Gameweek 26’s reduced set of games has dominated our community’s thoughts this week, with our hot topics pondering whether to bench or transfer out big-hitters facing blanks.
Our discussions also take in some of the Fantasy Premier League transfer market’s oddest trends, as well as the questionable and limited sex appeal of our Scoutcast team.
Meanwhile, troll hunting tops the bill in our community articles round-up, and our Members tables take a closer look at the midfield marauders who are doing everything they can to avoid this unwelcome label. Plus we also took time out to launch the big Fantasy Football Scout survey – canvassing your opinion on the site and all things Fantasy Football.
As ever we also take a peak at our latest community league standings to see how a close eye on the fixture list has been paying off for those at the top.
The Community Articles
In a quiet week, Kryten broke the silence to follow up his look at Fantasy Football’s worst fixture trolls by going in search of form miscreants, who too frequently fail to replicate a monster points haul.
As a sidenote, earlier this week Mark popped by to raise awareness of the big Fantasy Football Scout survey. The first time we’ve surveyed our readership since 2010, this is an excellent opportunity for you to help shape the future of the site. The reaction so far has been oustanding with over 1500 completed surveys already. Further details can be found here.
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 EFL Cup final over Gameweek 26 means that Fantasy managers will have to contend with missing assets from finalists Manchester United and Southampton, as well as their respective league opponents Manchester City and Arsenal.
With this in mind F Society canvassed the community to see how their teams would shape up for this reduced set of games if they made no transfers.
Some are content to let Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Arsenal’s top scorer Alexis Sanchez sit on the bench for a week, while others, such as Athletico Timbo, are pondering which of these premium priced players to ditch.
With the veteran striker facing Bournemouth at home in Gameweek 27, and scoring a timely hat -trick in the Europa League against St Etienne, Ibrahimovic is a heavy-hitter that many are willing to keep, according to our follow-up hot topic.
However, given Arsenal’s capitulation against Bayern Munich in the Champions League there is suddenly less confidence in the prospect of Sanchez sitting on the timber next weekend.
Andy85wsm is also looking at making changes based on short-term fixtures, with Tom Heaton of travel-sick Burnley in the firing line. The top scoring FPL stopper currenlty has four away games in his next five, but on the road, the Clarets have claimed a solitary clean sheet and shipped 24 goals.
Chelsea striker Diego Costa is among the players in action and in demand ahead of Gameweek 26, attracting 60,000 new FPL managers already this week.
As our discussion on the Spaniard’s recent form shows, there are mixed views on whether he can deliver a big return ahead of Swansea City’s visit next weekend, despite having previously scored seven in four outings against the Welshman.
Budget options playing in Gameweek 26, as well as Gameweek 28 when the fixture list is set to be decimated by the FA Cup quarter finals, were also under scrutiny in another of our midweek hot topics.
With considerable planning needed to navigate the fixtures in February and March, we asked whether you would like to see FPL put a greater focus on monthly prizes and allow managers to field multiple teams throughout the season.
One potential pitfall of such a move could be extra pressure on a transfer market, something that’s already being branded as “crazy” in our discussion on some recent bizarre activity, such as 75,000 FPL managers selling on Sanchez ahead of his Gameweek 25 brace against Hull City.
A few of this brave group used our Rough with the Smooth round-up confessional to explain why they were so quick to jettison the consistent Chilean.
A whole cast of managers had their say later in the week, answering FPL Dream’s call for the best single piece of Fantasy Football advice they could offer.
Finally, Flapjack asked for your views on which of our Scoutcast team is the sexiest.
My figure, well my Goals Imminent table figures to be exact, Mark’s jumpers and Andy’s teddy bear demeanour all get a mention as factors to attract admiring glances.
The Members Tables
On the subject of goals imminent, here is the latest table showing those primed for points next weekend. Elsewhere, Dirty Harry has been looking at midfield marauders who are timing their runs into the box from the centre of the park with perfection. He recommends using the last two or four Gameweeks as the best predictors of future success.
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
After weeks of giving chase, Mark has dramatically snatched top spot in the FFS Moderators and Contributors league for the first time this season, albeit by the slenderest of margin by keeping Torres Magic in second only on transfers made – 28 vs 27.
In Red Lightning’s Top 10k Any Season mini-league , Raul Seleccion retains the lead top, but HuttonDressedAsLahm is now only one point behind in second.
Dan Clapson is still on top in Red Lightning’s January to May league, having risen phoenix like from 360,000 to 22,000 in the overall rankings over the last seven Gameweeks.
In TorresMagic’s Last Man Standing the safety score was 46, which saw 66 players depart and 488 remain.
The new leader of the FFScout Members league is Billy Ketsu, who is up to 60th in the overall placings.
Arutla Jatin, continues to top our main league and is still second overall, but has fallen further behind FPL leader Knut Hebaek. The Norwegian extended his lead from nine to 34 points in Gameweek 25, with an excellent score of 86. But unlike Knut, Arutla has not yet used his Bench Boost or Triple Captain chips. Knut’s potentially precarious position at the top was the subject of a discussion kicked off by The Wizard of Ozil.
In my Millionaires Club, for those with a rank below one million in Gameweek 12, long time leader Gilles Wanlin has extended his lead to 30 points. He is now up to 32,407 in the overall rankings.
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.
