FPL Teams DGW26 – 4 FFGeek Contributors With Their DGW26 Teams Part 1

Contributors, Fantasy Premier League

Here’s part 1 of our FPL teams DGW26 article where 4 FFGeek Contributors show their teams. There’s Andrew Whitfield, Stephen Troop, Kev in Canada and Alex Ball. Between them they have finished in the top 1% of teams 9 times in the last 3 competitive seasons.

FPL Teams DGW26 – 4 FFGeek Contributors With Their DGW26 Teams Part 1

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Introduction

It’s worth noting that the teams shown may not necessarily end up being the final teams or the transfers may have been made in the days prior to the posting . It’s an informal situation to give you an idea of trends. However the FFGeek team and the Contributor tracker team mentioned above on the FFGeek Patreon site all make transfers as articles are posted. So you’re always up to date and live

Note I am changing from FPL average to the “legends gameweek average from Live FPL

Kev in Canada

Kev’s last 3 seasons overall ranks were 52k, 48k and 6k

GW25 points: 76  (Legends Average 66) Total points: 1,606, Overall Rank: 20k, green arrow 7k Team Value: £105.9m

Follow Kev on twitter here

listen to Kev and Kris’s Podcast

Kev has used his wildcard

Heading into the GW26 double, my team is set up fairly well. I have two free transfers. What I do with them will depend on Weghorst’s health.

I would like to keep rolling one, so that come GW28 I can keep up with the Wild Carders and bring in Chelsea and Arsenal players.

If Weghorst is injured I will change him to Broja.

Otherwise I will likely swap Martinelli to Ramsey and carry the other free.

My original plan was to play Hokey Cokey with Salah in 27 to a premium midfielder and then swap him back in 28. This would mean my bench in 27 would be Trent Alexander Arnold, Robertson and Martinelli all with blanks.

However it now feels like using two transfers for one week of having a player is a steep price.

I need to use one transfer this week and dont really need to do anything. So I am going to try to free up funds.

My first thought was De Gea to a cheapie. However I would like more information on which keeper to swap him to so I think waiting makes more sense. He also has Watford at home in 27, so one more week I can use him for a nice fixture.

I realize that selling Martinelli this week means that I may be using two transfers on him too, if I bring him back in 28. The same as if I hokey cokey Mo Salah. However, I need to do something this week and of course Mo Salah is going nowhere.

If I hokey cokey Mo Salah in 27 and leave Martinelli, my transfer plan would be:
26 Gallagher to Ramsey. 27 Salah to De Bruyne. 28. De Bruyne to Mo Salah and Webster for Alonso. Losing 0.2M in Mo Salah value as well.

If I hokey cokey Martinelli instead, my transfer plan would be:
26 Martinelli to Ramsey. 27 Webster to Tarkowski. 28. Tarkowski to Reece James and Gallagher to Martinelli.

Head to Head:
Mo: Webster new, KDB eve, Alonso bur
Mar: Tarkowski cry/LEI, Gallagher BUR, James bur

I need to work out which is better. I am leaning on the extra game for Tarkowski and not losing the Mo value. Perhaps if I was captaining KDB it would be different, however I think a Burnley doubler will be my captain in 27.

As for this week, likely just Martinelli to Ramsey.

Triple Captain Mo
Trent Vice

Good luck!

Transfer summary: likely just Martinelli to Ramsey although subject to Weghorst’s fitness

Here’s the team showing how it would look like if the transfer is made

FPL Teams DGW26

Stephen Troop

Stephens last 5 seasons ORs were 22k, 86k, 43k, 52k & 64k

GW25 points: 82 (Legends average 66) Total points: 1,575 Overall Rank: 51k, green arrow: 29K  Team Value: £104.4m

Follow Stephen on twitter here

Stephen has used his wildcard

GW25 Review

It was Webster as my unlikely hero with 15 points in addition to Sanchez’s initial clean sheet vs Watford. In addition Ronaldo scoring against Brighton and a double Liverpool clean sheet got one over the Jota owners (who punished me midweek). Only Bowen returned from the attack with blanks from Salah, Watkins and Gallagher.

GW26 Preview

2FT and 0.4m ITB

I currently have 5 doublers (Ramsdale, Robertson, AlexanderArnold, Salah and Moutinho (however he appears now to be injured after I brought him as cheap bench cover instead of Ramsey for this double). The aim is to get 2 more. Priority is one of Son/Kane but I have options elsewhere. My single gameweek fixtures are decent (Bowen vs Newcastle, Broja vs Everton, Webster vs Burnley and Digne/Watkins vs Watford so will have a benching dilemma). I’ve been disappointed with my two Villa players since the WC but am unlikely remove before Watford even if they have improved defensively.

Option 1 is Gray>Son and Ronaldo > Jimenez
Option 2 is Ronaldo > Kane and Gray to a Arsenal midfielder (can’t afford Saka though).or Cornet
Option 3 is Ronaldo > Kane and Webster to a Burnley defender

I’m leaning towards option 1 as I can then potentially not free hit in 27 by getting James for Robertson and benching Salah/TAA however with 2 free hits I’m unsure when I’ll use my second.

I’ll be using my TC on Salah this week.

Good luck all

Transfer summary: To be confirmed

Here’s the team prior to any transfer being made

FPL Teams DGW26

Andrew Whitfield

Andrew’s last 4 seasons overall ranks were 34k, 132k, 6k and 19k

GW25: 65 (legends average 66) Total points: 1,533, Overall Rank: 138k, green arrow: 5k  Team Value: £104.9m

Follow Andrew on twitter here

Andrew has used 1 Free Hit Chip and 2nd wildcard

Gameweek 25 review:

Well a dramatic week of FPL which went right to the wire with the most popular captain of the week scoring in the 97th minute of the final game which had a significant impact on ranks !!

A gameweek that was dominated by Man Utd playing twice, the first an uneventful 1-1 draw with Southampton, the second a 2-0 over Brighton with the two most popular captains of Ronaldo and Bruno both scoring as well as the popular United clean sheet landing too.

Elsewhere, Raheem Sterling scored a hat trick as leaders Man City coasted to a 4-0 win with heavy city rotation bringing auto subs flying off the bench, lucky for some, not for others. Salah blanked as Liverpool won at Burnley. So those that waited on Salah ended up relieved.

Spurs have lost three in a row after losing at home to Wolves. And the bottom three of Burnley, Watford and Norwich all lost at home. The hornets have now failed to score in four games, much to the dismay of King and Dennis owners.

My GW25 score and rank:

I scored 65 points with 5/11 returners including a 20 point captain. Bowen and Trent were rank neutral for me, Ait Nouri I picked up from 2nd sub, a De Gea clean sheet at last and what looked like a successful captain pick of Ronaldo. I took on Bruno and was heading for a significant green arrow until that 97th minute goal virtually wiped out all my gains at the death. The agonies of FPL.

Back to back green arrows, albeit small ones. Up this week from 143k to 138k. Definitely a “disappointing green arrow” as that late punch in the guts from Bruno made it feel like a red.

My GW25 talking points:

The Ronaldo v Bruno captain on the double gameweek was huge. Bruno was very highly owned and captained so it looked like I had scored a significant victory over Bruno captainers with that Ronaldo goal. He should have had a hat trick, as well as missing a sitter in the first game, although in fairness Bruno should have hauled too. I stand by Ronaldo being the best choice. He spends twice as much time in the box, takes tons more shots. Over the two games he carried the greater goal threat. The weight of Bruno owners probably stem in part from him being a Salah place holder. A nice parting gift for Bruno owners.

My “natural game” is based on covering all the significant highly owned players and captains so it was highly unusual for me to not own Bruno this week. I am usually prepared to take -4 to cover the most highly owned captain. There were two reasons I didn’t. Partly a bit of “Salah fear” from the best player in the game. But if I had paired up Bruno with Ronaldo, I ran a very real risk of being priced out of Salah and a planned Ronaldo to Kane move, as well as it involving a -4 to get Salah and Kane. So I stuck with Salah and hid behind the Bruno sofa.

The “effective ownership” of Bruno in the top 10k was 138%, against 42% for Salah. On the face of it, it broke every rule in my book to not cover that position. It was actually sharply different at my rank level with Bruno on 85% and Salah 57%. Anyway I chose to live on the edge for once. It was just the one goal from Bruno in the end of course, not a hat trick or monster haul. And I did captain Ronaldo. I came within seconds of getting away with it. Going Salah over Bruno Fernandes looked like not being costly despite the Salah blank. So close.

The consolation is I have Salah and Kane for free now, when I might have been priced out. Bruno won’t be on my Christmas card list.

One positive of not going straight to Salah and Kane on wildcard was my one week punt on De Bruyne over Salah paid off as captain in GW24, and my punt of Ronaldo over Kane as GW25 captain did too. Going without any United attacker would have been a step too far. But some did still land a green arrow without Bruno or Ronaldo, so it wasn’t the be all and end all.

An equally frustrating twist and equally costly was not buying Webster of Brighton on wildcard, who scored an unlikely 16 points thanks largely to his headed goal in the first game. I knew cash was very tight if I was pre booking moves for Salah who was always going to rise sharply, and for Kane. As it happened, Kane didn’t rise as anticipated due to two blanks v Southampton and Wolves. I could have stretched to Webster after all. An 11 point gain over Ait Nouri was a nasty one.

A few disappointing blanks in there this week. Digne has not yet fired for me as Villa continue to leak goals. Ramsay blanked after his 14 points sat on my bench the week before. Edouard I have put the jinx on. Both Cancelo and Laporte being rested was disappointing with a double clean sheet opportunity at Norwich lost.

But still almost a significant gaining week, but for that man Bruno.

So what next ?

I have 0.2M in the bank and one free transfer.

I won’t be doing anything until after the Wednesday and Thursday European games in case we get any unexpected and unwelcome injury news. But assuming we don’t, then read on.

My planned transfer this week is Christiano Ronaldo to Harry Kane . Ronaldo has Leeds and Watford now in his next two games so it’s not an obvious sell. But there is definitely a real rotation risk for Ronaldo for Leeds next, ahead of the champions league. He will have his minutes managed. Kane plays 90 minutes every game. Crucially, Spurs now have THREE extra games left to play compared to United.

Kane is not an obvious buy. He has blanked in his last three league games as Spurs have spluttered to three defeats. But he did have more shots than anyone else in the GW25 weekend, he was unlucky not to score v Southampton and Chelsea. Prior to that he scored in four of his last five league games. He also scored in the FA cup. He now has a double gameweek, not a great one with Man City and Burnley, but it’s followed by Leeds.

Me and Harry have “previous “. I owned him for four juicy games v Leeds, Norwich, Brentford ( all at home and all blanks ) and Burnley ( snowed off ). Let’s just say “ Harry owes me”

That will set me up with EIGHT doubles for GW26. It would have been NINE but for Martinelli being frustratingly suspended for the first game of his double after his sending off. Nine doubles plus Cancelo and Bowen would have been a pretty strong hand. So my third single game player will now be either Laporte or Digne.

I have a couple of “flaky” doubles in Ait Nouri and Edouard, with doubts over whether they both start twice. But it makes sense to put them in over single game players rather than bench them.

Edouard and King both have a double in GW26 so I will keep but both I am looking to move them on. Broja seems the striker on everyone’s lips right now, at a great price, he looks good and enables upgrades elsewhere.

I can see Ramsdale being my keeper in most games from here. De Gea was helpful for the GW25 double when Ramsdale blanked, and again in GW27 v Watford when Ramsdale blanks again. But De Gea has kept just 5 clean sheets in his last 20 games. Ramsdale has great fixtures, three doubles in hand. I don’t need De Gea. I would like to either switch him to Pope who has four doubles but more likely to Foster so i at least have two playing keepers and that can give me 1M to spend.

Having 1M from a keeper downgrade and another 1M from Edouard to Broja gives me 2M. That would allow me to turn King into a great price point that covers Jimenez, Antonio, Watkins or Calvert Lewin. Having Broja, Kane and a mid range striker gives me the perfect flexibility in my strikers.

I am happy enough with my squad outside that. Martinelli I want to keep for great fixtures and he can rotate with Ramsay for my 4th midfield spot. A Chelsea defender might be desirable soon but I like my back four with wolves back up.

The GW27 problem:

I have one remaining free hit which looks likely to be needed in GW30 on FA cup quarter final weekend where there are currently only THREE scheduled league games.

Many will have two free hits in hand and will be free hitting GW27, which is significant as three teams including Liverpool and Arsenal don’t play due to the EFL final. For me, that means Salah, Trent, Jota and Martinelli don’t have a game and I am down to a maximum of TEN players in GW27. That’s also assuming that all my other players start, including Ait Nouri and Edouard.

I could run with ten players and “take the pain” against the free hitters. OR, I could sell Martinelli who likely doubles in GW28 and I want to keep. I don’t have many alternatives at that price, either for a transfer out or one week “flip”. I could also do a one week flip out of Salah to another “premium”. I will have Kane v Leeds. So either Bruno v Watford or De Bruyne v Everton, it would give me a fighting chance with 11 players including two premiums I can captain.

Using two transfers in GW27-GW28 in this way is definitely restrictive to then making proactive transfers in GW28 when many will be wildcarding. If I can hold in GW27 for damage limitation, I can have two frees in GW28 or even three for -4 to react and mirror the key GW28 wildcard template moves.

Triple captain or bench boost ?

Many will be looking to play their bench boost chip this week, with some very attractive benches lining up. Having 8-9 doublers and then great fixtures for single game players like Bowen, Cancelo, Foden etc. if you also have two games for both your keepers, everything is probably aligned and you have a tough choice.

I have one game for De Gea on my bench, plus looking at the three players I wouldn’t start this week due my doublers, I have Laporte, Ramsay v Watford and Martinelli with a single game v Wolves. There are points there. But is it worth bench boosting when i can triple captain a Liverpool player v Norwich H and Leeds H ?

I don’t think there is going to be a better opportunity all season to play the triple captain chip on the best player in the league on two perfect fixtures. So I will be triple captaining Salah. There are doubts about whether Mo will start both games. So Trent is definitely another tempting option too. But I will be playing triple on Mo Salah.

It’s anticipated that around 70% of engaged managers will play the triple captain chip this week and around 75% of them will play it on Salah. An “effective ownership “ of around 250-260% represents a risk to take on. A captain on Salah without the triple captain chip still gets you two thirds of his triple points of course. The risk is much higher if you take him on with a differential triple captain. But at 250-260%, there are still nice gains to be had.

The question if considering bench boost v triple captain.. will you get a better triple captain opportunity than Salah at home to Norwich and Leeds ? Probably not. Will you get a better chance to bench boost ? Maybe. We might still get a big double gameweek where virtually everyone doubles and you can get EIGHT games off your bench. Possibly.

My GW26 team:

Here is where I am ahead of GW26.

Assume my transfer is Ronaldo to Kane, which gives me eight double gameweek players . I don’t want to take -4 for any more. I already have benching dilemnas as it is with single game players on good fixtures.

Triple captain will be on Salah

Good luck everyone !!!

Transfer Summary: likely Ronaldo to Kane

Here’s the team prior to any transfer being made

FPL Teams DGW26

Alex Ball

Alex’s last 7 seasons overall ranks were 3k, 312k, 523k, 17k, 10k, 28k and 3k

GW25 Points: 75 (Legends average 66) Total points: 1,567, Overall Rank: 64k, green arrow: 19k  Team Value: £106.4m

Follow Alex on twitter here

Alex has used none of his Chips

My thoughts around the chip strategy and possible moves have changed. I have 2 free transfers, all my chips remaining and £2.2m in the Bank.

Firstly, I will be playing my Triple Captain on Salah. I had planned to move Bruno Fernandes and Ronaldo to Salah and Kane and to muddle through GW27 keeping my FH chip intact. But now my 27 team is looking not so strong with Livramento maybe not starting, Gray injured and even if he’s back he’s playing Man City and I also have triple Watford against Man Utd.

I’m now thinking of attacking the 26 doubles by going for Lacazette over Kane and Free Hitting in GW27. I could also take a -4 and bring in Tierney for Dawson or Saka for Gray but I’m not sure who I’d bench out of Dennis, King or Foden?! Alternatively I could put Saka in and bench King.

Transfer summary: To be confirmed

Here’s the team prior to any transfers being made

FPL Teams DGW26

The FFGeek Contributors League

The highlighted FFGeek contributors combined team finished with an overall rank of 8k last season and 52k the season before. It’s going ok in 11th place with total points of 1,576 and an overall rank of 50k. You can follow that team, including live transfers as well as the FFGeek team currently also in 18th position at 178k and the team run by Joe’s Transfer Planner in 1st place on 6K, all on our subscription Patreon site

There’s loads of other features on the Patreon site that you can read about at the top of this page

FPL Teams DGW26
FPL Teams DGW26

Joseph Crilley’s FPL transfer planner team

Analysing the teams of 12 top FPL managers

The Bandwagons and Sinking Ships

Kev and Kris O’s 2k Pod

Joseph Crilley’s Transfer Planner and Points Projection Tool

The Fixture Ease Schedules for GW26 and beyond

FPL GW25 review

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