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✍️ Welcome to the Fantasy Football Scout Bulletin - everything you need to know the day before the GW26 FPL deadline!

➡️ Just like last week, this FPL deadline takes place on Friday evening, before Leicester host Brentford. And this time it’s a simple Gameweek where all 20 teams play exactly once – no blanks, no doubles. 

What’s less straightforward is what managers should do with their Assistant Manager chip. Over two million of these are in play, including seven of The Great and The Good who’d bought Unai Emery for Double Gameweek 25. Some stuck with Arne Slot and some will switch to a new name, so Zophar discusses how many points he thinks justifies using a precious transfer on this.

✍️ Read the rest of the Scout Report further down the email…

🚨 If you’re tinkering with your GW26 team, check out FPL Gameweek 26 tips: Best players, predicted line-ups, team news + more

🎩 Who to pick as Assistant Manager in FPL Gameweek 26?

🃏 Free Hit or no Free Hit in Blank Gameweek 29? Read our article on this NOW

🎲 In his latest article, Pras – who has finished inside the top 40k of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) in each of the last seven seasons and is at 13k in 2024/25 – shares his thoughts on when blanks and doubles will occur, then reacts by plotting a roadmap for upcoming transfers and chip usage. Read it HERE­­­

🚑 FPL Gameweek 26 team news: Thursday’s live updates + Gakpo latest

🧢 Who has the best fixtures from FPL Gameweek 25 onwards?

🚌 You can see the Scout’s GW25 ‘Bus Team’ below or by clicking here

Just like last week, this FPL deadline takes place on Friday evening, before Leicester host Brentford. And this time it’s a simple Gameweek where all 20 teams play exactly once – no blanks, no doubles. 

What’s less straightforward is what managers should do with their Assistant Manager chip. Over two million of these are in play, including seven of The Great and The Good who’d bought Unai Emery for Double Gameweek 25. Some stuck with Arne Slot and some will switch to a new name, so Zophar discusses how many points he thinks justifies using a precious transfer on this.

He likes the safe prospects of choosing Mikel Arteta but also Oliver Glasner, for those chasing a table bonus. We’ve looked at 151 previous occasions where this season had the potential to bring such extra points. 

Meanwhile, in other notable news, an ankle injury has ended Amad Diallo’s season and Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo missed all of Double Gameweek 25. It makes him unlikely for Sunday’s visit to Man City, so should managers keep or sell the Dutchman? Matheus Cunha, Yoane Wissa and Jean-Philippe Mateta are good replacements – just don’t go for Joao Pedro.

In midfield, Cole Palmer is backed in the Rate My Team projections despite poor form and a tricky trip to Aston Villa. Chelsea have just two clean sheets in 20, so Morgan Rogers will relish facing that defence. However, he’s on eight yellow cards and some may instead sell him to bargain attacker Ethan Nwaneri. The latter is a unanimous Scout Squad pick and is already sharing corner-taking in an Arsenal side notorious for scoring from them.

As well as regular weekly coverage of the Fantasy EFL game, we’ve got Captain Sensible and Spot the Differential before the deadline, plus the latest opinions of FPL General and Lateriser.

As always, check out the FPL Gameweek 26 page to quickly access all recent articles and the standard press conference updates from managers. Visit our Members Area for comparison tools and an in-depth collection of Opta and StatsBomb data.

Over on our YouTube channel, alongside the usual Scoutcast and Burning Questions episodes is the latest from Tom Freeman and a Q&A with Az and Sam.