Welcome back to the Hive FPL.

GW26 saw the season's first double game week and with it a mass usage of the triple captain chip with most managers opting for Arsenal's Gabriel to pick up points against Brentford and Wolves.

To be fair it was the logical punt! Gabriel was almost certain to start both games and you'd back the meanest defence in the league to get at least 1 clean sheet bonus not to mention that the Brazilian is hovering up defcon points and is always a chance for an attacking return.

However, it wasn't to be. While his 7 points (he got an assist against Wolves) doesn't represent a total disaster, it was hardly the bounty that many managers were hoping for.

Usage of the trip captain chip was particularly high across elite managers with almost half of the top 10k players opting to play it in GW26.

Of course not everybody who played it went for Gabriel. Even within HiveFPL there were a decent number of outliers who opted to triple captain Declan Rice. His 14 point return tripled to 42 points is the kind of score that you'd want.

Overall then, the trend of top sides struggling to really pull away from the chasing pack continues and certainly for those who still have their trip captain, amongst other chips up their sleeve, they will be viewing the last 11 weeks of the season as an opportunity to make their move.

Of course, Gabriel's failing in FPL terms was also a failing of Arsenal to put clear day light between them and the rest of the table. Wins at Brentford and Wolves would have had them 9 points clear at the top. However, they now head into a North London derby on Sunday knowing that if City win at home against Newcastle that the gap will be just 2 points come kick-off.

We wrote a couple of weeks ago that by early March we'll know if we have a title race on our hands and so far it's looking like we will...

Meanwhile at the other end of the standings, things continue to look interesting. Since we last blogged, both Spurs and Notts Forest have replaced their manager. For those of you who have lost count, that's the 4th man to manage Forest so far this season and yes, it's only February!

Clearly both teams are in dire need of a bump in form to pull them away from the bottom 3 but does sacking the manager really help?

Manager	Club	Points from first 5 games
Carrick	United	13
Rosenior	Chelsea	13
Dyche	Forest	7
Nuno	West Ham	4
Big Ange	Forest	1
Edwards	Wolves	0

New manager impact in 25/26

Certainly Chelsea and United's seasons have been revived by a change in the dugout and clearly Spurs and Forest will be hoping for a similar result from the appointments of Tudor and Pereira.

Pereia got off to a winning start in the Europa League with Forest looking impressive away in Turkey on Thursday night. However, this is the same man that was boss of a Wolves team that at one point looked likely to challenge for a record low points haul in the Premier League.

Similarly, Igor Tudor has a reputation as a 'fix it' kind of manager across Europe but he has no experience of coaching in the Premier League and, by all accounts, he was recommended as the man to replace Thomas Frank by a guy who isn't even employed by Spurs anymore (Fabio Paratici).

Desperate times call for desperate measures but both are out and out gambles. Therefore from an FPL perspective it's probably still a case of watch this space.

Both managers start with massive home games this week against Arsenal and Liverpool respectively. Positive results and performances in those games could get the kind of momentum that the board is hoping for but it really is a toss of the coin!

Division 1

GW26 Results

Team	Hive Account	Score	Score	Team	Hive Account
@blockchainFPL H2H	@blockchainfpl	79	50	Hungry Lions	@gvkanten
Hijos del VAR	@aaalviarez	98	53	Likodra FC	@teofilex11
Jungle squad	@george-dee	78	66	YAGMAN FC	@yagman01
Steve Herbae	@herbae	51	37	Legion fc	@b0s
Hiveheadz	@borran	59	76	Spero FC	@sperosamuel15
nonzy fc	@nonsowrites	54	65	Skander	@skanderh
samostically	@samostically	49	48	Formidable Milano�	@damolexy
Vickoly FC	@vickoly	53	72	Suffragette City	@talesfrmthecrypt
Shamzy FC	@Shamzy	69	69	Red Cards of Rohan	@thoth442
FC McKane	@mckane	48	65	Cunha Do Sum' 4 Mee	@deniskj

GW27 Fixtures

Team	Hive Account		Team	Hive Account
Hungry Lions	@gvkanten	v	FC McKane	@mckane
Cunha Do Sum' 4 Mee	@deniskj	v	Shamzy FC	@Shamzy
Red Cards of Rohan	@thoth442	v	Vickoly FC	@vickoly
Suffragette City	@talesfrmthecrypt	v	samostically	@samostically
Formidable Milano�	@damolexy	v	nonzy fc	@nonsowrites
Skander	@skanderh	v	Hiveheadz	@borran
Spero FC	@sperosamuel15	v	Steve Herbae	@herbae
Legion fc	@b0s	v	Jungle squad	@george-dee
YAGMAN FC	@yagman01	v	Hijos del VAR	@aaalviarez
Likodra FC	@teofilex11	v	@blockchainFPL H2H	@blockchainfpl

Division 2

GW26 Results

Team	Hive Account	Score	Score	Team	Hive Account
Hadji	@hadji	71	56	Mighty Fc	@twicejoy
Emeka4	@emeka4	53	43	valchiz Fc	@valchiz
Kelsco FC	@kilvnrex	87	86	Könttyrät FC	@pvmihalache
Queen dynasty	@princess-dara	67	101	Jeremie Ping Pong	@pingpongfrimpong
Itachi FC	@justfavour	63	69	Kingsleyy	@kingsleyy
Dapomola Fc	@dapomolaaaa	50	80	Deals on Wheels	@derek-trotter
Blugrana	@ronnie10	46	45	Uwabbs FC	@uwabbs001
Top 10k?	@elvisking	89	62	Pepzerbi	@pepzerbi
Sutter Kane	@suttercane	62	66	Eh, No, Ah, Meh.	@stuartcturnbull
hamzamusic	@Hamza-art	33	76	Teamkoko	@myanmarkoko
The People's XV	@publioscelta	82	80	K Empire Balls	@kenechukwu97
Amirirans	@amirtheawesome1	68	49	Funwarriors	@Jmis101
Fire Power	ooops	65	52	adewalehafis	@adewaleopeyemi63
Krake99	@kraken99	57	86	ARFANTASY FC	@arfa
Cygnus FC	@donjaun	63	68	Matz Sels Seashells	@doombot75
Akatsuki	@seki1	49	50	HappyBoys FC	@happyboy1
Bankai	@belemo	67	60	Garuda XI	@aditya-p
Six and the City	@princekwame	70	61	gentleshaid	@gentleshaid
Tengo Rangers	@tengolotodo	79	77	The Cellas	@blanchy
Corner	@artniche	54	50	WIKE BOYS	@gone-hive
Blue Mooners	@leebennett	73	73	Bennett's Boys	@olibennett
TheVulcAns⚓️	@the9thcreator	64	74	Rys FC	@omrys5
Large in the Rear	@chineduokafor	61	61	PHOENIX FC	@kelvinpeters
Newton Heath RFC	@samirich	41	65	Micheal Fc	@micheal87
racibo	@racibo	54	41	Rubilu	@rubilu
ThtHive	@tht	29	51	SportsNerd	@saif-ul-wahab
Noobmaster69	@workingdad	58	46	Tangram	@desro
Sportin	@depar	64	76	Hasaaland	@earplugs
Murima	@youngvic	79	59	Holohive	@acidyo
Los Magos del Balón	@el-maestro	99	78	Stevenson Fc	@Stevenson7
Working 9 to 5	@aunt-granny	68	71	Wongi	@wongi
Magical McFizzy	@mcfizzy	51	79	Corkscrew	@deraaa
Chrisamuda FC	@hive-world	59	47	Show Not Tel	@jmehta

GW27 Fixtures

Team	Hive Account		Team	Hive Account
Kingsleyy	@kingsleyy	v	Mighty Fc	@twicejoy
Jeremie Ping Pong	@pingpongfrimpong	v	Deals on Wheels	@derek-trotter
Könttyrät FC	@pvmihalache	v	Uwabbs FC	@uwabbs001
valchiz Fc	@valchiz	v	Pepzerbi	@pepzerbi
Hadji	@hadji	v	Eh, No, Ah, Meh.	@stuartcturnbull
Emeka4	@emeka4	v	Teamkoko	@myanmarkoko
Kelsco FC	@kilvnrex	v	K Empire Balls	@kenechukwu97
Queen dynasty	@princess-dara	v	Funwarriors	@Jmis101
Itachi FC	@justfavour	v	adewalehafis	@adewaleopeyemi63
Dapomola Fc	@dapomolaaaa	v	ARFANTASY FC	@arfa
Blugrana	@ronnie10	v	Matz Sels Seashells	@doombot75
Top 10k?	@elvisking	v	HappyBoys FC	@happyboy1
Sutter Kane	@suttercane	v	Garuda XI	@aditya-p
hamzamusic	@Hamza-art	v	gentleshaid	@gentleshaid
The People's XV	@publioscelta	v	The Cellas	@blanchy
Amirirans	@amirtheawesome1	v	WIKE BOYS	@gone-hive
Fire Power	ooops	v	Bennett's Boys	@olibennett
Krake99	@kraken99	v	Rys FC	@omrys5
Cygnus FC	@donjaun	v	PHOENIX FC	@kelvinpeters
Akatsuki	@seki1	v	Micheal Fc	@micheal87
Bankai	@belemo	v	Rubilu	@rubilu
Six and the City	@princekwame	v	SportsNerd	@saif-ul-wahab
Tengo Rangers	@tengolotodo	v	Tangram	@desro
Corner	@artniche	v	Hasaaland	@earplugs
Blue Mooners	@leebennett	v	Holohive	@acidyo
TheVulcAns⚓️	@the9thcreator	v	Stevenson Fc	@Stevenson7
Large in the Rear	@chineduokafor	v	Wongi	@wongi
Newton Heath RFC	@samirich	v	Corkscrew	@deraaa
racibo	@racibo	v	Show Not Tel	@jmehta
ThtHive	@tht	v	Chrisamuda FC	@hive-world
Noobmaster69	@workingdad	v	Magical McFizzy	@mcfizzy
Sportin	@depar	v	Working 9 to 5	@aunt-granny
Murima	@youngvic	v	Los Magos del Balón	@el-maestro

GW27 Player Picks and Tips

Here are our tips for GW27

The pendulum swings towards City

In FPL terms to there is reason to pivot away from Arsenal and towards City. Of course, this in large part is due to the fact that Pep's team play 7 times in the next 6 GWs compared to the Gunner's who play just 5 matches.

Ownership of City assets outside of Haaland remained very low for the first half of the season but with the arrival of Semenyo and Guehi, 2 heavily backed players at their former clubs, City now have a trio of very popular picks.

Will anyone else emerge as a viable alternative? Nico O'Rilley at £4.9mil has passed the 100 point mark and started 20 games this season. Phil Foden has 10 goal involvements this season but only 1 in his last 10 league outings.

All in all, even if you think that City are about to finish strongly (and there is no guarantee of that) then FPL managers appear limited in their options and always run the risk of being burnt by Pep's rotation roulette.

Summerville leading West Ham's great escape

It looked for all intensive purposes that West Ham were dead and buried at the turn of the year. A poor start compounded by no real bounce from the appointment of a new manager and other teams around them picking up points at a faster rate.

However, fast forward to the present and only Chelsea and United have managed more wins (4) in their last 5 matches than West Ham (3) who are now just 3 points behind Forest in 17th place.

A large part of that uptick in form has been Summerville who has scored in 4 of his last 5 games to almost double his career tally for the Hammers.

West Ham face a Bournemouth side prone to leaking a few goals particularly on their travels before a tough run of fixtures. Nuno's sides have historically been better against tougher opposition so I wouldn't completely rule out the Dutch winger in that regard especially at a price point of £5.6mil and ownership of just 3%.

Strand-Larsen aiming to be more than a 1 season wonder

At the start of the season, I'd imagine that most people had Strand-Larsen appearing in some of their draft squads with nearly half a million FPL managers ultimately deciding to back the Norwegian following his stellar 24/25 campaign.

However, things have gone horribly wrong for him since then with just 1 league goal for bottom placed Wolves before he departed for Crystal Palace in the closing moments of the January transfer window. With Palace unable to shift Mateta from their squad on that final day of deals, it looked as though his opportunities at Palace might be limited too.

Lady luck though finally began to smile on him as the Frenchman's injury opened the door and Strand-Larsen has taken full advantage with a brace against Burnley on his first home start for the Eagles.

Palace have a few significant fixtures at home to Wolves (this week) and Leeds (GW30) as well as an away trip to Spurs in GW29 as they aim to avoid getting caught in a relegation battle. Beyond that, they also benefit from a double GW32.

There is the risk that the club are sleep walking into a difficult end to the season with manager Oliver Glasner having one and a half feet out of the door already. Could Strand-Larson's desire to prove the doubters wrong be the catalyst the club needs?