Sergio Aguero and Zlatan Ibrahimovic conspired to make this a disastrous week for many of The Scouts’ Gameweek 3 predictions, although faith in Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling ensured that at least one of the team was able to claim bragging rights going into the international break.
Captain Sensible
For the third week in a row Aguero was the top choice for Captain Sensible. Unfortunately for Fantasy managers the Argentinian didn’t get any attacking returns in Manchester City’s 2-1 victory against West Ham. With a potential ban now looming over his head and a hefty 13.1 price tag in Fantasy Premier League, he has been discarded by 91,000 managers this week.
Second on the list was Eden Hazard, who rewarded his owners with 11 points after a goal and maximum bonus in FPL. Touted by Jonty on the Scoutcast as being ahead of Ibrahimovic in his thinking for captain (but behind Aguero), he’s certainly one to consider for the armband next week with a trip to Swansea.
Diego Costa completed the top three captain choices and for the third week in a row delivered attacking returns. Some Fantasy managers may be wary of investing in Costa due to worries over his discipline on the pitch but he is steadily bringing in the points and is currently the joint top forward for shots on target this season.
Ibrahimovic was captained by 33% of all FPL managers, yet was only 10th on the list for Captain Sensible. There were six players ahead of him in the table ahead of his trip to Hull (a) that came away with defensive or attacking returns. Perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to look to him for the captain’s armband?
· Gameweek 3 score – 0 points
· Current score – 2 points (from a possible 3)
Spot the Differential
This week we were back to 3 midfield choices for Spot the Differential, in the form of Kevin Mirallas (6.6), Nolito (9.0), and Adam Lallana (7.1).
After an assist and goal in his first 2 games, Mirallas was put forward as a differential with a good fixture against Stoke (h). Unfortunately for his 4.4% owners he couldn’t contribute any points and finished with just a single clean sheet point. Following his good start to the season owners can be hopeful that he will continue to be in the starting eleven, but after being substituted in the 69th minute and with plenty of competition in the Everton midfield we could see Mirallas affected by rotation in the near future.
Nolito came off the bench in Gameweek 2 and was able to score two goals in just 22 minutes. This week he was in the starting line-up for Man City and provided an assist for his 5.2% ownership. The Spanish attacker has seen fairly limited minutes so far this season, with a total of 154 minutes from the first three matches, so it remains to be seen how he will be used going forward. With Raheem Sterling available for £0.9m less and having played 90 minutes in every game so far he may be more nailed than Nolito, and because of this we may see investment in the Spaniard to be a little slower for the time being.
Lallana is one of those midfielders that has a tendency to flatter to deceive from a Fantasy perspective. He is a regular under Jurgen Klopp in the Liverpool midfield but isn’t able to consistently provide points that Fantasy managers would expect. Last season in 2019 minutes he returned four goals and six assists compared to Roberto Firmino who managed 10 goals and eight assists in 1973 minutes. Perhaps with the price difference (7.1 v 8.4) we can’t blame Lallana too much for his returns but I would personally like to see more from him before investing. During Gameweek 3 he played the full 90 minutes against Tottenham Hotspur but wasn’t able to reward owners with any attacking returns.
· Gameweek 3 score – 1 point
· Total score – 4 points (from a possible 9)
Scout Picks
Once again the Scout Picks were led by Aguero and Ibrahimovic up front and given their scoring over the first two Gameweeks who could blame them. Unfortunately, the pair who cost a combined 24.8 in Fantasy Premier League were unable to register any attacking returns and finished on 2 points each.
With the stats behind him Salomon Rondon was selected as the third striker, but as with Aguero and Ibrahimovic, was unable to get a goal or assist.
In midfield, Hazard was the sole points scorer with his score of 11. Andros Townsend, Nathan Redmond and Ross Barkley were only able to score five points between them. With the fixtures behind him, Barkley will hopefully be able to add to the goal and assist he already has. Redmond on the other hand has four away games in the next six matches, which includes trips to Arsenal and Man City. After a goal on the opening day of the season and nothing since we may see owners looking to sell, although the low price point of £6.1m may see managers afford him a little more time.
It was up to the goalkeeper and defence to provide the majority of the points for The Scouts this week. Foster returned his 2nd clean sheet in three games and with West Brom having recorded the third highest amount of clean sheets in the Premier League since Tony Pulis took over, owners will be hopeful of more to come.
With five goals last season it’s only taken Scott Dann three games to get onto the scoresheet, rescuing a point against Bournemouth during injury time. At 5.5 it may be hard to convince players in FPL to invest in a Crystal Palace defence that has no clean sheets in three games. Dann, however, has shown once again that he knows where the goal is.
After being outscored by counterpart Luke Shaw last week, it was Antonio Valencia’s turn to walk away with the most points in the Manchester United defence. A clean sheet against Hull and maximum bonus points meant Valencia finished on nine points, the same as Dann.
· GW3 Score: 48 (50 with captain)
· Average score: 49.6 (57.6 with captain)
· Total score: 149 (173 with captain)
· Highest Score: GW2 – 59 (72 with captain)
Scoutcast
Clean Sheets
With two scouts last week registering correct clean sheet predictions it was the same this week. I’ve now taken a small lead with two correct predictions, with Mark and Jonty tied for second place. We’re just waiting for Granville to get points on the board.
Jonty – Chelsea – Total points 1
Mark – Palace – Total points 1
Andy – Everton – Total points 2
Granville – Man City – Total points 0
Fantasy Island Risks
After I selected Sterling as my risk in gameweek 1, he has now registered points for Jonty in Gameweek 3. We may now be at the point that even with his low ownership he’s no longer considered a risk. Other than that selection it was another tough week for the other Scouts who weren’t able to get any attacking returns.
Jonty – Sterling (15) – Total points 19
Mark – Mirallas (3) – Total points 7
Andy – Lee Chung-yong (1) – Total points 8
Granville – Janssen (2) – Total points 4
7 years, 7 months ago😎