The confirmation of Double Gameweek 37 dominated the chatter in the Fantasy Football Scout community this week.
However, our Hot Topic discussions were also hit by the less welcome news of Mohamed Salah’s injury during Liverpool’s stunning Champions League victory over Manchester City. It remains to be seen whether the winger will make the Reds teamsheet for their visit to Everton, but it’s not looking likely.
Meanwhile, the community scribes focused on captaincy decisions and whether deploying a Wildcard in Gameweek 32 was the right call. They also cast their net further afield, with a look at Fantasy games in Norway and India.
Elsewhere, attacking defenders dominate the week’s Members tables and we finish off our round-up with a look at those who go into Gameweek 33 at the top of the community leagues.
The Community Articles.
The top five managers in our Career Hall of Fame all benefited from a well-timed Gameweek 32 Wildcard, according to Top Marx’s analysis of their season so far.
Selecting the right captain has also helped this elite bunch prosper recently. Ludo’s latest article looks at some of the key sources of information to take into account when deciding the armband, with our Poll and Rate My Team model faring well in his assessment.
Stat was also on hand with some further captaincy advice with his piece on the most explosive and consistent players.
Hutch_James‘ look at what ‘the crowd’ are saying about Gameweek 33’s fixtures suggests that those who captain Harry Kane this weekend could prosper.
Away from Fantasy Premier League (FPL) matters, Dreams dropped by to let the cricket fans in the community know about the launch of this year’s Fantasy Indian Premier League competition.
Meanwhile, the first Double Gameweek of the season tops the bill in Niemi’s latest preview for those taking part in Norwegian top-flight game Fantasy Eliteserien.
Finally, congratulations to Speedyboyz, who has been named the best community writer of March, via a community vote. His regular updates on the Community Watch tournament have scooped him a £20 Amazon voucher.
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
As expected, this week saw the Premier League announce that 12 teams will play twice in Gameweek 37.
Even before this official announcement, Pegboy sparked a discussion on whether deploying a Free Hit chip could be the ideal strategy for this bumper set of fixtures. We also joined the debate by canvassing your views on the best way to tackle what could be one of this season’s most important Gameweeks in terms of mini-league placings and overall rank.
Player ownership will be a major consideration for many when preparing for a Double Gameweek, according to our Hot Topic on the importance of player popularity.
This discussion became particularly important on Wednesday evening when FPL’s most popular player, Mohamed Salah, hobbled off with a groin injury during Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Man City.
Many of those responding to Rainer’s discussion on his injury are inclined to park the Golden Boot race leader on the bench, rather than move him out. We followed this up by asking whether other Liverpool assets’ stock could suffer should the Egyptian miss out.
Another injury worry was Spurs’ Harry Kane, who damaged his ankle in Gameweek 30’s trip to Bournemouth. But rather than facing weeks out, the England striker made a swift recovery and earned a late cameo in Gameweek 32’s home victory over Chelsea.
With a start looking likely this weekend against Stoke City, and two Double Gameweeks on the horizon, Andy85wsm asked when is the best time for non-owners to bring him (back) in.
That defeat for Chelsea could see Antonio Conte’s trips miss out on a top-four finish and hinder their motivation, according to Jamosh’s discussion on whether Blues assets should be swerved for the season run-in.
However, Doosra’s Gameweek 33 number crunching, as delivered by G-Whizz, suggests that patience is required, given that Chelsea are predicted to prosper at home to a West Ham side that has shipped a record 12 goals in their last four away days.
The Career Hall of Fame top five were not the only FPL managers who were happy with the performance of their refreshed squads last weekend. Our “rough with the smooth” round-up of your latest scores found that those who brought in Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for his brace against Stoke were among the most joyous.
But as many popular Gameweek 32 Wildcard picks blanked, and in particular, Chelsea’s Willian and Leicester City’s Riyad Mahrez, Deadstar wonders whether those using this vital chip for Gameweek 33 now have an advantage.
Another popular pick who was unable to deliver returns last weekend is Brighton stopper Mat Ryan. He has a favourable home fixture this time around against Huddersfield, to make amends, but in Viper’s goalkeeper discussion some of his owners are considering benching him in favour of Manchester United’s shot-stopper supreme David De Gea.
Many of those who saved their chips for these final few Gameweeks will be hoping to achieve a significant boost in their rankings. Farcelona123 asked the community for their top tips on how to consistently achieve a high rank each season.
To view all our discussions please visit our Hot Topics page.
The Members Tables
For those looking for a defender that could deliver a haul during the upcoming Double Gameweeks, Wilmslow Wizard has made this table looking at those at the back with strong clean sheet potential and attacking threat. This is supplemented by FPL Partridge’s useful ‘defender goal threat analyser’ table.
123083’s analysis on budget options up top provides some useful underlying statistics for those looking to bring in a cheap third striker.
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 TorresMagic’s Last Man Standing competition, Eunuch Jelly hit the top score in Gameweek 32 with 87. There are 119 teams left after 60 were eliminated when the safety score was set at 56.
Christos Sui is the new leader of Red Lightning’s Top 10K Any Season mini-league and is now up to 94th in the overall rankings. Stuart Blakeley is level on points, but has to make do with second spot as he’s made more transfers.
Red Lightning’s Doubles, Blanks and Chips mini-league is topped by Przemyslaw Rutkowski and in his January to May league, Shirin Nizar remains in first.
FFScout main league leader Rizwan Chaudhry has moved up to second spot in the overall rankings, 30 points behind world number one Bharat Dhody. Paul Gee continues at the summit of the FFScout Members League.
Elsewhere, Jack Wain retains his 12-point advantage over me at the top of the FFScout moderators and contributors league after we both scored 57 in Gameweek 32.
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
