In his FPL Gameweek 25 review, Fantasy Premier League author David Wardale sees Manchester United’s double fixtures finish with some much-needed points from their well-owned stars.

An equally populard West Ham player continued his sparkling recent form with a goal against Leicester on Sunday, while Wolves did a number on Spurs and there were yet more captaincy fails as Liverpool squeaked past Burnley.

Newcastle made it three wins in a row, but the age-old problem of Man City rotation come back to bite many managers in Saturday’s evening game.

It was a double gameweek, and the other side with two fixtures, Brighton, cruised past Watford before their Old Trafford woes.

Elsewhere, Frank Lampard’s Everton emphatically beat struggling Leeds and Brentford and Crystal Palace played out a surprise goalless draw.

And in the lunchtime kick-off, United’s double started with a frustrating, if entertaining, draw with Southampton.

You can catch all of our FPL Gameweek 25 tips right here.

FPL Gameweek 25 Review

Manchester United 2 Brighton 0

Listen carefully and you could hear the sighs of relief coming from FPL managers as Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.5m) and Bruno Fernandes (£11.7m) saved gameweeks across the fantasy world.

The United striker was the second most captained player of Gameweek 25 and his first goal in six league games – plus a projected two bonus points – was a major tonic for the 1.3 million-plus bosses who handed him the armband.

Fernandes was around 300,000 captainers behind that figure and his late, late goal meant a first return since Gameweek 22 for his shrinking ownership.

So, a regulation win, right?

Far from it.

Brighton were the better side for much of the match and Jakub Moder (£4.5m), who’s never scored a Premier League goal, could have two at Old Trafford.

He forced a fine save from David de Gea (£5.3m) in the first half and then hit the bar with a long range effort after the interval.

Unfortunately for him and his teammates, that second effort came after the visitors had been reduced to ten men during a mad few minutes for a side otherwise in control of the match.

In the 51^st minute, United pressed high for a change and it paid immediate dividends, with Scott McTominay’s (£5.4m) hard work handing possession to Ronaldo, who fired emphatically past Robert Sanchez (£4.6m).

Three minutes later, more pressing caused more problems, Lewis Dunk (£4.8m) fouled Anthony Elanga (£4.8m) and, after a long VAR review, that was deemed a red card offence for denial of a goalscoring opportunity.

Even then, the Seagulls caused problems for a United side lacking either the killer instinct to punish ten-man Brighton – Fernandes blowing one especially golden opportunity – or the game management skills to keep them at arms length.

Or both.

As if to emphasise all that, Fernandes’ result-settling goal, courtesy of an assist from substitute Paul Pogba (£7.4m), came in the seventh minute of time added on.

But a win’s a win, and scores of 20 for Ronaldo and 24 for Fernandes – assuming they were captained, that is – are acceptable double gameweek returns.

It also meant a second clean sheet in four matches for the Red Devils, who’d managed none in the five games prior to that.

But even with decent fixtures against Leeds and Watford up next, a fantasy exodus is occurring due to the patchiness of their star players’ form, a lack of double gameweeks and Man City, Spurs and Liverpool to come in a spiteful three-match run from Gameweek 28.

Fernandes is the early front runner in the latest transfers-out race, with Ronaldo close by in third.

Brighton will have to lick their wounds and go again against Burnley at the weekend – a match you’d be excused for thinking offers a good chance of a clean sheet.

But Dunk will be suspended and Dan Burn (£4.4m) now plays for Newcastle, so the Seagulls are suddenly looking a bit stretched at the back.

Leicester City 2 West Ham United 2

Jarrod Bowen’s (£7.0m) superb recent form continued as Leicester and West Ham played out an entertaining draw in Sunday’s late kick-off.

The Hammers midfielder scored and assisted to record his second consecutive double-digit haul – and a fourth in seven matches – for his ever-growing ownership.

Only two players, both from Liverpool, now have more FPL points than Bowen, who finished smartly from an Issa Diop (£4.3m) long ball after ten minutes.

West Ham were good value for the lead before Leicester equalised just before the interval.

Youri Tielemans (£6.4m) returned to the starting XI and he drilled home a confident penalty, given for handball, with the assist going to James Maddison (£6.9m).

Another back in from the start, Harvey Barnes (£6.5m), caught the eye for a much-improved home side after the break.

The midfielder gave Vladimir Coufal (£4.8m) a torrid time down West Ham’s right flank and it was his cross, headed home sweetly by Ricardo Pereira (£5.2m), that gave the Foxes the lead after 57 minutes.

West Ham looked leggy as they strove for an equaliser, but Leicester’s inability to defend from set-pieces came back to haunt them once again when the match ticked into time added on.

Bowen’s corner reached Craig Dawson (£4.9m) in the middle and his effort looped into the net.

The goal was awarded, after a VAR check, despite more than a hint of handball about it, the ball coming off the centre-half’s ‘lower shoulder’ or ‘upper arm’ depending on your club allegiance.

That was a touch harsh on Leicester, although neither keeper was overly busy, so a draw was arguably the right result.

Fantasy-wise, one truth was again on display – neither side is going to bring in many defensive returns.

And a glance at the teams’ immediate schedules doesn’t scream attacking points either, with Leicester away to Wolves and then Burnley, while the Hammers have home matches with the fast-improving Newcastle and, again, Wolves.

In Bowen, however, 31.9% of managers have a classic set-and-forget asset.

Spurs 0 Wolves 2

Wolves made it four straight away wins with an impressive showing at out-of-form Tottenham.

The visitors were two-up after just 20 minutes.

Raul Jimenez (£7.4m) scored for the second time in three starts when Hugo Lloris (£5.4m) made a mess of punching clear Leander Dendoncker’s (£4.7m) cross.

And Spurs’ slackness at the back was further punished by Dendocker when he scored after being gifted possession in the final third.

It was no shock that the midfielder bagged the maximum bonus for a 14-point haul.

Rather more surprisingly, 60 managers brought him in for the gameweek – proof, maybe, that time travel is available for the select few.

Spurs were poor in the first-half, improved after the interval and Harry Kane (£12.2m) ended the match with a gameweek-leading eight shots, although none of them were big chances.

In fact, Antonio Conte’s side didn’t create a single big chance all match, with many of visiting keeper Jose Sa’s (£5.2m) saves of the routine variety.

Wolves kept Lloris just as busy and they now have form and fixtures to offer the promise of points at both ends of the pitch, especially with their trickier matches, such as Arsenal and West Ham, coming on the road.

Spurs are not nearly so blessed at present, and a double gameweek involving trips to Man City and the newly-resolute Burnley don’t look like ideal encounters to rediscover their mojo.

Not that many of their players are well-owned anyway, with their most popular in FPL, Sergio Reguilon (£5.4m and 16.2%), benched by Conte against Wolves.

His replacement, Ryan Sessegnon (£4.3m), lasted just 27 minutes before Conte threw on new man Dejan Kulusevski (£6.0m) in a bid to up the attacking threat down the left.

It worked, to a degree, but Tottenham’s poor form – three losses on the bounce, two of them at home – is going to need more than just a tinker or two from Conte.

And it will likely keep most of their assets off our radars for next week’s double.

Burnley 0 Liverpool 1

Gameweek 25’s status as a captaincy killer gathered pace at Turf Moor as Liverpool fought to a gritty win over Burnley.

Coming into the match, three of FPL’s top five armband picks – Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.5m), Bruno Fernandes (£11.7m) and Kevin De Bruyne (£12.1m) – had all blanked, even though the United pair do have a second bite at the cherry on Tuesday.

By full-time in Lancashire, the Liverpool duo of Mo Salah (£12.9m) and Diogo Jota (£8.5m) had joined the tawdry club.

Jota was benched after picking up a dead leg that had forced him to miss training on Saturday. Around 150,000 bought him for the match and were treated to one shot and a key pass from his 23 minutes as a sub.

Salah produced the same desultory stats from a full 90 minutes, much to the despair of the two million managers who had made him the gameweek’s most captained player.

Fabinho (£5.4m) was the match-winner, a turn of events that’s not even surprising anymore seeing as he’s scored in three of the last four gameweeks – equalling his entire goal output across the other three seasons he’s been playing in England.

But it was never easy for the Reds, with Alisson (£6.0m) having to make five saves on his way to the (projected) maximum bonus award.

That made it three clean sheets in four matches for Jurgen Klopp’s side, and their immediate schedule offers the strong possibility of more of the same.

Sadio Mane (£11.7m) started in place of Jota and led the way (jointly with Fabinho) for shots and also (jointly with the full-backs) key passes.

But it is Salah who the fantasy world wants to prosper in Liverpool’s Double Gameweek 26 against Norwich and Leeds – he’s currently way clear of anyone else in the transfers-in table, having put on more than half a million managers for this weekend.

Burnley were unlucky not to get something from the match, although they were guilty of fluffing the big chances that came their way.

But they are beginning to show the cohesion, particularly at the back, with which we’ve come to associate a Sean Dyche side.

That should boost the appeal of their key defenders – and keeper Nick Pope (£5.4m) – ahead of two double gameweeks in a row.

At the other end of the pitch, things are less attractive, however.

Top scorer Maxwel Cornet (£5.9m) has found the net just the once since Gameweek 12 and was back in a wider role against Liverpool as Dyche chose to partner Wout Weghorst (£6.5m) with Jay Rodriguez (£5.2m) up top.

Just to add to the Clarets’ limited attacking appeal, Weghorst then went off after 74 minutes, and not for tactical reasons.

Newcastle 1 Aston Villa 0

A first-half goal from Kieran Trippier (£5.0m) made it three wins on the bounce for Newcastle as Aston Villa produced one of the more forgettable performances of Steven Gerrard’s short reign.

The Magpies full-back scored from a set-piece for the second straight game.

Referee Craig Pawson initially awarded a penalty for a foul on Joe Willock (£5.7m), VAR advised him otherwise and Trippier blasted home the resultant free-kick, with a slight deflection off Emiliano Buendia (£6.2m) enough to take it past Emiliano Martinez (£5.5m).

That made it three consecutive returns for Tripper.

But just when he was making a serious case for fantasy inclusion, he limped off early in the second half, missing out on clean sheet points as he went.

The game was not exactly a classic, the two sides managing just three shots on target between them.

Villa were dreadful in the first half, with two of the gameweek’s most popular purchases, Philippe Coutinho (£7.3m) and Jacob Ramsey (£4.8m), utterly anonymous.

They improved after the interval and Ollie Watkins (£7.7m) had a goal ruled out for offside by the tightest of margins to ram home what a miserable time he’s been having of late.

The 12.1%-owned striker has blanked for five straight gameweeks and it’s little wonder when you see the scraps he’s been living off during of late.

He’s had just eight shots during that barren spell – a massive 25 behind Harry Kane’s (£12.2m) league-leading figure for a forward and five fewer than defender Joao Cancelo (£7.2m), although Watkins has played fewer matches than both.

The Magpies, boosted by a decent debut from Dan Burn (£4.4m), are starting to look the part defensively and have the short-term schedule to build on the two clean sheets they’ve kept across the last three gameweeks.

It’s hard, however, to look past Trippier, given his proven attacking threat, but the fact that he returned to the ground on crutches and wearing a protective boot was not the most promising news.

Boss Eddie Howe talked post-match about all the defensive issues within his squad at present.

“Lascelles was illness. Manquillo landed awkwardly on his ankle, so we think that’s a ligament problem. Trippier got stamped on. He couldn’t continue with the problem on the top of his foot. He’s gone for an x-ray. Everything is crossed there’s no broken bone.”

As for Villa, you suspect they’ll put in an improved performance against Watford next time out.

It would certainly be tricky to play any worse than they did at St James’ Park.

Norwich City 0 Manchester City 4

A Raheem Sterling (£10.7m) hat-trick was the key feature of Man City’s predictably easy win at Norwich.

But that mattered little to the fantasy throngs royally stitched up by a particularly chastening round of Pep Roulette.

The City coach elected to rest not just the squad’s highest owned FPL asset, Joao Cancelo (£7.2m and 46.7%), but also the team’s second most popular midfielder, Kevin De Bruyne (£12.2m and 15%), and the third most selected defender, Aymeric Laporte (£5.8m and 10.2%).

With the Champions League back this week, rotation was no big surprise.

But for three such well-owned assets to take no part in, or enjoy the easy pickings available from, one of the kinder fixtures around was a bitter blow for FPL bosses far and wide.

A net 113,597 cannily sold De Bruyne for the gameweek, presumably to finance the return of Mo Salah (£12.9m) to their squads.

The Belgian was just outside the top 10 for sales as a result, whereas Bernardo Silva (£7.4m) led the way for transfers-out.

But he started his 23^rd game of the season, only to blank for a fourth straight match, even if he was unlucky to see an early shot hit the inside of the post and rebound into the arms of home keeper Angus Gunn (£4.0m).

Sterling’s high price and inconsistency of both returns and starts has kept his ownership low all season, with his latest run of scores indicative of his campaign as whole – five straight hauls followed by three blanks and now nine and 18 points from the last two gameweeks.

The only downside for his owners was his third goal coming from a tap-in of the penalty he’d just had saved by Gunn.

That was a nice problem to have compared to the big fat zeroes endured by many, many other managers, however.

Assists came from Kyle Walker (£5.4m) and Ruben Dias (£6.3m), with Phil Foden (£8.0m) the other scorer on the day – only his second return since Gameweek 17.

Norwich started brightly, could have scored at least twice and then slowly sank into the role of fruitless chasers of both the ball and, in time, the game.

As well as their European duties, City have an interesting three-match domestic run ahead of them, involving Spurs and Man United at home and a trip to an Everton side maybe finding their attacking bite under Frank Lampard.

They’re good enough, obviously, to win all three.

But neither the results, nor the personnel, are in any way nailed-on.

With other players having better fixtures and more security of starts, getting rid of key City assets, in the short term at least, might not be the worst strategy.

Watford 0 Brighton 2

This double gameweek’s must-have accessories were not meant to be Brighton defenders.

Not, that is, according to the transfer market.

The only Seagull in the top 10 for purchases was striker Neal Maupay (£6.5m), who did his 350,000+ new owners proud with the opening goal against Watford.

But the big scorers on the day were from the Brighton backline, with an assist for Maupay’s strike helping Tariq Lamptey (£4.5m) to eight points.

That, however, was small beer compared to Adam Webster’s (£4.4m) returns.

The defender netted for the second time in three starts and, with maximum bonus set to come his way, a season’s best 15-point haul was the result.

He was due to share those three extra points with Joel Veltman (£4.2m) as the Seagulls kept a first clean sheet since Gameweek 19 – the main reason why he and his fellow defenders were not high on managers’ shopping lists for the double.

Maupay, meanwhile, has found himself a major run of form – seven returns from his last eight starts – that seems to have passed too many of us by, although his ownership has quadrupled to just under a million during that run.

Brighton were good value for their win and will head to Old Trafford full of confidence on Tuesday.

Watford were poor, with an Emmanuel Dennis (£6.2m) shot that hit the bar one of their few notable attacking efforts.

The Hornets are yet to score in the league under Roy Hodgson, which is not that surprising a stat.

But just one clean sheet in three games is the stuff of the Anti-Hodgson, and renders investment in any of his players a matter of hope over expectation, even with a double gameweek up next.

Everton 3 Leeds 0

The new manager bounce finally kicked in for Frank Lampard and Everton in the league – at the second time of asking – as the Toffees saw off Leeds with relative ease.

The visitors were a tad unlucky not to score in the first half, with Rodrigo (£6.2m) hitting the bar twice, but they went in at the interval two down and never looked like clawing that deficit back after the break.

By the end of the match, Leeds keeper Illan Meslier (£4.8m) had made seven saves to Jordan Pickford’s (£4.9m) zero, which pointed to a blow-out.

But from an FPL perspective, it was a wash-out.

Or it was once the match’s most owned player, Raphinha (£6.5m and 14.8%) was taken off at half-time by Leeds coach Marcelo Bielsa.

He explained the decision post-match:

“I decided that Daniel James should take over his role on the right and Tyler Roberts take over in the centre. He is not injured.”

The change worked, insofar as Everton threatened less in the second half, although some of that was arguably down to game management from the side already two goals clear.

Those goals came from Seamus Coleman (£4.9m), with an assist for Donny van de Beek (£5.7m) denied because his pass was deflected to the scorer, and Michael Keane (£4.8m), who was set up by Anthony Gordon (£4.5m).

The young midfielder then wrapped up the result in the 78^th minute, assisted by Richarlison (£7.5m).

Gordon was easily the star of the show, firing in a match-leading five shots, all of which were on target, and providing two key passes.

Unsurprisingly, he was due to collect maximum bonus to take him to a second 14-point haul from his last four starts.

Dirt cheap and owned by just 0.8%…well you can see where this sentence is going, although Everton’s schedule turns from tricky to brutal and then the season ends, so form will need to trump fixtures if you’re considering investment in any of Lampard’s men.

Leeds, who lost the 3.2%-owned Stuart Dallas (£4.9m) to an early injury, have it even worse in the short term, but things ease from Gameweek 29, albeit briefly.

Unfortunately, their form is increasingly patchy and their only consistent trait a propensity to ship large amounts of goals – this was the fifth time they’ve conceded at least three in a game over the last eight matches.

Brentford 0 Crystal Palace 0

What do you get when two teams with an almost pathological aversion to clean sheets meet?

Yep, a 0-0 draw.

It was Brentford’s first shut-out since Gameweek 5, while for Crystal Palace, it was only their second since Gameweek 11.

An impressive 6.4% of FPL managers were therefore looking at a decent haul from their man Pontus Jansson (£4.5m).

Then again, one suspects few of those bosses have checked how their entire FPL side, let alone the Brentford centre-half, have been doing in recent months.

Some of the 6.9% who own Palace keeper Vicente Guaita (£4.6m) are probably more committed to the fantasy cause, but he was upstaged by opposite number David Raya (£4.3m), who made three saves and was due to share maximum bonus with visiting defender Joachim Andersen (£4.5m).

The curse of being Gameweek 24’s most bought player continues to haunt Palace striker Odsonne Edoaurd (£6.5m).

He at least started this match, but blanked, as did the game’s most popular asset, Conor Gallagher (£6.2m).

The 18.6%-owned midfielder has just the one haul since Gameweek 16 – to be fair, that includes a two-game absence – and those still staying loyal will require returns from Double Gameweek 26 to stick by him any longer.

Manchester United 1 Southampton 1

Man United began their double gameweek with a wild match against Southampton that somehow only ended up as a 1-1 draw.

Three of the top 12 transfers-in – Bruno Fernandes (£11.7m), Paul Pogba (£7.4m) and Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.5m) – were Red Devils stars.

All of them blanked.

Instead, it was Jadon Sancho (£8.9m), a player with just 17,993 new owners for the gameweek, who brought in a decent haul, with a goal and a forecasted two bonus points.

His 21^st minute opener, set up by Marcus Rashford (£9.4m), suggested a long afternoon ahead for the visitors.

But United once again lacked ruthlessness – all four of the game’s big chances fell to their players and Fraser Forster (£4.4m) made six saves.

They also had two goals ruled out (rightly) for offside as the Saints hung on and then hit back.

The visitors’ equaliser came just after the break when the excellent Che Adams (£6.8m) steered Mohamed Elyounoussi’s (£5.4m) ball past David de Gea (£5.3m) and in off the far post.

It was a deserved goal for Southampton, who contributed hugely to a wide open game full of attacks, counter-attacks, chances and misses.

Unfortunately for FPL bosses, none of the well-owned players on display produced decent returns.

Sancho (2.2%) was the most popular asset to deliver, while Adams brought in maximum bonus as his tawdry 0.9% fan base enjoyed a second straight match with a goal.

Of the other Saints players, Armando Broja (£5.3m and 8.3%), was the only one to figure in the upper reaches of Gameweek 25’s transfers-in table, but he blanked for the third time in four matches.

Ronaldo’s 28% ownership can only dream of such riches. Their man hasn’t done anything of note since Gameweek 20 and he fluffed his one big chance to score against Southampton.

United’s defence has been even less productive, keeping just one clean sheet since Gameweek 16, although the much-maligned Harry Maguire (£5.4m) did manage to lead the way among United players for shots, with three.

About the only positive most FPL bosses can take from the game is that at least they’ll all get a tilt at redemption on Tuesday against Brighton.

As for Southampton, their fixtures are now set fair until early April.

Adams and co are definitely well worth a look.

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FPL Gameweek 25 Review and Reaction – United Stars Bring Late Joy

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