Week 18 – Thi-a-go(als) starts 2026 on fire !

So, a new years double game week didn’t disappoint with plenty of Premier League twists, turns, squad rotation, surprise injuries, a manager sacking and points galore !!

A hat-trick for the recently out of form I. Thiago (£3.6m) in the second, seemingly tough away fixture for the Bees at Everton makes him our Star Player of the Week.

Thiago was closely followed by B. Guimaraes (£4.2m) who’s 17 point haul moves him past A. Semenyo (£3.1m) to the top Midfielder spot and behind only E. Haaland (£8.3m) and I. Thiago (£3.6m) in the game!

The only other change to the Team of the Season :-

sees D. Rice (£4.8m) make his debut in the Team of the Season with a 2 goal brace against Bournemouth.

There’s no let up to the busy schedule with another Double Game Week coming up, we expect to see heavy squad rotation, especially from the big boys for the weekend FA Cup 3rd round ties though:-

Note that Chelsea, Arsenal, City and Newcastle play the first legs of their Carabao Cup the week after also !

A fit again G. Magahlaes (£4.3m) was transferred in by a whopping 8 % of gamers and they were rewarded with 13 points :-

R. Cherki (£3.5m) was also brought in by 6% of gamers, he’s been in good form and represents a much cheaper alternative to other attacking Man City assets. NB – the injuries to BOTH Man City regular centre backs, Dias and Gvardiol…

Choosing defensive replacements for those two is likely to be tricky :-

Everton and Chelsea maybe the best source for replacements, perhaps Newcastle bearing in mind form and fixtures…?

With no-one particularly standing out from the above we’d be tempted to free up some funds, the Everton defenders are particularly cheap or the likes of M. Thiaw (£3.4m) or M. Gusto (£3.4m) have delivered attacking returns and are relatively cheap, especially compared to the injured City centre backs…

Or perhaps turn to steady Team of the Season defenders if not already owned – J. Timber (£4.3m), M. Guehi (£3.6m) or G. Maghalhaes (£4.5m)…