The debut appearance of Live Hall of Fame number one and chief Kanexit negotiator Jay Egersdorff on the Scoutcast prompted a raft of discussions among the community.

After explaining his reasons for ditching the Tottenham striker – part of an ambitious -12 hit ahead of Gameweek 18 – many in the community are looking to follow Jay’s lead and hatch their very own Kane exodus.

This week’s discussions also take in Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata’s suspension, Paul Pogba’s league return for Manchester United and the rise of the ‘power five’ midfield.

Our community scribes reveal considerable optimism in Manchester City’s prospects this weekend, while the statisticians in our Members area are getting some early bargain-hunting in ahead of the January sales.

We finish off with a look at those, like Jay, who go into the festive set of fixtures keen to preserve a lead at the summit of our community competitions.

The Community Articles

Manchester City’s home game with Bournemouth shines brightest in Gameweek 19, according to ‘the crowd’ being canvassed by Hutch_James. The masses are also predicting good results for West Ham and Crystal Palace, among others.

And Top Marx returned with his latest Career Hall of Fame review from Gameweeks 17 -18.

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

Removing Tottenham talisman Harry Kane and using his 12.8 price tag to fund upgrades elsewhere has been gaining traction this week.

Jay Egersdorff, who remains top of our Live Hall of Fame, dropped by the Scoutcast this week to tell us more about his 12-point hit to remove the misfiring Spurs striker and spread this new-found wealth across his team.

Cloudsky is among those impressed with Jay’s wider views on Fantasy Football, while we also launched a discussion on some of the other issues he raised, such as the importance of good old-fashioned scouting skills and getting your calculator out for long-term moves.

Later in the week we offered Kanexiters and Kaneremainers alike the chance to put forward their sides of the argument. There was further chat about the merits of jettisoning Kane in Twisted Saltergater’s Hot Topic on this potentially season-defining move.

Irbox is among those leading the case for Kane with his assertion that the England international is a good captain choice for Gameweek 19’s visit to Burnley, in spite of the Clarets’ impressive home record. However, the Golden Boot winner of the last two seasons faces stiff competition in the community’s affections from Manchester City assets, according to our discussion on the best armband options.

The Spurs man is not the only premium forward being shown the exit this week, with many Alvaro Morata owners also eyeing up the transfer button. The Chelsea striker picked up his fifth yellow card of the season in the Carabao Cup and will sit out this weekend’s trip to Everton, prompting Torresmagic to ask the simple question: Morata – keep or sell?

Midfield is where much of the Kane and Morata millions are going. The aptly-named HurriKane believes Paul Pogba is a strong option in midfield, given the Manchester United player returns to league action from suspension this week and is averaging seven FPL points a game this season. Although, YMA‘s first-hand account of the Frenchman’s display during the Red Devils’ midweek Carabao Cup defeat to Bristol City may cause many suitors to pause before securing his services.

Additionally, James 101 canvassed your views on the best midfield five to own, for those opting to invest heavily in the centre of the park.

Investing in Manchester City’s midfield stars over Christmas, in particular their top scorer Raheem Sterling and creative dynamo Kevin De Bruyne, was among the key lessons we took from Gameweek 18 and has already been a shrewd move for many of those who answered our rough with the smooth round-up of your latest scores.

Looking ahead to Gameweek 19, Doosra’s number crunching, as delivered by G-Whizz, also backs Sky Blues assets to prosper.

Meanwhile, KTK Interista has been looking even further ahead to Gameweek 22, when Tottenham and West Ham play twice, to see if this could be the perfect time to unleash a Free Hit chip.

To view all our discussions please visit our Hot Topics page.

The Members Tables

Feysi has been delving into the underlying statistics of cheap forwards for those looking at a 3-5-2 formation, while Watp73 has been examining the best West Ham defenders as their kind run of fixtures continues.

Elsewhere, Fotnikpl has been getting back to basics by assessing those players with the most impressive statistics for scoring and assisting over the last four Gameweeks.

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

Az remains first in the FFScout Moderators and Contributors league with a 14-point lead over myself in second. Greenwindmill moves into third with an impressive 100-point haul in Gameweek 18.

There’s also no change at the top of Red Lightning’s Top 10K Any Season league, which Elvarus continues to lead.

It is also business as usual in our leagues, with Heroes and Villains retaining first in the FFS Members League and Damir TeNay still leading our main FFS League, although he has dropped to second in the overall rankings, level on points with new world number one Bharat Dhody.

QPR UTD moves into second in the Frequent Summer Posters competition, 27 points behind long-term leader ZoumasBloomers.

The Top 1K Any Season league has a new leader, with Simon Warner snatching top spot from Mathew Morrison with a Gameweek 18 return of 85.

In TorresMagic’s Last Man Standing, the safety score was 49, which saw 138 players depart and 1,208 remain.

Finally, Dreams dropped by with news of the latest events in the Community Watch tournament.

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.