The Scout Squad – Gameweek 19

Charlie Austin as your first-choice striker? We’ve got a Scout for that. All four doubling up on Man City midfielders? Check. Kyle Naughton? Yep, even he gets a mention.

Our panel of ‘experts’ has either been on the Christmas sherry or their festive forecasting comes with genius included.

We’ll find out once Gameweek 19 kicks off on Friday evening, but only after they’ve bickered long and hard about who’s going to be playing up front, as Austin squares up to Sergio Aguero, Romelu Lukaku and even Alexandre Lacazette for striking duties.

Elsewhere, there’s a uniformity of opinion about goalkeepers, defenders and the midfield, with the only bone of contention likely to be how many Man City men they can squeeze into the middle.

We’ll be back to find out the exact make-up of the Scout Picks later in the week, so for now here are their longlists and the reasons behind them.

Peter Says…

My Merseyside selections came through last weekend, together with a certain Mesut Özil, but not so my confidence in Manchester United’s rearguard or in Leicester City’s ability to see off Crystal Palace. This week, we’re once again spoilt for choice in midfield, but very limited further forward.

Intriguingly, six of the bottom seven play each other this weekend, with only poor Bournemouth off to the Etihad for a match which will see those with several City assets licking their lips in anticipation.

Trebling up on one team’s strike force always seems a bit risky, but many managers are doing just that with the Citizens and I can’t resist either. Enter Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling with no further explanation required.

Stoke City vs West Brom is a difficult match to call, but Palace and West Ham have the form to prevail over Swansea City and Newcastle respectively.

Wilfried Zaha and Marko Arnautović have posted some very impressive attacking statistics recently, while Scott Dann and Aaron Cresswell are relatively inexpensive and fall into the clichéd “could deliver points at both ends” category.

I anticipate that Paul Pogba’s return may further boost the fitful re-emergence of Romelu Lukaku as a decent option, although the Belgian has some work to do to justify his selection this week.

Indeed, I’m struggling to identify stand-out striker options, although I do fancy Charlie Austin to take advantage of a Huddersfield defence which has been as leaky as any team, except for Stoke, over the last six.

Notably, I’ve left Harry Kane out despite Burnley’s defensive absentees. I got away with “dropping” him last week for that tricky trip to the Etihad, but previously left him out when he notched a brace, so take from that what you will…

Jonty Says…

Manchester City’s home tie with Bournemouth burns like a shining beacon across the Gameweek 19 fixture list. With 32 goals scored at home – 10 more than any other team- and just seven goals conceded, a triple-up looks a must.

Given Gabriel Jesus and Aguero are continuing to tussle for one central forward role, I’m backing a midfield partnership of their top scorer Sterling and creator in chief De Bruyne.

At the Etihad, the Belgian has seven assists and has found the net three times, while Sterling has seven successful strikes and has been provider on two occasions. The word ‘essential’ barely does this duo justice for this Gameweek.

With just five goals on the road for Eddie Howe’s troops, Nicolas Otamendi earns top billing among my defenders.

Another theme of my selection is a shift in power from forward positions to midfield.

Seven of the top ten Fantasy Premier League points scorers are midfielders, while Kane is the only forward representative and even he is being outscored by another of my picks, Manchester United stopper David De Gea.

As a result, I’d like to see Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, who has scored 20 in all competitions this season, once again earn a place for his side’s trip to Arsenal.

The Red Devils’ returning midfielder Pogba is another shoo-in for me. He is averaging seven points a game, which makes his current 7.9 price tag perfect for our 84 million Picks budget.

I’ll be strongly arguing to shun Kane for the second week in a row. His trip to a Burnley side that has only shipped three goals at Turf Moor means that the Spurs man’s 12.8 price tag simply cannot be justified. And ditching him from the Picks means there is plenty of cash to spend on luxury items in midfield.

For value, I like the look of Watford’s Andre Gray up against a Brighton defence without their suspended centre-back Shane Duffy.

Crystal Palace’s 4.9 midfielder Bakary Sako is another enticing budget enabler. He is expected to deputise for the suspended Christian Benteke up front, and travels to Swansea in search of his third goal in a row.

Paul Says…

Man City are obviously going to be prominent part in our starting XI for Gameweek 19. Right across every outfield position, Pep Guardiola’s side offer up strong candidates.

Of my four picks, Aguero has lacked form – with just a single goal in his last four league outings – yet looks very likely to be named on the teamsheet after Jesus played 120 minutes against Leicester on Tuesday night.

The Cherries have conceded more shots inside the box (52) than any side over the last four Gameweeks to boost Aguero’s case.

Elsewhere in attack, Alexandre Lacazette, Austin, Roberto Firmino and Glenn Murray are all among the top forwards for expected goals in our Members’ area across the last four Gameweeks.

West Ham’s resurgence under David Moyes should continue at home to Newcastle.

Three successive clean sheets suggest that backing Adrian or Arthur Masuaku could be the smarter move, particularly as the absence of playmaker Manuel Lanzini could be an issue in the final third – he has assisted all of their last four league goals, after all.

Nonetheless, I’m keeping faith in Marko Arnautovic on the back of two goals and 11 efforts in the box in the last three Gameweeks. He faces a Magpies defence with one clean sheet in 14 league matches.

Mark Says…

Two Man City midfielders look inevitable, but even though Aguero looks the most likely to lead their attack, I’d still prefer to have Otamendi’s clean sheet and set-piece goal threat in our Picks. Aguero’s recent form has hardly been that convincing.

That means that Austin is all set to lead a two-man strike force in what should be a 3-5-2 formation.

The Southampton striker has the fixture to warrant inclusion, but the fact that he figures so highly in my selection reflects the scarcity of options available. Nothing against Charlie, but even he would be surprised to be keeping the likes of Kane, Lukaku and Aguero in the corner.

Kane is still a factor for me, but I doubt very much I’ll win that argument.

James Tarkowski’s absence will hit Burnley hard: he has been their key defender to this point and, while their defensive record is strong, they have conceded more shots from outside the box than any other side in home matches (61).

Kane will only need a few sighters to punish them if that continues. I fully expect another double-figure shot count from Harry on Saturday and a healthy number of saves from Nick Pope.

The Community Champion

Representing the community against the Scout Picks in Gameweek 17 will be THFCLIFE, who is in his third season and finished in 12,207 spot in his first campaign.

The Community Champion who has the best lead over the Scouts during 2017/18 will win a £100 Amazon voucher (currently we can only offer Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com vouchers).

Gameweek 18’s champion Powell comprehensively beat the Scouts 70 -48, but even that wasn’t good enough to oust Gregor, who achieved victory over the Scouts by a 33-point margin in Gameweek 5.