The Scout Picks – Gameweek 27

After a fortnight’s break brought on by the FA Cup Fifth Round, Fantasy managers brace themselves for a hectic run of three Gameweeks over the next nine days. With the Capital One Cup final causing two matches to be postponed, we triple up on Leicester and Tottenham as the top two prepare for plum home fixtures over the weekend.

A home clash with Villa earns Jack Butland a place between the posts. Despite the fact that Ryan Shawcross remains sidelined, we reckon the Potters still look a solid shut to grab a clean sheet against an out-of-sorts attack that have scored only once in their last four away fixtures.

Tottenham’s Toby Alderweireld comes in for a home encounter with a Swansea side that’s netted just five times in their last seven road trips. The top scoring defender in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) so far, the Belgian leads the way for attempts inside the box (23) at the back and has already served up two goals and a trio of assists.

Christian Fuchs plays host to a Norwich outfit with just one goal in their last four away matches. The Leicester left-back’s share of corners and delivery from the flank has helped him earn assists against Spurs and Man City in the last six Gameweeks, whilst his 4.3 points per game is comfortably better than Robert Huth’s 3.7.

West Ham’s Upton Park showdown with Sunderland earns Aaron Cresswell the final place in our three-man backline. Whilst the Black Cats arrive in decent form, their hosts have chalked up two clean sheets in three in front of their own fans, with Cresswell collecting maximum bonus on both those occasions. The left-back’s raids down the flank heighten his appeal as he looks to add to his goal and three assists to date.

Sitting second in this week’s Captain Poll, Dimitri Payet is nailed-on as West Ham prepare to face Sunderland at Upton Park. The Frenchman followed up his Gameweek 26 goal and assist at Norwich with two strikes and an assist in the 5-1 FA Cup rout of Blackburn last weekend and will be licking his lips at the prospect of hosting the league’s most porous away defence.

Riyad Mahrez is another highly-fancied candidate against a Norwich defence that’s conceded at least twice in each of the last six Gameweeks. The Algerian is Leicester’s most explosive option, having served up ten double-figure hauls (four at the King Power) and has returned to form in recent outings, producing points in three of his last four league outings.

Having shaken off the illness that forced him to miss the previous Gameweek’s win at Bournemouth, we’re backing Marko Arnautovic to deal the damage at home to struggling Villa. The Austrian – who has averaged 4.7 points per game thus far – has already netted against the likes of Chelsea, City and United at the Britannia and faces a defence that’s just been hit for six in front of their own fans.

We’re opting for Christian Eriksen over Dele Alli as out Spurs midfielder of choice for the visit of Swansea. The Dane has three double-figure hauls in the previous five Gameweeks, whilst his underlying numbers across the last four also persuade us – he sits joint-top for shots on target (six) and top for key passes (21) in the centre of the park.

Jamie Vardy is our third Leicester option for the home encounter with Norwich. Although he’s not as explosive as Mahrez – with just three double-figure returns all season – Vardy’s consistency at the King Power, where he’s scored or assisted in 10 of 12 appearances, has helped him top this week’s Captain Poll as Claudio Ranieri’s men look to bounce back from their last-gasp loss at Arsenal.

Five goals and an assist in his last five appearances highlight Harry Kane’s current form. Set to wear a protective mask to cover a broken nose, the Spurs frontman faces a Swansea outfit that have managed a single away clean sheet all season.

A home match with Bournemouth offers Odion Ighalo the chance to get back amongst the goals. Although he’s netted just once in the last seven, the Nigerian will fancy his chances against a defence that’s managed just two shut-outs on their travels and sits second-worst in terms of big chances conceded away from home thus far.

The Hornets’ on-loan defender Nathan Ake warms our bench for the Bournemouth match. Quique Sanchez Flores’ side have racked up seven clean sheets at Vicarage Road – only United (eight) have managed more in front of their own fans –whilst the left-back has already served up a goal and assist in six starts at Vicarage Road.

Chelsea’s trip to St Mary’s brings Willian into contention. The Saints sit sixth-worst for shots conceded (39) inside the box over the last four, which suggests they’ve been lucky not to concede. The Brazilian has already netted against Southampton earlier in the season and has averaged 5.9 points per appearance since the departure of Jose Mourinho.

West Ham’s Emmanuel Emenike looks likely to retain role up front after bagging a brace on his first start against Blackburn in last week’s FA Cup win. With Payet pulling the strings behind him, the Nigerian could be a decent shout at just 5.0 against Big Sam’s side.

The Community Champions

Having scrapped the weekly vote idea from last season, we now operate a lottery system to pick our weekly candidates. The community member who beats our picks by the biggest margin over the campaign will win a £100 Amazon Voucher and a place in our Contributors and Moderators League for the following season.

In addition to a shot at the £100 Amazon prize, FantasyBet are offering a chance for further prizes to Community Champions that are eligible to play their games. More details can be found here.

Red Devil leads the way after beating the Picks by 25 points in Gameweek 17.

Gameweek 25’s Community Champion Eden Hazardous was defeated 50 points to 40 by the Scout Picks.

Gameweek 27’s Scout Picks Community Champion, as selected by our lottery, is Oghash. His picks are as follows: Butland; Fuchs, Alderweireld, Wollscheid; Payet, Noble, Sanchez, Zaha, Eriksen; Deeney, Kane.