The Scout Squad – Gameweek 6

This lunchtime we roll out our Gameweek 6 Scout Picks Squad article, which for the 2016/17 campaign has been revamped to offer you a greater insight into the decision-making process behind each Friday’s selection.

Each midweek myself, Mark and Paul will list the 18 players we think have the best chance of success across the four positions, listing them in rank order.

This article will then highlight some of the likely discussions and disagreements that will take place behind the scenes as the Scouts look to back their players and secure a place for them in the Scout Picks as well as our Spot the Differential articles.

Finally, we will also reveal the Community Champion who has been selected by our lottery to represent the community and be in with a chance of winning a £100 Amazon voucher.

Goalkeepers

Strong clean sheet prospects for Spurs at Middlesbrough, Everton away to Bournemouth and Liverpool at home to Hull have driven my goalkeeper picks.

In also selecting Maarten Stekelenberg (5.0) and Hugo Lloris (5.4), Paul clearly agrees with me on the first two counts but seems less convinced on Simon Mignolet (5.0).

Instead he will be pushing for the inclusion of Heurelho Gomes (5.0) for Watford’s trip to Burnley, a side that is rooted to the bottom of the goal attempts table.

Mark agrees with me on the Liverpool stopper, although he is on his own in favouring West Brom’s Ben Foster (4.7) away at Stoke and Sunderland Jordan Pickford (4.0)’s chances of a clean sheet at home to Crystal Palace.

While Mark will be serving up the Black Cats stopper’s eight saves away to Tottenham last weekend, I’ll be volleying back the defensive errors table, which features Moyes’ haphazard side at the summit.

Defenders

Our defender selections were almost perfectly synced: before Scott Dann’s setback, we had selected the same quintet, albeit in a slightly different order.

A suspected hamstring injury to the Crystal Palace defender has altered that scenario, with both Mark and myself turning to Manchester City’s left-back and occasional centre-back Aleksandar Kolarov (5.9) as a replacement.

The Serbian’s five goal attempts this term, an away clash with Swansea, and a League Cup rest on Wednesday, all strengthen his case for inclusion either in the Picks or as a Spot the Differential option.

For his Dann back up, Paul has drafted in another forward-thinking defender, Sunderland’s Patrick van Aanholt (5.0), who has already notched once this season.

Mark’s top choice of Spurs’ Kyle Walker (5.8), who with a 30% ownership is the Fantasy Premier League’s most popular defender, looks strong this week against ‘Boro.

The right back is FPL’s top points scoring defender and has picked up bonus points in each of his 90 minutes thus far.

Meanwhile, myself and Paul have placed 11.8% owned Leighton Baines (5.6) at the summit of our picks in the hope he can keep his penalty taking duties away from the goal-snatching Romelu Lukaku.

This could be key for Everton’s trip to Bournemouth as the referee is the card-happy Bobby Madeley: he has awarded three penalties in the Premier League so far this season.

On the back of a strong performance against Manchester United, all three of us have selected Watford’s cut-price defender Jose Holebas (4.5). With eight goal attempts and 23 crosses this term, Paul, in particular, thinks the 0.7% owned left back could walk away from Turf Moor with significant returns.

“Jose Holebas is also included due to Burnley’s weakness on the right-hand side. The Greek international has a share of dead-ball duties and will be afforded license to raid forward down the Watford left on Monday night” – Paul

Midfielders

Things get more spicy in midfield, with the key arguments set to focus on Manchester City’s middle men, Arsenal’s fixture and a selection of value options.

For City’s visit to Swansea, Paul and I favour Kevin De Bruyne, who continues to outshine Mark’s top choice of Raheem Sterling in terms of shots on target, crosses, chance creation and overall goal attempts.

“For all De Bruyne’s brilliance, I just don’t think you can look beyond the value that Sterling offers. I also think he remains the bigger goal threat – the number of touches he’s had in the box is insane for a winger and that is going to go on translating into goals and assists.” – Mark

But the Belgian’s hefty 10.7 price tag compared to Sterling’s 8.4 will be a powerful argument in the England winger’s favour come Friday’s Scout Picks.

In contrast to Paul and Mark, who along with 14% of FPL managers have selected Alexis Sanchez (11.0), I’m not keen on Arsenal players at home to Chelsea this Gameweek.

The Blues have conceded just six attempts in the box on their travels, the lowest of any Premier League side, and could prove tough to break down.

Instead, my midfield selection is all about value to free up funds for my hope of an expensive trio of strikers in our Friday Picks.

The Bournemouth fixture looks an excellent chance for Yannick Bolasie to make a mockery of his 6.0 price tag. Over the last two Gameweeks, the 5.9% owned Everton winger has fired over 19 crosses, the third highest of any midfielder.

The second most prolific supplier of crosses over the last two Gameweeks, Jason Puncheon (5.5) served up two assists against Stoke last Sunday.

Sunderland’s defensive slips should give the 1.5% owned set piece specialist plenty of chance to shine at the Stadium of Light.

Mark, meanwhile, will be pushing Nathan Redmond (6.0)’s case for inclusion, against a West Ham side that has shipped eight goals in their last two Premier League outings. As discussed on this week’s Scoutcast, while the 8.7% owned Southampton player’s goal threat has diminished in recent weeks, his assist potential is on the rise.

“I’m not giving up on Redmond. He’s not yet found an end product but he’s remained a bright spark, and I think he’ll trouble a beleaguered West Ham on that big London Stadium pitch.” – Mark

All of us back 9.1% owned Roberto Firmino (8.4) against Hull at Anfield.

Indeed, Paul is so optimistic that Liverpool will prosper that he’ll be persuading us to double up on their midfield assets and also draft in 14.2% owned Sadio Mane (9.0).

He believes the Senegalese international’s link up play with another of his picks, defender Nathaniel Clyne (5.5) will be particularly eye-catching.

“I’ve opted for three Liverpool players, with Nathaniel Clyne perhaps a surprise pick along with Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane as the Reds host Hull at Anfield. The Tigers’ left flank has been particularly suspect and both Clyne and Mane should see plenty of the ball in the final third on Saturday” – Paul.

Forwards

My hope of an expensive frontline of Sergio Aguero (13.0), Romelu Lukaku (9.3) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (11.8) in the Scout Picks could become reality as all three of us are backing this trio of strikers.

There are two key factors behind our continued support for penalty-taking Ibrahimovic this Gameweek.

The first is that the Old Trafford clash with Leicester is being overseen by Mike Dean, who has awarded four spot-kicks in his last four Premier League clashes.

The second is that, despite Manchester United’s poor form, the big Swede tops the goal attempts table for forwards over the last two matches, suggesting he could punish the 100,000+ FPL managers that have jettisoned him this week.

The bench spot also looks sewn up with all of us placing Tottenham’s Vincent Janssen (7.8) in fourth place.

The Dutchman is expected to lead the line in the absence of Harry Kane, who looks set to be sidelined for a number of weeks with an ankle injury.

Given his strong underlying statistics across his one start and four substitute appearances, Janssen looks a wise choice.

Only Heung-Ming Son has a more frequent rate of goal attempts in the box than 1.3% owned Janssen and in Kane’s absence, he looks to be on spot-kicks.

As a back up, Paul has opted for Stoke’s Wilfried Bony (7.3), who has had seven goal attempts over the last two fixtures.

“Another option in the mid-price bracket is Wilfried Bony, who just edges out Christian Benteke for the final spot. Over the last two Gameweeks, the Stoke forward has far more promising numbers than the Belgian and may just be worth a flutter at home to West Brom” – Paul.

Community Champion

Representing the Community against the Scout Picks in Gameweek 6 will be VS10_, who is in his sixth season with last year’s overall rank of 1,504, his highest finish.

The community champion who has the best lead over the Scouts during 2016/17 will win a £100 Amazon voucher (currently we can only offer Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com vouchers).

Last week’s champion Tokyo Rising Sun lost heavily to the Scout Picks, 39 to 79.