The Community Round Up

The pre-season stepped up a gear this week with the launch of Sky Sports’ Fantasy Football, plus the revelation of a new, additional format being run by the Fantasy Premier League.

Our community writers and hot topic posters were on hand to share their top tips for success in the Fantasy games that are set to launch this summer, as well as for those that have already opened their doors.

Also discussed this week was the potential wealth of striker options next season, advice on getting the most out of the pre-season programme of friendlies and whether the FPL price setters are on form, based on the handful of player valuations already announced.

Over in our Members table section, our resident statisticians have been looking at teams that raced out of the blocks last season, 2016/17’s misfiring strikers and Sky bonus magnets.

We round off with good news from our community’s competitors in the Euro U21 finals.

The Community Articles

The release of the Sky Sports Fantasy Football game was among several launches that came under focus from our community writers.

Buffrey was on hand to offer a beginner’s guide to this limited transfer format, while Disable kicked off a Rate My Team discussion with a sneak preview of his initial Sky team selection.

European Cup qualification has piqued the interest of Lone Wolf, who has created his own Fantasy game around the early stages of the Champions League and Europa competitions.

Elsewhere, FPL Dreams elbowed his way into our community article section with his excellent guide to the Fantasy Tour De France game, and Niemi previewed the next set of fixtures in Eliteserien, the Norwegian top flight Fantasy game.

Congratulations to Giggs Boson for scooping the latest community writer of the month prize of a £20 Amazon voucher. His analysis of last season’s clean sheets was the most popular article in June, according to your votes.

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

The Fantasy Premier League revealed it is to launch a draft game for the 2017/18 season this week, with FC5750HC the first to let our community know of this exciting addition.

Mark was keen to find out your reaction to the announcement, while Jack Wilshire canvassed the views of those who are familiar with the draft format.

Hot topic poster dorrian123 also discussed the opening of the Sky Sports game this week, with the community given a sneak preview on Monday, two days before the official release.

Whichever format is being considered, nailing the best formation four our line-ups is remains key. Zoumas Bloomers wonders whether this could be the year that a 4-3-3 set up prevails, given the increasing number of striker and full-back options. Lionel’s Messy Boxers went one step further and pondered whether five at the back could reap rewards in 2017/18.

One disappointing aspect of 2016/17 was the poor selection of forward options across the price brackets. But, according to Lateriser12, Fantasy managers could be spoilt for choice in attack next term.

However, such an array of options up top will depend on a range of rumoured striker transfers coming to fruition this summer, which could make the likes of Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud and even Manchester United’s forgotten man Wayne Rooney viable options.

Alexandre Lacazette’s move from Lyon to Arsenal is one significant transfer that has already materialised. Bibdh Subedi wonders whether the French striker, who averages almost a goal every two games at club level, will be a success in north London.

Lacazette was also one of a handful of players who had his FPL price tag revealed ahead of next week’s launch. Earlier in the week Mark asked which player prices you are most keen to find out first with Nonprophet particularly keen to find out the value of Liverpool’s wealth of midfield options.

Other announced player prices under discussion were Burnley stopper Tom Heaton’s valuation of 5.0 and Brighton set-piece specialist Anthony Knockaert’s 6.0m price tag. The former’s valuation prompted Net Gains to ask whether spending a total of 8.5 on goalkeepers is a viable strategy.

Fantasy planning is set to take a new twist from this weekend onwards, as Premier League sides begin their pre-season programme of friendlies. We asked for your top tips on getting the best pointers for the season ahead from these matches.

The summer schedule of the three promoted teams will be under scrutiny, particularly as they are set to struggle to maintain top flight status, according to our discussion on Brighton, Newcastle United and Huddersfield Town’s prospects next season.

All three do have kind opening schedules on their side. To find out how the other 17 teams usually fare at the start of a campaign, we urge you to read Buffrey’s hot topic, which delves into the history books to see which teams have traditionally enjoyed a flying start.

Finally, to whet our appetite for the campaign ahead FPL Dreams sparked a discussion on our best and worst ever Premier League moments.

To view all our discussions, please visit our our Hot Topics page.

The Members Tables

To mark the launch of Sky Sports Fantasy Football, I’ve created a table looking at the game’s bonus point magnets. I’ve also made this table on baseline bonus points in FPL, after this set of data was added to the Members area this week via Update Three.

Jigger and Pony has added to Buffrey’s opening fixture analysis with a look at the most attacking teams last season over their opening six matches.

Elsewhere, Doosra has been finding out which strikers last season missed the most chances and hit the woodwork rather than the back of the net.

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

The 146 strong Fantasy Football Scout league emerged triumphant in the Euro U21 Fantasy game league of leagues, finishing top and 46 points ahead of Super-Liga Valtovia. Kroksted finished first in the league, with Ryan Seechurn taking second.

Colmans Mustard is still at the top of the community’s league in Eliteserien and in the H2H league FC Smack has taken the lead after Dutch Warriors suffered two defeats in a row.

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