Another international break looms as the Fantasy Football Scout community begins to consider a squad refresh ahead of a congested winter fixture programme.
Our Hot Topic posters are full of advice on constructing the best team from Gameweek 12 onwards and have also been keen to discuss the Fantasy Premier League’s transfer market.
Teams’ differing defensive styles, the best captaincy options for the weekend and the wisdom of the crowd are featured in our week’s community articles.
Good, bad and downright ugly defences top the bill in our Members’ table review, and we finish off our round-up with a look at those at the top of the community competitions.
The Community Articles
Andre94PT has followed up his analysis of teams’ attacking styles with a focus this week on defensive strategies being deployed in the Premier League.
This article, as well as YMA’s latest look at the form and fixture tables, will be of particular interest to those looking for a strong captaincy points haul his week.
In addition, the predictions from the ‘crowd’ regarding the weekend’s fixtures are available via Hutch_James.
Finally, congratulations to Andre94PT, who has been named by you as community writer of the month for October. A £20 Amazon voucher is on its way to him.
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 Topic
With Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy, Brighton’s Glenn Murray and Swansea’s Tammy Abraham all delivering attacking returns in Gameweek 10, competition is hotting up for the third striker berth.
Ryan canvassed your views on which budget to mid-priced forward is most deserving of a place, while Phil Dagger wonders if a double up on Brighton’s attack is an option, given the strong form of Murray and the Seagulls’ chief creator Pascal Gross.
Doubling up on Burnley defenders was also being considered in Ludo’s latest Hot Topic, given that the Clarets earned their third home clean sheet of the campaign, against Newcastle United on Monday.
There were further alternative strategies discussed in our look at the best differentials for the weekend.
With the international break approaching, the flutter of Wildcards is now audible.
And as Manchester United are among the sides to enjoy an upturn in fixtures from Gameweek 12, this is also a good time for all Fantasy managers to consider a rebuilding programme.
We asked you to list your dream squad for the rest of November and going into December’s congested fixture schedule, when a strong bench will be particularly handy, according to Enzo the Baker.
Romelu Lukaku is among the key targets, especially with visits from Newcastle and Brighton immediately after the break, but with heavy sales this week we asked why so many are prepared to go without the Red Devils top scorer.
Given rotation among Manchester City’s ranks, many are already thinking of reducing their quota of Sky Blues players.
This was particularly the case for those with the benched Sergio Aguero or the shot-less Gabriel Jesus in Gameweek 10, according to our rough with the smooth round-up. They are already among players listed in Pranav Santhosh’s discussion on assets that deserve to be shuffled over the trapdoor.
City rotation also dominated our discussion on key lessons from Gameweek 10 as well as a Hot Topic on what the 2017/18 season has taught you so far.
The mysteries of FPL’s price changes were questioned in RuthNZ’s hugely popular discussion on the transfer market. A key issue was why, despite being jettisoned by so many managers, Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku’s prices had not dipped sooner.
Finally, Mark dropped by with news of a forthcoming addition to the Members’ area where we look in detail at match officials. The soon-to-launch Referee Tables look to offer an added insight into the likelihood of penalties and yellow cards in particular.
To view all our discussions please visit our Hot Topics page.
The Members’ Tables
In Gameweek 10, Ben Mee took his turn to grab the maximum bonus points among the impressive Burnley backline, but which Clarets defender is the best? FPL Virgin’s latest table takes a look at their underlying statistics to find out.
Transfer addict has been considering whether penalty area touches over the last four Gameweeks and the season as a whole can help spot future scoring trends.
Players from just two teams dominate my latest assists imminent table, while there are plenty of familiar faces among my nine-strong goals imminent list of players who are on the cusp of scoring success.
Elsewhere Dingo1982 has been finding out which defences are the leakiest on their travels.
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
Elvar Mar Sigurdsson is the new leader of Red Lightning’s Top 10k Any Season league and has also climbed to the summit of the FFS Members League.
Damir TeNay still leads the main FFS league and has impressively moved from seventh to second in the overall standings. Damir has all his chips intact, while current overall leader Joe McFadden has used both his Free Hit and Wildcard chips.
In TorresMagic’s Last Man Standing competition, dfroes hit the top score in Gameweek 10 with 93. There are over 2,400 teams left after 199 were eliminated when the safety score was set at 34.
FC Lackless retains first place in QPR Utd’s FFS Frequent Summer Posters league, and there is no change at the top of the FFS Old Farts Club, where PDM has a commanding 18-point lead over second placed Mick Harris.
Uwais Ahmed keeps top spot in the FFScout Moderators and Contributors league, with new recruit to the team Jack Wain entering the league in second place. Jack and Uwais have both finished in the overall top ten during their FPL careers.
For those fit enough to take to the pitch themselves, My Pretty Pony is looking to organise a real life community football competition in aid of charity.
If you are running a community tournament and would like the latest scores included in future Community Round-Ups, please email us summary of the current leaders and a link to your league, spreadsheet or head-to-head competition, at jonty@fantasyfootballscout.co.uk.
