Autumn ushers in a wind of change across the fixture schedule from next weekend, with our hot topic posters on hand to offer advice on the best players to draft in and the key attributes to consider.
We also find the community waxing lyrical over Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s mixed fortunes in front of goal, as well as mulling over the bewildering mid-price midfield options available.
Our community article section honours September’s most popular scribe, takes a look at goal prediction and bonus points, while there’s plenty more key numbers unearthed in our Members Tables section.
Finally, we look at the evergreen leaders of our community leagues, still basking in the warm glow of a successful summer.
The Community Articles
Ibrahimovic’s recent scoring drought is among the issues tackled in my Members community article on the successes and failures over the weeks of the goals imminent table.
The international break has also given Spreadsheet some time to number crunch, with his latest article looking at baseline bonus point stars, who don’t just need clean sheets or goals to shine.
Bobby F has been crowned best community writer for September following this week’s vote. His excellent examinations of Roberto Firmino and the rest of the Liverpool squad, the attributes of Theo Walcott and Eden Hazard’s worrying away form have earned him a £20 Amazon voucher.
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
Gameweeks 8 and 9 mark a significant improvement in fixtures for a raft of teams from the likes of struggling Stoke and Bournemouth to high-flying Liverpool and Arsenal. We canvassed your views on how best to cope with this autumnal change and also had a look at those to consider based on their FPL Bonus Point System scores.
Getting a good range of captains in place is crucial to success for those looking to take advantage of the autumnal fixture shift. Net Gains dropped by to offer her top tips on armband selection with the help of her abacus.
The international break is proving a period of reflection for Zlatan Ibrahimovic owners, after the Manchester United striker failed to score for the third Premier League game in a row, against Stoke in Gameweek 7.
For those looking to transfer out Zlatan, we considered some of the key replacements, while Zophar offers some assurances that reports of a triple price drop for the big Swede ahead of Gameweek 8 are very unlikely.
Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez certainly has the form and fixtures to take over from Ibrahimovic in our affections. AA33 believes that, unlike in the last post international fixture, there is little chance that the Chilean will be rested next weekend following another run of matches for his country.
With heavy hitter midfielders such as Sanchez looking near essential over the coming weeks, TM245 has taken a look at the pros and cons of adopting a 3-5-2 formation.
There’s certainly plenty of candidates to take up a place in this quintet, with Jmcclory123 taking a look at Arsenal’s The Walcott and Spurs’ Heung-Min Son, with Numb also examining the merits of the same pair of mid price assets.
Our hot topic discussing teams that have ruined the Fantasy prospects of their central strikers indicates that focusing in midfielders may reap rewards, while Jmcclory popped back again to sing the praises of some of this season’s mid price striker stars for those keen to hang on to an attacking trio.
Elsewhere, Soze was in confessional mood with a hot topic on some of his worst mistakes this season. Keeping hold of Ibrahimovic was among the sins revealed in the ensuring discussion, although the Swede’s struggles in front of goal did at least inspire Applebonkers to mark National Poetry Day in style.
Finally, with many of the community using their All Out Attack chip in FPL during Gameweek 7 we canvassed your views on what is proving an unpopular chip and considered some of the more viable alternatives that could replace it.
The Members Tables
The failure of the likes of Ibrahimovic, Sergio Aguero and Sanchez to get on the scoresheet in Gameweek 7, despite a number of chances, comes under scrutiny in my Can’t Hit A Barn Door table.
Can shots in the box be a good indicator of impending goals? SS thinks not, but even his own table disagrees with him. Saab’s latest table on penalty area touches shows that this, too, remains a useful way of predicting goals, unless of course, the player in question happens to be tall, in his mid 30s and Swedish.
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
Sahil Sud is the new leader of Red Lightning’s Top 10k Any Season mini-league after captaining Chelsea’s Diego Costa in Gameweek 7. Sahil is now ranked 303 overall.
Our resident physio Facer has massaged his way into the lead in the FFScout Moderators and Contributors league.
In TorresMagic’s Last Man Standing the safety score was 27, which saw 196 players depart and 2347 remain with entry currently open.
Show me the Mane remains at the summit of the Long and Winding Road main league following Gameweek 7.
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.
