Fantasy Football Scout Review – Gameweek 4

It was a case of striker success for the Scouts this week with a frontline trio of Christian Benteke, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Diego Costa in the Scout Picks. Elsewhere big hitting midfielders let the side down and a Fantasy Football Scout favourite is back in defence as a viable option.

Captain Sensible

With Sergio Aguero suspended and Ibrahimovic rated low down by Rate my Team in the Captain Sensible articles it was down to Eden Hazard to be the key contender for the armband. Chelsea ended up drawing with Swansea 2-2, but unfortunately Hazard wasn’t able to get in the mix for either goal and came away with just one point after picking up a booking late on in the match. Owners shouldn’t be too concerned, Hazard has already had 44% of the total shots he managed last season, and his stats are looking good. With Liverpool, Arsenal, Leicester and Manchester United to come in the next five games we may not see him mentioned as a captain option as often but owners will be hopeful he can chip in with some points along the way.

Second on the list for Captain Sensible was Romelu Lukaku who had an away game against Sunderland. After a goalless first half, Lukaku ended up scoring a hat trick in just 11 minutes to give owners a very rewarding 17 points for the week. Lukaku has already risen in price in Fantasy Premier League this week from £9.0m to £9.1m, and with fixtures against Middlesbrough, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace in the next three Gameweeks we will certainly see plenty of transfers in as we search for another alternative to Aguero for the captaincy in Gameweek 5.

·         Gameweek 4 score – 0 points

·         Overall score – 2 points (from a possible 4)

Spot the Differential

This week’s trio of Differentials were all players that are currently, or have played for Manchester teams during their time in the Premier League; Wilfried Bony (£7.3m), Adnan Januzaj (£5.5m), and Kelechi Iheanacho (£6.9m).

After making his move from Manchester City to Stoke during the transfer window, Bony was hoping to build on a goalscoring talent that has seen him score 26 goals in 54 league appearances. While he had seen a lot of the bench at City, he was thrust into the first team as Stoke took on Tottenham Hotspur at the Bet365 stadium. Unfortunately for Bony’s 1.6% owners he wasn’t able to get in the points as his side lost 4-0. With 10 penalty area touches during the match, owners shouldn’t be too concerned just yet, especially with fixtures against Crystal Palace, West Brom, Sunderland, Hull and Swansea in the next six. I don’t think it will be too long until Bony is off the mark.

Januzaj was touted as a player with potential for Manchester United but unfortunately that rarely shone through. David Moyes does see something in the Belgian, however, and snapped him up to bolster Sunderland’s attacking options. Unfortunately for Black Cats’  fans they’re still waiting for a goal or assist from the attacking midfielder and this week wasn’t to be. With Spurs up next, away from home, it looks unlikely Januzaj will break his duck in Gameweek 5. Crystal Palace and West Brom at home next offer his last chance to impress.

Iheanacho seems to be Mr Reliable at Manchester City. Whenever he is given a chance to play he scores goals. With eight goals last season in just 766 minutes, the young Nigerian is already off the mark this season having played just 71 minutes in total. He rewarded the Scouts with a part to play in both goals against Manchester United, finishing on 10 points. With Bournemouth at home up next and Aguero still suspended he could be a shrewd pick at £7m for anyone looking for another differential in Gameweek 5.

·         Gameweek 4 score – 1 point

·         Total score – 5 points (from a possible 12)

Scout picks

As mentioned at the beginning of this article strikers really led the way in terms of points for the Scouts this week.

Ibrahimovic scored his fourth goal in as many games against Manchester City and even though the opposition was tough he managed 10 goal attempts, and had 11 penalty area touches. The Swede boasts a staggering 63% ownership and with three favourable fixtures to come against Watford (a), Leicester (h), and Stoke (h) it will take a brave Fantasy manager to go without him.

Ibrahimovic was accompanied in the picks by Diego Costa and Christian Benteke. Costa has a decent record against Swansea and has now brought that total to six goals in the last two seasons after scoring a brace at the weekend. Unfortunately for owners he also picked up his third yellow card of the season to take his overall points to 12 for the week. He currently stands at an average of 6.75 points per game, which is impressive for his price of £9.9m. But with some tough fixtures ahead it will be difficult to keep this up.

All Benteke needed was one shot on target to get off the mark for Crystal Palace. Owners will want to see the Belgian with more shots in the coming matches and with Stoke and Sunderland up next they’ll be confident points will continue to roll in.

Elsewhere in midfield we saw two big hitters coming away with no attacking returns. Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez was unable to gain any points at home to Southampton, while Hazard drew a blank at Swansea. Antonio was the third pick in midfield for the Scouts and delivered a brace in West Ham’s 4-2 loss to Watford. With an excellent run of fixtures and priced at £7.1m it seems almost certain that Antonio’s 11% ownership will rise in the coming weeks.

In defence it was the return of an old favourite, Leighton Baines. The Everton left back picked up a clean sheet and two bonus points against Sunderland. West Ham’s James Collins had been somewhat of a popular pick amongst Fantasy Football Scout managers given the fixture schedule, but after a poor performance against Watford his starting place is now under threat. Unfortunately for the scouts Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin, West Brom’s Jonny Evans and Burnley keeper Tom Heaton were all unable to get any defensive returns, leaving Baines to save the Scouts blushes.

·         GW4 score: 52 (53 with captain)

·         Average score: 50.25 (56.25)

·         Total score: 201 (225 with captain)

·         Highest Score: GW2 – 59 (72 with captain)

Scoutcast

Clean Sheets

With only 3 cleansheets across all 10 matches someone was always going to miss out with their predictions this week. As it turned out we all did apart from Granville who successfully predicted that Bournemouth would get their first clean sheet at home to West Brom.

Jonty – Burnley – Total points 1

Mark – West Ham – Total points 1

Andy – Chelsea – Total points 2

Granville – Bournemouth – Total points 1

Fantasy Island Risk

With a prediction that West Ham’s defence wasn’t perhaps as good as it looked with the upcoming fixtures I went with a Watford attacker in Troy Deeney. With a goal in the 4-2 victory he’s now added a further 6 points to my total, although I’m still 7 points off of the leader, Jonty. Mark and Granville are still yet to predict a player with attacking returns. Perhaps they will in gameweek 5?

Jonty – Puncheon (2) – Total points 21

Mark – Barrow (1) – Total points 8

Andy – Deeney (6) – Total points 14

Granville – Lanzini (2) – Total points 6