Who are the best FPL Challenge GW27 picks? Players who feature in this Sunday’s match between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool will have their points doubled. We use Opta data to find the top players to target in the Premier League.
In Gameweek 27 of FPL Challenge, Old Foes, players who take part in Sunday’s Premier League match between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool will be awarded double points.
Nottingham Forest and Liverpool are not considered big rivals by many these days, but in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the pair were dominant both domestically and on the continent.
Liverpool won the English top-flight title in 1976, 1977, 1979, and 1980, while they were runners-up in 1978. They won the European Cup in 1977, 1978, and 1981.
Forest, meanwhile, were the team who beat Liverpool to the title in 1978, before finishing as runners-up to the Reds the following year. They won the European Cup in 1979 and 1980, beating defending champions Liverpool in the first round on their way to that inaugural success in 1979.
Liverpool’s dominance continued throughout the eighties, but Forest have never reached that level since.
The fixture returned to prominence last season when both teams had their best campaigns in years; indeed, when this exact fixture was last played, in January 2025, the pair were separated by just six points at the top of the Premier League table. Liverpool won the league, while Forest finished seventh.
This season has gone a great deal differently, though. Liverpool are sixth, with hopes of defending their title long gone. Forest, meanwhile, are down in 17th, three points outside of the relegation zone. Vítor Pereira will become the fourth man to take charge of them this season when these teams face one another on Sunday.
While the likes of Mohamed Salah, Chris Wood and Anthony Elanga would have been easy choices for this fixture last season, the poor performances from both teams this campaign mean our selections are much less clear-cut this Gameweek.
Despite Forest winning the reverse fixture 3-0 at Anfield in November, Liverpool are favourites for this match, and we will be picking more of their players as a result. This game is far from predictable, though, and the arrival of Pereira in the Forest dugout adds another layer of volatility.
We will be lining up with a 1-1-3-1 formation.
Goalkeeper
Robert Sánchez: Chelsea vs Burnley (H)
Alisson is, of course, a great option here, but we’re saving our three Liverpool picks for positions with greater points-scoring potential.
Stefan Ortega, who is expected to start in goal for Nottingham Forest, is a fine goalkeeper, but even with double points, we don’t love his chances of keeping a clean sheet.
Instead, we’ll be selecting the goalkeeper with the highest chance of not conceding a goal this week: Robert Sánchez, whose Chelsea team will host Burnley at Stamford Bridge.
Defender:
Virgil van Dijk: Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool (A)
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk is a no-brainer for our defence. Of all the defenders available for selection in Sunday’s match, the towering Dutchman is the highest points scorer this season (111), while he has also accumulated the most defensive contributions (251).
Nottingham Forest have failed to score in 12 Premier League games this season, with only bottom side Wolves failing to net on more occasions. Two of Forest’s last five Premier League games have finished 0-0.
Set-pieces are also expected to play an important part in this game’s story. Excluding penalties, Forest (-7) and Liverpool (-6) have the two worst negative set-piece goal differentials in the league this season.
Goals will be on offer from such situations, and this is an area where Van Dijk could stand to benefit.
Midfielders
Elliot Anderson: Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool (H)
You might be surprised to learn that Elliot Anderson has the most points of any Nottingham Forest or Liverpool player in FPL this season, with 113.
He has achieved this feat despite scoring only one goal and collecting two further assists.
Thanks to defensive contribution points, this is the first season of FPL where players like Anderson are rewarded for their importance in real-life football, regardless of how often they contribute directly to goals.
Anderson has 363 defensive contributions this season to date, comfortably the most of any player, while he has hit the points-earning threshold of 12 contributions in a game in 19 of his 26 appearances this season.
In fact, he has earned an additional two points for his defensive contributions in each of his last 10 league appearances.
Due to his high baseline for points, he is the only Nottingham Forest player we are choosing this week.
Florian Wirtz: Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool (A)
Over the last 10 Gameweeks, only João Pedro (66) and Antoine Semenyo (64) have scored more points in FPL than Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz (63).
The next-most points earned during this window by a Liverpool or Nottingham Forest player is Virgil van Dijk, with 49.
While he had a difficult start to the season, Wirtz has been playing at a high level for a solid amount of time now, with five goals to his name in all competitions in January.
We are trusting the numbers by picking him ahead of teammate Salah – the Egyptian has failed to score or assist in his two previous appearances at the City Ground in the Premier League.
Cole Palmer: Chelsea vs Burnley (H)
Despite his stupefying goalmouth miss against Leeds in his last appearance, we’re sticking with Cole Palmer this week for what could be another points haul.
Across the last 10 Gameweeks, Burnley have conceded the most goals (18), faced the most total shots (187), and the most shots on target (58).
Despite what has largely been a frustrating season for Palmer, who has been managing a groin injury while trying to maintain a high enough level of form to start for England at this summer’s World Cup, he still has impressive scoring figures.
With eight goals from 994 minutes of action in the Premier League, Palmer is scoring every 124 minutes on average. Among players with at least three starts, that’s the third-best rate of any player this season, after Erling Haaland (97) and Eli Junior Kroupi (110).
Forward
Hugo Ekitiké: Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool (A)
One player who has been hugely frustrating in FPL this season is Hugo Ekitiké. Ten non-penalty goals in 1,509 minutes is a fine return for a young player in their first season in England, but the timing of those goals has been a source of bemusement for FPL managers.
Essentially given free rein as Liverpool’s number nine due to the long-term injury of Alexander Isak, many were expecting Ekitiké to explode into life during the second half of the season, but goals have not been free-flowing.
Over the last nine Gameweeks, the Frenchman has scored in only one match – a brace against Newcastle at the end of last month.
It is therefore perfectly reasonable to choose a forward option from outside the Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool fixture this week, as there are options with better form and better fixtures.
Nonetheless, the pull of double points is too much for us, and we’ll be starting with Ekitiké.
GW27 Honourable Mentions
Mohamed Salah won’t be making our team this week, but we have to include him in this column in some form. Our preference is Wirtz, but Salah is showing signs of life. The Egyptian has two goals and four assists in seven games in all competitions since returning from AFCON, and his penalty threat is always an element to consider.
Antoine Semenyo has five goals in eight starts in all competitions since signing for Manchester City from Bournemouth in January. The Ghanaian has already proven himself to be an indispensable part of Pep Guardiola’s new solution for attack.
As we mentioned earlier in the piece, João Pedro is the highest points-scorer in FPL over the last 10 gameweeks, and that makes him tough to ignore when presented with a match at home to Burnley.
Opta Analyst’s Team Reveal: Gameweek 27 FPL Challenge Picks
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FPL Challenge GW27 Picks: Double Points for Nottingham Forest and Liverpool Players Opta Analyst.
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