The Scout League remains in flux as a former leader reclaims top spot and closes in on the overall £25k Sky Sports Fantasy Football prize fund. We give a shout out to the top managers in the community, examine the latest transfers trends and statistics on show and look forward to another night in with Fenners and Merse and their Fantasy Football Club.
The Scout League
After topping the Scout League table for a fortnight, Pascal Evans succumbs to the charge of Simon Davies as “Nags Head Rovers” climb back to the summit, claiming a healty 14-point lead. Evans drops to fourth after a poor Gameweek, as Chris Pearce’s “UtakaDefoeKingPearce” squad move into second and Paul McAnulty makes a return to our top three – his “Housewives Favourite” lineup is some 19 points off top spot.
The strong week for Simon Davies saw him move up to third place in the overall standings, having closed the gap on the leader, Simon Ward, to 59 points – the lowest margin for many weeks. With seven managers in the overall top 20, the Scout League now has a 19 point lead in the Private League rankings.
A reminder that if you’re playing the Sky Sports game and have yet to join our league, you can sign up to the FFScout League with this Pin: 8004519. We have a home cinema system, worth £600, available to the winner.
Market Trends
Following his latest avalanche of points at Upton Park, Gareth Bale was the most sought after acquisition of the past seven days as 35% of transfers made this week involved the purchase of the 8.8 priced Welshman. Bale has scored no less than 46 points in the last month – 12 more than his nearest rival, Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla. Bale’s influence on the leaderboards in recent weeks has been significant due to his surprisingly low ownership – the Spurs man is still only selected by 17% of Sky Sports managers.
Cazorla’s haul of 34 points in the previous four Gameweeks has maintained his position on top of the midfield value rankings – he’s fetched 29.85 points per million (ppm) thus far – keeping him just ahead of Swansea’s Michu (27 ppm) and Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin (24 ppm).
With a blank Gameweek looming and the prospect of a rest to the bench against Norwich this weekend, Robin Van Persie’s ownership has taken a drop this week. Once again he’s prominent in both the transfers in and out – the Dutchman has been transferred out in 32% of transactions, with only 25% seeing him acquired. Nonetheless, Van Persie remains the most popular player in the game with 47% ownership, ahead of Cazorla on 35%.
Luis Suarez is the other big name suffering a drop in ownership this week, transferred out in 28% of deals, with 21% drafting him in. Suarez has scored 21 points in the last four Gameweeks, second only to West Brom’s Romelu Lukaku and Southampton’s Rickie Lambert and yet, with Daniel Sturridge matching the Urugyuan’s haul, Suarez is slowly slipping in popularity. Lambert has closed the gap to Suarez at the top of the value rankings for forwards – there’s just a fraction between them now with both delivering just over 20 ppm so far this term.
In defence, Rafael’s monthly haul of 29 points ranks him third overall over the last four Gameweeks and has seen him attract keen interest from Fantasy managers this week. He’s been acquired in 8% of trades, although both Seb Bassong and Pablo Zabaleta have earned more interest – the pair have been party to just over 12% of transfers made. Bassong remains the top value defender in the game, delivering 22 ppm so far this term for his modest 3.9 price tag.
The Fantasy Football Club – Tonight 10pm
Gus Poyet, one of the bright young things of football management, lends his expertise in the Fantasy Football Club dressing room tonight. He’ll no doubt have something to say on the situation at Stamford Bridge, with Fenners and Merse firing the questions from 10pm tonight on Sky Sports One. As always, you can catch a repeat of the show on Sky Sports Two on Saturday morning at 9am.
