With a Gameweek of information to hand, our Members have been busy delving into the underlying statistics of last weekend’s key performers.
Our Hot Topic posters are concerned about some of the early strugglers and have also been plotting exit strategies for their injured and suspended assets.
Crowd predictions and FPL Draft tactics are among the other issues addressed by our community scribes, and we finish off with a look at those who have got off to a flying start in our community competitions.
The Community Articles
For those playing Fantasy Premier League Draft, Pav A Nice Day was on hand to look at the key players to acquire and those to jettison via waivers ahead of Gameweek 2.
Elsewhere, Hutch_James dropped by for his weekly look at the masses’ predictions on the best sources of goals and clean sheets for Gameweek 2, while Niemi collated the latest news and form for those playing Norwegian top flight game Fantasy Eliteserien.
In addition, TopMarx has begun his regular tracking of last season’s Career Hall of Fame top five to see how they are faring this time around.
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
An injury to Wilfried Zaha is set to sideline him for a number of weeks and the Crystal Palace midfielder’s ownership has plummeted from 25% to 17% as a result.
We took a look at some of the best replacements, while Mark and I revealed our different approaches to replacing the Eagles winger on the Scoutcast. Essrick added to the discussion later in the week with a close look at the key exit strategies Zaha owners are facing. Meanwhile, a West Brom set piece taker could be an unlikely replacement ahead of their visit to Burnley, according to FPL Virgin‘s post on the Clarets’ fragility at corners.
While many are waving goodbye to the Palace star, Bowstring the Carp urges his owners to be patient, take his price drop on the chin, field a bench player this weekend and use extra the time to gather more, crucial information.
Such nuggets of knowledge could include which formation is best suited to the current crop of form players and the FPL price list. The Rumour Mill is already wondering whether 3-4-3 is too inflexible a set-up, particularly if it involves a non-playing 4.0 defender on the bench.
Among the most popular and talked about midfielders this week is Manchester United’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who racked up an 11-point return in Gameweek 1. The Bus Driver urges us to accept that the Armenian is now a regular starter for the Red Devils, in spite of his indifferent debut season.
Gylfi Sigurdsson is surely an acquisition for the future, though his new employers Everton are forced to navigate through a punishing set of matches against both Manchester sides, Chelsea and Spurs before things ease from Gameweek 6. Our Hot topic on the former Swansea set-piece specialist revealed that the community is divided as to whether he will be worth his 8.5m price tag, even when the schedule turns.
Among the heavy hitters on borrowed time is Spurs striker Harry Kane, who has been ditched by more than 140,000 of his owners after delivering a solitary point against Newcastle United on Sunday.
Another is the 10.0-priced Kevin De Bruyne, whose failure to be involved in either of Manchester City’s two goals at Brighton has prompted 79,000+ owners to show him the door.
We pondered just how much is too much when it comes to player value in the light of the plummeting popularity of two of FPL’s most expensive assets. This discussion also contains an excellent post from Ruth_NZ, looking in detail at squad selection, value and captaincy.
Our rough with the smooth round up of your Gameweeks provided plenty of opportunity for those that captained Kane to vent their frustration.
Spurs’ decision to play their home games at Wembley this season is also fuelling growing concern that Kane will not be able to live up to his valuation. But Bauerhaus 24 believes that such fears may be unfounded in light of his analysis of home advantage in sport.
Another factor in the Kane exodus is whether he can be relied on with the armband when the likes of Romelu Lukaku look likely to deliver regular hauls.
But TheBoose warns that the former Everton striker may not have it so easy away to Swansea this weekend given his dire record against the Welsh side.
To view all our discussions please visit our Hot Topics page.
The Members Tables
AceKn1ght was among those looking back at Gameweek 1’s key figures and in particular those midfielders and forwards who should have delivered stronger returns after recording some impressive underlying statistics. My first goals imminent table of the season adds further information on players who are due to find the net.
I’ve also been looking in detail at baseline bonus allocation in FPL’s first set of matches to reveal those who excel in terms of winning additional points when clean sheet, assist and goal criteria are removed. Meanwhile, D1sable has been looking at those doing well in terms of bonus in Sky Sports Fantasy Football.
Elsewhere, Chrisjdgrady has created a suite of tables looking at the most attacking defenders, midfielders and forwards.
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
An opening round score of 104 has taken Misha Milosevic to the summit of the Top 10k Any Season mini-league, which is run by Red Lightning.
But it was only enough for second place in PDM’s Top 1k Any Season league, which is headed by RoysCallerAnne, who notched 106 in Gameweek 1 and has also grabbed the lead in the FFS Old Farts Club league.
Greenwindmill has taken an early lead in the FFScout Moderators and Contributors league, which this season will be even more competitive as Career Hall of Fame number one Peter Kouwenberg and 2016/17 FPL winner Ben Crabtree are among its new faces. In the FFScout Moderators and Contributors FPLDraft league I’ve taken an early lead with a 62-53 victory over TorresMagic, and there were also victories for Az, Spencer and Pure Olivia.
Meanwhile, FPL Fly is leader of FPL General’s Elite64 league, which is being touted as a ‘who’s who of Fantasy Football’ and involves a number of FFScout community members and contributors.
Shrikant Verma is the leader of QPRUTD’s frequent summer posters league, with a score of 101, and in TorresMagic’s Last Man Standing the safety score was 48, which saw 216 players depart and over 3,800 remain with entry currently still open.
Finally, Lawro is looking for PS4 owners who play Fifa to join the FFScout team in its Pro Clubs game mode.
If you are running a community tournament and would like the latest scores included in future Community Round-Ups, please email us a summary of the current leaders and a link to your league, spreadsheet or head to head competition, at jonty@fantasyfootballscout.co.uk.
