Scout Picks- Gameweek Eleven

Before we’re rudely interrupted by yet another two-week international break, the Scout Selection Committee have knocked their heads together once more to come up with a squad ahead of gameweek eleven.

With so many matches looking prosperous for points, balancing the budget proved to be tricky this week. With the Wayne Rooney midfield conundrum thrown into the mix and rotation high on United’s agenda, plenty of options were discussed behind the scenes before we eventually came to a conclusion. Rolling out a 3-4-3, we present to you the following…

It was a toss-up between Tim Krul and Shay Given for a place between the posts but the Toon Army stopper gets our vote in the end. Newcastle will be buoyed by last Monday’s triumph at the Britannia and ahead of a tricky set of upcoming fixtures will be looking to maintain the defensive form that earned them a clean sheet in the last home game against Wigan as Everton pay visit to St James’ Park.

A home clash with Swansea could offer Jose Enrique a chance of points both at the back and going forward. The Liverpool left-back has also returned bonus points in three of his last five games and with Brendan Rodgers’ side somewhat toothless on their travels, Enrique stands a strong chance of prospering.

Having started eight of his side’s ten games so far, Jonny Evans offers a cut-price option at the heart of the Man United defence. With the return of Nemanja Vidic bolstering the champions’ back-line, the 4.5 priced Irishman seems set to benefit from an increased resilience as Sir Alex Ferguson’s side line up at home to Sunderland.

Ten gameweeks into the season and only three players have produced more assists than Micah Richards. With 4 to his name already, the right-back has benefitted from Man City’s more attack-minded approach this term and having been rested in the midweek Champions League trip to Villarreal, looks an assured starter this weekend as the league leaders make their way to Loftus Road.

With four assists and a goal in his last five appearances, Juan Mata is returning solid, if perhaps unspectacular, returns for Chelsea. A goal and assist in the previous game at home to Arsenal suggests he’s becoming more pivotal as the gameweeks go by and with Andre Villas-Boas’ side rolling up at Ewood Park, Mata could be set for a double-figure Fantasy return for the second game running.

Subject of a Watchlist article this week, Aaron Ramsey takes his place in the Scout Picks midfield. The young Welshman has produced 3 assists in his previous three home games and is creating plenty of goalscoring chances for the like of Robin Van Persie and Gervinho right now. A home clash with West Brom could see him plunder the points once again.

It’s impossible to ignore Rafael Van der Vaart now. The arrival of Scott Parker and Emmanuel Adebayor seems to have furthered the Dutchman’s potential with in the Tottenham team and Van der Vaart has flourished, with 6 goals and 11 bonus points in his last five games. A trip to Fulham is by no means easy but he has the form to prevail, regardless of opponent right now.

The next two spaces in our Scout Picks team prompted the most debate. We needed Liverpool and Man United attacking cover and the choice boiled down to Nani and Luis Suarez or Charlie Adam and Javier Hernandez. Both duos had their merits; Adam is just one point behind Suarez for the season so far, is on most of the set-pieces in Steven Gerrard’s absence and Hernandez led the line for United at Everton last week as Rooney dropped deep.

Nani and Suarez, however, are, on their day, capable of explosive Fantasy returns and with that in mind, they won us over. Both face home games with Sunderland and Swansea respectively and offer the potential to score strongly this weekend- we expect them to justify our faith.

Robin Van Persie– we could just leave it at that, really. If you somehow need a reminder: 2 goals in each of his last three home matches, a total of 9 goals in his last five games, the Dutchman is on fire right now. Fresh after a brief midweek sub appearance against Marseille, the Arsenal skipper faces West Brom at the Emirates with an incredible 61% of votes in this week’s Captain Poll.

As mentioned above, a slight concern over David Silva has reshaped our plans. Sergio Aguero is hardly a bad replacement, though; the number one forward in the top-scoring team in the Premier League, Aguero played just sixteen minutes as a substitute at Villarreal in midweek and surely seems set to be named in City’s starting lineup at QPR tomorrow.