The best picks in Fantasy if you don’t have a Wildcard

The Scout assesses the best picks for managers tackling the upcoming Blank Gameweek without their second Wildcard chip For managers in Fantasy Premier League who don't have a Wildcard or other chips to help them navigate Blank and Double Gameweeks, The Scout picks out the clubs and players who have the best fixtures over the run-in. Target Leeds and Brighton if you can navigate Blank Gameweek 34 In Gameweek 33, six teams will play twice - making it a "Double Gameweek" - but those same six teams won't play at all in Gameweek 34.If you can navigate that problematic "Blank Gameweek 34" by using your Free Hit chip, then investing in Leeds United and Brighton & Hove Albion will give you extra players who play twice in Double Gameweek 33 while also having good fixtures for the rest of the season. Leeds forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.6m) and Brighton forward Danny Welbeck (£6.2m) look like particularly good picks. According to the Fixture Difficulty Ratings (FDR), where the difficulty of each fixture is ranked from one to five (with one being the easiest possible match and five being the hardest), Leeds’ average of 2.4 across their final seven matches is the BEST of any side. Four of those contests – at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers and Burnley, and away to Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United - score no more than two. Calvert-Lewin has 10 goals and an assist to his name this season, making this the third most-prolific season of his Fantasy career and his best since he scored 16 goals for Everton in 2021/22. Meanwhile, two of Brighton’s next three matches - away to Burnley and Tottenham Hotspur – score just two in the FDR – as does their Gameweek 36 home match against Wolves.Welbeck’s total of 12 goals is his best scoring campaign ever in the 18th season of his Premier League career. Cut-price defenders Gabriel Gudmundsson (£3.8m) and Jan Paul van Hecke (£4.5m) could also be handy assets, from Leeds and Brighton respectively. Best schedules, Gameweeks 32-38 Club Ave. FDR No. of matches scoring 1 or 2 Leeds 2.4 4 Wolves 2.6 4 Brighton 2.6 3 Everton, Sunderland 2.7 3 Aston Villa 2.9 3 Arsenal, Man Utd, Spurs, West Ham 2.9 2 Nott'm Forest 2.9 1 Gabriel and Fernandes the best big-hitters with no Blanks or Doubles The table above also highlights why Arsenal’s Gabriel (£7.2m) and Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes (£10.3m) - the top-scoring defender and midfielder respectively this season - can also have strong finishes to 2025/26. If you want to ignore the Blank and Double Gameweeks, and/or you will struggle to navigate them because you don't have your Free Hit chip to play, Gabriel and Fernandes should perform well most weeks. Notably, both of their clubs have FOUR home matches in the next six Gameweeks. Arsenal entertain AFC Bournemouth, Newcastle United, Fulham and Burnley across Gameweeks 32-37, while Man Utd host Leeds United, Brentford, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. Fernandes, in particular, will be a great captain option against Leeds and Brentford in Gameweeks 32 and 34 respectively. The Portuguese has produced a double-figure haul in all five of his home appearances under caretaker boss Michael Carrick.Consider Everton and Sunderland for value If you're looking to invest in the budget bracket, both Everton and Sunderland can also provide reliable performers across the final seven Gameweeks. Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford (£5.6m) and defender James Tarkowski (£5.7m) are the second and third top-scoring players in their respective positions in Fantasy this season. Midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£5.1m), meanwhile, has averaged a team-high 4.9 points per match in his breakout Fantasy campaign.Similarly to Everton, Sunderland have three matches which score only two in the final seven Gameweeks. Notably, all three of those kind matches - at home to Spurs and Nott'm Forest and away to Wolves - are in the next four Gameweeks alone. In defence, Nordi Mukiele (£4.5m) and Omar Alderete (£4.1m) are among the best budget assets this season, while midfielder Enzo Le Fee (£4.9m) and forward Brian Brobbey (£5.3m) are overlooked picks who are selected in under two per cent of squads. Don't forget Man City and Crystal Palace's likely Double Gameweek Although Manchester City and Crystal Palace are not ranked among the clubs with the best schedules, they each have eight matches left to play – one more than the other 18 clubs. This is likely to give them ANOTHER Double Gameweek, which is expected to fall in Gameweek 36, because that midweek slot doesn’t clash with European competitions.For Man City, Erling Haaland (£14.4m) is a must-have once again after getting back to his best by scoring a hat-trick against Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-finals last weekend. Nico O’Reilly (£5.0m) and Antoine Semenyo (£8.2m) also boast strong form and merit places alongside Haaland in a triple-up ahead of Man City's Double Gameweek 33 against Arsenal and Burnley. Whereas Man City then have the problematic Blank Gameweek 34 (BGW34), Palace are in the unique position of having a match in BGW34 AND a likely Double Gameweek to come. If you're looking for a budget defender, both Jaydee Canvot (£4.5m) and Chris Richards (£4.4m) offer the potential of defensive contribution points to go along with clean sheets. In attack, Ismaila Sarr (£6.3m) has stepped up his output since returning from the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) with Senegal, scoring four of his seven goals this season in the last seven Gameweeks.