The community was put in a spin in midweek as early festive rotation wrecked best-laid plans for Gameweek 14.
But there’s no time to dwell on teamsheet tinkering as our community writers look ahead to the best sources of goals and clean sheets, while our Hot Topic posters examine the latest theories around Spurs’ current malaise.
Club loyalty versus Fantasy Football allegiance is also discussed, as is the potential of returning managers Alan Pardew and Sam Allardyce to improve their new clubs.
Elsewhere, the statisticians in our Members’ area have been examining budget goalkeepers, creative defenders and how Jamie Vardy compares to other strikers.
We finish off our round-up with a look at the latest standings in our community leagues.
The Community Articles
The ‘crowd’, being tracked by Hutch_James, has high hopes that Chelsea and Manchester City will prosper at home against Newcastle United and West Ham respectively. However, his latest update of their views finds them less keen on Spurs’ attack after their midweek 2-1 defeat to Leicester City.
Chelsea stars, as well as goalkeepers, are on the mind of the Career Hall of Fame top five, who according to TopMarx‘s analysis, were among those caught off guard by the Gameweek 14 surprises.
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
Spurs’ loss to the Foxes was their third defeat in five matches and has sparked a fire sale of assets, with three of their players, Christian Eriksen, Kieran Trippier and Ben Davies, listed among the top ten most sold players the morning after that midweek defeat.
This poor run of form has also heralded a run of new theories about why the London club is performing so badly, including A Manager Has No Name blaming the long term injury to centre-back Toby Alderweireld. Meanwhile, 42 Towels wonders whether Son Heung-min is stifling Spurs’ fluidity, and in particular the creativity of Eriksen.
Despite the decline suffered by Mauricio Pochettino’s side, Harry Kane is continuing to find the net, with his strike against Leicester his second in two matches and his seventh on the road. Reckoner points out that his steady returns put him among an elite group of strong armband candidates, even if his meagre six points against Leicester left those who captained him a little deflated.
The real-life football management merry-go-round continued this week with the appointments of Alan Pardew at the helm of West Brom and Sam Allardyce at Everton. AnzhiBabakin wondered what impact this pair of Premier League management veterans will have on their new teams.
Should they improve, these struggling sides offer a raft of value options to Fantasy managers. We canvassed your views on the best budget enablers for the coming Gameweeks to help free up vital cash.
Being a real-life football fan also came under scrutiny on our Scoutcast and this Hot Topic on how the community juggles conflicting allegiances to their club and Fantasy ranking.
Meanwhile, Gameweek 14’s teamsheets produced a fair few shocks as festive rotation struck early, including benchings for the likes of Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Chelsea’s Eden Hazard.  Our “Rough with the Smooth” round-up is dominated by tales of woe from those who ended this midweek set of fixtures in the doldrums.
While Doosra’s statistics, posted via G-Whizz, are unable to predict line-ups, they do at least offer an insight into the likeliest sources of clean sheets and goals for Gameweek 15.
Finally, the Fantasy Premier League’s Bonus Point System came under scrutiny this week, with FFPro questioning whether awarding points for creating big chances was too subjective for this statistical-based, objective process.
To view all our discussions, please visit our Hot Topics page.
The Members’ Tables
Newcastle stopper Rob Elliot’s benching against West Brom midweek sent shockwaves through his ownership, particularly those with a non-playing back-up such as Brighton reserve keeper Tim Krul or Crystal Palace’s out of favour Julian Speroni. FPL Virgin’s latest table looks at the best options for those in need of a reliable starter between the sticks in Gameweek 15 and beyond.
Dingo1982’s table looks at the most creative defenders, while watp73 has been specifically looking at the points potential of Chelsea’s rearguard.
Jamie Vardy’s goal against Spurs in Gameweek 14 was his second attacking return in a row and underlines his continuing potential as a third striker. Bobby6000 has been assessing how the Foxes striker compares to other forwards priced below 9.1.
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
Stewart Latham continues to lead Red Lightning’s Top 10k Any Season mini-league, while Konrad Struski has regained the lead in the FFS Members League from Dhruv Dharnidharka.
There’s no change at the summit of the FFScout Moderators and Contributors league, where Az is 15 points clear of second placed Anorak.
In TorresMagic’s Last Man Standing, the safety score was 36, which saw 181 players depart and 1,782 remain.
ZoumasBloomers has a commanding 25 point lead over FC Lackless in QPR Utd’s Frequent Summer Posters league for the chattiest community members over the warmest months.
Finally, the Community Watch tournament produced some nail-biting clashes in Gameweek 14, according to the organising committee’s latest update.
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 to jonty@fantasyfootballscout.co.uk.
