The theme of FPL Challenge in Gameweek 27 is "Team Chemistry", with Fantasy managers getting a £100.0m budget to spend on a 10-a-side team, plus an Assistant Manager.
Double points are on offer for all players who play for your Assistant Manager's club. So for example, if you pick Pep Guardiola (£1.5m) as your Assistant Manager then any players you pick from Manchester City will score double points.
When deciding which Assistant Manager to select, FPL managers will need to decide who they think will return the most points and whether to target the table bonus.
Here, FPL expert Sam Bonfield reveals how she’s tackling Gameweek 27.
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The Assistant Manager chip has proved to be a gamechanger for managers in the main Fantasy game, and in FPL Challenge the last three weeks have been really interesting. Heading into this Gameweek we have the added benefit of not only the Assistant Manager but also the players from his team scoring double.
Once again, a key decision here is whether to play it safe with the Assistant Manager or to take a risk with the table bonus.
Over the last three weeks in Challenge I have selected my players first and then added the Assistant Manager as my final pick. However, this week it feels important to make the picks the other way around, because we have to consider how many players to invest in from the manager's team once he is decided.
Assistant Manager
The options I have considered for this Gameweek are Ange Postecoglou (£1.1m), Vitor Pereira (£0.8m) and Graham Potter (£0.5m).
Both Postecoglou and Pereira would receive table bonus if they win their matches against Manchester City and Fulham respectively. Potter wouldn't receive table-bonus points but does have an attractive fixture at home to Leicester City.
Since the Assistant Manager chip launched in Gameweek 24, Postecoglou has won all three of his matches, registering 10, nine and 10 points against Brentford, Manchester United and Ipswich Town respectively.
This will be the first time that the Tottenham Hotspur head coach can achieve table bonus. Pereira has already achieved the table bonus twice, with wins against Aston Villa and AFC Bournemouth in Gameweeks 24 and 26.
This week I have opted for Postecoglou as it feels like there is more opportunity to target the double points for Spurs players rather than Wolverhampton Wanderers assets, where I would really only want to invest in Matheus Cunha (£6.9m).
Spurs have a great record against Man City, including beating them 4-0 in the reverse fixture back in November. I will have more West Ham United players than Spurs in my team, but the lack of table bonus for Potter has swung things for me.
Goalkeeper
Between the sticks I have opted for West Ham's Alphonse Areola (£4.2m). The West Ham goalkeeper registered a clean sheet away at Arsenal in Gameweek 26 and now has a home fixture against a Leicester side who have failed to score in five of their last six Premier League matches.
Areola has made 46 saves in 14 starts this season, which has resulted in nine save points. The likelihood of a clean sheet makes him my preferred goalkeeper.
I also considered Nottingham Forest's Matz Sels (£5.0m) and Andre Onana (£5.0m) at Man Utd.
Sels has a tough fixture on paper at home to Arsenal, however the Gunners are struggling for goals in the absence of Gabriel Jesus (£6.5m), Kai Havertz (£7.8m) and Bukayo Saka (£10.2m). Meanwhile, Onana faces Ipswich, who have scored the second-fewest goals in the league this season, with just 24.
Areola just feels the likeliest to register a clean sheet.
Defenders
I have opted to play three at the back, with all three defenders chasing the potential upside of attacking returns.
Man City often don't travel to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium well, and with Djed Spence (£4.4m) scoring his first Premier League goal in Gameweek 26 he goes into this one in good form. He now has two clean sheets and a goal in the last three matches and will benefit from his points doubling as he plays for my Assistant Manager, Postecoglou.
However, Pedro Porro (£5.4m) will be my Spurs defender of choice. The right-back was rested in Gameweek 26 and as such will be full of running in Gameweek 27. Porro has had more attempts on goal than any other defender in the game this season, with 35, and is also third amongst defenders for chances created, with 37. Like Spence, his points will be doubled for me this week.
My other two defenders are Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.4m) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.4m). Wan-Bissaka, like Aerola, has a good opportunity for a clean sheet in Gameweek 27. He also has five attacking returns this season, including an assist against Arsenal in Gameweek 26.
Likewise, Alexander-Arnold has excellent attacking threat. He has created 49 chances this season, more than any other defender in the game, and his two goals, six assists and 11 clean sheets have made him the highest points-scoring defender in the game so far.
Other options I considered were Chelsea's Reece James (£4.8m) and Forest's Ola Aina (£5.4m). James returned from injury in Gameweek 21 and since then his pass completion numbers have been excellent, with a 91 per cent completion accuracy.
In that period James has also created seven chances and we have seen him deployed in midfield. This out-of-position role could give him a good route to points against a porous Southampton defence in Gameweek 27.
I considered Aina because he has an attacking threat to add to his defensive security. Aina has two goals and an assist this season, as well as 10 clean sheets, making him the second highest-scoring defender in the game. Aina has a difficult match on paper against Arsenal but, as with Sels, he could keep a clean sheet against an injury-hit Gunners attack.
Midfielders
Mohamed Salah (£13.7m) picks himself regardless of the fixture, and he also returned 18 points away at Newcastle earlier on this season. Despite the fact that Salah won't get double points as he isn't a Spurs player, he will still wear the captain's armband for me.
Alongside him is Cole Palmer (£11.1m). While his form has dipped, he is set to face a Southampton side who have kept the second-fewest clean sheets than this season, with only Leicester producing fewer.
Dejan Kulusevski (£6.3m) has an excellent record against Man City. The Spurs midfielder has three goals and three assists in six Premier League matches against the champions. His points will also be doubled, with Postecoglou as my Assistant Manager.
My final midfielder slot goes to Jarrod Bowen (£7.4m). Since returning from injury, Bowen has returned two 10-point hauls in three matches and scored the winner against Arsenal in Gameweek 26. With Leicester up next, he should return well.
After returning to the starting XI for Spurs in Gameweek 26 and scoring a brace, I also considered Brennan Johnson (£6.2m) as well as Man Utd's Bruno Fernandes (£8.3m), whose goal in Gameweek 26 saw Man Utd salvage a point against Everton. However, I wanted to pick two forwards, which made Johnson and Fernandes difficult to fit in.
Forwards
Both Matheus Cunha (£6.9m) and Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.4m) have been in excellent form recently. Cunha has returned in each of the last three Gameweeks despite having faced tough opposition in Bournemouth, Liverpool and Villa.
In Gameweek 27 Wolves face Fulham, who have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last four Premier League matches and only produced two shutouts in their last 15 Premier League matches.
Crystal Palace's Mateta has returned in six of his last eight Premier League matches. In Gameweek 27, Mateta faces Villa, who have only kept three clean sheets this season. Only the three promoted teams have kept fewer clean sheets.
Other options I've considered are Chris Wood (£7.2m) and Yoane Wissa (£6.4m). Both forwards registered attacking returns in Gameweek 26, and Wood is the highest-scoring forward in the game, with 168 points so far this season.
