Latest news with #Gameweek
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
FPL Scout: Season review and Brentford's top six performers
Brentford teamed up with Fantasy Football Scout to help bring you hints, tips and advice during the 2024/25 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) season. Scout used their expertise to provide info, advice and Gameweek tips to help you in your mini-leagues. Advertisement Following the conclusion of the campaign, they have reviewed the year's best performers, including record-breaking Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah, as well as highlighting the Bees' top six point scorers this term. FPL Season round-up So that's another FPL campaign done and dusted. One that was dominated by Liverpool's Mohamed Salah (£13.6m) who, by Gameweek 28, had already set a new all-time FPL record for points in a season. The Egyptian's final-day strike took his tally to 344, thanks in no small part to 47 goal contributions. Furthermore, none of the previous three seasons saw a player exceed 11 double-digit scores. Salah achieved 12 of these in his first 18 outings, reaching 17 before Gameweek 29. Advertisement In fact, by doing so in both Double Gameweek 24 encounters, he allowed one million Triple Captain users to receive a huge 87 points from the chip. And nobody hit the woodwork more frequently, either. Elsewhere, Newcastle United's Alexander Isak (£9.4m) started and ended slowly, but there were 18 outings between Gameweeks 9 and 26 where he netted an incredible 18 times and contributed four assists. Nottingham Forest often married a watertight defence with Chris Wood's (£7.2m) goals, while late Jarrod Bowen (£7.9m) form for West Ham almost saw him become the sixth player to reach 200 points. Best of the Bees As for Brentford, some excellent home displays provided seven wins and a draw from the first eight at Gtech Community Stadium. Advertisement Then, early January's 5-0 victory at Southampton changed fortunes on the road, with it being the first of five successive away wins. 23 points were collected from the Bees' subsequent 10 trips. Joint-fifth for goals (66) and seventh for big chances (109), Thomas Frank's players brought in 1,619 of this FPL season's overall 31,291 points, the joint-eighth most. Unsurprisingly, champions Liverpool contributed the most (2,066). So let's pick out some of this FPL campaign's most memorable Bees individuals... Bryan Mbeumo (£8.3m) - 236 points Deemed by most managers as an essential pick in later months, no player saw a bigger price rise over the year, having begun at £7.0m. Advertisement Mbeumo's final-day goal took him to a nice, round 20, as only Salah secured more FPL points than his 236. There were several reasons for this. No midfielder or forward was on the pitch as long (3,412 minutes), with the Cameroon international also having multiple routes to points. Not just a penalty taker, Mbeumo took many set-pieces and crossed more than anyone else (202). This helped him rank joint-fourth for big chances created (17). Yoane Wissa (£6.9m) - 185 points Meanwhile, his partner in crime also finished among the league's top-eight point scorers (185). It would've been even more had October's second strike against Ipswich been credited to him quicker. Advertisement Originally seen as Wissa assisting an own goal, the Gameweek had already ended when this was corrected days later. The centre-forward joins Mbeumo on six double-digit hauls, beating him for attempts (90 v 85) and big chances (34 v 20), all for a cheaper price. He's fifth overall for the latter, alongside being sixth best for shots on target (41). Mark Flekken (£4.5m) - 138 points Time to briefly credit the backline. Flekken is ahead of all other goalkeepers in Europe's top five divisions for saves (156), leading the way for FPL save points (39). He secured three clean sheets in Brentford's final eight matches, with a combination of conceding the second-most shots (647) over the season but allowing the seventh-fewest big chances (80). Advertisement Not content with defensive returns, Flekken even added two assists to his name. Nathan Collins (£4.6m) - 127 points Frank likes consistent line-ups: seven of his players started at least 34 times. Yet Collins was the only Premier League outfielder to play every single minute of 2024/25. He made use of that time, winning the division's third-most aerial duels (117) and blocking the highest number of shots (57) throughout all positions. But Collins' attacking threat was often underrated. After all, the 24-year-old delivered two goals and seven FPL assists - Fulham's Antonee Robinson (£4.7m) was the only defender to set up more. Advertisement Indeed, he's sixth best at the back for both big chances (six) and penalty area touches (72). Kevin Schade (£4.6m) - 149 points Listed as an FPL midfielder, Kevin Schade recorded 2024/25's second-biggest score from a single match. In Gameweek 13, he scored his first career hat-trick and added an assist in a 4-1 win against Leicester City, with bonuses taking him to 23 points. A constant starter from Gameweek 23 onwards, the German spent quite a while priced at just £5.1m. His 160 box touches wasn't far behind Wissa and Mbeumo, finishing the campaign by netting four goals in the closing five fixtures. Mikkel Damsgaard (£4.9m) - 131 points Finally, playmaker Mikkel Damsgaard joins Mbeumo inside the league's top eight players for chances created (63). These led to an impressive 10 assists. What undoubtedly helped was starting 34 of the most recent 36 occasions, ensuring the 24-year-old experienced his first season of significant Brentford game time.
The Sun
20-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Fantasy Paid Leagues and revamped transfer process among exciting changes coming to Dream Team next season
HERE at Dream Team HQ we're already getting excited about what comes next. With just one Gameweek remaining of the current campaign, we're about to implement improvements that will enhance our fantasy football offering for the 2025/26 season. 4 The first thing to note is that we're offering bigger cash prizes! This includes a greater sum of money for the overall season winner. Secondly, you will have the option to compete against other managers in fantasy Paid Leagues thanks to our partners Plucky (18+). Plucky provide a regulated and licenced platform to ensure all users can play for money in a safe and secure way. 4 In regards to the game mechanics, we are adapting the process of transfer rollovers. From the start of next season, you will still get two transfers per Gameweek but if you don't use either then both will carry over to the next Gameweek, giving you a maximum of four to use before the following deadline. Alternatively, if you use one of your two transfers then you will have three available the following Gameweek. The maximum transfers you can have at any one time is six, meaning four is the most you can carry over. This method opens up many more strategic options. For example, you could bank transfers early in the season then start using two per Gameweek until the occasion calls for widespread changes, at which point you have the choice to use the additional transfers you held back earlier in the campaign. This will allow you greater flexibility and may be particularly useful for specific Gameweeks, such as the FA Cup third round or exceptionally juicy European double headers. We plan to tweak our beloved fantasy game in other ways too, guided by feedback provided by thousands of Dream Team gaffers, but we have to keep some secrets for now. Elsewhere, we're planning to make Score Predictor bigger and better than ever. In 2025/26, you will enter predictions for EVERY Premier League game, as well as selected FA Cup and international fixtures. Every correct score prediction will earn you one entry into a prize draw for £10,000! Furthermore, we're excited to announce that we will be offering a Score Predictor game for the 2025 Women's Euros as the Lionesses hope to defend their crown this summer. Then in the summer of 2026, Dream Team bosses will be able to sink their teeth into the men's World Cup, when Thomas Tuchel will aim to end England's years of hurt in Canada, USA and Mexico. 4 It's early days but the 2025/26 Dream Team season is shaping up nicely. You will be able to sign-up for the upcoming Game Year in June! More information on all things Dream Team will be provided in the coming weeks. Remember to gamble responsibly A responsible gambler is someone who: Establishes time and monetary limits before playing Only gambles with money they can afford to lose Never chase their losses Doesn't gamble if they're upset, angry, or depressed Gamcare – Gamble Aware –
The Sun
02-05-2025
- Sport
- The Sun
Captaincy options for Gameweek 34: Can Bruno Fernandes produce repeat performance?
DREAM TEAM managers will need to select a captain for Gameweek 34 before today's 6:30pm deadline. Ahead of Gameweek 33, we singled out Bruno Fernandes (£6.8m) and Cole Palmer (£4.9m) as the two leading candidates and those who opted for the former were handsomely rewarded. Manchester United's skipper banked 27 points to finish as the Gameweek's top performer and take his overall total for the season past the 400-point mark. The Portuguese midfielder mustered just five points against Bournemouth but took Athletic Bilbao for a whopping 22 points in the first leg of the Europa League semi-finals. This emphatic performance surely makes Fernandes the frontrunner for captaincy again this coming Gameweek, when the Red Devils will face Brentford at the Gtech Stadium before the second leg of their European semi at Old Trafford. As for Palmer, he notched nine points across his two outings against Everton and Djurgarden. As expected, Chelsea cashed in against their Conference League opponents but it was Nicolas Jackson (£2.7m) and Noni Madueke (£2m) who posted massive double-digit scores, not the 50%-owned England international. 5 The Blues will host Djurgarden next Thursday but there's the small matter of a Premier League game against Liverpool to negotiate first. There may be a worthy captain lurking in Chelsea's ranks but it's difficult to justify selecting any Stamford Bridge over Fernandes after last night. Elsewhere, Tottenham's double header against West Ham and Bodo/Glimt looks appealing. The Hammers are one of few very teams below Spurs in the league table and while the Norwegian outfit have impressed in the Europa League this season, they were comprehensively outplayed in North London last night, which bodes ill for the second leg. 5 We have included Dominic Solanke (£3.5m) in our transfer recommendations this week and his goal last night has only strengthened his case. We had planned on listing him as a captaincy option as well but there may be a spanner in the works. The ex-Bournemouth striker hobbled off in the 75th minute against Bodo/Glimt and is therefore a minor doubt for Gameweek 34 - an annoying twist. Thankfully, Ange Postecoglou played down Solanke's injury and suggested the substitution was precautionary but this inconvenience is probably enough to remove the 27-year-old from the captaincy conversation. The same goes for James Maddison (£4m), who was also forced off midway through the second half. 5 Arsenal are the fourth and final team set to pull double duty in Gameweek 34. Instinctively, this puts Bukayo Saka (£6.1m) in the spotlight as the England winger averages a mighty 8.1 points-per-game this season - the same rate as Fernandes. However, his workload has been managed since his return from hamstring surgery - he played just 30 minutes against Crystal Palace in his last league outing - and with the Gunners 1-0 down on aggregate to PSG in the Champions League semi-finals it wouldn't be a surprise if his involvement was limited against Bournemouth this weekend. Away from double headers, Mohamed Salah (£7m) is due to take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge having ended his mini goal drought in Gameweek 33. Liverpool's main man needs another 18 points to reach 500 for the season! 5 It's only our humble opinion but we suspect the majority of the top managers will stick the armband on Fernandes before the 6:30pm deadline. Good luck, gaffers!
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
FPL Scout: Gameweek 35 Hints, Tips and Advice
Brentford have teamed up with Fantasy Football Scout to help bring you hints, tips and advice during the 2024/25 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) season. Scout will be using their expertise to provide info, advice and Gameweek tips which may prove useful in ensuring you sit on top of your mini-leagues. Best of the Bees A cup semi-final rearrangement meant that Brentford had the weekend off last week and didn't face Nottingham Forest until Thursday night, completing Blank Gameweek 34 for FPL managers. Advertisement Therefore, it's a good time to take a stock check on the Bees' assets, before the final four encounters versus Manchester United, Ipswich, Fulham and Wolves. Since the turn of the year, Brentford have been a team to target for FPL managers. January saw Thomas Frank's side winning five successive trips. Easter's 4-2 victory over Brighton was the first at Gtech Community Stadium since early December, but highlighted the importance of the Bees' assets in FPL. Chasing an eighth-place finish that would be the club's best since the 1930s, Brentford currently rank seventh for goals (58). By claiming 17 of them, Yoane Wissa (£6.6m) has been one of FPL's best forwards, while Kevin Schade (£5.1m) still has the second-biggest score for one match, grabbing 23 points against Leicester in Gameweek 13. No goalkeeper in Europe's top five leagues has more saves than Mark Flekken (£4.4m) and, in front of him, is centre-back Nathan Collins (£4.5m), whose recent assists against Arsenal and Nottingham Forest take him up to nine attacking returns. The Spotlight However, the Bees' star FPL asset has been Mbeumo - the sole player apart from Mohamed Salah (£13.8m) to surpass 200 points in this campaign. Advertisement His 18-point haul versus Brighton was a timely reminder to managers that he is near-essential for these final Gameweeks. This penalty-taker and frequent set-piece taker has played the most minutes of all midfielders and forwards, only once playing fewer than 88 of them, finding time to accumulate 25 attacking returns. Simply put, Mbeumo seems irresistible for these closing Gameweeks. His ownership has slightly dropped from its 4.5 million peak but expect an imminent increase, as managers begin considering the strong captaincy potential. Best of the Rest Meanwhile, the first seven matches of Blank Gameweek 34 brought success to one million Free Hit users, at the time of writing. When activated, this chip lets managers pick a one-week-only FPL squad and many selected the 15 points of Matheus Cunha (£7.0m) and Kieran Trippier (£5.7m). Advertisement Defensive team-mates Dan Burn (£4.5m), José Sá (£4.4m) and Rayan Aït-Nouri (£5.0m) each added success on top of their basic clean sheets, to achieve double-digit joy. While Fulham went 1-0 down to Southampton, a late Ryan Sessegnon (£4.2m) winner rewarded almost 700,000 managers with 11 points. In Demand Mbeumo is currently the most bought individual heading into Gameweek 35, where we're back to all 20 Premier League teams playing exactly once. Next is Cunha, having delivered two goals, three assists and 30 points in a mere 203 minutes since coming back from suspension. He's helped Wolves reach six consecutive wins, but they must travel to Man City straight after Friday night's deadline. Advertisement His opponents Joško Gvardiol (£6.3m) and Omar Marmoush (£7.6m) complete the top four, as Pep Guardiola's side try to secure Champions League football for next season. In terms of sales, Cole Palmer (£10.6m) keeps being ditched, having reached a stunning 12 league games without scoring. Captaincy Not many leading names have a standout Gameweek 34 fixture. Salah's Liverpool have already secured the Premier League title but the Egyptian still has personal records to chase. He visits his former club, Chelsea. At Arsenal, their Champions League semi-final could keep Bukayo Saka (£10.5m) as a looked-after substitute against Bournemouth. Perhaps Mbeumo could instead be this week's answer!
New York Times
02-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Fantasy Premier League: Mbeumo? Bowen? Isak? Rating the best Gameweek 35 captaincy options
We only have four rounds left, so nailing your captain each week from now will go a long way in ensuring you have the best finish possible in Fantasy Premier League. For Gameweek 35, there are quite a few options and it isn't straightforward. With rotation possible for Liverpool and Arsenal, the usual big-hitters, including Mohamed Salah (£13.8m) and Bukayo Saka (£10.5m), are not the safest captaincy picks this week. Here, we will highlight the best captaincy options, looking at underlying numbers and fixtures. Mbeumo is the second-highest scoring player in the game with 18 goals and seven assists (212 FPL points). He has been phenomenal this season and has seamlessly filled the void that Ivan Toney left at Brentford after moving to Saudi Arabian club Al Ahli last summer. In Gameweek 35, Thomas Frank's side host a struggling Manchester United, who will have one eye on the second leg of their Europa League semi-final against Athletic Club. Ruben Amorim is expected to rotate, so we may see a weakened United side against Brentford. Mbeumo is Brentford's talisman and is one of the few attackers in the league who will play 90 minutes almost every game. The Cameroon international is his team's first-choice penalty taker and is on corners and free kicks. He has many avenues to points, which is exactly what we want when looking to pick our captain. Being classed as a midfielder also helps. Midfielders score an extra point for a goal over players listed as forwards, and are also eligible for a clean sheet point. Advertisement Ranking: 9.2/10 Manchester City have the best fixture on paper in Gameweek 35 as they welcome Wolverhampton Wanderers to the Etihad Stadium on Friday. Omar Marmoush has six goals and one assist in 11 starts, and has already shown he has a haul in him, with two double-digit scores. Vitor Pereira's Wolves have conceded the fourth-most goals in the league (61) with an expected goals (xG) conceded of 51.2 (sixth-worst). City haven't been at their best this season but have still scored the second-most goals (66), with an xG of 63.03 (second-best). They will be strong favourites to win and should score a few — even without Erling Haaland (£14.8m). He is back training with the full City team but Pep Guardiola told reporters in his pre-match press conference that even though Haaland is 'getting better', he is unlikely to play this weekend. With or without Haaland, Marmoush would probably make the starting XI too. Ranking: 8.9/10 Sweden international Alexander Isak has an impressive 22 goals and six assists in the league, and he will be aiming to catch Salah's 28-goal tally and chase the Golden Boot. Newcastle also have a lot riding on the line as they aim to secure a spot in the Champions League positions. Brighton have been quite leaky this season. They have conceded 55 goals (seventh-most) with an xG conceded of 46.8 (ninth-worst). Eddie Howe's side, on the other hand, have netted the third-most (65) goals and boast the fifth-best xG (57.91) in the league. Not many will pick Isak as captain in Gameweek 35, so he is a particularly good option for those chasing rank. Ranking: 8.5/10 This gameweek is a great chance to gamble on the captaincy with less risk of getting burned. Liverpool may rotate a bit after wrapping up the title. Arsenal will also change things up before Wednesday's Champions League semi-final second leg against Paris Saint-Germain. Under normal circumstances, Salah and Saka would be among the best captaincy options but they will be nowhere near as highly captained this week. Advertisement Jarrod Bowen (£7.6m) is a great player to buy as the last four fixtures for West Ham United are good for attacking purposes. They play Tottenham Hotspur (H), Manchester United (A), Nottingham Forest (H) and Ipswich (A). Spurs at home is a great entry point this weekend and he is a great shout for the captain's armband, too. He is only owned by 9.1 per cent of managers overall and hardly any of them will captain him. Despite nine goals and 10 assists this campaign, he has gone a bit under the radar. Spurs are in the bottom six for both goals conceded and xG conceded. Kevin De Bruyne (£9.4m) is a fine pick this week also and he will probably start City's remaining league games. He was an unused substitute in their 2-0 win against Forest in the FA Cup semi-finals, so I would be very confident he starts against Wolves. He also seems to have shaken off his injuries, with De Bruyne saying last month that he is now playing 'pain-free'. This is also evident in his playing time as over the last four league matches, he has averaged 88 minutes per game. When he plays, he is the one pulling the strings in the midfield and he has goals in him too. His ownership is 7.1 per cent at the time of writing. Ollie Watkins (£8.9m) is another one who has a favourable fixture this week and is also a good buy until the end of the season after Marcus Rashford (£6.7m) suffered a thigh injury and could be ruled out for the rest of the season. This means Watkins is nailed on to start as Aston Villa's No 9 and is more likely to play 90 minutes. Villa play Fulham at home in Gameweek 35, knowing they need to win to stay in touch with the Champions League qualification spots. England international Watkins has 15 goals and seven assists in 34 league games. The Premier League's fixture announcements on Thursday mean that, according to FPL, there will no more double or blank gameweeks this season. The two league games which could have been moved to Gameweek 36 due to the FA Cup final on Saturday, May 17, to form a double gameweek (Crystal Palace vs Wolves and Manchester City v Bournemouth) remain part of Gameweek 37 and be played Tuesday, May 20. Tottenham Hotspur had also requested a change to the date of their game against Aston Villa on Sunday, May 18, due to the possibility of them reaching the Europa League final on Wednesday, May 21, which Villa objected to, and there has been no update on the progress of that appeal. We're set to have NO MORE Blank or Double Gameweeks for the remainder of the season! 🙅♂️ FA Cup finalists Crystal Palace and Man City will have their fixtures remain in Gameweek 37 🦅🔵#FPL — Fantasy Premier League (@OfficialFPL) May 1, 2025 No more planned doubles or blanks will be good news for those managers who have already used their chips as they wont have to navigate through another irregular period with only free transfers. However, those who saved any of their chips for a possible double in Gameweek 36 and a blank in Gameweek 37 will be left a disadvantage as the chip usage won't be as powerful during single gameweeks. (Top photos: Getty Images)
