The Community Round Up

Romelu Lukaku’s four-goal blitz against Bournemouth last weekend proved season-changing for many among the Fantasy Football Scout masses, with our community articles examining how the Belgian’s points bonanza affected the upper echelons of our Hall of Fame.

The community scribes also go hunting for Fantasy Football’s real trolls, now that the Everton striker has safely shrugged off that label.

Troll hunting spills into our hot topic discussions this week, which also wax lyrical about the Premier League’s world class assets, midfield destroyers and Swansea City’s star man.

Penalty takers and spot kick savers come under scrutiny in our Members tables section and we finish this latest round up with a peek at our community competition standings, where those who backed Lukaku with the armband claimed the biggest bragging rights.

The Community Articles

Timing is everything in Fantasy Football and MGPT perfectly scheduled his community article on Lukaku’s unfair reputation for trolling, which was published a week before the Everton hitman’s exceptional display against Bournemouth.

His advice gave many in the community the confidence to not only draft in the Toffees striker but also hand him the captaincy. It was, therefore, no surprise to see this punctual wordsmith scoop the January community writer of the month vote.

With the Lukaku troll myth now debunked, Kryten’s latest article went in search of Fantasy Football’s genuine trolls, who fail to score against minnows and rack up unexpected points hauls against top teams.

At least those who ignored MGPT’s advice are in good company, according to TopMarx’s latest look at how our career Hall of Fame top five are performing. Just one of this elite bunch handed the Belgian the armband.

Elsewhere, Differential Jack was on hand this week to analyse the best low ownership, attack-minded full backs and centre backs. He also ran the rule over four differential midfield options.

Reliable captains were once again the focus of YMA’s regular analysis of form, fixtures and clean sheets to assess the best armband options.

Finally, Kryten dropped by again to urge those still hanging on to their All Out Attack chip to deploy it as late as possible, so that they can take advantage of Gameweek 38’s historically prolific goal scoring sprees.

Don’t forget, if you’ve got some analysis, scout reports or features brewing, be sure to visit our community section to submit your article.

The Hottest Topics

Blank Gameweeks are never far from the community’s minds, as they prepare to cope without Arsenal, Manchester United, Southampton and Manchester City assets for Gameweek 26. Our hot topic on this reduced schedule, due to EFL Cup final commitments, canvassed your views on how it affects your transfer plans.

GS456 is looking even further ahead, to Gameweek 28, when a large number of teams are expected to skip a league fixture as they progress in the FA Cup.

As Lukaku also benefits from swerving these impending blanks, it is no surprise to see him top of our forwards Watchlist this week and figure highly in Spectrum’s discussion on the ideal three strikers to own.

The Toffees star’s kind fixture run is also prompting some of those who have achieved success with a 3-5-2 formation to switch to a 3-4-3 set up to accommodate him.

Another popular transfer target is Gylfi Sigurdsson, whose strike at the Etihad on Sunday took his tally to three goals and two assist in five appearances.

Babit1967 is among those wondering if the Icelander is now a viable captaincy candidate, but RuthNZ thinks much of the hype around the Icelander – who has now scored in three successive Gameweeks – is “just hot air”. It sparked an impassioned discussion.

Eden Hazard certainly put forward a strong case for the armband with his wonder goal against Arsenal last Saturday.

The Belgian’s mazy run through the hapless Gunners backline prompted ktk Interista to question why more than 250,000 FPL managers had failed to keep faith in this ‘world class player’ over the proceeding six Gameweeks.

However, plenty of you responding to our hot topic on Fantasy Football’s greatest trolls are yet to be convinced that the Belgian has earned the right to be considered a reliable captaincy pick.

Other under appreciated stars include defensive midfielders, who, in spite of a lack of recognition within FPL’s scoring system are the real heroes of the best sides’ performances, says Hurrikane.

Among the worst blunders of last weekend’s fixtures was filobiz’s captaincy of Patrick Van Aanholt, who delivered zero FPL points after conceding four against Sunderland at Selhurst Park. There were further tales of woe in our Rough with the Smooth round up of your Gameweeks.

Successes and failures over the season were also laid bare this week with Barnzey looking to find the community members who had spent the most points hits so far. Later on, using the FPL Statistico and Gargatron tools, Athletico Timbo went in search of the best and worst managers at picking captains.

The Members Tables

Kainomaximus has been taking a look to see who is the best at converting spot kicks. Meanwhile, keepers who fare well when it comes to saving penalties come under consideration in my table on the best and worst goalkeepers.

If you’re a member and are yet to get to grips with the custom statistics tables, you can view this movie for an explanation of how they work. Also, remember to tag them so that people can find the tables with ease.

The Community Tournaments

In Red Lightning’s Top 10k Any Season mini-league Raul Seleccion continues at the top, while in his January to May league Dan Clapson has taken the summit, with a Gameweek 24 FPL points haul of 89.

Ogie Nolan, who Dan has replaced in this second half of the season competition, continues to lead the FFScout Members league and is now up to 37^th in the overall standings.

The leader of our main league, Arutla Jatin, is still second overall but thanks to a score of 84 he has cut leader Knut Hebaek’s lead to just nine points. Unlike Knut, Arutla has not yet used his Bench Boost or Triple Captain chips.

Torres Magic is clinging onto his lead in the FFS Moderators and Contributors league, closely followed by Mark and Spencer who are both just six points behind.

Speaking of TorresMagic, in his Last Man Standing competition, Tansey hit the top score in Gameweek 24 with 106. There are now 554 teams left after 68 were eliminated when the safety score was set at 47.

There’s no change at the top of my Millionaires Club, where Gilles Wanlin dominates among this group of managers attempting to rise phoenix-like from their lowly one million plus rank in Gameweek 12.

If you are running a community tournament and would like the latest scores included in future Community Round Ups please email me a brief summary of the current leaders and a link to your league, spreadsheet or head to head competition, at jonty@fantasyfootballscout.co.uk.