The news that Harry Kane faces a spell on the sidelines, after limping off with an ankle injury in the FA Cup last weekend, has sparked a flurry of discussions on Spurs assets and the best strikers replacements to consider.
Our hot topic posters also focus on the air miles being racked up during the forthcoming international break, attempt to second guess the Premier League fixture planners and revisit last week’s long-running Wildcard timing debate.
Elsewhere, our community scribes consider this weekend’s captaincy and best differentials, while our Members tables offer some deeper analysis on how Spurs will cope without their talisman.
We finish up with a look at those riding high in our community competitions and are no doubt already plotting how to set their team up without the England striker over the coming weeks.
The Community Articles
The Fantasy Premier League’s most popular player, Romelu Lukaku, has delivered attacking returns in each of his last five home games.  YMA is backing him to earn a sixth successive Goodison Park haul when Hull City drop by, according to his look at the Gameweek 29 captaincy based on form and fixtures.
TopMarx‘s analysis of the Gameweek 28 scores of the top five in our Career Hall of Fame shows just how important backing the Belgian’s home record can be to overall rank.
Meanwhile, low owned players from Southampton, Watford and Leicester are the focus of Differential Jack’s latest trio of alternative assets to consider in the short to medium term.
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
Kane’s injury in Spurs’ 6-0 FA Cup rout of Millwall last Sunday scuppered many of the community’s best-laid plans.
With the Spurs striker likely to be out for a number of weeks, a scenario that was predicted swiftly by our resident physio Facer, the community has been rethinking their forward lines.
Casper86 was on hand to run through the replacements but with Manchester City likely to be crestfallen after their midweek Champions League exit, we pondered whether one of the key candidates, Sergio Aguero, may be best avoided.
Another consideration from the Kane injury is how best to tap into Spurs’ appealing fixture run over the next five, which features trips to Burnley and Swansea City as well as home clashes with Southampton, Watford and Bournemouth.
With a hat-trick against the Lions and two goals and an assist the last time Kane was out through injury – over Gameweeks 6 to 10 – Son Heung-min looks an ideal source of Spurs points.
However, Individual added a note of caution that his game time may be limited in Gameweek 30 given the air miles the South Korea regular is set to rack up over the international break.
Karan14 broadened out those fears of rotation to include those players from South America and Africa who also face long trips back to England.
Among these hardy travellers is Alexis Sanchez, who has been rested before following international duty with Chile. Nevertheless, with a trip this weekend to a West Brom side already dreaming of long-haul holidays this summer, Arsenal’s top scorer remains a powerful option for Gameweek 29, according to our hot topic.
In mulling over attacking options, broader considerations need to be taken into account, says Swan-Villa Proud, especially the impending double Gameweeks. His discussion on the season run-in looked at some possible ways the Premier League could squeeze around a dozen postponed matches into the remaining fixture list.
Wildcard timing will also play a part in current transfer moves.
Following on from last week’s epic discussion on the best time to play this valuable chip, Rhinos reignited the debate to back the argument for unleashing it in Gameweek 36.
The popularity of players is another factor to take into account with impending transfer moves, according to our discussion on the top-owned players you fear the most.
Smiths fan Athletico Timbo dropped by to add to discussion by considering players that are attracting the most owners this week. He also spent this morning pondering this weekend’s best differentials and defensive targets.
Liverpool’s Sadio Mane is among just 13 players to be owned by at least a fifth of FPL managers. But following a lacklustre win over Burnley in Gameweek 28, and a trip to the Etihad Stadium this Sunday, key Reds assets have been shown the exit in large numbers. In total, more than 130,000 FPL managers have handed at least one of Roberto Firmino, Mane and Philippe Coutinho their P45 over the past week.
Their hastiness to discard this trio may prove costly head of their Manchester City visit, warns Rupert the Horse, with his timely reminder that Jurgen Klopp’s charges tend to raise their game against testing opponents.
The lack of popularity of this ‘Pool trio was also evident in our Rough with the Smooth round-up of your Gameweek 28 tallies.
There was more analysis of the performance of the Premier League’s top teams from Diesel1001 this week.
Sadly, for those who backed Leicester City assets earlier this season, the Foxes are far from being considered as part of this elite group. However, with two victories in the league under the stewardship of new boss Craig Shakespeare, we wondered whether it was time to give the likes of Jamie Vardy a second chance.
The Members Tables
Jigger and Pony has taken an in-depth look at the underlying statistics of Spurs players during Kane’s Gameweek 6 to 10 absence, while Papilo has run the rule over the recent performance of the Spurs rearguard.
To take the recent blank Gameweeks into account, I’ve extended the scope of my goals imminent table to include the last five matches, rather than the usual four.
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
HuttonDressedAsLahm has retained top spot in Red Lightning’s Top 10K Any Season and Dan Clapson continues to dominate Red Lightning’s January to May league.
It is also business as usual in the FFScout Moderators and Contributors league where Mark remains at the summit.
Similarly, Jatin Arutla still leads the main FFScout league and is also third overall.
But it was all change at the top of the FFScout Members league with Ogie Nolan returning to first place. He has a five point lead over previous number one, Billy Ketsu.
In TorresMagic‘s Last Man Standing competition, Gregg Wallace hit the top score in Gameweek 28 with 76. There are now 305 teams left after 60 were eliminated with the previous safety score set at 31
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.
