FPL Top Picks for Gameweek 26

Week 26 of the 2023/24 season is here and football lovers are not excited.

This means that the season is slowly coming to a close and we will be without club football for some time.

For many FPL managers though, it will be a respite from what has been a very unpredictable season. Week 25 was a big example of how much suffering managers have been through.

From Erling Haaland blanking against Chelsea to Tottenham Hotspur losing for the second straight week in a row, there were a lot of mishaps.

These are bound to happen but you can prevent more mishaps by following the tips in this article.

Gameweek analysis

The reverse fixtures from gameweek 11 back in November 2023 make up the schedule for gameweek 26. The only absentees will be Chelsea, Liverpool, Luton Town and Spurs.

This is due to Chelsea and Liverpool battling it out in the EFL (Carabao) Cup final this coming Sunday. The Hatters and Spurs will get some rest, then later Chelsea and Spurs players will be available options for a double game week down the line.

Meanwhile, City will try to temporarily close the gap to Liverpool when they travel to AFC Bournemouth on Saturday. Many managers will take the risk to bring in Dominic Solanke in anticipation of gameweek 27, which will see Bournemouth face bottom-of-the-league Burnley.

Liverpool and Luton Town have already played their match in advance, with the Reds winning 4 – 1 from a losing position in the double gameweek 25.

See the full fixture list for week 26 below.

Arsenal vs Newcastle United will be different this time around thanks to how far the St. James’ Park outfit has fallen in defence.

They are ranked highest for xGC (expected goals conceded) with 2.98 possible goals to be conceded on average in every match.

Arsenal, on the other hand, are ranked highest among teams likely to score two or more goals in a match. The Gunners are also at home, which means that they have the upper hand. It will be unwise to bet against Arsenal in the match, which means it will be unwise to ignore any of their players for your gameweek 26 FPL team.

There is plenty of promise in the Aston Villa vs Nottingham Forest game as well. The Foresters are playing some great football and Aston Villa are top four contenders.

Forest won the reverse fixture, while Villa have been effective in the last two games but have been struggling defensively without Boubacar Kamara, who is out for the rest of the season due to an injury. However, Villa have some great fixtures between week 26 and 30, which makes their players very attractive for forward thinking FPL managers.

Aston Villa also ranks high among various predictive models for teams that are likely to score two goals this week. The fact that they are at home also gives credence to this prediction.

Considering the constraints of the game, a team with a core of the RIGHT Villa, Manchester United, Man City and Arsenal players will yield the most points from this gameweek.

Best FPL players for week 26

Bukayo Saka (£9.1m) – Arsenal

Bukayo Saka has been one of the best FPL investments for managers in the last four gameweeks. This should continue thanks to Arsenal’s next opponents being Newcastle United.

As stated earlier, the Magpies rank top in the xGC metric. They also happen to rank top in the goals conceded per match metric. Every third shot on target against the Newcastle defence has gone in.

Saka has been the Gunners’ most lethal player in recent weeks, which has seen them score an average of three goals per game. He has also averaged two goal contributions in that time. Arsenal’s recent loss in the UEFA Champions League will be a spur for him to take the game to Newcastle at the Emirates.

There is a lot of motivation there for the 22-year-old, who has averaged 6.6 points per game since the start of the season and is currently in the team of over 60 percent of FPL managers.

Erling Haaland (£14.4m) – Manchester City

Erling Haaland produced low returns in the double gameweek 25 but his goal against Brentford in their 1 – 0 win should be enough to afford him another chance in many managers’ teams for week 26.

City also face Bournemouth in week 26, which is a team they have the historical advantage over. This will be the Norwegian’s third outing against the Cherries, who he has two goal contributions against (1G, 1A).

Every predictive model has also postulated that City are likely to score two goals in the game. Knowing the Cityzens, the goals could come from anybody, as Pep Guardiola has successfully made the whole team into goal scoring machines.

None of them will have more chances to score than Haaland, however, which makes it more likely that he will bag a goal contribution in the game.

It will also interest managers to note that Haaland is City’s primary penalty taker which increases his chances of scoring a goal, considering that City tend to get more penalties with him on the pitch.