FANTASY FORECAST 2017/18: FPL Gameweek 19
Ahead of each Gameweek in the Fantasy Premier League the Hype Train invites a special guest onto its Fantasy Forecast, where the three members of the Hype Team and its Guests will duel for FPL supremacy in predicting Premier League scores, as well as going head to head in picking a Scout Picks squad for the relevant Gameweek. In addition, we give our insight into who are the players to watch and those to drop, both for traditional FPL leagues and the Draft mode, as well as providing insight into captaincy picks, differentials for the week, and more. Welcome to the Forecast. All aboard.

Fantasy Premier League: Gameweek Deadline
For the 2016/17 Premier League season, the FPL deadline will be one hour before the commencement of the week's first game. The Premier League website lists each FPL deadline, you can always ask on social media, and you can also view a real time countdown on our Weekly Hype page.

How does our Forecasting work?
We have taken to our Hype Team, and the FPL Community, to compete in a weekly head to head dual of wits. We are asking the questions that dominate each week in the Fantasy Premier League: who to pick, who to avoid, who to captain, and who may surprise. The 3 members of the Hype Team, and a Guest, will provide weekly insight for the Gameweek ahead. For the sake of respecting the rules of the Forecast, we have provided an example of what we're sending out to interested parties.
Premier League Fixture Prediction: As pundits, we are testing our football acumen with PL predictions and will be providing regular updated tables and stats in each edition of the FPL Forecast. A perfect score is worth 3 points whilst a correct result is worth 1 point.
FPL Gameweek Forecasting: Answering the regular questions that come up every single week in the Fantasy Premier League community that helps with identifying captaincy picks, transfers, attacking options, clean sheet potential, teams to look our for and avoid, players to consider for the Draft game, the wildcard differential players, as well as general analysis and comments.
Scout Picks: Picking a squad of 15 for a single Gameweek, without any budget, using the rules of the FPL - formations, captains and vice captains, and the player limits of 3 per club (chips will not be feature of these weekly picks)
Each team must pick a Captain, labelled as (c) and a Vice Captain listed as (vc).

Fixture Prediction: 2017/18 Points Table
In our predictions a perfect score is 3 points, and predicting the right outcome is worth 1 point (aka if a team wins but, you predict it, but don't get the perfect score). Below is the Gameweek and overall rundown of our Premier League predictions series for the season.
Sam Austin (@HypeTrainSam): 6 (1), 4 (2), 8 (3), 3 (4), 9 (5), 6 (6), 7 (7), 7 (8), 4 (9), 12 (10), 5 (11), 7 (12), 4 (13), 6 (14), 8 (15), 4 (16), 12 (17), 6 (18) = 118pts
Phil Jones (@HypeTrainPhil): 10 (1), 5 (2), 6 (3), 4 (4), 9 (5), 5 (6), 5 (7), 3 (8), 3 (9), 8 (10), 4 (11), 7 (12), 5 (13), 4 (14), 5 (15), 6 (16), 9 (17), 7 (18) = 105pts
Robert Austin (@HypeTrainRob): 4 (1), 5 (2), 8 (3), 2 (4), 7 (5), 9 (6), 8 (7), 10 (8), 8 (9), 6 (10), 5 (11), 6 (12), 13 (13), 5 (14), 8 (15), 9 (16), 10 (17), 9 (18) = 132pts
Special Guests: 4 (1), 4 (2), 7 (3), 2 (4), 2 (5), 8 (6), 13 (7), 9 (8), 3 (9), 10 (10), 4 (11), 8 (12), 7 (13), 4 (14), 13 (15), 8 (16), 8 (17), 9 (18) = 118pts
Special Guests
GW1 - @FPLConnect: 4 points (0 perfect, 4 correct, 6 wrong)
GW2 - @FPLsleuth: 4 points (0 perfect, 4 correct, 6 wrong)
GW3 - @FPLBraveheart: 6 points (1 perfect, 3 correct, 6 wrong)
GW4 - @FPLJournalBlog: 2 points (0 perfect, 2 correct, 8 wrong)
GW5 - @FPL_Ted: 2 points (0 perfect, 2 correct, 8 wrong)
GW6 - @CGA_FPL: 8 points (1 perfect, 5 correct, 4 wrong)
GW7 - @FPLMad: 11pts (3 perfect, 2 correct, 5 wrong)
GW8 - @OddsOnFPL: 9pts (2 perfect, 3 correct, 5 wrong)
GW9 - @FPL_vs: 3pts (0 perfect, 3 correct, 7 wrong)
GW10 - @TheTinkerMen: 10pts (2 perfect, 4 correct, 4 wrong)
GW11 - @FPLStag: 4 pts (0 perfect, 4 correct, 6 wrong)
GW12 - @FFootballHub: 8pts (1 perfect, 5 correct, 4 wrong)
GW13 - @FPL_Aussie: 7pts (1 perfect, 4 correct, 5 wrong)
GW14 - @ShirtsvSkinsFPL: 4pts (0 perfect, 4 correct, 6 wrong)
GW15 - @TheFPLPodcast: 13pts (3 perfect, 4 correct, 3 wrong)
GW16 - @FPLFanatix: 8pts (2 perfect, 2 correct, 6 wrong)
GW17 - @FPLDino: 8pts (1 perfect, 5 correct, 4 wrong)
GW18 - @FplFreddo: 9pts (1 perfect, 6 correct, 3 wrong)
Individual Gameweek Predictions
GW1: Sam (6), Phil (10), Rob (4), @FPL_Connect (4)
GW2: Sam (4), Phil (5), Rob (5), @FPLsleuth (4)
GW3: Sam (8), Phil (6), Rob, (8), @FPLBraveheart (7)
GW4: Sam (3), Phil (4), Rob (2), @FPLJournalBlog (2)
GW5: Sam (9), Phil (9), Rob (7), @FPL_Ted (2)
GW6: Sam (6), Phil (5), Rob (9), @CGA_FPL (8)
GW7: Sam (5), Phil (7), Rob (8), @FPLMad (11)
GW8: Sam (7), Phil (3), Rob (10), @OddsOnFPL (9)
GW9: Sam (4), Phil (3), Rob (8), @FPL_vs (3)
GW10: Sam (12), Phil (8), Rob (6), @TheTinkerMen (10)
GW11: Sam (5), Phil (4), Rob (5), @FPLStag (4)
GW12: Sam (7), Phil (7), Rob (6), @FFootballHub (8)
GW13: Sam (4), Phil (5), Rob (13), @FPL_Aussie (7)
GW14: Sam (6), Phil (4), Rob (5), @ShirtsvSkinsFPL (4)
GW15: Sam (8), Phil (5), Rob (8), @TheFPLPodcast (13)
GW16: Sam (4), Phil (6), Rob (9), @FPLFanatix (8)
GW17: Sam (12), Phil (9), Rob (10), @FPLDino (8)
GW18: Sam (6), Phil (7), Rob (9), @FplFreddo (9)

FPL Scout Picks: 2017/18 Points Table
Picking a squad of 15 for a single Gameweek, using the rules of the FPL - formations, captains and vice captains, and the player limits of 3 per club (chips will not be feature of these weekly picks). Below is the Gameweek and overall rundown of our Premier League predictions series for the season.
Sam Austin (@HypeTrainSam): 82 (1), 61 (2), 58 (3), 23 (4), 60 (5), 72 (6), 55 (7), 54 (8), 51 (9), 45 (1), 59 (11), 101 (12), 47 (13), 75 (14), 58 (15), 68 (16), 54 (17), 53 (18) = 1,076pts
Phil Jones (@HypeTrainPhil): 81 (1), 57 (2), 38 (3), 49 (4), 58 (5), 73 (6), 65 (7), 63 (8), 46 (9), 48 (10), 57 (11), 77 (12), 55 (13), 59 (14), 47 (15), 62 (16), 47 (17), 75 (18) = 1,057pts
Robert Austin (@HypeTrainRob): 67 (1), 43 (2), 48 (3), 36 (4), 74 (5), 78 (6), 68 (7), 39 (8), 47 (9), 55 (10), 55 (11), 80 (12), 54 (13), 51 (14), 68 (15), 65 (16), 51 (17), 79 (18) = 1,058pts
Special Guests: 54 (1), 45 (2), 41 (3), 40 (4), 72 (5), 77 (6), 81 (7), 53 (8), 26 (9), 52 (10), 56 (11), 84 (12), 47 (13), 74 (14), 75 (15), 55 (16), 54 (17), 69 (18) = 1,055pts
Special Guests
GW1 - @FPL_Connect: 54 points (Captain Kane, 2pts)
GW2 - @FPLsleuth: 45 points (Captain Lukaku, 12pts)
GW3 - @FPLBraveheart: 41 points (Captain Kane, 4pts)
GW4 - @FPLJournalBlog: 40 points (Captain Mane, -4pts)
GW5 - @FPL_Ted: 72 points (Captain Kane, 4pts)
GW6 - @CGA_FPL: 77 points (Captain Aguero, 22pts)
GW7 - @FPLMad: 81pts (Captain Kane, 26pts)
GW8 - @OddsOnFPL: 53pts (Captain Kane, 4pts)
GW9 - @FPL_vs: 26pts (Captain Jesus, 2pts)
GW10 - @TheTinkerMen: 52pts (Captain Salah, 8pts)
GW11 - @FPLStag: 56pts (Captain Kane, 4pts)
GW12 - @FFootballHub: 84pts (Captain Lukaku, 12pts)
GW13 - @FPL_Aussie: 47pts (Captain Kane, 16pts)
GW14 - @ShirtsvSkinsFPL: 74pts (Captain Kane, 12pts)
GW15 - @TheFPLPodcast: 75pts (Captain Hazard, 30pts)
GW16 - @FPLFanatix: 55pts (Captain Kane, 24pts)
GW17 - @FPLDino: 54pts (Captain Kane, 4pts)
GW18 - @FplFreddo: 69pts (Captain Salah, 16pts)
Individual Gameweek Scout Picks
GW1: Sam (82), Phil (81), Rob (67), @FPL_Connect (54)
GW2: Sam (61), Phil (57), Rob (43), @FPLsleuth (45)
GW3: Sam (58), Phil (38), Rob, (48), @FPLBraveheart (41)
GW4: Sam (23), Phil (49), Rob (36), @FPLJournalBlog (40)
GW5: Sam (60), Phil (58), Rob (74), @FPL_Ted (72)
GW6: Sam (72), Phil (73), Rob (78), @CGA_FPL (77)
GW7: Sam (55), Phil (65), Rob (68), @FPLMad (81)
GW8: Sam (54), Phil (63), Rob (39), @OddsOnFPL (53)
GW9: Sam (51), Phil (46), Rob (47), @FPL_vs (26)
GW10: Sam (45), Phil (48), Rob (55), @TheTinkerMen (52)
GW11: Sam (59), Phil (57), Rob (55), @FPLStag (56)
GW12: Sam (101), Phil (77), Rob (80), @FFootballHub (84)
GW13: Sam (47), Phil (55), Rob (54), @FPL_Aussie (47)
GW14: Sam (75), Phil (59), Rob (51), @ShirtsvSkinsFPL (74)
GW15: Sam (58), Phil (47), Rob (68), @TheFPLPodcast (75)
GW16: Sam (68), Phil (62), Rob (65), @FPLFanatix (55)
GW17: Sam (54), Phil (47), Rob (51), @FPLDino (54)
GW18: Sam (53), Phil (75), Rob (79), @FplFreddo (69)
Fixture Prediction: Gameweek 19
Arsenal 1-4 Liverpool
Everton 1-2 Chelsea
Brighton 1-1 Watford
Man City 3-0 Bournemouth
Southampton 1-0 Huddersfield
Stoke 2-1 West Brom
Swansea 1-2 Crystal Palace
West Ham 2-0 Newcastle
Burnley 0-1 Spurs
Leicester 2-2 Man United
FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 19
Best GW Attacking Options:
Liverpool (A) vs. Arsenal
Chelsea (A) vs. Everton
Man City (H) vs. Bournemouth
Southampton (H) vs. Huddersfield
Stoke (H) vs. West Brom
Crystal Palace (A) vs. Swansea
West Ham (H) vs. Newcastle
Spurs (A) vs. Burnley
Leicester (H) vs. Man United
Man United (A) vs. Leicester
Best GW Defensive / Clean Sheet Potential:
Chelsea (A) vs. Everton
Man City (H) vs. Bournemouth
Southampton (H) vs. Huddersfield
Stoke (H) vs. West Brom
Crystal Palace (A) vs. Swansea
West Ham (H) vs. Newcastle
Spurs (A) vs. Burnley
Who would you Transfer In and Out for the Gameweek and beyond?:
IN: Lukasz Fabianski (GK), Angelo Ogbonna (DEF), Wilfried Zaha (MID), Roberto Firmino (FW)
OUT: David De Gea (GK), James Tarkowski (DEF), Dele Alli (MID), Alvaro Morata (FW)
Who are the players that might make the difference this Gameweek in the Draft?:
West Ham players, and Spurs assets.
Who are the teams to look out for?:
Liverpool: Firmino, Salah, Mane, Coutinho. Monreal terrorised by Liverpool defenders is now a mainstay expectation of the league.
Crystal Palace: The Eagles are on a run of three consecutive clean sheets away from home. So expect them to give Swansea a run for their money.
Who are the teams to avoid?:
Arsenal: Firmino, Salah, Mane, Coutinho. Monreal terrorised by Liverpool defenders is now a mainstay expectation of the league.
Burnley: The Clarets have lost to North London opposition earlier in the season, and now they have lost their main central defender during the past few days, which leaves Harry Kane an even more appetising fantasy option.
GW Differential Picks:
Andreas Christensen: Fantasy points are simple when the Blues defend.
Sadio Mane: Run riot against Arsenal in the same fixture last season, and with Monreal running for his life it will be a long afternoon.
FPL Captaincy Picks:
(C): Mohamad Salah – Friday night is going to be insane, and after seeing it now three times in a row, Liverpool will be on the front foot and a constant danger against the Gunners.
(VC): Raheem Sterling – The English winger is in the form of his life, and after another huge gameweek you expect more of the same with Man City who are consistently blowing teams away.
Other Gameweek Comments:
Rotation shouldn’t be as severe this week, but you never know. Alvaro Morata did an absolute number of a lot of teams, so picking a stable line-up is essential.
FPL Hype Picks: Gameweek 19
Formation: 3-4-3
Starting 11
GK: Ederson
DEF: Nicola Otamendi
DEF: Marcos Alonso
DEF: Jan Vertonghen
MID: Raheem Sterling (VC)
MID: Eden Hazard
MID: Philippe Coutinho
MID: Mohamad Salah (C)
MID: Wilfried Zaha
FOR: Romelu Lukaku
FOR: Harry Kane
Substitutes
GK: Hugo Lloris
FOR: Gabriel Jesus
DEF: Aaron Cresswell
DEF: Kurt Zouma
Fixture Prediction: Gameweek 19
Arsenal 1-3 Liverpool Everton 0-2 Chelsea Brighton 0-1 Watford Man City 6-1 Bournemouth Southampton 2-1 Huddersfield Stoke 1-1 West Brom Swansea 0-2 Crystal Palace West Ham 2-0 Newcastle Burnley 1-3 Spurs Leicester 2-1 Man United
FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 19
Best GW Attacking Options: Man City (H) vs Bournemouth Spurs (a) vs Burnley Liverpool (a) vs Arsenal Crystal Palace (a) vs Swansea
Best GW Defensive / Clean Sheet Potential: West Ham (H) vs Newcastle Crystal Palace (a) vs Swansea Watford (a) vs Brighton Chelsea (a) vs Everton Man City (H) vs Bournemouth
Who would you Transfer In and Out for the Gameweek and beyond?: IN: Pickford, Masuaku, De Bruyne, Aguero. OUT: Begovic, Bertrand, Choupo-Moting, Morata.
GW Differential Picks:
Jordan Pickford: The absence of Morata gives him a big advantage to keeping a clean sheet. Morata is responsible for the majority of shots inside the box that Chelsea produce, whereas Pedro, Willian and Hazard tend to shoot from outside the box. We can expect a lot of speculative attempts from the Chelsea wingmen and this in itself should produce a number of save points. I expect a reasonable points haul even if Chelsea score against him.
FPL Captaincy Picks: (C): Sergio Aguero: Yep, Remember this guy? Modern Day FPL Legend turned into a bit part striker. The man could start in any team in the world but for Manchester City it would seem. Looking deeper into the rotation I believe Pep prefers to play Aguero in Premier league fixtures ahead of Jesus. At least while champions league fixtures aren’t an issue. If he starts he will score.
(VC): Harry Kane: great fixture, Tarkowski suspended, in need of a win to bounce back. Everything points to a Kane captaincy this week.
FPL Hype Picks: Gameweek 19 Formation: 3-4-3
Starting 11
GK: Jordan Pickford
DEF: Marcos Alonso DEF: Scott Dann DEF: Arthur Masuaku
MID: Riyad Mahrez MID: Eden Hazard MID: Mo Salah MID: Raheem Sterling
FOR: Sergio Aguero (C) FOR: Chicharito FOR: Harry Kane (VC)
Substitutes
GK: Ben Foster MID: Richarlison DEF: Ben Davies DEF: Kyle Walker
Fixture Prediction: Gameweek 19
Arsenal 1-2 Liverpool
Everton 0-1 Chelsea
Brighton 0-0 Watford
Man City 4-0 Bournemouth
Southampton 2-1 Huddersfield
Stoke 2-1 West Brom
Swansea 0-2 Crystal Palace
West Ham 1-0 Newcastle
Burnley 1-3 Spurs
Leicester 2-1 Man United
FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 19
Best GW Attacking Options:
Man City (H) vs. Bournemouth
Spurs (A) vs. Burnley
I have no faith in anyone else getting the job done this week, and I think I have been massively kind to Spurs in that regard.
Best GW Defensive / Clean Sheet Potential:
Brighton and Watford
Man City (H) vs. Bournemouth
Crystal Palace (A) vs. Swansea
West Ham (H) vs. Newcastle
Who would you Transfer In and Out for the Gameweek and beyond?:
IN: Sterling, De Bruyne, Zaha, Firmino (maybe), DCL, Rooney (I guess), Klavan (getting the minutes in at a cheap cost)
OUT: Mahrez (complicated fixtures), Vardy (isn’t scoring), any Newcastle player
Who are the players that might make the difference this Gameweek in the Draft?:
Brighton defenders, Everton assets, and West Ham players, have all been overlooked.
Who are the teams to look out for?:
Spurs – Just got a feeling that with some key defensive players ruled out, Harry Kane and company might be worth a punt
Crystal Palace – Wilf Zaha is a monster, and the force is strong with the Eagles right now
Who are the teams to avoid?:
Newcastle – The form of a relegated team
Swansea – The form of a relegated team
Arsenal – Can’t play against Liverpool. Monreal to be destroyed by pace yet again
FPL Captaincy Picks:
(C): Raheem Sterling – Call me conventional, and follow the public trend, but I just can’t se Man City not winning this game by a huge margin, and the snake is in fine form, and a reliable starter
(VC): Harry Kane – Who else?
Other Gameweek Comments:
This Xmas period is destroying my soul, slowly but surely. Every captaincy pick has been wasted. Red arrows everywhere. Jammy players getting lucky. Just losing the will right now.
FPL Hype Picks: Gameweek 19
Formation: 3-4-3
Starting 11
GK: Matt Ryan
DEF: Nicolas Otamendi
DEF: Marcos Alonso
DEF: Aaron Cresswell
MID: Mohamed Salah
MID: Raheem Sterling (C)
MID: Kevin De Bruyne
MID: Eden Hazard
MID: Wilfried Zaha
FOR: Harry Kane (VC)
FOR: Roberto Firmino
Substitutes
GK: David de Gea
FOR: Charlie Austin
DEF: Antonio Valencia
DEF: Cesar Azpilicueta
Fixture Prediction: Gameweek 19
Arsenal 2-2 Liverpool
Everton 1-2 Chelsea
Brighton 1-1 Watford
Man City 3-0 Bournemouth
Southampton 2-2 Huddersfield
Stoke 0-0 West Brom
Swansea 0-1 Crystal Palace
West Ham 2-0 Newcastle
Burnley 0-2 Spurs
Leicester 1-3 Man United
FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 19
Best GW Attacking Options:
Man City (H) vs Bournemouth
Man United (a) vs Leicester
Chelsea (a) vs Everton
Best GW Defensive / Clean Sheet Potential:
Stoke (H) vs West Brom
West Ham (H) vs Newcastle
Crystal Palace (a) vs Swansea
Who would you Transfer In and Out for the Gameweek and beyond?:
IN: Adrián (GK), Jones (DEF), Richarlison (MID), Agüero (FWD)
OUT: Schmeichel (GK), Ward (DEF), Groß (MID), Vardy (FWD)
Who are the players that might make the difference this Gameweek in the Draft?
West Ham defenders, Diouf, Glenn Murray and Andre Gray.
Who are the teams to look out for?
Manchester City: They are on fire and with easy fixtures, a double or triple is almost essential.
Tottenham: Spurs will be looking to not losing points anymore. Easy fixtures and a DGW on the way (even though it is recommended to not have more than 2,otherwise you may found yourself playing your bench in GW21, Blank for them)
West Ham: The Hammers look a lot better recently and have favourable fixtures coming up.
Who are the teams to avoid?
Swansea: A negative streak of results going on and Paul Clement dismissal makes everything worse. Will need some time to settle again.
Bournemouth: Conceding goals quite easily and facing Man City is the worst way out of this
GW Differential Picks:
Andre Gray (Watford): With Deeney suspended, Gray could feature against Brighton and get some attacking returns as well.
Marko Arnautovic (West Ham): Without Lanzini, Marko could be the main man for the Hammer’s offensive play.
FPL Captaincy Picks:
(C): Sergio Agüero: With Jesus playing 120 minutes on Tuesday, Sergio seems the obvious starter for Saturday. In addition, Bournemouth conceded 4 against Liverpool and also played in the EFL Cup on Wednesday.
(VC): Eden Hazard: Morata’s suspension means he could play false nine with Pedro and Willian.
Other Gameweek Comments
Arsenal vs Liverpool is a difficult one to predict the result and player's point returns.
Will Burnley defense still be the same against Kane & co. with Tarkowski suspended and Ward still not 100% after Injury?
Manchester United and Chelsea also face a difficult easy opponent, making the choice of captain quite a hard decision.
If you get that right, expect big green arrows though!
FPL Hype Picks: Gameweek 19
Formation: 3-4-3
Starting 11
GK: Hugo Lloris
DEF: Aaron Cresswell
DEF: Marcos Alonso
DEF: Nicolás Otamendi
MID: Wilfried Zaha
MID: Eden Hazard
MID: Kevin De Bruyne
MID: Philippe Coutinho
FOR: Harry Kane (VC)
FOR: Romelu Lukaku
FOR: Sergio Agüero (C)
Substitutes
GK: Julian Speroni
MID: Xherdan Shaqiri
DEF: Phil Jones
DEF: Christian Kabasele
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All aboard.