has the potential to deliver double returns.
Liverpool and Brentford £85m stack squad
The following squad fits within the £85m budget with a Liverpool and Brentford defensive stack.
Goalkeeper
Kelleher (BRE) £4.7m
Defenders
van Dijk (LIV) £5.8m
Konaté (LIV) £5.4m
Ajer (BRE) £4.4m
Midfielders
Palmer (CHE) £10.8m
Fernandes (MUN) £8.6m
Rogers (AV) £7.7m
Semenyo (MCI) £7.5m
Forwards
Haaland (MCI) £13.4m
Ekitiké (LIV) £8.2m
João Pedro (CHE) £7.6m
Total cost: £84.1m
This structure provides the Liverpool and Brentford clean sheet stack while still including the key attacking players with strong form and captaincy potential.
Why this squad works for the early Sprint
There are three main strengths to this build.
First, it targets the best early clean sheet run in the fixture grid by stacking Liverpool and Brentford.
Second, it still provides elite attacking options. Haaland, Palmer and Fernandes offer strong captaincy choices every week.
Third, it manages the GW31 Arsenal and Manchester City blank reasonably well. Haaland and Semenyo are the only players affected, and with three transfers available every Gameweek it is fairly easy to move around them temporarily.
Why pivot to Aston Villa and Chelsea later?
After Gameweek 33 the defensive fixture landscape changes.
Aston Villa move into a particularly favourable run that includes West Ham, Nottingham Forest, Sunderland, Fulham, Tottenham and Burnley. Several of those matches offer realistic clean sheet potential.
Chelsea also have a number of attractive fixtures later in the Sprint, including matches against Nottingham Forest, Tottenham and Sunderland.
That makes Aston Villa and Chelsea the most appealing defensive pairing for the middle and later stages of the mini-season.
Aston Villa and Chelsea £85m stack squad
The following squad illustrates the later-stage version of the two-club clean sheet stack.
Goalkeeper
Martínez (AV) £5.1m
Defenders
Cash (AV) £5.4m
James (CHE) £5.7m
Chalobah (CHE) £5.3m
Midfielders
Palmer (CHE) £10.8m
Fernandes (MUN) £8.6m
Semenyo (MCI) £7.5m
Mac Allister (LIV) £5.8m
Forwards
Haaland (MCI) £13.4m
Watkins (AV) £9.2m
Ekitiké (LIV) £8.2m
Total cost: £85.0m
This squad uses a true two-club defensive stack. Martínez and Cash benefit from Aston Villa clean sheets, while James and Chalobah benefit from Chelsea clean sheets.
How to make the transition
Because the FanTeam format allows three transfers every week, switching between defensive stacks is straightforward.
A typical transition around Gameweek 34 could look like this:
Kelleher → Martínez
Konaté → Cash
Ajer → James
Within a single Gameweek the defensive structure shifts completely from Liverpool and Brentford to Aston Villa and Chelsea.
Captaincy strategy
Even with a defensive stacking approach, captaincy should focus on the highest-ceiling attackers.
Strong options throughout the Sprint include:
Haaland
Palmer
Fernandes
Semenyo
Captaining attackers from different teams than your defensive stack also helps balance risk.
Why the tactic works in the Sprint
The two-club clean sheet stack is particularly suited to the FanTeam Sprint format.
The contest is short, so chasing upside matters more than long-term balance. Transfers are plentiful, allowing managers to adjust quickly when fixture runs change. Clean sheet points stack quickly, so a single defensive result can produce a large score swing. And because fixture swings occur across the run-in, the ability to pivot between defensive pairings becomes a real advantage.
Final thoughts
In a nine-Gameweek mini-season the key to success is identifying where points can spike rather than simply aiming for consistency.
Starting with a Liverpool and Brentford clean sheet stack targets the strongest early defensive fixtures. Later in the run-in, moving to an Aston Villa and Chelsea stack allows managers to continue exploiting the fixture grid as it evolves.