Fantasy Premier League Gameweek 27: Why it’s time to sell Newcastle's Isak and sign West Ham & Everton players

We’re entering a busy stretch of the season, and Gameweek 27 of the Fantasy Premier League starts just two days after the last one finished – fortunately, our resident FPL expert is here with his guide to scoring as many points as possible over the coming days.

Ahead of a round of midweek action, Matthew’s going to look at some appealing differential options and explain why upcoming blanks and doubles will impact your transfer. This week’s deadline is at 18:00 GMT on Tuesday 25 February, so make sure you don’t miss out. Now, over to Matt…

Why it’s time to sell Alexander Isak

The next few gameweeks are going to be crucial to succeeding down the home stretch – and planning ahead is starting to become absolutely essential. Picking the right players isn’t just about how many points they’ll score this coming week, but also about how their fixtures line up with your wildcard strategy.

Most players who have a wildcard in hand will likely want to use it in Gameweek 30 or closely thereafter, partly because four teams have a blank in GW29. Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, Liverpool and Newcastle all miss out on a game that week, and it’s going to be important to ensure that you get to 11 starting players – so slowly whittling your number of assets from those teams down to three (or four including a goalkeeper) is the way to go.

That means it could be time to jettison some high-scoring players from the affected teams. I certainly don’t advise selling Mohamed Salah, but getting rid of Newcastle assets like Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon becomes very sensible, given that they have a tough trip to Liverpool coming up this week.

Switching Isak out for Matheus Cunha, if you don’t already have him, is an obvious transfer right now given the Wolves man’s form and their relatively gentle run of fixtures which includes games against two of the bottom three, but even if you already have Cunha there’s a good argument for moving on from the Swede knowing that his odds of going big against the best team in the league aren’t great.

But even if you have Cunha, it’s time to move on from Isak and others like him. Villa assets aren’t the worst to get shot of, either – their games against Crystal Palace and Brentford don’t look remarkably tricky on paper, but the Villans’ away from has been pretty putrid this season and they’ve only won on the road four times. Morgan Rogers also picked up a knock at the weekend and while it could have no impact on his availability, he’s another good candidate to get rid of.

I’m prioritising shifting Newcastle and Villa players due to their fixtures and what I perceive as their chances of scoring, with Liverpool and Palace assets less urgent. If you have Jean-Philippe Mateta or Daniel Muñoz, I’d hang on for another week.

Ultimately, the priority is making sure you’re setting yourself up for Gameweek 29 by buying players who have good fixtures prior to your wildcard (if you don’t have one left, of course, you’ll need to think a little more long-term). Assessing form and fixture difficulty for the next few weeks is more important than thinking short-term – for instance, it doesn’t matter how well he’s going, it’s really hard to justify buying Mateta right now, simply because he’ll be a blank in three gameweeks’ time.

West Ham & Everton assets could make ideal differentials

With all that in mind, of course, we should look at some possible targets – and having mentioned one of the most obvious in Cunha, it’s also worthwhile to look at some of the slightly more under-the-radar options, especially given how many players will be on the look out for differentials as we approach the final 10 weeks of the campaign.

The idea with differentials is rarely to go too wild, but simply to spot the potential high scorers who have gone out of fashion, been left out of squads due to injury, or players who are hitting their stride and have low ownership because they weren’t a serious consideration earlier in the season.

Looking at the fixtures for next three weeks – in other words, the period prior to a flurry of wildcards – there are four names that stand out, hitting a few different price points and positions.

One is Beto from Everton, who is on fire right now and has scored in five consecutive matches. With the Toffees playing well and some relatively winnable matches coming up, there’s no reason that the super-cheap striker shouldn’t keep scoring, and bringing him in for an Isak or a Watkins will free up some big money somewhere else on the pitch.

Jarrod Bowen is another player who’s a proven FPL favourite but is in just 4.3% of teams at the time of writing. West Ham are starting to look a little better, he’s scored in two of his last three games, and a game against Leicester City tees him up nicely over the coming weeks. If you need to drop Gordon or have some spare cash to upgrade Rogers, he’s a great shout.

Who to captain in GW27?

Another option in the same vein is Brighton & Hove Albion’s Kaoru Mitoma. He’s not that much of a differential – nearly 10% of players have him, so in the context of your mini-league he may be one to swerve rather than snap up depending on your situation - but he’s hitting top form, Brighton are scoring goals, and while their fixtures aren’t easy by any means (Bournemouth and Fulham at home before a trip to the Etihad over the next three), there’s a very real chance he hauls once or twice. The on-song Yankuba Minteh, who’s started the last three straight and notched points in two of them, is a budget option, too – given injuries and a poor record, I’d probably swerve the defence.

Before I leave you to your transfers this week, a last word on your Gameweek 27 captain choice. There is, for once, a genuine argument against Salah, given that he has a relatively difficult fixture against Newcastle while Cole Palmer plays Southampton at home.

If Chelsea were in form, this would be an easy decision, but they aren’t – and neither is Palmer. Nevertheless, the firm expectation is that the Blues beat a dreadful Southampton side, and nobody would bet against Palmer doing the damage. I think this is a rare coin toss, but if you have both players I’m still leaning very slightly towards Salah. Newcastle are a decent but inconsistent side and their defence hasn’t been great of late, while Salah’s personal form is just absurd, and form usually trumps fixtures.

That’s all for this week – whichever captain you pick (and whichever differentials you sign) may they all return the number of points you deserve. Good luck.