Ahead of each Gameweek in the Fantasy Premier League, The Hype Train's three front-men, Robert Austin, Sam Austin and Phil Jones, duel for FPL supremacy in predicting Premier League scores, as well as going head to head in picking a Scout Picks squad for each round of games. In addition, we provide general insight that we believe might be relevant for FPL players, such as our personal captaincy picks, differentials for the week, and more. Welcome to the Forecast. All aboard.

Fantasy Premier League: Gameweek 18 Deadline

For the 2019/20 Premier League season, the FPL deadline will be one hour before the commencement of the week's first game. Our website provides a real-world countdown timer for the the upcoming Gameweek, whilst you can read our latest Fantasy articles from the season on our 2019/20 FPL weekly hype sub-section.

How does our Forecasting work?

For three years we invited guests from the FPL Community to tackle us with picks for the upcoming Gameweek in Fantasy Premier League. We'll be taking a break from inviting guests onto this article for a year, and have introduced a new feature, Fantasy 5's, which we'll be asking weekly guests their top pick in each position ahead of each Gameweek.

For the sake of respecting the rules of the Forecast, we have provided an example of what we're sending out to interested parties that will feature throughout the season.

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: Gameweek 18

Everton 2-1 Arsenal

Aston Villa 1-1 Southampton

Bournemouth 2-0 Burnley

Brighton 1-1 Sheffield United

Newcastle 0-0 Crystal Palace

Norwich 1-2 Wolves

Man City 2-2 Leicester

Watford 0-2 Man United

Spurs 3-1 Chelsea

FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 18

Teams without a fixture:

Liverpool and West Ham have had their fixture postponed due to Liverpool’s involvement in the Club World Cup.

Top FPL transfer targets for the weekend:

GK: Vincente Guaita (CRY, GK, £5.1mil, 2.8% ownership)

DEF: Chris Mepham (BOU, DEF, £4.3mil, 0.8% ownership)

MID: Hueng-Min Son (TOT, MID, £10.1mil, 22.4% ownership)

FWD: Neal Maupay (BHA, FWD, £5.8mil, 1.6% ownership)

Who are the teams to look out for and avoid?:

Wolves (Watch): The most satisfying fixture on the eyes this weekend is Wolves trip to Carrow Road. Raul Jimenez is the standout option for captain, and the Canaries defence is poor at its best.

Man United (Watch): The Red Devils are unbeaten in six games and have scored in all these fixtures. They travel to Watford who are rock bottom of the league, and with Rashford in-form it is a safe option.

Arsenal (Avoid): Without Liverpool this week, there is temptation to look at Arsenal for goals. I am here to tell you that after a completely pitiful performance against Man City, the answer doesn’t rest with the Arsenal attack. Everton can cause Arsenal problems, and they will.

Chelsea (Avoid): There has been a distinct lack of form of late from the Blues. Most FPL managers will have Chelsea assets in their team, but they aren’t the team to look too for FPL returns. They go to Spurs, where the Blues will have a reunion with Jose Mourinho who are going all-out-attack.

FPL Captaincy Picks:

(C) – Raul Jimenez (WOL): Norwich have the worst defence in the league, and Wolves should be looking at this fixture in delight. Raul has been in steady form and is a reliable option this week when you have an absent Liverpool who would have faced West Ham.

(VC) – Jamie Vardy (LEI): The fixture is the only thing that isn’t putting Vardy at the top of the pile. Manchester City are aren’t all there defensively, and Leicester can hurt them.

FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 18

Formation: 3-4-3

Starting 11

GK: Vincente Guaita (CRY)

DEF: John Lundstram (SHU)

DEF: Matt Doherty (WOL)

DEF: Chris Mepham (BOU)

MID: Richarlison (EVE)

MID: Kevin De Bruyne (MCI)

MID: Hueng-Min Son (TOT)

MID: Jack Grealish (AVL)

FOR: Raul Jimenez (WOL) (C)

FOR: Jamie Vardy (LEI) (VC)

FOR: Marcus Rashford (MUN)

Substitutes

GK: Martin Dubravka (NEW)

MID: Lucas Moura (TOT)

DEF: Diego Rico (BOU)

DEF: Martin Kelly (CRY)

Fixture Prediction: Gameweek 18

Everton 3-1 Arsenal

Aston Villa 1-1 Southampton

Bournemouth 1-0 Burnley

Brighton 0-0 Sheffield United

Newcastle 1-0 Crystal Palace

Norwich 1-3 Wolves

Man City 2-1 Leicester

Watford 1-1 Man United

Spurs 2-0 Chelsea

FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 18

Top FPL transfer targets for the weekend:

I'd love to throw Richarlison in to the mix this week, or Lucas Moura, for the departing Mason Mount. I'm not really interested in any other moves as the options on show are quite weak.

Who are the teams to look out for and avoid?:

Liverpool (Watch): Right off the bat, it is worth mentioning that after assessing the FPL playing field this week, it's really not worth dumping your Liverpool players (if you have any in the first place). They'll only come around to spite you for not showing Mane faith - I can't believe the league's best player right now went down in price. Don't jump the gun.

Leicester (Avoid): Not a big fan of their chances and actually hate that I've got Vardy and Soyuncu in for games against City and Liverpool in a title-deciding week. Feels like of the best FPL point-scorers are going to negate themselves this week as a result.

Chelsea (Avoid): There has been a distinct lack of form of late from the Blues. Most FPL managers will have Chelsea assets in their team, but they aren’t the team to look too for FPL returns. They go to Spurs, where the Blues will have a reunion with Jose Mourinho who are going all-out-attack.

FPL Captaincy Picks:

(C) – Marcus Rashford (MUN): An uncomplicated captaincy consideration this week away at Watford. There's a lot of team clashing that affects FPL players. A trip to Watford, whilst being in good form and on set-pieces, is enough to tempt my hand with Rashford this week against the league's worst team in Watford.

(VC) – Raul Jimenez (WOL): The Mexican is good for a goal or assist in virtually every game and travels to a side in Norwich that ships goals for a living.

Other Comments:

On Arteta joining Arsenal - We've gone from Wenger and Mourinho to Arteta and Lampard. It's a step backwards for the established 'Top 6' by feeling the need to rely on club legends. That said, Lampard is actually doing a good job at Chelsea, though has the right conditions to succeed given the wealth of talent and years of financial abuse the club has been privileged too... Arsenal doesn't have that luxury to the degree of their city rivals and I'd be worried if I was Arteta looking at what is directly in front of Leno in goal.

On Ancelotti joining Everton - what's he even thinking? The paycheck must be absolutely massive to consider joining a club that is seemingly stuck in purgatory of improving and breaking the top spots in the Premier League. If he's backed at the club, which he must be considering a legendary Manager is taking charge, this might finally be the move that takes the shackles off of Everton's good potential as a club.

On the 3pm fixtures - This is perhaps the most depressing round of 3pm Saturday games this season, featuring every club that doesn't know how to score. I'd be surprised if there are many goals.

On Gameweek 18 Clashes - Newcastle vs. Palace features defensive assets on both sides, City vs. Leicester is half our squads, Chelsea and Spurs are competing for our attentions. There's then Pukki vs. Jimenez, a lot of 50/50 ties, leaving Man United as the only team with clear consideration (what has the world come too).

FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 18

Formation: 3-4-3

Starting 11

GK: Martin Dubravka (NEW)

DEF: John Lundstram (SHU)

DEF: George Baldock (SHU)

DEF: Diego Rico (BOU)

MID: Richarlison (EVE)

MID: Kevin De Bruyne (MCI)

MID: Lucas Moura (TOT)

MID: Wilfried Zaha (CRY)

FOR: Raul Jimenez (WOL) - (VC)

FOR: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (EVE)

FOR: Marcus Rashford (MUN) - (C)

Substitutes

GK: Vicente Guaita (CRY)

MID: Adama Traore (WOL)

DEF: Serge Aurier (TOT)

DEF: Martin Kelly (CRY)

Want to know more about The Hype Train?

The Hype Train is an entertainment website founded in 2015, specialising in Fantasy sports reporting, starting with Fantasy Premier League (FPL), before expanding to MLS Fantasy coverage in 2018.

We pride ourselves in providing beautiful graphics, statistics, in-depth analytical reporting and free weekly insight for hopeful players attempting to climb rankings tables. We are also occasional media reviewers, with a keen interest to review games, live sport, and professional wrestling.

In 2019, Hype Train Football Club was formed, becoming the first Fantasy Football website to take to the field. HTFC is a socially active team across social and web channels, providing regular match highlights, match reports, comprehensive player statistics and unique player profiles.

The Hype Train were nominated and shortlisted for the 'Best Football Blog' in 2016 by the Football Bloggers Association at their annual Football Blogging Awards (The FBA's), and were again shortlisted as a finalist in 2019 in the 'Best Fantasy Football Blog' category.

You can follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, follow Hype Train FC on Instagram, subscribe to our YouTube channel for exclusive content, or visit our website here at www.thehypetrain.co.uk

All aboard.