It’s squeaky bum time for Fantasy managers as the Gameweeks tumble, and we edge ever closer to the season climax.
Our Hot Topic posters are on hand to discuss a range of tactics for success over the run-in, and in particular who to trust with the armband.
How best to tackle the upcoming twists and turns in the fixture list also comes under detailed scrutiny in both our community discussions and articles.
Players who pose an aerial threat take centre stage in our round-up of the latest Members tables constructed, and we finish our round-up with a look at those at the top of our community competitions who will be nervously looking over their shoulders at the advancing pack of challengers.
The Community Articles
Following this week’s vote, Morph has been named community writer of the month for January for his excellent analysis on the best ways to navigate the forthcoming blank and double Gameweeks.
Among those set to miss Gameweek 31 due to FA Cup commitments is Manchester City, who are one of the most likely teams to prevail this weekend, according to Hutch_James‘ latest look at the crowd’s predictions.
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
With just 11 set of fixtures remaining, time is running out to soar up the rankings and steal a march on mini-league rivals.
The Fantasy Football Scout community has been full of advice on making the most of the season run-in, with one such Hot Topic assessing whether daring to be different or sticking with the template herd is the better rank-boosting strategy.
Another issue we considered is whether Fantasy managers can be blinkered when it comes to certain players, who appear to get neglected regardless of some truly explosive hauls; Kevin De Bruyne’s prolific home performances for Manchester City is one example discussed.
We also look at whether targeting whipping boys, – with Huddersfield and Everton the current candidates – is a strategy worthy of consideration.
According to our lessons learned from Gameweek 26 discussion, the Toffees remain particularly vulnerable in at the back as Sam Allardyce struggles to get his side’s defensive bus in gear. Everton also get an unfavourable write-up in Collie01’s team by team analysis.
For KTK Interista the secret of success is simple – captain Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah as often as possible. His Hot Topic on the Fantasy Premier League’s (FPL) top scorer highlights how the Egyptian is starting to add bonus magnetism to his prolific goal scoring ways.
Meanwhile, Ludo favours Harry Kane this week for Arsenal’s visit to Wembley, pointing out that the Gunners defence is looking particularly suspect on the road.
Sergio Aguero is another strong captaincy option, even though he failed to find the net away to Burnley last time out.
Our “rough with the smooth” round-up of your Gameweek 26 scores details the pain suffered by those who handed the Man City striker the armband last weekend. Bemba Da, meanwhile, offers hope of an upturn in fortunes after detailing how City’s fatigued stars will be taking a well-earned rest this week ahead of Leicester City’s visit on Saturday evening.
Boris Bodega is concerned that winning top honours in FPL is getting more difficult each season as the game’s popularity grows, with more than 5.7 million managers now having registered teams.
At least veteran FPL managers can take comfort from the fact that they have the advantage of experience when preparing for the forthcoming double and blank Gameweeks.
Hotdogs for tea is among those wily old managers already planning how he will use his chips to navigate these tricky set of fixtures. Another is Individual, who is getting set for Gameweek 31’s missing matches by saving a transfer. This, he argues, will buy vital time to gather more information on the teams that will definitely play following the FA Cup fifth round ties.
There could also be a more drastic method to climb the ranks – stop playing altogether and hope for the best. Fusen has developed a tool to find out what Fantasy managers current score would be if they had taken this ‘nuclear option’ in any of the previous Gameweeks. An essential read.
Elsewhere, the new season of Fantasy Eliteserien, the Norwegian top-flight competition that took the community by storm last year, is set to get underway. Team Cruel dropped by to reveal some early player prices ahead of the game’s launch later this month.
To view all our discussions please visit our Hot Topics page.
The Members Tables
Wimslow Wizard has been busy constructing a raft of tables taking in teams with aerial threat, sides who are weak in the air and defenders who offer the chance of points at both ends of the pitch.
Backline options who are particularly attacking at set-pieces are the focus of FPL Virgin’s latest table.
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
In the FFScout Moderators and Contributors league, Jack Wain stays top, while I currently lead the chasing pack.
Similarly, ZoumasBloomers remains at the summit of QPR UTD’s Frequent Summer Posters league, and once again I’m in second.
It is also business as usual in Red Lightning’s Top 10K Any Season, where Elvarus holds onto first place, with Anders Lium 31 points behind in second.
There’s no change at the top of the FFScout Members league, which Heroes and Villains continues to dominate, or in the main FFScout league, where Bowstring the Carp remains on top spot despite returning a modest 43 points last time out.
At least Redlightning’s January to May league, is bucking the status quo, with Andy Woodyatt emerging as the new leader following Gameweek 26’s events. He has netted 332 points in the first five Gameweeks of this season run-in contest, moving from 386,583 to 116,749 in the overall rankings.
Meanwhile, in TorresMagic’s Last Man Standing, the safety score was 37, which saw 82 players depart and 534 remain.
And finally, SpeedyBoyz was on hand to deliver the latest news from 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.
