Fantasy football tips: Nick Pope over David de Gea in goal?

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Alistair Bruce-BallImage source, BBC Sport

First things first - don't forget it's a 18:30 GMT deadline on Friday to make your transfers and pick your team ahead of Southampton vs Norwich, which kicks off gameweek 27.

Secondly, and you'll probably have noticed this already, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal don't have a fixture in gameweek 27 but Burnley have two, with their games at Crystal Palace and at home to Leicester.

Thirdly the way you approach gameweek 27 may well be based on whether or not you played your wildcard like I did in gameweek 26, or whether you very gratefully accepted 84 points from Mohamed Salah as your triple captain in an incredibly high-scoring week.

If you did then congratulations, but if you're a wildcarder all hope is not lost, although the next three gameweeks are likely to be pivotal for you.

The reason managers went for the wildcard last week was due to the announcement of double gameweeks 28 and 29 last Friday and the opportunity it presents to attack them by using our chips.

A popular strategy will now be:

  • Play the free hit chip in gameweek 27

  • Play the bench boost chip in gameweek 28

  • Possibly the triple captain chip in gameweek 29

In 29 Salah involved in away games against Brighton and Arsenal - not as fruitful seemingly as home games against Norwich and Leeds but with the Egyptian you just never know.

If you've set up your wildcard squad properly then you should also be covered for blank gameweek 30 when we currently only have three fixtures scheduled on FA Cup quarter-final weekend.

However, if you've not gone the wildcard route just yet then I think you might be best to hold onto it until after gameweek 30 with a view to using the bench boost chip in gameweek 36 which is expected to be a bumper double.

There might be a temptation to play the wildcard in gameweek 28, particularly if you know your rival managers are using their Bench Boost or a Free Hit, but I think it would be better to gamble and take a points hit on transfers in gameweeks 28 and 29, get yourself through gameweek 30 and then you can really set your squad up for the rest of the season.

Right, enough talk about strategy, let's talk players and transfers.

Dejan KulusevskiImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Is Dejan Kulusevski worth a punt at £6m?

If you're on the free hit this week then the majority of your players will probably come from Manchester City, Tottenham, Manchester United, Southampton and Burnley.

Manchester City are at Everton needing to bounce back from their defeat by Tottenham with Liverpool now hot on their heels in the title race.

Joao Cancelo is a must have and I would probably team him up with two of their attacking midfielders, so as usual with Pep roulette you roll the dice and take your pick from Kevin de Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez, Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva.

Harry Kane and Son Heung-min are always the obvious Tottenham picks and they go to Leeds, who have just shipped six goals against Liverpool. Dejan Kulusevski is also worth a look though at just £6m after catching the eye with his 11 points in the win at City.

Manchester United are at home to Watford but I would give the goalkeeper's spot in your team to Burnley's Nick Pope over David de Gea just because Pope has the two fixtures.

Jadon Sancho could definitely rival Bruno Fernandes for a place in your midfield given his upturn in form recently and he would also save you a bit of money, while Anthony Elanga is a differential budget option at £4.8m having scored against Leeds and Atletico Madrid in the past two games.

Dutch striker Wout Weghorst has made an excellent start to life in the Premier League and I think I would make it a Burnley trio in this free hit team with Connor Roberts offering you attacking potential as a defender - or you might prefer the goal-scoring threat of Ben Mee and James Tarkowski from set-pieces.

Armando Broja would be my third striker to go with Kane and Weghorst - Southampton are at home to Norwich and he's still at a bargain price of £5.4m.

He is also a decent long-term signing if you're not on the free hit this week as Southampton have a double gameweek 28 and then face Watford at home in gameweek 29, and the same goes for Son and Kane with Tottenham at home to Everton in gameweek 28 and then a double in 29.

We discussed the gameweek 27 captaincy on the Fantasy 606 podcast this week and agreed that a Son or Kane single gameweek would still trump the Weghorst double. You might also fancy Fernandes against Watford or take a gamble on one of those Manchester City midfielders against Everton.

Alistair Bruce-Ball presents the Fantasy 606 podcast alongside former Premier League winner Chris Sutton and Statman Dave. The latest episode is available to download now on the BBC Sounds App.

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