Double Gameweek 25 | Everything you need to know.

The Stuff You Should Know

🚨 Double Gameweek 25’s deadline is Friday 14th February, 18:30 GMT.

😍 Liverpool (WOL, ast) and Aston Villa (IPS, LIV) will play twice after a late announcement from the Premier League.

🤕 Kai Havertz has torn his hamstring and will miss the rest of the season.

👀 Ollie Watkins is a doubt for this weekend. He has a groin injury.

🩼 Nicolas Jackson is out until at least April 2nd with a damaged hamstring.

🔄 The transfer window is closed. Our Reddit post lists every transfer.

Keep reading for the Bournemouth midfielder you forgot about.

Alright?

We made it. Someone should be wrapping us in a foil blanket because Double Gameweek 24 was a proper marathon. Where’s my plastic medal?

Remember that time when Nottingham Forest beat Brighton 7-0? That gameweek ended yesterday.

Anyway, it might be Valentine’s weekend, but it’ll take more than a bouquet of flowers and a box of Milk Tray to persuade Double Gameweek 25 to bend over. For that we’ll need stats, differential Bournemouth midfielders, all the important news from the last few weeks and a balanced look at what the top managers are doing. True romance.

Pour out a glass of red and stick on some vintage Elton. You can tell everybody this is your newsletter.

Double Gameweek 25’s fixtures.

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The injury room.

Summary for the Lazy: Jackson and Havertz are out for the long-term, Watkins still unknown but there’s hope.

Oh no, we’re back in the bowels of the LazyFPL Arena, counting the bodies in the injury room.

The headline injuries are to three forwards: Ollie Watkins, Nicolas Jackson and Kai Havertz. Watkins only makes that list because of Villa’s Double Gameweek, and of these three, he’s the only one with a chance of playing in Double Gameweek 25.

Unai Emery had this to say on 7th February:

“Sunday, I think he is not going to be available. Tomorrow, I think he is not going to train as well, because he will need more days to recover. Hopefully, for next week, he will be available.”

Whilst certainly not ruled out, Watkins is no guarantee for Ipswich either. Unfortunately, we won’t get clarity until Unai Emery’s press conference on Friday, but this photo of him looking pretty happy in the gym was snapped today (Thursday):

If you own one of Jackson (out until early April) or Havertz (out for the rest of the season), it’s time to grab your bag for life and get down to the supermarket.

Anthony Gordon is currently yellow-flagged, but the most Scottish-looking Englishman should be okay to play this weekend according to multiple sources.

And Manuel Akanji is likely to be out for the rest of the season according to a reliable ITK source on X. Because apparently Man City just didn’t have enough injuries.

The latest Blank and Double news.

The League Cup semi-final results have given some clarity on how the Blanks and Doubles are going to play out this season.

We know now that Aston Villa and Liverpool - this gameweek’s doublers, will blank in Blank Gameweek 29. Crystal Palace and Newcastle have a likely blank too.

There are also a multitude of teams who are now more likely to blank/double. Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, Man City and Newcastle are all likely to have a Double Gameweek in 33.

Of course, we know all of this not because of our own research, but because of Ben Crellin’s. Here’s his latest spreadsheet:

This patchwork of fixtures isn’t just nightmarish for the colourblind, it’s also a glimpse into how we might want to play our chips.

Whilst some might see a field of blood in Gameweek 34, the FPL manager sees a Free Hit waiting to be activated. And though the blue ocean of doubles in Gameweek 36 is doubtless deep, a Bench Boost could give us safe passage across.

What are the good managers doing?

As always, the top managers are playing it cool this week.

Aggressive buying of Aston Villa players is tempting, because who doesn’t like a juicy double. But top managers have one eye on Blank Gameweek 29 - so named precisely because Aston Villa and Liverpool won’t play.

Trimming down on Liverpool dependence ahead of Blank Gameweek 29 is one thing, but the removal of Aston Villa players is a laborious job that would strike fear into even the burliest of white van men.

The standout pick is Morgan Rogers. Not only is he in form and, for all that we assume, healthy, but he’s also easier to slot into your team than the much pricier (and not necessarily healthy) Ollie Watkins.

What about the Assistant Manager chip?

Plenty of good managers (including The Professor) opted to play their Assistant Manager chip in Double Gameweek 24. Almost all of them picked either David Moyes or Arne Slot.

Those with Slot can roll a transfer into his Double Gameweek 25 fixtures, but the Moyes owners will almost certainly be spending a transfer to move to one of Unai Emery or Slot ahead of their doubles in Gameweek 25.

It’s worth noting that Emery is the most transferred-in manager this week, and will benefit from the table bonus should Aston Villa get a result against Liverpool.

Those not on an Assistant Manager chip will, for the most part, be going into this gameweek without any chips activated.

Penetrative Stats.

We missed this last gameweek. The newsletter was quite long and we couldn’t see anything interesting enough to hone in on. Frankly, we’re offended nobody complained.

This week we’ve found something interesting. Well, The Prof did, anyway.

The curious case of Bournemouth’s assets

Bournemouth’s strengths are nothing new. Justin Kluivert is over 20% owned and the most transferred-in player this week, and his colleagues, Antoine Semenyo and Milos Kerkez, are picking up plenty of suitors too.

But there’s one midfielder that’s being criminally overlooked. We’re referring to the 1.7% owned, £5.1m midfielder Dango Ouattara.

A bit-part player until Gameweek 16, the Burkinabé (I Googled it) has worked his way into the fabric of Bournemouth’s optimal 11. He rewarded Iraola’s faith with a hat-trick in Gameweek 23.

But despite his consistency in minutes and his proven ability to bag 21-pointers, he hasn’t enjoyed the same traction as his colleagues. Let’s investigate.

The stats

We’ll compare his numbers to Semenyo first:

As we can see, Ouattara has better output than Semenyo where xG (expected goals), xA (expected assists) and big chances are concerned.

What about Kluivert?

Kluivert has a better xG than Ouattara over the same period, but he has benefitted from two penalties in that time.

From open play, Ouatarra is the standout pick amongst Bournemouth players.

The fixtures

They’re great. They’ll also avoid a blank in Blank Gameweek 29. And it’s always nice to bring in a player who immediately plays Southampton, right?

The summary

There aren’t many bad Bournemouth players at the moment, but where money is tight, there’s a compelling case that Ouattara’s cheaper price-tag actually buys you more.

The best captain for Double Gameweek 25.

It’s Mohamed Salah.

Some desperate hipsters might be tempted to pick Morgan Rogers or, dare we say it, Marcus Rashford, but for us it’s too much of a risk not to pick the all-conquering Egyptian.

A small red arrow last week moves The Professor to 390k.

Subject to news on Ollie Watkins, The Prof is planning to bring him in at the expense of the injured Nicolas Jackson.

His Assistant Manager remains on Slot, and Mohamed Salah gets the armband.

You know the drill: join LazyFPL Premium for up-to-date news on The Prof’s moves, extra emails and loads more perks.

The key stats.

Other stuff we found interesting.

• As a reminder, there are NO point deductions for red cards to managers if you’re playing your Assistant Manager chip.

• Maresca has confirmed that Chelsea’s starting goalkeeper is currently Filip Jörgensen.

Next week is another Friday deadline, so we’ll be in your inbox on Thursday evening. You’ve been warned.

Stay lazy.

The LazyFPL Team.