What you need to know for Gameweek 26
Four teams don't play!
Hello and welcome to Fantasy Gameweek. This is our round-up of everything you need to know for Gameweek 26 in Fantasy Premier League. It includes the news that matters, the key data from Impect, our data partner, and the risers and fallers.
The deadline for transfers and changes to your team for Gameweek 26 is 1.30pm UK time on Saturday February 24 - that is today! There are no fixtures for Chelsea, Liverpool, Luton or Tottenham.
Here are three of the key news stories this week:
-Rasmus Hojlund was the most transferred-in player this week. But he is now out injured for up to three weeks. More here
-Pep Guardiola is “pretty sure” that Kevin De Bruyne will be available for Man City’s match with Bournemouth despite injury fears. More here
-New Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner takes charge of his first match this weekend but has played down expectations from fans. More here
These are the fixtures for Gameweek 26:
These are the most transferred-in players this week so far:
And these are the transfers-out:
Now for the key data from Impect, our data partner. This is what has happened in the last ten gameweeks…
These are the top-five and bottom-five teams for xG per game - in other words, the best and worst attacks. As a reminder, xG measures the quality of chances that a team creates by attributing a score to each chance based on the likelihood of it being a goal. For example, if the chance was certain to be a goal then it would get an xG score of 1.
Best
Liverpool - 2.68
Arsenal - 2.4
Man City - 2.09
Newcastle - 2.05
Tottenham - 1.92
Worst
Crystal Palace - 1.01
Burnley - 1.04
Sheffield United - 1.21
Nottingham Forest - 1.29
Brentford - 1.4
And here are the best and worst for xG per game conceded - in other words, the best and worst defences:
Best
Arsenal - 0.68
Man City - 1.12
Liverpool - 1.28
Aston Villa - 1.37
Brighton - 1.45
Worst
Newcastle - 2.47
Sheffield United - 2.07
Chelsea - 2.04
Brentford - 2.02
Fulham - 1.99
Moving on to the players, these are the top-10 for Offensive Impect, which measures the attacking effectiveness of a player for their team when they are on the pitch:
Rasmus Hojlund - 100
Richarlison - 99.2
Elijah Adebayo - 98.4
Cole Palmer - 97.7
Ollie Watkins - 96.9
Phil Foden - 96.1
Dominic Solanke - 95.3
Matheus Cunha - 94.6
Darwin Nunez - 93.8
Bukayo Saka - 93
And these are the players with the highest xG:
Dominic Solanke - 8.46
Darwin Nunez - 6.77
Bukayo Saka - 6.06
Richarlison - 6
Julian Alvarez - 5.25
Mo Salah - 4.93
Matheus Cunha - 4.75
Dominic Calvert-Lewin - 4.33
Luis Diaz - 4.19
Erling Haaland - 4.19
Next, these are the post-shot xG rankings. As a reminder, post-shot xG measures the quality of a chance after the shot has been taken, so it also takes into account the quality of the shot:
Dominic Solanke - 6.99
Mo Salah - 6.93
Richarlison - 6.69
Darwin Nunez - 6.61
Julian Alvarez - 6.28
Rasmus Hojlund - 5.74
Bukayo Saka - 5.7
Matheus Cunha - 5.6
Luis Diaz - 4.9
Rodrigo Muniz - 4.49
These are the top-10 players for bypassed defenders, which measures how many opposition defenders a player takes out of the game with their passing or dribbling. It is a way to track a player’s attacking influence in a game:
Pascal Gross - 10
Bruno Fernandes - 10
Ross Barkley - 10
Martin Odegaard - 10
Wataru Endo - 9
Bruno Guimaraes - 9
Kieran Trippier - 9
Cole Palmer - 9
Pedro Porro - 8
Christian Norgaard - 8
Now let’s see the top-10 players for bypassed defenders receiving, which measures how many opposition defenders were taken out of the game when a player receives the ball. It measures the quality of the attacking positions that a player gets themselves in with the ball:
Dominic Calvert-Lewin - 18.6
Darwin Nunez - 18
Richarlison - 17.7
Jean-Philippe Mateta - 17.3
Elijah Adebayo - 16
Ollie Watkins - 15.8
Neal Maupay - 15.5
Rasmus Hojlund - 15
Dominic Solanke - 14.9
Luis Diaz - 12
Lastly, these are the top defenders for Offensive Impect, which shows the defenders who are contributing to attacks, which is really useful to know for FPL:
Gabriel - 100
Kieran Trippier - 98.2
Marcos Senesi - 96.5
Alfie Doughty - 94.7
Fabian Schar - 93
Max Kilman - 91.2
Destiny Udogie - 89.5
Pedro Porro - 87.7
Kyle Walker - 86
Nathan Ake - 84.2
Finally, let’s look at the risers and fallers…
Risers
Martin Odegaard (MID,
Arsenal have won their last two Premier League fixtures – away at West Ham United and Burnley – 11-0 on aggregate. Bukayo Saka has rightly won plaudits for his four goals across those two fixtures and should be a line-up lock in FPL heading into a home fixture against Newcastle United’s leaky defence in Gameweek 26.
However, the renaissance of Odegaard as a creative force after a relatively slow first half of the campaign by his lofty standards has also caught our eye. The Norwegian midfielder has 24 FPL points in the last two gameweeks and delivered a goal, an assist and three valuable bonus points at Turf Moor on Saturday.
After Newcastle, the Gunners face Sheffield United (A) and Brentford (H), two sides that have shipped goals at an alarming rate in recent weeks. If you can manage it, there’s an argument for a Saka-Odegaard double-up in midfield to take full advantage of the opportunities on offer.
Ivan Toney (FWD, £8.2m)
The injury to in-form Rasmus Hojlund will be a blow to many FPL managers looking for a value-for-money option up front in Gameweek 26. Those with sufficient cash available need look no further than Toney, who has delivered attacking returns in four of his six fixtures since returning from suspension. A trip to face struggling West Ham United on Monday night provides the perfect opportunity for the striker to continue that excellent run of form.
Simon Adingra (MID, £5m)
Analysing the merits of a 5-0 victory against Sheffield United is tricky given just how poor Chris Wilder’s side have been recently. The fact they were down to 10 men for the majority of their Gameweek 25 fixture against Brighton means you need to add a further pinch of salt when assessing players from an FPL perspective.
Nonetheless, we are big fans of the talented Adingra and his two-goal salvo should mean he’s in line for more regular football in the coming weeks. The timing of his performance is ideal for his fantasy prospects as after this week Brighton face Everton (H), Fulham (A) and then Nottingham Forest (H).
Get in on Adingra as soon as you can, because he might not stay at £5m in FPL for much longer.
Fallers
Erling Haaland (FWD, £14.4m)
FPL managers who handed the Norwegian goal machine the Triple Captain armband were left licking their wounds as he managed just one goal in two home fixtures against Chelsea and Brentford in double Gameweek 25. The underlying data suggests this was a significant underperformance, particularly against Chelsea, where Haaland had no fewer than nine shots and missed multiple gilt-edged chances.
He did at least get on the scoresheet against Brentford but his uncharacteristic profligacy in front of goal means Haaland is given a downgrade this week. A trip to Bournemouth in Gameweek 26 provides an opportunity for the City striker to prove he is worth the £14m+ outlay in fantasy.
Son Heung-min (MID, £9.6m)
Richarlison now appears to have nailed down the centre forward position at Spurs, forcing Son out wide and potentially reducing the likelihood he’ll get into good goalscoring positions. The return of James Maddison to fitness in midfield is a positive, but his output will continue to be affected as long as he’s working primarily from the left wing – particularly if he continues to perform his defensive duties diligently.
Alphonse Areola (GK, £4.2m)
Over a third of FPL managers have Areola in their team despite the fact the Hammers have shipped 14 goals in their last five Premier League fixtures. Given the blank fixtures on the slate in Gameweek 26, replacing Areola, who faces off against Brentford (H), is unlikely to be a priority. However, those considering using their Wild Card in the coming weeks might want to look at alternatives between the sticks.
That’s it for this edition. Thanks for reading and good luck in Gameweek 26.
Graham and Tom
