Congrats to all those managers who backed Mo Salah for a haul against Southampton, as the Egyptian superstar added 2 goals and 15 FPL points to his already impressive totals. And to those managers who went with Cole Palmer instead, who had a fantastic fixture on paper with Leicester at home: better luck next time! The England international came away with just a single point after missing a penalty in what ended up being a stingy 1-0 victory for the Blues.

On to Gameweek 29 though, because it’s promising to be big one for fantasy managers. A total of four teams have a blank this gameweek and their absence will have a considerable impact on FPL standings. That is because the four teams with a blank in Gameweek 29 are Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, Liverpool and Newcastle. As a result, the (hugely) popular likes of Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak and Ollie Watkins will not be available for selection this week. That complicates things, naturally, but it also provides an opportunity for fantasy managers to put their knowledge and skills to the test. We expect a peak in chip usage this gameweek, particularly of the Free Hit, so keep that in the back of your mind.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 29 is set at 13h30 (UK time) on Saturday, March 15^th, 2025. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per March 13^th, 2025)

	TRANSFERS OUT	TRANSFERS IN	POSSIBLE REASONS
GK	Alisson (LIV), Martinez (AST), Henderson (CRY)	Sels (NFO), Sa (WOL), Pickford (EVE)	BGW29
DEF	Hall (NEW), Alexander-Arnold (LIV), Virgil (LIV)	Aina (NFO), Kerkez (BOU), Gvardiol (MCI)	BGW29, Kerkez form + fixtures, Hall injury
MID	Palmer (CHE), Rogers (AST), Salah (LIV)	Fernandes (MUN), Kluivert (BOU), Gibbs-White (NFO)	BGW29, Kluivert form + fixtures
FOR	Isak (NEW), Cunha (WOL), Mateta (CRY)	Wood (NFO), Haaland (MCI), Pedro (BRI)	BGW29, Pedro goal-scoring form, Cunha suspension, Mateta injury doubt

Premium pick

With Alexander Isak and Mohamed Salah blanking, Cole Palmer playing away at Arsenal and Bukayo Saka injured, our premium fantasy pick for the week has rarely been more straight forward. Especially because Erling Haaland (£14.7m) has a home game coming up against Brighton, who are definitely having a great 2024-2025 season, but whose defence is not always as solid as it should be. The Seagulls have already conceded 40 goals in 28 league games this season, of which 24 were conceded away from home. Then again, Man City have been far from prolific in front of goal of late as well, with a 0-2 loss to Liverpool, a 0-1 victory at Spurs and a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest in the last three. We nevertheless expect Haaland to feature heavily in Blank Gameweek 29, partly because of expected Free Chip usage and partly because of the fact that he still sits in just over 30% of all squads. Let’s see if the Norwegian forward can work on his current totals of 20 goals and 3 assists when Brighton visit the Etihad on Saturday.

Non-premium pick

With an ownership of 47.8%, Chris Wood (£7.3m) is not exactly a very differential kind of non-premium fantasy pick, but one we believe may pay off handsomely in Blank Gameweek 29. On top of that, the New Zealand international also looks like a great and relatively budget-friendly option until the very end of the season. First of all, this weekend’s game, because we see possibilities for Wood and the rest of the Tricky Trees when they visit Ipswich Town on Saturday. The Tractor Boys are fighting against relegation and have already conceded 58 goals in 28 league games this season, which must sound like sweet music to the ears of Wood, who already sits on 18 goals and 3 assists. Second of all, Forest gave got a good-looking fixture on paper coming up after that, which includes home games against Manchester United, Everton, Brentford and Leicester plus visits to Crystal Palace and West Ham, among others. Our opinion: if you are using the Free Hit Chip in Blank Gameweek 29, Wood should be part of your squad and if you are not using the Free Hit chip… as well.

The budget enabler

From one of the major surprises of the season to another, as we move from non-premium fantasy pick Chris Wood from Nottingham Forest to budget fantasy pick Antoine Semenyo (£5.7m) from Bournemouth. The Cherries currently find themselves in 9^th place, five points off fourth place. With 12 goals and 6 assists, Justin Kluivert has been taking up much of the spotlight at Bournemouth and the Dutchman is an excellent inclusion for any Blank Gameweek 29 squad, but we have opted for Semenyo instead, as the Ghana international comes in £0.5m cheaper. At the same time, he can also show more than decent stats with 7 goals and 5 assists from 27 Premier League starts. His direct goal involvement has dropped off a bit in past weeks, but with a home game against Brentford coming up, we hope that he will get at least a few opportunities to continue building on his current totals.

The differential

For our differential fantasy pick for Blank Gameweek 29, we are sticking with Bournemouth. Or better said, with the Bournemouth attack, as the Cherries are expected by the bookmakers to be the highest-scoring team behind Manchester City (at home to Brighton). Enter Evanilson (£5.6m), who was brought in for about £35 million from Porto last summer. The Brazilian got off to a decent start on the English South Coast, with 5 goals and 4 assists in his first 18 league starts, but he then suffered a broken foot that kept him out of action between Gameweeks 21 and 26. Evanilson returned to the pitch for 13 minutes in GW27 against Brighton and returned to the starting eleven last weekend for the visit to Spurs. Bournemouth got a 2-2 draw in London and their Brazilian striker got on the scoresheet for 8 FPL points. Up next are Brentford at home on Saturday, followed by Ipswich Town at home in GW30, West Ham away in GW31, Fulham at home in GW32 and a visit to Crystal Palace in GW33. In other words, plenty of opportunities on the short and medium term for Evanilson, who is currently part of just 2.2% of all squads in the official fantasy fame, to get some attacking returns.

The (vice-)captaincy

In Blank Gameweek 28, we are captaining Erling Haaland for Manchester City’s home clash with Brighton.

Good alternatives to the Norwegian goal machine include Chris Wood for Forest’s visit to Ipswich Town, Bruno Fernandes for Manchester United’s visit to Leicester on Sunday, and Justin Kluivert for Bournemouth’s home encounter with Brentford.

Out of sorts Cole Palmer should not be disregarded for the armband neither, though Chelsea are playing Arsenal at the Emirates on Sunday.

For further thoughts and discussions (including minleagues and side games) on the FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

Well, Jarrod Bowen at least returned with an assist against Leicester for us last weekend, because the rest of our picks were disappointing to say the least. Cole Palmer could have and should have a double-digit haul, but came off with a 3-pointer in the 4-0 victory over Southampton. Matheus Cunha blanked against Fulham, but that wasn’t the worst of it as he scored a direct red card against Bournemouth in the FA Cup a few days later. Result? A 3-match ban, meaning Wolves’ absolute talisman this season will miss the favourable fixtures against Everton (home), Southampton (away) and West Ham (home). And finally, our differential fantasy pick Matt Doherty, with a 1-pointer in Gameweek 27 at home against Fulham.

Anyway, on to FPL Gameweek 28, which kicks off with a top-six clash between number three Nottingham Forest and number four Manchester City. For sure that is not a sentence you were expecting to read this season, but it’s true nonetheless. Other games that should attract plenty of (fantasy) attention are Crystal Palace at home to Ipswich Town (though Jean-Phillipe Mateta will likely miss out), Chelsea at home to Leicester and, of course, Liverpool at home to Southampton. You probably already know who our captain for Gameweek 28 will be…

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 28 is set at 11h00 (UK time) on Saturday, March 8^th, 2025. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per March 6^th, 2025) with Cunha & Mateta most sold and most bought!

	TRANSFERS OUT	TRANSFERS IN	POSSIBLE REASONS
GK	Sanchez (CHE), Martinez (AST), Sels (NFO)	Alisson (LIV), Henderson (CRY), Pickford (EVE)
DEF	Hall (NEW), Robinson (FUL), Aina (NFO)	Muñoz (CRY), Alexander-Arnold (LIV), Cucurella (CHE)	Muñoz form, Hall injured
MID	Palmer (CHE), Gordon (NEW), Amad (MUN)	Kluivert (BOU), Szoboszlai (LIV), Mbeumo (BRE)	Szoboszlai and Mbeumo form, Kluivert form + fixtures, Gordon suspension, Amad injured
FOR	Cunha (WOL), Isak (NEW), Mateta (CRY)	Mateta (CRY), Wissa (BRE), Cunha (WOL)	Mateta form + fixtures, Wissa and Cunha form, Cunha suspension, Mateta injury doubt

Premium pick

In all honesty, with Chelsea playing at home against leaky Leicester City and with Liverpool facing leaky Southampton at Anfield, we did ponder our decision for a moment. Both out-of-sorts Cole Palmer and in-form Mohamed Salah (£13.8m) are excellent shouts as stand-out premium fantasy picks for Gameweek 28, and for the armband as well, but in the end, we still went with the Liverpool man. Salah is simply unstoppable this season with an incredible 25 goals and 17 assists from 28 league starts so far. He has returned in his last seven Premier League games, a run during which he managed 7 goals and 4 assists to be exact. The Reds are now facing Southampton and despite their gruelling (and lucky) mid-week Champions League visit to PSG, we still see lots of goals in that one. Lots of goals for Liverpool, that is, because with 65 conceded goals so far, the Saints boast the league’s worst defence. We feel a seventeenth (17^th!) double-digit haul of the season might be on the cards for Salah at Anfield on Sunday.

Non-premium pick

Picking Salah over Palmer as our premium fantasy pick doesn’t mean that we don’t rate the Chelsea home game at all. Far from it, actually, because like the Saints, the Foxes are far from a solid defensive set-up and Chelsea might just run riot on Sunday. Therefore, we decided to get in on the Blues attack with Pedro Neto (£6.2m) as our way in. The Portuguese forward, who is listed as a midfielder in the official fantasy game, got a goal and an assist for 11 FPL points against Southampton last weekend, and even though that seemed slightly lucky considering his Expected Goal Involvement of just 0.30, we can imagine a similar performance against a similarly faulty backline. After Southampton, they have let in the most goals so far this season (61 conceded goals in 27 league games), while Chelsea are fully immersed in the fight for Champions League football at the moment. In other words, the Blues are big favourites for this one and we feel Neto might be one of the major benefactors from this, FPL-wise at least.

The budget enabler

Our budget fantasy pick for Gameweek 28 is a teammate of Neto’s, Christopher Nkunku (£5.7m). In part due to injuries, the 2024-2025 season has not yet really become what the former RB Leipzig forward would have expected, but he’s been in decent form of late. Manager Enzo Maresca had him on the pitch for at least 75 minutes in each of his last three Premier League matches and he recorded 12 FPL points last weekend, courtesy of a goal, an assist and a bonus point against Southampton. On top of his FPL points, Nkunku’s underlying numbers were promising as well, with four shots, two created chances and an Expected Goal Involvement of 0.57. At his current price of £5.7m, we can see few other budget options with a ceiling as high as Nkunku’s in Gameweek 28. It should be noted though, in case you are tempted by what seems to be a perfect coming-together of form and fixture, that Chelsea have got a challenging run of fixtures after the Leicester game: Arsenal away, Spurs at home and Brentford away. That doesn’t mean they won’t take points and FPL hauls from those games, but on paper those are far from easy opponents.

The differential

This might come as a surprise to some, but over the last six gameweeks, Crystal Palace have actually been top of the league in terms of Expected Goals. That’s right, over the last six games, statistically speaking, no other team was expected to make as many goals as the Eagles. Much of that was obviously thanks to the on-fire Jean Phillippe Mateta, but the Frenchman will likely not feature this weekend after suffering a horror challenge from Millwall goalkeeper Liam Roberts in the FA Cup. The Palace attack is more than just Mateta though, which is why our differential fantasy pick for Gameweek 28 is Eberechi Eze (£6.7m). Compared to last season, when the playmaker scored 11 goals and provided 5 assists, his 2024-2025 campaign has been underwhelming so far, but we feel there might be a haul waiting for him in the upcoming home game against Ipswich Town. The Tractor Boys are currently 18^th in the Premier League with 57 goals conceded, which includes a top-two ranking for attempts conceded from set-pieces. Eze is in charge of most set-pieces at Palace and with Mateta most likely missing the Ipswich game, he will be on penalties as well. Keep in mind that Crystal Palace blank in Gameweek 29, but if your squad and strategy allow for bringing in Eze, you’ve probably got one of the best differentials in the official at the moment.

The (vice-)captaincy

Our captain is Mohamed “25 goals 17 assists” Salah.

The perfect alternative to the Egyptian is Cole Palmer, for Chelsea’s home game against Leicester City.

More daring armband picks include Justin Kluivert away at Spurs, Alexander Isak away at West Ham and Kaoru Mitoma for Brighton’s home game against Fulham.

For further thoughts and discussions (including minleagues and side games) on the FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

Whoever thought that things might calm down a bit after two small but fascinating double gameweeks in a row will likely have felt deceived by the time the last ball of Gameweek 27 was kicked. With ten games, various clashes between top-six contenders, 33 goals scored and an FPL average of 62 points this round, it turned out to be every bit as exciting as a decent double gameweek. And for the roughly 1% of managers who owned Spanish-Dutch winger Marcos Asensio even more so, as the Aston Villa ace bagged a brace and 15 FPL points against Chelsea, crowning himself as the highest-scoring player of the week in his third appearance for his new club.

Onto Gameweek 27 though, as there are just about 36 hours between the end of GW26’s final clash between Man City and Liverpool, and the start of GW 27’s opener between Brighton and Bournemouth at the AmEx. That is also one of the matches to look forward to this mid-week matchday, as we get another set of clashes between top-six contenders and they are all served on Wednesday evening: Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal, Spurs vs Manchester City and Liverpool vs Newcastle. From a fantasy point of view, Chelsea vs Southampton on Tuesday evening stands out though, while we wouldn’t be surprised either to see a few goals in the Gameweek 27 opener between Brighton and Bournemouth at the AmEx.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 27 is set at 18h00 (UK time) on Tuesday, February 25^th, 2025. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per February 24^th, 2025)

	TRANSFERS OUT	TRANSFERS IN	POSSIBLE REASONS
GK	Sanchez (CHE), Sels (NFO), Raya (ARS)	Flekken (BRE), Pickford (EVE), Henderson (CRY)
DEF	Aina (NFO), Porro (TOT), Hall (NEW)	Muñoz (CRY), Alexander-Arnold (LIV), Cucurella (CHE)	Alexander-Arnold consistent returns recently,
MID	Rogers (AST), Amad (MUN), Palmer (CHE)	Mbeumo (BRE), Bowen (WHU), Asensio (AST)	Rogers injury doubt, Amad injured
FOR	Gakpo (LIV), Wood (NFO), Haaland (MCI)	Cunha (WOL), Beto (EVE), Marmoush (MCI)	Cunha and Beto form + fixtures, Haaland injury doubt

Premium pick

Cole Palmer (£11.1m) has cooled down a bit of late in terms goals and assists, but we find it hard to overlook him now that Chelsea are preparing for a home encounter with Southampton. Especially with the premium category usuals Mohamed Salah playing Newcastle at home, Erling Haaland a doubt for the visit to Spurs and Bukayo Saka out injured, the Chelsea playmaker seems like the stand-out premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 27. What’s more, Palmer and the rest of the Blues have got another very enticing fixture right after their visit to Saint Mary’s, namely a visit to Leicester City’s King Power Stadium on Sunday. We know Chelsea have been a bit unpredictable this season, but that’s a couple of fixtures you should try and benefit from. And when it comes to benefiting from Chelsea as a fantasy manager, that usually means betting on Cole Palmer. Considering his 14 goals and 8 assists from 26 league starts so far, that makes a lot of sense of well.

Non-premium pick

Matheus Cunha (£6.9m) took a little break from scoring between gameweeks 19 and 23, so it seems, before getting back to his goal-scoring ways. Before Gameweek 19, the Brazilian forward recorded 10 goals and 4 assists from 18 league starts for Wolves, he then went dry for about five weeks, and now he seems to back to his scoring ways. The Wolves talisman has scored a goal in each of his last three league games, a run that consisted of a home game against Aston Villa, and visits to Liverpool and high-flying Bournemouth. Cunha now has Fulham at home coming up on Tuesday evening, followed by Everton at home, Southampton away, West Ham at home and Ipswich Town away. In other words, the kind of run you want to get in on as a fantasy manager, especially when it concerns a quality player like Cunha who, to top it all off, is also in great form. If Wolves want to stay out of the relegation zone and secure at least one other season of Premier League football as soon as possible, you better believe their Brazilian starman will be involved left, right and centre.

The budget enabler

For our budget fantasy pick for Gameweek 27, we have also fished in the Wolves pond. The side from Wolverhampton has shown signs of improvement of late and, as we wrote above, we believe that the coming run of fixtures is going to determine what the tail end of their season will look like. Are they securing Premier League survival well before the end or will they be sucked into the relegation battle until the very end? As we said, a lot will depend on Matheus Cunha, but if you are currently looking for a budget defender, then Matt Doherty (£4.4m) is worth looking at as well. The Irish right-back is a nailed-on part of manager Vitor Pereira’s starting eleven and even though he will no longer be delivering 2019-2020-style numbers (4 goals, 8 assists, 167 FPL points), he is still an interesting option if you need to free up some budget. Doherty is a starter with a good run of fixtures coming up and a decent ceiling, considering his attacking threat. The Ireland international already managed 2 goals and an assist this season, and we would not be surprised to see him add one or two more of those of the coming weeks, as well as a few clean sheets. Don’t fancy Doherty? Then Semedo (4.5m) and Ait-Nouri (£4.7m) are alternatives for a bit more money.

The differential

Our differential fantasy pick this week is a player who, when looking at his FPL history, we doubt should ever be in this category. The current 2024-2025 Premier League campaign is the sixth season in which Jarrod Bowen (£7.3m) features and especially his last four show what we mean. Bowen’s breakthrough came in 2020-2021, when he got 141 FPL points, followed by his best ever FPL season (12 goals, 17 assists, 206 FPL points). He then went on to record 145 FPL points in 2022-2023 and 182 FPL points last season, courtesy of 16 goals and 6 assists. What we are trying to say here is that Jarrod Bowen undeniably has Premier League and FPL pedigree, even when his side are not performing well, which is exactly the case for West Ham this season. Despite their current 16^th place in the league, Bowen has still managed 7 goals and 6 assists from 22 league starts, which comes down to 112 FPL points. The England international scored two of those goals over the last three Gameweeks: one in the 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge in GW24 and the only goal in the visit to Arsenal last weekend. Add to that his current ownership of just 4.4% and an upcoming home clash with Leicester, who have already conceded 32 goals in twelve away games this season, and we feel Bowen could represent considerable value as a differential fantasy pick in Gameweek 27.

The (vice-)captaincy

Looking purely at the fixtures and opponents, Cole Palmer looks like the one to give the armband to in Gameweek 27, but we are still going with Mo Salah. The Egyptian has simply been too good this season to skip him for Liverpool’s upcoming home game against Newcastle.

As we said, Cole Palmer is an excellent alternative though, for those who have the funds or who have indeed already managed to bring the Chelsea star in. More differential captains in Gameweek 27 would be Matheus Cunha for Wolves’ home game against Fulham, Bruno Fernandes for Manchester United’s home game against Ipswich Town and Jarrod Bowen for West Ham’s home game against Leicester City.

For further thoughts and discussions (including minleagues and side games) on the FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

Gameweek 26 is the gameweek of the top-half-of-the-table clashes. The main course, obviously, is the visit of leaders Liverpool to Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium on Sunday, but that’s not the only high-profile game on this weekend. Current number three Nottingham Forest have a visit to 7th placed Newcastle, while 6th placed Chelsea visit Villa Park on Saturday. In theory, GW26 therefore looks like the perfect opportunity for 2nd placed Arsenal and surprise number five Bournemouth to do damage, as they face West Ham and Wolves respectively.

As a result of the above, Gameweek 26 might end up being a little harder to predict in terms of FPL returns than many other gameweeks. Then again, the Arsenal and Bournemouth games are very appealing, and there are more fixtures who deserve fantasy managers’ attention. The GW26 opener between Leicester City and Brentford, for example, with particular focus on the visiting side, or Fulham’s home game against Crystal Palace. The same goes for Brighton’s visit to Southampton and to a lesser extent (due to their unreliable form) for Spurs’ visit to Ipswich Town.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 26 is set at 18h30 (UK time) on Friday, February 21^st, 2025. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per February 19^th, 2025)

	TRANSFERS OUT	TRANSFERS IN	POSSIBLE REASONS
GK	Sanchez (CHE), Sels (NFO), Martinez (AST)	Raya (ARS), Flekken (BRE), Pickford (EVE)	Sanchez bench
DEF	Hall (NEW), Aina (NFO), Konsa (AST)	Kerkez (BOU), Gabriel (ARS), Gvardiol (MCI)	Bournemouth form + fixtures, Konsa injury doubt
MID	Amad (MUN), Palmer (CHE), Rogers (AST)	Kluivert (BOU), Mitoma (BRI), Nwaneri (ARS)	Bournemouth form + fixtures, Amad injured
FOR	Gakpo (LIV), Jackson (CHE), Ndiaye (EVE)	Marmoush (MCI), Cunha (WOL), Wood (NFO)	Cunha form + fixtures, Jackson + Ndiaye injured, Gakpo injury doubt

Premium pick

Seeing as we have defined a premium fantasy asset to be a player who, in the official fantasy game, is priced at £10m or higher. Considering the fixtures in Gameweek 26, the few true premium fantasy assets in FPL are all either facing each other or other considerable opposition, which complicated our pick for this gameweek. We were tending towards Erling Haaland for City’s home game against Liverpool, as he has found back his scoring boots, but then due to injury he missed the CL loss at Real Madrid and we saw their run of fixtures on the longer run (hint: it’s not an appealing run on paper). With Bakayo Saka injury, Heung-Min Son flagged and Cole Palmer playing Aston Villa away, we were again left with Mohamed Salah (£13.7m) for the visit to Man City on Sunday. And then we thought to ourselves, how did we not start with this guy in the first place? If any player in the entire league has proven to be fixture-proof, it’s Salah, and that statement is supported by numbers: 23 goals and 14 assists from 25 league starts. It’ll be an interesting encounter between leaders Liverpool who have seemed a bit wobbly at times lately and reigning champions Manchester City, who are 16 points behind the Reds but who seem to be getting some of their form back but defensively are erratic.

Oh, and unlike City, Liverpool had no European football this week.

Non-premium pick

You might feel the need to rub your eyes a few times when you look at the current Premier League top six. Nottingham Forest have been in there since practically the start of the season and they are currently in third place, but for a few weeks, Bournemouth have joined the battle for Europe as well. The Cherries currently find themselves in an impressive fifth place with 43 points and a good run of fixtures coming up. Therefore, our non-premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 26 is Justin Kluivert (£6.0m), who has been one of the key drivers behind Bournemouth’s recent success. The winger, who has been classified as a midfielder by FPL, already has 11 goals and 5 assists from 20 league starts to his name, and 5 of those goals and 3 of those assists were recorded over the last five gameweeks. Not bad for an out-of-position midfielder who is a key cog in his manager’s plans and who, on top of that, has a very affordable price tag and is on penalties. With a home game against Wolves coming up on Saturday, followed by a schedule that includes home games against Brentford, Ipswich, Fulham and Manchester United plus visits to Spurs and West Ham over the next eight gameweeks, we can easily see Kluivert building on his current stats for a while still. If you already have Kluivert then consider Dango Ouattara (£5.1m) who plays as a forward but is listed as a midfielder as we highlight in the differential section below.

The budget enabler

We don’t often include goalkeepers in our Gameweek Previews, but then again, it’s not every week that we have the chance to get in very early on a £4.2m goalie in the Chelsea goal. We know the Blues have not been the most reliable team in the league this season, but they are still battling for a top-six finish and they have shown quality at times as well. And now goalkeeper Robert Sanchez has been replaced by Filip Jorgensen (£4.2m). The Danish youth international was bought from Villareal for about £21 million in the summer, but he had only featured in two league games so far. That is, until manager Enzo Maresca decided to give him a chance as a starter in Gameweek 24 for the home game against West Ham United. Jorgensen has now started two league games in a row, in which he unfortunately conceded five goals, but we believe better times might be ahead for this absolute budget enabler. After Chelsea’s visit to Aston Villa this weekend, they have consecutive home games against Southampton and Leicester City, two of the lowest-scoring teams in the league. This, in combination with this £4.2m price tag, makes Jorgensen a very interesting route to freeing up a bit of budget, which can then be invested elsewhere in your squad.

The differential

With Bournemouth currently in fifth place, it was always likely that our differential fantasy pick for Gameweek 26 would be from the Cherries roster as well. We already mentioned Justin Kluivert earlier and we were considering the talented Antoine Semenyo, but his ownership has already risen to 8.6% at the moment of writing. Fortunately, Dango Ouattara (£5.1m) has over the past few months been emerging as an interesting Cherry asset as well. The Burkina Faso international, who plays as a forward/winger but is listed as a midfielder in FPL, conquered his spot in the starting spot back in Gameweek 15 and he has not looked back since. Now, 6 goals and 3 assists later (he has got 7 goals and 4 assists in total), Ouattara is our differential fantasy pick for GW26. He scored a hattrick against Nottingham Forest in Gameweek 23, a week after providing an assist versus Newcastle, and he was good for a goal against Southampton last weekend. That’s 4 goals and an assist over his last four league starts, and the Cherries have now got Wolves coming up next. On top of that, Bournemouth have got a decent fixture schedule after that, which makes Ouattara a potential longer-term hold as well, provided he delivers this weekend.

The (vice-)captaincy

The armband discussion is a real one this week, with many traditional prime candidates facing formidable opposition in Gameweek 26. We are nevertheless going with Mohamed Salah for Liverpool’s visit to the Etihad. In times of uncertainty, go with the best and well… Salah is the best this season.

Not convinced by our argument for Salah this weekend? Erling Haaland at home to Liverpool is, of course, interesting as well, especially now that he has scored 6 goals and given 2 assists over his last seven league games. Besides the two usual suspects, we are also liking the looks of Kaoru Mitoma away at Southampton, Bryan Mbeumo away at Leicester City and Justin Kluivert for his home game against Wolves.

For further thoughts and discussions (including minleagues and side games) on the FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

Did you follow the “common wisdom” from the Double Gameweek 24 preparations and did you captain Mohamed Salah? The you must be pretty happy with yourself right about now, seeing as the Egyptian superstar (for a change) delivered big in Liverpool’s first fixture away at Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium. He scored both of the goals in Liverpool’s 0-2 victory for a 16-point haul and the Reds still have the visit to Goodison Park coming up tonight (Wednesday night, February 12^th) where Salah also got a goal and an assist. That’s why we do recommend waiting at least for the result of tonight’s game before making any transfer decisions with regard to Gameweek 25.

Or better said, DOUBLE Gameweek 25, because the Fantasy Premier League is offering up consecutive double gameweeks. And what’s more, after Bournemouth away and Everton way in DGW24, Liverpool are doubling again in DGW25, together with Aston Villa this time.

TEAM	DGW24 FIXTURE 1	DGW24 FIXTURE 2
Aston Villa	Ipswich Town (home)	Liverpool (home)
Liverpool	Wolves (home)	Aston Villa (away)

In other words, there is quite a lot to take into account in the build-up to Double Gameweek 25, which kicks off on Friday evening. Make sure to check out the Everton – Liverpool game on Wednesday night (a 2-2 draw with a last second equaliser by Everton), keep an eye on the exploits of Premier League teams in Europe (yes, that is a major factor again as well) and don’t forget the doubling sides. Both the Reds and the Villans have juicy double match-ups coming up.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 25 is set at 18h30 (UK time) on Friday, February 14^th, 2025. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per February 12^th, 2025)

	TRANSFERS OUT	TRANSFERS IN	POSSIBLE REASONS
GK	Sanchez (CHE), Raya (ARS), Flekken (BRE)	Sels (NFO), Henderson (CRY), Martinez (AST)
DEF	Hall (NEW), Alexander-Arnold (LIV), Martinez (MUN)	Kerkez (BOU), Gabriel (ARS), Aina (NFO)	Bournemouth form + fixtures, Alexander-Arnold injury doubt (now fit), Martinez injured
MID	Gordon (NEW), Amad (MUN), Diaz (LIV)	Kluivert (BOU), Rogers (AST), Mbeumo (BRE)	DGW25, Mbeumo and Kluivert form + fixtures, Gordon injury doubt
FOR	Isak (NEW), Watkins (AST), Jackson (CHE)	Wood (NFO), Mateta (CRY), Gakpo (LIV)	DGW25, Mateta and Wood form, Watkins and Jackson injury doubts

Premium pick

Obviously, it’s Mohamed Salah (£13.7m). Liverpool have a double coming up for the second time in a row and even without having played the second match of their Double Gameweek 24, Salah is already sitting on 16 FPL points. With 21 goals and 13 assists from 23 league starts, the Egyptian is the best attacking player in the Premier League season bar none. And we’ve still got fourteen matchdays to go, mind you. Is he going to break his incredible 2017-2018 season record of 32 goals, 12 assists and 303 FPL points? No one knows, but what we can tell you is that he is well on his way. In a gameweek as complex as Double Gameweek 25, with so many factors to take into account, don’t complicate life more than strictly necessary; just take Salah as your premium fantasy pick for GW25 (and captain him as well, but more about that later). Oh, and Liverpool are facing Wolves at home and Aston Villa away in Double Gameweek 25.

Non-premium pick

Where the premium fantasy pick for Double Gameweek 25 was a no-brainer for us, the non-premium category gave us a bit more of a headache. Not because there are no good options available (there are), but because our initial first choice is currently flagged in the official fantasy game. Ollie Watkins should be a shoo-in for Ipswich at home plus Liverpool at home in Aston Villa’s Double Gameweek 25, but that would mean going against conventional FPL wisdom of not risking a flagged played for a double gameweek, as the risk of simply getting him for one (or even none) of the two games is real. For that reason, we have decided to play it safe and go with Cody Gakpo (£7.6m) instead. We are aware that this is a repetition of last week’s non-premium fantasy pick, but with Liverpool’s consecutive doubles, the Dutch forward is simply a very good option. He has started every league game since his feature from the bench back in GW11 and is currently at what we can only hope in the start of a nice run of attacking returns. Gakpinho got a brace plus an assist in GW23 against Ipswich at home and then an assist in Liverpool’s first fixture of DGW24, against Bournemouth last weekend. The second game, against Everton, is played on Wednesday night where he didn’t return, after which the Reds return to action against Wolves at home on Sunday. Their second DGW25 fixture, against Aston Villa at Villa Park, is planned for next Wednesday, February 23^rd, and we expect Gakpo to feature heavily in all of these games.

The budget enabler

Even without a double gameweek, the Aston Villa roster has been a rich source of budget enablers so far this season. So, now that the Villans have got a nice double coming up, consisting of Ipswich Town at home followed by Liverpool at home, it’s no surprise that a Villa player features in budget category this week as well. We are, of course, talking about Morgan Rogers (£5.6m), who has been our stand-out budget fantasy pick on more than a few occasions this season. The thing is, he simply represents incredible value. For a player who started the season with a price tag of £5.0m, the fact alone that he is a nailed-on part of the attack of a top-10 (and possibly even top-7) side is great. Add to that his current 6 goals and 5 assists from 23 league starts, and what we’ve got here is a bonified FPL budget gem.

The differential

Our differential fantasy pick for Double Gameweek 25 could just as well been our budget enabler of the week, but we’ve decided to put Ethan Nwaneri (£4.5m) in here for now. The Arsenal youngster is having his breakthrough season and is far from being a starter for the moment. At the same time, manager Mikel Arteta is giving him opportunities of late and he has definitely showed himself during those few minutes he get. Nwaneri actually currently sits on 3 goals from just three league starts and a total of 281 Premier League minutes, which includes a goal in Gameweek 24 against Manchester City. We have a feeling that he might be getting more minutes in DGW25 and beyond, at least on the short to medium term, as the Gunners are dealing with a bit of an injury crisis amongst their attacking players. The likes of Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli are all ruled out for the upcoming game against Leicester city at the King Power Stadium. The Foxes have the leakiest defence in the entire league and we’re hoping Nwaneri, with his current ownership of just 0.8%, will get plenty of opportunities to benefit from that.

The (vice-)captaincy

Mo Salah for Liverpool’s Double Gameweek 25 against Wolves (home) and Aston Villa (away).

If for some reason you feel Salah is a bad option for Double Gameweek 25, then Martin Odegaard away at Ipswich Town or Erling Haaland, after his 2 mid-week goals in the Champions League, at home to Newcastle could be interesting alternatives.

Riskier options for the armband include Cole Palmer away at Brighton, the flagged Ollie Watkins for his double against Ipswich Town and Liverpool (both at Villa Park), and Justin Kluivert for Bournemouth’s visit to Southampton.

For further thoughts and discussions (including minleagues and side games) on the FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

We have had to wait 23 Gameweeks for it this season, but the first Double Gameweek of the 2024 – 2025 FPL campaign is finally here. And despite the fact that it’s a small one, with just two teams playing twice, the match-ups actually look enticing. That is particularly the case for Liverpool, who are facing Bournemouth and Everton, though it should be noted that both of those games are away for the Reds. The other double is for Everton, who are playing Leicester at home on Saturday followed by Liverpool at home on Wednesday.

TEAM	DGW24 FIXTURE 1	DGW24 FIXTURE 2
Everton	Leicester City (home)	Liverpool (home)
Liverpool	Bournemouth (away)	Everton (away)

The impact of the upcoming double gameweek can also be seen in this week’s transfers and we would not be surprised to see an impact on chip usage statistics as well. The Triple Captain chip in particular seems to be talked about a lot in the build-up to the Double Gameweek 24 deadline, with Mohamed Salah the obvious target. On top of that, Liverpool have got a relatively kind set of fixtures after this Double Gameweek 24, which will only spur fantasy managers on to invest more in Reds assets this week. Therefore, expect a (small) spike in Wildcard activation as well.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 24 is set at 11h00 (UK time) on Saturday, February 1^st, 2025. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per January 30^th, 2025)

	TRANSFERS OUT	TRANSFERS IN	POSSIBLE REASONS
GK	Raya (ARS), Sels (NFO), Sanchez (CHE)	Pickford (EVE), Alisson (LIV), Sels (NFO)	DGW24, Raya injury doubt
DEF	Gabriel (ARS), Aina (NFO), Porro (TOT)	Alexander-Arnold (LIV), Mykolenko (EVE), Konaté (LIV)	DGW24
MID	Gordon (NEW), Palmer (CHE), Savinho (MCI)	Kluivert (BOU), Mbeumo (BRE), Diaz (LIV)	DGW24, Kluivert form, Savinho benchings
FOR	Wood (NFO), Raul (FUL), Pedro (BRI)	Gakpo (LIV), Ndiaye (EVE), Marmoush (MCI)	DGW24, Gakpo + Ndiaye decent recent form

Premium pick

We mentioned Mohamed Salah (£13.7m) as a serious candidate for the Triple Captain role at the start of this article, so we are obviously including him as our premium fantasy pick for Double Gameweek 24. The Egyptian superstar blanked twice in a row in the Premier League, in GW21 against Nottingham Forest away and in GW22 against Brentford away, but he got back to scoring ways last weekend. A single goal against Ipswich Town at home brought the roughly 71% of managers who own him 8 FPL points. That goal has brought Salah’s totals to 19 goals and 13 assists in 22 league starts so far, and to 222 FPL points in total. No player in the official fantasy game has more points than that and there is a very good chance that no player in the official fantasy game will score more points than Salah in Double Gameweek 24, when he faces Bournemouth and Everton (both away).

Non-premium pick

Cody Gakpo (£7.6m) was one of the few “usual starters” who appeared at the kick-off against PSV in Eindhoven on Wednesday. As Liverpool were already sure of the next round in the Champions League, manager Arne Slot decided to rest some of his usual starters. Gakpo was on the pitch as well though, as he faced his childhood club, and he even scored the opening goal of the match from the penalty spot. The Reds would eventually go on to lose the game 3-2, but more importantly for FPL managers is the fact that Gakpo was taken off after 51 minutes. We know Slot likes to rotate a little but up front, but this makes us hopeful that the forward will prominently feature during Double Gameweek 24, after having started the previous eleven league games as well. The Dutchman scored 7 goals and provided 2 assists over that run, which seems to have cemented his role in the Liverpool front three. With away games against Bournemouth and Everton coming up in DGW24, we feel Gakpinho’s current ownership of 18.6% is set to get a considerable boost over the coming days.

The budget enabler

Morgan Rogers (£5.6m) is on fire. We included him as our stand-out budget fantasy pick last week and we’re doing so again this week, despite his blank against West Ham United in Gameweek 23. The 22-year-old and his Aston Villa teammates are facing Wolves at Molineux this weekend and they will be coming into that game brimming with confidence. That’s because on Wednesday, they clinched direct qualification for the next round of the Champions League by beating Scottish champions Celtic 4-2. Three of those four goals were scored by Morgan Rogers, who had not yet scored a goal in Europe up to that point, but who did already record 6 goals and 5 assists in the Premier League this season. A fantastic result for Villa and a memorable night for the winger, who is listed as a midfielder in the official fantasy game. Next up for the Villans are Wolves, who look condemned to the relegation battle until the very end of the season. Only Southampton have conceded more than their 52 goals in 23 league games, and we don’t think the upcoming visit of Aston Villa is going to make those numbers much better.

The differential

Honestly, we’re not sure you should make too much effort to get in on Everton’s Double Gameweek 24, despite their double of home games. Then again, if you’re looking for an affordable differential fantasy pick this week, the Toffees have a few interesting options on offer. We initially focused on their defensive assets, but we then realised that consecutive clean-sheet wipe-outs are absolutely possible in DGW24. We don’t expect Everton to shut out Liverpool and Leicester, for all their faults, do know how to score a goal. So, in the absence of playmaker Dwight McNeil, we have opted for striker Iliman Ndiaye (£5.5m) instead. The Senegal international has been part of the starting eleven for a while now and he has been on target of late as well. He scored a goal against Spurs in GW22 and then another goal against Brighton in GW23 to bring his total for the season to 5 goals in the league. Don’t expect Ndiaye to blow up this double gameweek, but at a current ownership of just 3.6%, he could provide considerable differential value on the short term.

The (vice-)captaincy

Our captain is obviously Mohamed Salah for Liverpool’s Double Gameweek 25 against Bournemouth (away) and Everton (away).

The Liverpool roster offers a few interesting double gameweek alternatives as well, including defender Virgil van Dijk, winger (listed as midfielder) Luis Diaz and forward Cody Gakpo. Outside of the Reds, Aston Villa players Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers could deliver big away at Wolves, as could Chelsea’s Cole Palmer at home to West Ham United.

For further thoughts and discussions (including minleagues and side games) on the FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

For the first time in a long time, the FPL Team of the Week back in Gameweek 22 featured a couple of Manchester City players. Actually, thanks to the 0-6 thrashing of Ipswich Town, it even featured three of them, though perhaps not the three you would immediately expect: Jeremy Doku with 12 FPL points, Matteo Kovacic with 13 FPL points and Phil Foden (our differential pick for GW22) with 19 FPL points. You would think that a brace plus an assist would be enough for the England international to clinch the Player of the Week title as well, but alas. One Justin Kluivert from Bournemouth decided to score his second hattrick of the 2024-2025 season in Gameweek 22 as well, against Newcastle, which resulted in 22 FPL points.

Onto Gameweek 23 then, where Liverpool assets will once again be in the spotlight for a lot of fantasy managers. The Reds are hosting an Ipswich side that just got battered by City and are then up for a Double Gameweek 24, with visits to Bournemouth and Merseyside rivals Everton. The Toffees themselves have a Double Gameweek as well, which might attract some interest as well as they play home twice: Leicester and Liverpool. Considering their tough Gameweek 23 fixture though, away at Brighton, we feel interest in their assets might be marginal. As for other fixtures this Gameweek, besides Liverpool – Ipswich Town, Newcastle’s visit to Saint Mary’s looks interesting from an FPL point of view, as does Arsenal’s visit to Wolves and Spurs’ home game against Leicester City.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 23 is set at 13h30 (UK time) on Saturday, January 25^th, 2025. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per January 23^rd, 2025)

	TRANSFERS OUT	TRANSFERS IN	POSSIBLE REASONS
GK	Raya (ARS), Sanchez (CHE), Onana (MUN)	Alisson (LIV), Sels (NFO), Pickford (EVE)	Liverpool + Everton DGW24
DEF	Saliba (ARS), Gabriel (ARS), Gvardiol (MCI)	Alexander-Arnold (LIV), Hall (NEW), Aina (NFO)	Liverpool + Everton DGW24, Saliba injury doubt
MID	Palmer (CHE), Savinho (MCI), Iwobi (FUL)	Kluivert (BOU), Foden (MCI), Amad (MUN)	Foden form, Kluivert hattrick in GW22
FOR	Jackson (CHE), Solanke (TOT), Raul (FUL)	Wood (NFO), Gakpo (LIV), Mateta (CRY)	Wood + Mateta form, Solanke injury

Premium pick

We joked about getting rid of Mohamed Salah (£13.7m) in our preview article for Gameweek 22, after the Egyptian had just blanked for the first time in twelve Gameweeks right before that. Obviously, that was not real advice, as Salah is still the best asset in the official fantasy game, even after making it two consecutive blanks in a row due to not getting directly involved in any goals in Gameweek 22 away at Brentford.  Don’t worry though, he is still the stand-out premium fantasy pick in our opinion. First of all, he’s very good. Second of all, he did score (and dominate) on Tuesday in the Champions League against Lille. Third of all, he faces Ipswich Town at Anfield on Saturday afternoon, a few days after the Tractor Boys got whipped 0-6 by Manchester City. And fourth of all, Liverpool are one of two teams to have a double gameweek in GW24, with away games against Bournemouth and Everton. If you are still not one of the roughly 70% of fantasy managers who own the Egyptian at the moment, you’re probably going to want to get him in ASAP.

Non-premium pick

We know, this is now the third Gameweek in a row that we are picking Alexander Isak (£9.5m) as our stand-out non-premium asset in FPL, but it’s kind of inevitable at the moment. The Newcastle forward did blank in Newcastle’s shock 1-4 defeat at the hands of Bournemouth in Gameweek 22, but prior to that, he was on an 8-game streak of consecutive attacking returns, scoring 11 goals and providing 3 assists over that run. Isak now has 15 goals and 5 assists to his name in total, from 20 league starts, and up next are Southampton at Saint Mary’s. The Saints are brave, we can’t deny them that, but the Premier League definitely seems like a bridge too for them this season and we could hardly come up with a better opportunity for a striker in form like Isak to get back to scoring ways. Southampton are dead last in the league with just 6 points from 22 games and only Wolves have conceded more goals than them (51 vs 50 goals). Isak is about as far from a differential pick as they come right now, with just over 59% of managers owning the Swede, but going without him this weekend might very well mean missing out on a serious haul.

The budget enabler

Over the coming three Gameweeks, Aston Villa face the following opposition: West Ham at home this weekend, Wolves away in GW24 and Ipswich Town at home in GW25. That brings several Villain assets firmly back onto our radar, including Morgan Rogers (£5.5m). The winger, who is listed as a midfielder in the official fantasy game, has provided incredible value for money this season. He started the season with a price tag of just £5.0m and has delivered 6 goals and 5 assists since then. Rogers is obviously a starter for Aston Villa and with the kind of run they have coming up over the next few gameweeks, we see more attacking returns on the horizon for the 22-year-old, starting with West Ham at home on Sunday. If you’re looking for a cheap midfielder, for example as part of a Wildcard strategy as more than a few fantasy managers are considering at the moment, we don’t see many better options than Rogers.

The differential

We have decided to put all of our differential eggs in the Kaoru Mitoma (£6.3m) basket for Gameweek 23. The Japanese winger, who is listed as a midfielder in FPL, is coming off back-to-back double-digit hauls and is now facing Everton at home next. He scored a goal in the 0-2 away victory over Ipswich Town in GW21 (10 FPL points) and then took it a step further in GW22 by scoring a goal and giving an assist in Brighton’s 1-3 victory at Old Trafford. Their Gameweek 23 fixture mirrors their Gameweek 1 encounter with Everton, when the Seagulls booked a 0-3 victory and Mitoma scored one of the goals for a nice 8-pointer to get his season started. Brighton are the favourites once again on Saturday afternoon, against an Everton side that has been far from effective on the road so far this season. They have won just one of their 10 away games in the league and they concede an average of 1.5 goals on the road. We expect there to be goals at the AmEx Stadium on Saturday afternoon with Everton looking to be more attacking under a new manager and we hope that Mitoma will be heavily involved in most of them.

The (vice-)captaincy

Mohamed Salah is the highest-scoring player in the official game right now and when you see him play, you realise that he is for a reason. He is one of the best players on the planet and for Gameweek 23, in which Liverpool host Ipswich Town, he is our captain (as he will be in the next GW with a double game).

Alexander Isak away at the very poor Southampton is a great alternative to Mo Salah for the armband, while Kai Havertz away at Wolves could be a smart move as well. The risk-takers amongst us might consider opting for Son Heung-Min as an extremely unpredictable Spurs side welcomes a leaky Leicester side to North London.

For further thoughts and discussions (including minleagues and side games) on the FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

The Premier League got back into full gear immediately this week with two gameweeks in less than five days. As a result, some of Gameweek 21’s fixtures have yet to be played at the moment of writing this preview:

Ipswich Town vs. Brighton, at 19h30 tonight (Thursday, January 16^th)

Manchester United vs. Southampton, at 20h00 tonight (Thursday, January 16^th)

Fortunately for a majority of FPL managers, this should not affect their plans too much. The highest-owned players from those four sides above are United’s Amad Diallo (17.9%), Noussair Mazraoui (11.7%) and Bruno Fernandes (11.1%), and Brighton’s Joao Pedro (16%). Keep an eye on these games nevertheless, especially because the Man United – Brighton game in Gameweek 22 might be an interesting one for a punt.

As far as Gameweek 22 fixtures go though, most of the attention will go out to Newcastle’s home game against Bournemouth, Chelsea’s home game against Wolves and incredible-how-do-they-keep-doing it Nottingham Forest’s home game against Southampton. From a fantasy point of view, that is. Plenty of points up for grabs once again, it seems, as we are well into the second half of the 2024-2025 season by now.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 22 is set at 11h00 (UK time) on Saturday, January 18^th, 2025. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per January 16^th, 2025)

	TRANSFERS OUT	TRANSFERS IN	POSSIBLE REASONS
GK	Raya (ARS), Sanchez (CHE), Martinez (AST)	Sels (NFO), Dubravka (NEW), Henderson (CRY)
DEF	Saliba (ARS), Alexander-Arnold (LIV), Van Dijk (LIV)	Aina (NFO), Hall (NEW), Robinson (FUL)	Hall form + fixtures
MID	Diaz (LIV), Mbeumo (BRE), Enzo (CHE)	Gordon (NEW), Elanga (NFO), Iwobi (FUL)	Gordon form + fixtures, Elanga form, Mbeumo difficult fixtures, Enzo lack of returns
FOR	Jesus (ARS), Jackson (CHE), Cunha (WOL)	Wood (NFO), Isak (NEW), Wissa (BRE)	Wood form, Isak form + fixtures, Jesus injury

Premium pick

It happened. Mohamed Salah blanked. Ninety minutes at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground, just a measly 2 FPL points. Obviously, this is the sign to drop the Liverpool star. Immediately.

We are kidding, of course, because a blank was inevitable after the kind of streak of consecutive hauls Salah was on (12 league games, for those who lost count). Liverpool’s upcoming run of fixtures is decent, so if you have Salah (as about 70% of FPL managers currently do), don’t just drop him. What is true though, is that we are not going with the Egyptian as our premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 22. He is visiting a very resilient and at times simply excellent Brentford, while Cole Palmer (£11.4m) is preparing for a home game against Wolves. And those Wolves, well, they haven’t been very good at defending so far this season. They have conceded 48 goals in 21 league games, more than any other team in the league. Palmer, on the other hand, is continuing his fantastic form from last season with 14 goals and 7 assists from 21 league starts, taking Chelsea by the hand in more or less every game. The Blues’ schedule after GW22 is a mixed bag, but their encounter with Wolves is worth it for Palmer.

Non-premium pick

We recommended Alexander Isak (£9.3m) as our stand-out non-premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 21 (and plenty of Gameweeks prior to that) and he delivered. A brace against Wolves, plus an assist, resulted in 16 FPL points and a Player of the Week title. The Sweden international now has 15 goals and 5 assists to his name, and he has not blanked one single time since his 1-pointer against Crystal Palace all the way back in Gameweek 13. As if that isn’t enough to justify bringing him in right now, Newcastle also have a nice run of fixtures up to and including Gameweek 24: Bournemouth at home, Southampton away and Fulham at home. There is arguably no better forward in the entire league at this moment, which is something over 55% of FPL managers have already realised. As we wrote in past weeks, we can definitely see Isak seriously enter the race for the Golden Boot over the coming Gameweeks.

The budget enabler

When you are priced at £5.2m and have recorded consecutive attacking returns in six games, as a midfielder, you are in our budget fantasy pick category. Hence, the return of Anthony Elanga (£5.2m), one of the driving forces behind Nottingham Forest’s impressive performances and results this season. As a winger, the Carrington graduate has scored 3 goals and provided 5 assists so far, and 3 of those assists plus all of those goals were delivered over the past six gameweeks. The Tricky Trees are now hosting Southampton, who look destined to descend after just a one year in the Prem. The Saints have collected just 6 points so far and nothing indicates that they will improve on the short term, to be honest. Forest, on the other hand, might just make it back into Europe for the first time since the 1995-1996 season, if they manage to keep their current form up for the remaining 17 games of the season.

The differential

Is Phil Foden (£9.1m) finally back? Honestly, we find it too early to say after seeing his disappointingly anonymous first half of the season, but what we can say is that the signs are there. The England international has just 4 goals and 2 assists to his name so far, but 3 of those goals and one of those assists were recorded over the last three Gameweeks. It should be noted that Foden also dealt with some injury issues up until Gameweek 16, more or less, and he’s been undeniably influential since then. Manchester City is definitely not out of their slump yet, perhaps they won’t be able to get out of it at all this season, but their upcoming fixture away at Ipswich Town should be a 3-pointer. What’s more, it should be a 3-pointer with some goals to it, and we expect most of those to be scored by City. Our hope is that Foden will be the one to score them for the Skyblues.

The (vice-)captaincy

Our premium fantasy pick of the week is also our captain for Gameweek 22. Cole Palmer is the stand-out option for the armband.

Mo Salah is, obviously, a perfect alternative for the English youngster, as Liverpool travel to Brentford. The same goes for Alexander Isak, whose Newcastle host Bournemouth. As for more out-there captaincy picks, Raul Jimenez away at Leicester could be a rollercoaster, just like Dominic Solanke away for Spurs’ visit to Goodison Park.

For further thoughts and discussions (including minleagues and side games) on the FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

A week off for fantasy managers, but not for the players as the roughly ten days without Premier League action were used to play the 3^rd round of FA Cup. And even though the tournament still has a long way to go, we’ve already got a couple of big upsets, including the elimination of no less than three Premier League sides: Arsenal, Brentford and West Ham United. It should be noted though, that Arsenal were eliminated by Manchester United after penalties in the 3^rd Round.

As a consequence of the above, it’s extra important to keep an eye on fitness, injuries and general rotation tactics in the build-up to FPL Gameweek 21. The likes of Gabriel Jesus (Arsenal), Harvey Barnes (Newcastle) and Nicolas Fullkrug (West Ham) all had to abandon their FA Cup 3^rd Round ties prematurely due to physical problems, just to name a few examples. Therefore, if you can, try to postpone your Gameweek 21 transfers for as long as you can.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 21 is set at 18h00 (UK time) on Tuesday, January 14^th, 2025. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per January 13^th, 2025)

	TRANSFERS OUT	TRANSFERS IN	POSSIBLE REASONS
GK	Raya (ARS), Fabianski (WHU), Kepa (BOU)	Sels (NFO), Pickford (EVE), Henderson (CRY)
DEF	Alexander-Arnold (LIV), Saliba (ARS), Porro (TOT)	Hall (NEW), Aina (NFO), Kerkez (BOU)	All transferred-in defenders are in good form,
MID	Diaz (LIV), Maddison (TOT), Enzo (CHE)	Gordon (NEW), Mbeumo (BRE), Amad (MUN)	Gordon form + fixtures, Maddison bench
FOR	Jackson (CHE), Jesus (ARS), Cunha (WOL)	Isak (NEW), Raul (FUL), Wood (NFO)	Isak and Raul form + fixtures, Wood form, Jesus injury doubt, Wolves terrible fixtures

Premium pick

To be honest, we wanted to include Cole Palmer as our premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 21, both because he has great potential for a haul and because we felt it was time to finally pick someone else besides Mohamed Salah (£13.7m). Palmer is playing against Bournemouth on Stamford Bridge, while Salah and Liverpool are visiting Nottingham Forest, who are in third (!) place after twenty games. After much deliberation though, we simply could not pass up the man who is currently on an 11-game streak of consecutive attacking returns. Since (and including) Gameweek 8 against Chelsea, Salah has scored 14 goals and provided 9 assists for a total of 147 FPL points. That comes down to more than 13 FPL points per game. No wonder the Egyptian superstar is currently both the official fantasy game’s highest-scoring player and its highest-owned player, despite his hefty price tag. We can’t help it, Mo Salah is our premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 21.

Non-premium pick

Gameweek 21 offers a couple of very good candidates for the title of stand-out non-premium fantasy pick. The toss-up for us ended up being between Bruno Fernandes at home to Southampton and Alexander Isak (£9.3m) at home to Wolves, and we decided to go with the latter. After all, if we can’t ignore Mo Salah for consistently returning in 11 consecutive games as a premium asset, how could we ignore Isak, who made it 7 consecutive games with at least one attacking return last week against Spurs? The Sweden international now sits on 13 goals and 7 assists in total, from 18 league starts, and we are confident those numbers are going to improve in the short term. Newcastle face Wolves at home in Gameweek 21, followed by Bournemouth at home in Gameweek 22, Southampton away in Gameweek 23, and Fulham at home in Gameweek 24. Not coincidentally, Isak’s incredible form coincides with an excellent run of results for Newcastle. The Magpies have now won their last five league games and without too much of a stretch of the imagination, we can see them extending that streak to eight or even nine over the coming weeks. If they manage to do so, expect Isak to be in the points consistently.

The budget enabler

Jacob Murphy (£5.1m). He has got the fixtures, the current form and the price tag to be named our stand-out budget fantasy pick for Gameweek 21. On top of that, he is listed as a midfielder in FPL, but a starter in the front line for Newcastle, and the Magpies as a whole are in good form as well. As we wrote earlier, they have won their last five league games in a row and Murphy played an influential goal in those victories. Over that run, he scored 3 goals and provided 2 assists, while just before that run started, he also got 2 assists against Brentford. As a matter of fact, no other player on the Magpie roster currently has more assists than Murphy. With games against Wolves, Bournemouth, Fulham (all home) and Southampton (away) up next over the coming four Gameweeks, we find it hard to identify a better budget enabler at the moment, at a price of just £5.1m.

The differential

Earlier in this piece, we mentioned Bruno Fernandes (£8.3m) as a contender for our non-premium fantasy pick of the week. We ended up going with Isak in that category, partly because the Newcastle forward is absolutely on fire and partly because we can still include Bruno in our differential fantasy pick section. At the moment of writing, the Man United playmaker is owned by just over 9% of all managers and even though the Red Devils are far from in good form, he could be an interesting differential, especially in Gameweek 21. Bruno and his United teammates are preparing for the visit of Southampton to Old Trafford, in the knowledge that no other team is doing worse than the Saints at the moment. They are last in the league and have already conceded 44 goals, a total only surpassed by Wolves (by one goal). Bruno, on the other hand, got an assist in the visit to Liverpool back in Gameweek 20 and scored the important opening goal against Arsenal a few days ago in the FA Cup. We see sparks of FPL potential here and investing in him as a differential pick could pay off handsomely.

The (vice-)captaincy

We can’t make the case for Salah as we have at the start of this article without handing him the armband as well. So, we did.

Cole Palmer is an excellent alternative to the Egyptian, as is Alexander Isak at home to Wolves. More left-field captaincy picks include Erling Haaland away at Brentford and Bruno Fernandes at home to Southampton, while Ollie Watkins for Villa’s visit to Everton is one for the real risk-takers.

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