The Scout's panel of Fantasy Premier League experts discuss how to approach Gameweek 21, which will be played over two weekends due to the mid-season player break.
Sam Bonfield (@FPLFamily)
The extended Gameweek is something that I pay attention to. I always like to wait as long as possible for as much information as I can on all my players before making any transfers or plans. However, this week that won't be possible because the clubs who play in the second weekend of matches from 20-22 January won't hold their press conferences before this Friday's FPL deadline. We will also have teams like Nottingham Forest, West Ham, Brentford, Crystal Palace and Wolves playing an FA Cup replay next week ahead of their Gameweek 21 fixture, and all of that will happen after the FPL deadline. My plan is probably to bring in Man City assets. And if I pick a captain who's playing in the second weekend of fixtures, I will be sure to have my vice-captain playing on the first weekend.
Mark McGettigan (@FPLGeneral)
My transfer decision won't be impacted by the longer Gameweek. It does make sense to captain and vice-captain players from each set of weekend fixtures, though. Cole Palmer (£5.6m) and Bukayo Saka (£9.0m) work for this.
Pras (@Pras_FPL)
I think the stretched-out Gameweek has some minor implications. It's riskier to own players who are playing in the second weekend, as we wont get any press conferences and it leaves you slightly more exposed to freak training-ground injuries. There's not much we can do about it though, so just make sure to have a good first sub and put a little more thought into perhaps captaining or vice-captaining a player who is in action on the first weekend, when you are likely to have more information about players' availability.
Utkarsh Dalmia (@ZopharFPL)
I think as usual you captain the player you think will get the most points, but putting the vice-captaincy on a player in action on the first weekend makes sense as we will have press conferences and fitness updates for the first weekend, but not the second.
Gianni Buttice (@GianniButtice)
I think we're worrying far too much about our players being unavailable for the second half of the extended Gameweek. Sure, as always there will be a few injury doubts we may have to gamble on, but we often rely on very little information from managers in press conferences in any case. Pick the players you want regardless of when their team are in action.
Ben Crabtree (@FC_CrabDogg)
The stretched-out Gameweek won't affect any of my decisions. There will have been rest time before the second set of teams play, so buying or captaining players from those fixtures is fine.
Lee Bonfield (@FPLFamily)
It's business as usual for me. I won't be overthinking any decisions based on which weekend my players are in action. In terms of the captaincy, pick the player you think will get the most points.
Remember, the Gameweek 21 deadline is now at 18:15 GMT on Friday 12 January
View all the latest FPL tips ahead of Gameweek 21 in Fantasy Premier League
