Double Gameweek fever struck this week, with the Premier League confirming when the remaining rescheduled fixtures will take place.
Our hot topic discussions focus on how best to tackle the revamped calendar, as well as the return to action of a Spurs talisman.
That star also features prominently in our community articles, as do the hidden gems lurking among this season’s relegation battlers.
Predicting future returns across all outfield positions takes centre stage in our latest Members tables, and we round things off with a look at those at the top of our community contests who are already well-prepared for the changing fixture list.
The Community Articles
Harry Kane takes star billing in YMA’s analysis of what the form and fixture data has to say about the Gameweek 33 captaincy in light of the forward’s return following a three-match injury lay-off.
The Spurs striker is also likely to shake up the template among the Fantasy Premier League’s most prolific managers, suggests Top Marx in his latest look at how the top five in our Career Hall of Fame are faring.
Meanwhile, we noted that the live hall of fame, which is updated each Gameweek, has yet another new leader in the tussle to replace Ville Ronka as number one at the end of the season.
But while many Fantasy managers are focusing on premium assets from title-chasing sides, Kryten urges the community not to forget the wealth of differential gems among relegation battling sides.
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
This week’s announcement around the remaining double Gameweeks sparked a flurry of discussions on how best to cope with the busy season run-in.
We asked for your plan of action, as well as the teams and players to focus on, following the news that Southampton and Arsenal will have two matches in Gameweek 36 and ten teams play twice the week after.
Careful planning around chips will be essential over this period according to our hot topic on when best to deploy the second Wildcard, Bench Boost and Triple Captaincy.
Investment in Arsenal looks essential based on fixtures, with the Gunners playing four times across Gameweeks 36 and 37. But with prime asset Alexis Sanchez scoring just once in his last four matches while pinned to the left wing, Team Cruel wonders whether the Chilean is now surplus to requirements in spite of the revamped fixture list.
There are no such concerns among the community around the form of the attacking players at Arsenal’s north London rivals Spurs, who have scored 18 goals over their last six – more than any other side.
But in terms of their season run-in, Kings of Lyon believes they may be dispensable, with other top four sides enjoying a far kinder set of fixtures.
Should Kane carry on where he left off before his recent injury, when he scored six in four matches, ditching him could prove very difficult indeed, particularly if he runs riot against visitors Bournemouth at White Hart Lane tomorrow.
Given his favourable fixture, We Will Klopp You took a detailed look at whether the Spurs striker, or Everton’s Golden Boot-leading forward and popular recent armband choice Romelu Lukaku, is the best candidate for the Gameweek 33 captaincy.
For Gertjan, the Spurs man may be the better option, based on the relative resilience on the road of Everton’s Goodison Park opponents Burnley compared to the Cherries.
For those stocked up on Spurs midfielders such as Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen, the need to draft in Kane is less pressing, Alex MJ’s analysis suggests. He has looked at this dynamic duo’s returns when Kane has scored two or more goals at home and found that while not as prolific as the striker, they are almost keeping pace.
Tripling up on Spurs’ attackers is also being proposed by some of those responding to our hot topic on the North London side’s sensational form.
There was further insight into the statistics of Gameweek 33’s key captaincy candidates provided by Diesel001.
As well as Spurs’ form, the community has had to contend with another set of double fixtures – for Manchester United, Middlesbrough and Crystal Palace in Gamweek 34. But as Les Blues points out, one of the Red Devils’ key players, right back Antonio Valencia, looks unlikely to play regularly according to Jose Mourinho.
Finally, the season run-in is particularly tough to navigate for those playing the Sky Sports Fantasy game, where managers have limited transfers. Disable was on hand to reveal the average remaining transfers.
To view all our discussions, please visit our Hot Topics page. We are also still keen to hear from you about how this can be further developed.
The Members Tables
Matty_Floyd has followed up my goals imminent table with a specific version looking at defenders.
Elsewhere, Bad Kompany has conjured up a pair of similarly crystal ball-gazing themed tables, looking at midfielders and forwards who are on the cusp of a decent haul.
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
Red Lightning’s Top 10K Any Season league has a new leader, Scott Finnigan, who played his wildcard in Gameweek 30 and is now up to 121 in the overall rankings.
But there’s no change at the summit of his January to May league, with Aneesh Kamat retaining top spot.
Ogie Nolan continues to dominate the FFS Members league and is now up to 29th overall and the FFScout main league has a new leader, Mohammad Bahnassy, who is up to fourth in the overall rankings, just 32 points behind world number one Uwais Ahmed.
Mark has extended his lead over second-placed Torres Magic in the FFScout Moderators and Contributors league by 10 points.
Meanwhile, Giles Wanlin has reclaimed top spot in my Millionaires Club, for those with a rank above the million mark in Gameweek 12, after relinquishing it briefly in Gameweek 30 to second-placed Oli Ottey GM.
In TorresMagic’s Last Man Standing, the safety score was 68, which saw 45 players depart and 95 remain.
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.
