While gameweek 26 brought us a few very interesting results, both in real life and from a fantasy perspective, it really was the 7-0 thrashing at Anfield that grabbed most of the headlines. On Sunday, a so-so Liverpool recorded their biggest-ever victory over in-form arch-rivals Manchester United in what has definitely gone down as one of the freak results of the season. Were you one of the roughly 25% of FPL managers who kept faith in Salah for the derby? Or one of the 10% of managers who held on to Darwin Nuñez? If so, good on you, but really any manager with one or more of the main Liverpool assets will have performed above average at least in GW26.
The same seems possible this week, but for managers with Brighton and Brentford assets in their squads. Together with Crystal Palace and Southampton, the Seagulls and the Bees have a double this gameweek, but unlike the doubles of the first two, the doubles of the last two are actually worth considering. That’s also why they are dominating the most-transferred-in stats for gameweek 27 at the moment.
| TEAM | DOUBLE |
| Brentford | Everton (away) + Southampton (away) |
| Brighton | Leeds (away) + Crystal Palace (home) |
| Crystal Palace | Man City (home) + Brighton (away) |
| Southampton | Man United (away) + Brentford (home) |
Don’t forget, the FPL deadline for gameweek 27 is set at 11h00 (UK time) on Saturday, March 11th, 2023.
Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per March 9th, 2023)
| GK | Ward (LEI), Pope (NEW), Sanchez (BRI) | Raya (BRE), Alisson (LIV), Sanchez (BRI) | |
| DEF | Schar (NEW), Shaw (MUN), Tarkowski (EVE) | Estupiñan (BRI), Mee (BRE), Veltman (BRI | Brighton and Brentford DGW |
| MID | Mahrez (MCI), De Bruyne (MCI), Odegaard (ARS) | Mitoma (BRI), Salah (LIV), Mac Allister (BRI) | Brighton and Brentford DGW, Liverpool 7-0 + favourable fixture |
| FOR | Nketiah (ARS), Kane (TOT), Mitrovic (FUL) | Toney (BRE), Darwin (LIV), Mbeumo (BRE) | Brighton and Brentford DGW, Liverpool 7-0 + favourable fixture |
Premium pick
The premium fantasy pick for gameweek 27 is an interesting category this round, because while no premium asset is doubling, almost all of them have a very favourable single gameweek. Manchester City are visiting Selhurst Park, Liverpool are going to Bournemouth and Manchester United are welcoming Southampton to Old Trafford after their 7-0 humiliation at Anfield. We have decided to go with Harry Kane (£11.7m) though, because of several reasons. First of all, he’s Harry Kane, Tottenham’s undisputed talisman. Second of all, he’s facing Nottingham Forest at home this weekend, followed by Southampton away in blank gameweek 28 and Everton away in double gameweek 29. And third of all, he’s in excellent form. Sure, he blanked against Wolves for a measly 2-pointer last weekend and didn’t score against ACM in the Champions League, but he recorded 5 goals and 3 assists in the eight EPL games before that. Overall, Kane sits on 18 goals and 6 assists already, making him the highest-scoring FPL asset this season behind Erling Haaland. Despite not doubling, we believe Tottenham’s Very Own is perhaps the premium fantasy pick for the short and medium term.
Non-premium pick
Little surprise when it comes to our non-premium fantasy pick for gameweek 27, as we’ve gone with Ivan Toney (£7.8m). The combination of his upcoming double against Everton and Southampton, the home game against Leicester in blank gameweek 28, another double (Brighton and Man United, both away) and his form this season makes him practically impossible to ignore. At the moment of writing, already 400,000 FPL managers have brought the Brentford striker in and we believe he will also be the number-one captaincy pick this week. Toney has 15 goals and 3 assists to his name so far this season, his best Premier League season to date, and we can easily see him add a few more attacking returns over this double gameweek and the next rounds. He is also absolutely nailed-on as Brentford’s striker and has penalty duties firmly in his locker, which only increases his appeal. There is, of course, the matter of a potential yellow card suspension soon (he is currently on eight yellows) and another suspension for breaching Premier League gambling laws could be on the way, but neither of those situations looks pressing on the short-ish term, at least.
The budget enabler
The ultimate budget enablers this week can be found on the Brighton roster, with three of their very friendly priced midfielders available for less than £5.5m. We have eventually gone with the most expensive of the three, Alexis MacAllister (£5.4m), but really, Kaoru Mitoma and Solly March could feature in this section just as well. The reason we went with MacAllister is that, like Brentford, Brighton have a double this week and in gameweek 29, though unlike Brentford, Brighton do blank in gameweek 28. Keep that in mind. We feel that penalty duties are extra valuable when considering a double gameweek player and MacAllister, who is firmly on spot kicks for the Seagulls and converted one last weekend, has two coming up over the next three gameweeks. On top of that, manager Roberto de Zerbi has started using the world champion further up field of late, which has led to more involvement closer to the opposition’s goal. It can really go either way with the Brighton mids as both Mitoma and March are displaying great form and underlying stats as well, but if we had to choose one for the coming three gameweeks, we would go with MacAllister.
The differential
For our differential fantasy pick for gameweek 27, we stuck with the double gameweek teams, as a majority of their players are currently owned by less than 10%. This means that DGW27 also represents a good opportunity to take a little gamble and make up ground without investing too much at once. While we considered a few defensive picks from both Brighton’s and Brentford’s rosters, we figured that we should have a more offensive mindset for picking our differential this week, so we put our money on Bryan Mbeumo (£5.9m). Ivan Toney takes up all the spotlights in the Brentford attack, and with merit, but it has caused his attacking partner Mbeumo to remain somewhat under the radar. Of course, with 5 goals and 4 assists to his name currently, the Cameroon international is still quite far off from Toney’s numbers, but he could be a big differential over the coming gameweeks, starting with the double in 27. Mbeumo, who is as nailed-on as they come in the Prem, scored twice and gave 3 assists in his last seven games, bringing his the 4.5% of managers who own him two double-digit hauls in the process. He now has Everton and Southampton coming up in the double, followed by a home encounter with Leicester in blank gameweek 28 and another double in GW29 (Brighton and Manchester United, both away). If you’re looking for a differential way to try and benefit from the upcoming schedule, Mbeumo is a great option.
The (vice-)captaincy
We mentioned it earlier, but no premium-priced captain for us this week as we’re placing the GW27 Captain armband on Ivan Toney’s right arm. We already gave some of the main reasons for selecting him as one of our recommended picks for double gameweek 27 above and the same goes for our captaincy decision. He is Brentford’s talisman and with two favourable fixtures coming up, he could be the one to make or break the upcoming double.
If you’re not amongst the fortunate 35% of FPL managers who currently have Toney in their squad already and you’re not considering bringing him in now, worry not. The previously mentioned Brighton midfielders, Solly March, Alexis Mac Allister and Kaoru Mitoma look like very good captains as well for their upcoming double against Leeds and Palace. Besides the double gameweekers, the likes of single gameweek assets Harry Kane (at home to Nottingham Forest), Erling Haaland (away at Palace) and Mo Salah (away at Bournemouth) could very well outscore the double gameweek favourites.