The latest double and blank Gameweek announcements dominated the community’s thoughts this week.
Our Hot Topic posters and community writers take in the ramifications of the altered fixture schedule, including the best players to target and how Fantasy Premier League’s chips can be most usefully deployed.
Elsewhere, the statisticians in our Members area have also been busily preparing for the season run in with a look at the most attacking assets to consider.
Finally, we conclude our round-up with a look at who emerged from Gameweek 31’s reduced set of fixtures in a strong position at the top of the community leagues.
The Community Articles
Our Rate My Wildcard Team Surgery opened up this week to help those who have deployed this chip ahead of Gameweek 32. I start off the discussion with the challenges facing my overhauled team, which is based around using the Bench Boost chip in double Gameweek 34, the Free Hit chip the week after and saving the Triple Captain chip for Gameweek 37’s likely extended set of fixtures.
FPL Virgin dropped by to put forward an alternative chip strategy, which could be particularly appealing to those without a Triple Captain chip in hand.
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
The season run in became much clearer this week with the confirmation that eight teams will play twice in Gameweek 34 with the following Gameweek reduced due to FA Cup semi-finals.
Andy85wsm kick-started the double Gameweek strategy discussion, which was swiftly followed by Flynny’s post on why Gameweek 34 looks potentially the best time to use a Bench Boost chip.
Those currently tinkering with their team after firing up the second Wildcard were canvassed on their plans by Punty McPuntface, while Bouncebackability put forward a specific plan for those with no Triple Captain chip.
We asked the community for their views on who the best strikers, midfielders and defenders will be for the remaining seven Gameweeks. Viper stripes supplemented this with a specific discussion on the best budget forwards.
Liars Poker is among those looking for new blood in his frontline, amid concerns that Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino is not explosive enough to justify his 9.7 price tag. However, Viper believes ditching the Brazilian, who has scored 14 goals in the league this season, is too risky.
Meanwhile, Pooodle believes that Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who is cup tied for Arsenal’s Europa campaign, looks a perfect candidate for a forward role. Doosra’s latest number crunching, as delivered by G-Whizz, certainly indicates he could be a shrewd purchase for Gameweek 32.
Another to look at season run in players is Enzo the Baker, who is wondering if now is the time to swerve underperforming premium defenders. Our Hot Topic on the best cheap enablers includes a raft of budget gems in defence to consider.
Meanwhile, Brosstan is not happy with the inevitable deployment of chips around double Gameweeks and thinks it makes FPL too predictable and boring.
We added to this debate on chips by canvassing views on their deployment so far, to assess who have been the winners and losers. When to use the second Wildcard is a key decision to make for those still holding on to this chip, with Zico Senna advocating firing it up now ahead of Gameweek 32 rather than waiting.
One way to spice up the final Gameweeks of the season would be to take the bold step of removing Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, who scored 29 points last weekend and is heading towards a final points tally that may well be the biggest that FPL has ever seen. Pras United is the brave community poster to put forward this potentially season wrecking notion.
Those who entrusted the Egyptian winger with the Triple Captain chip in Gameweek 31, as detailed in our ”rough with the smooth” round up of your latest scores, are especially unlikely to hand Salah his P45.
But could key players, such as Salah, be rested as the campaign draws to a close and league positions are largely decided? Athletico Bilbo details those who may already ‘be on the beach’ as the season edges nearer to its conclusion.
Finally, this week saw Ragabolly join the FFScout editorial team to present the first in a regular series of articles using his metrics and data tools to assess how the top 10,000 Fantasy Premier League managers perform each week. He takes up the role after impressing with his recent community articles that looked at how high-placed managers were geared up for Gameweek 31’s limited set of fixtures.
To view all our discussions please visit our Hot Topics page.
The Members Tables
Prolific wing backs are the focus of Stoke Me A Clipper’s latest table, while vkux has been delving into the underlying statistics of forwards and midfielders priced under 9.0.
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 retains top spot in Red Lightning’s Top 10K Any Season league with Stuart Blakeley in Hot pursuit, just two points behind in second.
There’s also no change at the summit of the FFScout Members League, where Paul Gee has a commanding 31 lead over second placed Heroes and Villains.
However, Paul has to settle for second in the FFScout league, which continues to be lead by Rizwan Chaudhry, who moves from sixth to third in the overall rankings.
Jack Wain once again tops the FFScout moderators and contributors league, while I lead the chasing pack, with Az now moving up to third after a score of 110 points in Gameweek 31.
Elsewhere, I slip down to second in QPR Utd’s Frequent Summer Posters competition, with Zoumas Bloomers reclaiming bragging rights at the top.
A score of 100 was enough for Dan Jeffries to retain first place among the community’s oldest and wisest members at the summit of the FFS Old Farts Club.
If you are running a community tournament and would like the latest scores included in future Community Round-ups, please email us summary of the current leaders and a link to your league, spreadsheet or head to head competition, at jonty@fantasyfootballscout.co.uk.
