It’s time for Gameweek 5 of this season’s Scout Picks, where every Friday, myself, Mark, Jonty and a different member of the Community pick an XI for the upcoming round of fixtures. Each week, our line-ups go head-to-head and over the course of the season we’ll be keeping a tally of the points as we go along.
Similar to the last three Gameweeks, we’ve kept the budgets at 83.5m apiece for our starting line-ups.
The Community – Managed by Doosra
My Members’ Tables have helped guide my decisions this week. Hugo Lloris and Leighton Baines come into my XI on the back of good form and fixtures, Swansea’s Ashley Williams offers strong bonus point potential and with Mathieu Debuchy injured for Arsenal, Callum Chambers looks nailed on.
Raheem Sterling’s strong form and attacking threat and Aaron Ramsey’s value, form and strong fixture afford both a place in my midfield. In terms of attacking threat, Tottenham’s Nacer Chadli and Everton’s Kevin Mirallas look primed for goals, according to my Midfield Marauders Members Table.
My Deadly Assasins table suggests rising form from Tottenham’s Emmanuel Adebayor and also offers strong evidence that Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero and Chelsea’s Diego Costa cannot be ignored.
Jonty
Crystal Palace have conceded 114 crosses so far and look primed to fall victim to the prolific delivery of Everton’s Leighton Baines. I fancy a Liverpool clean sheet against West Ham this week and Alberto Moreno offers a strong assist threat as well. Ashley Williams’ third place in the Fantasy Premier League Bonus Point System for defenders is too good a statistic to ignore.
Rested in Europe in midweek, Nacer Chadli and Emmanuel Adebayor look primed to pick up points against West Brom, a team that has made the most errors leading to a goal so far this term. Hugo Lloris looks a good bet for a clean sheet against a side that has scored just twice this season.
Hands up, Aaron Ramsey is a dullard pick. Aston Villa offer a stern defence but this is exactly the kind of match where the Arsenal man will pop up with a goal in the final ten minutes to save the London side and my blushes. If Southampton’s defence is to be breached, Swansea’s Gylfi Sigurdsson is set to be involved. Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling place in the top five most attacking midfielders based on shots in the box is more than enough to convince me to include him in my picks.
Up front, Diego Costa’s seven goals says it all. The Chelsea man is essential, injured or not. A goal for Wayne Rooney last week looks to be the first of many. He sits atop my Members table of Manchester United’s most attacking players and books himself a seat in my selection.
Mark
I can’t see past backing Spurs and Everton against West Brom and Palace respectively and, as a result, my picks are skewed heavily towards their assets. I’ve cover across the team, with Christian Eriksen and Emmanuel Adebayor combining in attack for Mauricio Pochettino’s side, and Kevin Mirallas and Romelu Lukaku working in tandem for me from Everton. At the back I have to go Baines, mainly for his attacking prowess rather than his chances of a shut-out.
Elsewhere, I’m gambling on attacking returns from Steven Caulker and Kieran Trippier, although the latter seems a decent prospect against Sunderland at Turf Moor. For that reason, I’ve also opted for Scott Arfield, who just nudges in ahead of team-mate George Boyd – the ultimate budget fifth midfielder. Aaron Ramsey is retained because I can see the Gunners breaching the Villa back line and I’m also keeping faith in Wayne Rooney. For me, he’s a nailed on starter in a team that will have to fetch goals to stand a chance of victory at Leicester. Rooney is currently my choice for the armband, too.
Paul
I’m tripling up on United and Spurs this week for matches against Leicester and West Brom. David de Gea is selected in goal – the Red Devils have conceded the least number of shots in the box and their hosts have registered the fewest close-range attempts. I’m willing to back Ander Herrera after the findings of this week’s Technical Area on United’s midfield and also draft in Wayne Rooney up front.
For Spurs, Danny Rose is a decent shout for points at both ends of the pitch at 5.0, Nacer Chadli’s eight shots in the box is more than any midfielder and Emmanuel Adebayor – like Chadli, rested in midweek – could wreak havoc against a porous Baggies backline that has shipped at least two goals in three of their four matches under Alan Irvine.
Elsewhere, Steven Caulker has also produced eight efforts inside the box as QPR host Stoke, while a goal and two assists in his last two makes Leighton Baines an obvious contender. Aaron Ramsey has the most big chances amongst midfielders and Raheem Sterling the highest number of shots on target. Seven goals in four league appearances cements Diego Costa as my final selection.
The Scores So Far
I grabbed a Gameweek 4 win after picking up 78 points thanks, in main, to Angel di Maria, Graziano Pelle and Diego Costa. Mark earned second spot with 73 points, while, Jonty, with 64 points, pipped The Community – as managed by Arvination – into fourth with 50 points. This means that after four rounds of fixtures, I have 232 points, Mark has 210, Jonty has 200 and The Community has 195.
