Fantasy Premier League tips gameweek 26: Harry Kane, Lucas Digne, Harvey Barnes and more

How many of our picks are in your squad?

Mark Critchley
Northern Football Correspondent
Saturday 27 February 2021 05:24 EST
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Tottenham striker Harry Kane
Tottenham striker Harry Kane (Getty Images)

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This weekend is likely to be Fantasy Premier League’s biggest double gameweek of the season, with 14 teams playing twice between now and next Thursday.

Using either the Triple Captain or Bench Boost chips could be worth your while this week, given the extra fixtures.

Remember, there’s another double gameweek coming up for Manchester City and Southampton next week, while only eight teams are set to play in blank gameweek 29.

Watchlist

Harry Kane

Tottenham’s pair of fixtures see Jose Mourinho’s side host Burnley and travel to Fulham. Kane blanked last time out against West Ham but looked lively, taking six shots in all, and is a good shout for captaincy.

Lucas Digne

Everton come up against an out-of-sorts Southampton at Goodison Park this weekend before a trip to West Bromwich Albion. Attacking and defensive points are on the table for Digne, fresh from a clean sheet at Anfield last week.

Ricardo Pereira

Pereira finally appears to be an option again after four straight starts in the league and took up a more advanced position in Leicester’s win over Aston Villa last week. Arsenal visit the King Power, then Brendan Rodgers’ side travel to Burnley.

Harvey Barnes

Staying with Leicester, Barnes is becoming difficult to ignore as a mid-priced midfield option with a goal and assist in each of his last two games. His 15% ownership is steadily creeping up but still on the low side for those looking to make up ground.

Bertrand Traoré

A risky pick as we are not sure how Villa’s attack will look without Jack Grealish, though Traoré’s underlying numbers are strong enough to justify the £5.9m price for a potentially powerful differential.

Captaincy

It’s a wide open field this week with so many teams having two games, though Harry Kane is expected to be well-backed. Despite Tottenham’s attacking struggles, Kane has an excellent record against bottom-half opponents this season.

Bruno Fernandes rarely lets us down but possession-heavy Chelsea’s recent defensive improvement isn’t the best fixture possible. Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan are outside bets, as is Mohamed Salah given Liverpool’s form.

Clean sheets

A pair of Manchester City home games promises defensive returns, with nine clean sheets at the Etihad already this season, though West Ham pose at least some attacking threat.

Everton’s defence is much less reliable but have a favourable pair of fixtures. The same applies to Tottenham, though it is difficult to pick out a stand-out asset from their rotating cast of defenders.

Best XI

Martinez; Digne, Dias, Shaw, Pereira; Salah, Fernandes, Gundogan, Barnes; Kane, Calvert-Lewin.

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