After weeks of planning, the second reduced Gameweek of the season is almost here.
Our community discussions take in the best players to target as well as offering advice on whether to deploy the Free Hit chip to help navigate the limited set of fixtures.
The predicted weekend moves of the Fantasy Premier League’s (FPL) top managers are considered among our latest community articles, which also includes further comprehensive coverage of the Norwegian top-flight Fantasy game.
There’s further insight into the best options for this weekend among the new Members statistics tables, and we finish off our weekly round-up with a look at those hoping that they can remain on top in our community contests.
The Community Articles
Ragabolly has been getting both his abacus and crystal ball out to predict the Top 10,000 Fantasy Premier League managers’ moves ahead of Gameweek 31, including Free Hit deployment and how many hits they might take.
Meanwhile, the Career Hall of Fame top five’s preparations for this weekend’s reduced schedule is covered by Top Marx.
Those that invest in the Liverpool attack and Bournemouth backline look the likeliest to prosper, according to Hutch_James‘ canvassing of  ‘the crowd’.
Meanwhile, the first Gameweek of the Norwegian Fantasy Eliteserien game didn’t quite go to plan, with reigning champions Rosenborg beaten and snow reducing the schedule. Niemi looks ahead to this weekend’s fixtures and also interviewed Eurosport’s Jonas Bergh-Johnson, who helped create the game’s exciting new chips.
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
Among prime targets for this weekend’s limited fixture list is Stoke City stopper Jack Butland, who has the best minutes per save rate (22.5) of any regular goalkeeper this season. Jason G123 has been weighing up whether this Potters asset justifies a transfer hit when he faces Everton at the Bet365 stadium on Saturday.
Our Hot Topic on blank Gameweek 31’s potential dream team presents a raft of other candidates to consider. This will be particularly handy for those using their Free Hit chip, which Deulofail dropped by to explain earlier this week.
There are further Gameweek 31 options listed in Professor Bear’s look at the latest under the radar prospects.
Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha, who registered an assist in his return from injury against Chelsea last weekend, is among those vying for a spot in many of the community’s weekend squad, according to our discussion on lessons learned from Gameweek 30.
Everton’s Leighton Baines is another name in the running after he registered a double-digit points haul against Brighton last time out. Those who swooped early for the left-back were among the happy few to take part in our “rough with the smooth” round-up of your Gameweek 30 scores.
Before pressing the transfer button, it is advisable to check out Doosra’s number crunching predictions for the weekend’s games, as delivered by G-Whizz.
Even before this latest blank Gameweek has finished, the community is already thinking ahead to the final seven Gameweeks of the season, the next set of double fixtures and how best to deploy chips.
Lateriser 12’s planning guide offers some useful advice on rising up the rankings during the season run in.
We added to the discussion with a look at the key targets for the final seven Gameweeks of the campaign.
In addition, we canvassed views on the best Chelsea players to bring in and whether Arsenal’s stars can match up to Manchester United’s over the run-in.
To view all our discussions, please visit our Hot Topics page.
The Members Tables
Patrickflah has created this table to find out the best midfield options for Gameweek 31 in terms of goals, assists and expected returns. Meanwhile, there’s a quartet of blank Gameweek players to consider in my latest goals imminent table, which focuses on under the radar options who are due a goal.
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
Anders Lium has ousted long-term leader Elvarus at the summit of Red Lightning’s Top 10K Any Season league and has also taken top spot in PDM’s Top 1k Any Season league.
But there’s no change at the top of Red Lightning’s January to May league, where Shirin Nizar, who is up to 111th place overall, remains in the lead. Red Lightning also wants to remind the community that his new mini-league, Double, Blanks and Chips, starts in Gameweek 31. This has been set up to help assess this season’s best strategy for the season run-in.
Paul Gee has opened up a 45-point lead at the top of the FFScout Members League and is now on the edge of the top ten in the overall rankings, in 11th spot.
Elsewhere, Rizwan Chaudhry retains his lead in the FFScout league, and is up to sixth overall.
I’ve managed to cut Jack Wain’s position at the top of the FFScout moderators and contributors league to two points and still lead QPR Utd’s Frequent Summer Posters competition, with Zoumas Bloomers in hot pursuit.
Dan Jeffries retains bragging rights among our community’s elder statesmen and women at the summit of the FFS Old Farts Club, with Bonz in second.
In TorresMagic’s Last Man Standing, the safety score was 36, which saw 69 players depart and 239 remain.
Finally, congratulations to Team Afghanistanislas for winning this season’s 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.
