The Scout Squad crew return to offer their long-list of candidates to be considered for our regular Scout Picks selection on Friday.

The 72 nominations will be whittled down to a squad of 15 (with the starting XI not exceeding £83m) ahead of the Gameweek 3 deadline at 11:30 BST on Saturday.

Our regular panel of long-term Scoutcast/site contributors Paul, Joe and Az plus the man with three top 300 finishes to his name – Peter Kouwenberg – expand on their notable selections and omissions in the article below.

Our Scout Picks could be a relatively straight-forward selection this week, with eight players gaining backing across the board. With Liverpool and Manchester City facing poor travellers Brighton & Hove Albion and an open Wolverhampton Wanderers side respectively, Andrew Robertson, Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, Benjamin Mendy and Sergio Aguero have unanimous support.

Arsenal’s fixtures are about to take a turn for the better, meanwhile, beginning with a home match against the side with the joint-worst defensive record in the Premier League last season: West Ham United. Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are strong candidates for Friday’s final selection, then.

The curveball nominations include Neil Etheridge, Florent Hadergjonaj, Jeffrey Schlupp and Kelechi Iheanacho, though if we are to pack our chosen XI with as many of the above heavy-hitters then these maverick picks will have to enter the equation in order to meet the strict £83m budget.

Most Popular Picks: Andrew Robertson, Benjamin Mendy, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Pierre-Emerick Aubemeyang, Sergio Aguero, Aleksandar Mitrovic (four); Ben Foster, Fabri, Marcos Alonso, Richarlison, Danny Ings (three)

Paul said…

In defence, there’s scope for a couple of forward-thinking budget options to accompany the popular big-hitters.

Florent Hadergjonaj hosts the only side – Cardiff City – yet to score this season.

Huddersfield’s raiding right-back caught the eye after securing a starting berth in Gameweek 24 last term – from that point onwards, his total of 20 key passes was more than any other defender.

A share of corners and free-kicks boosts the appeal of Jose Holebas for Watford’s home clash with Crystal Palace.

The veteran leads all defenders for key passes (six) and served up a 13-point haul in his previous home match, courtesy of two assists and a clean sheet.

Form dictates the midfield picks, with Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser the value option.

He scored both goals in a 2-1 home win over this weekend’s visitors Everton last season.

With Kevin De Bruyne sidelined, David Silva could become increasingly influential for Pep Guardiola’s side.

The Spaniard’s away contribution in 2017/18 earns him the nod as my Man City midfielder.

Six of Silva’s nine goals and seven of his 11 assists were recorded on the road last term.

Up front, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Danny Ings could be big differentials for home encounters with Burnley and Leicester respectively.

Not only were both on the scoresheet last weekend, the underlying numbers suggest that they more than merit our consideration.

Among FPL forwards, only Sergio Aguero, with 12, has fired more shots than Mitrovic (11) or Ings (nine) in the opening two Gameweeks.

Joe said…

A collision of fine form and kind fixtures makes Gameweek 3 an ideal time to stock up on Liverpool and Manchester City assets.

With the Reds hosting a Brighton side that shipped a league-high 19 shots away to Watford in Gameweek 1, I’m backing a Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane double up. Between them, they have already amassed 43 points after just two games.

Liverpool full-back Andrew Robertson looks another essential pick having picked up bonus and clean sheets in both his games, as well as an assist at home to West Ham in Gameweek 1.

For City, the rampaging Benjamin Mendy looks undroppable after notching back-to-back braces of assists. He squares up to a Wolverhampton Wanderers side that are struggling to adapt to the Premier League, having shipped four goals already. Raheem Sterling’s omission from the Sky Blues’ starting line-up last time out should see him earn a recall. Similarly, Pep Guardiola’s recent praise of Sergio Aguero should see him make the first XI. This week Fantasy managers are likely to be a little more cynical should a certain national newspaper attempt to say he’ll be dropped.

With their hefty price tags, value will be needed elsewhere.

A four-man defence should save money, with Marcos Alonso as my sole Chelsea representative for their trip to Newcastle.

There are also bargains to be found up top and I’d like to see one of Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic, Southampton’s Danny Ings or Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson included in attack. Of this cut-price trio, Mitrovic looks the most enticing, with only Aguero firing off more shots than the Serbian so far. Ings looks the next-best option, with a shot in the box every 15.5 minutes, more than any other player.

AZ said…

The standout game this week is definitely Liverpool up against Brighton, who are a different team away from home (and not in a good way). I can see nothing other than a drubbing here, with anyone going without the ‘holy’ trio of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Andrew Robertson looking like they’ll need a big sofa to hide behind (sorry Luke).

I’ve also gone for Alisson in goal as I see Liverpool as having the best chance of a shutout, but I’d also be confident if I had Alex McCarthy as my ‘keeper as he’s already made a bucket-load of saves and Leicester are rolling into town without Jamie Vardy, so he may once again prosper between the sticks.

I’ve gone attacking in defence, as I don’t see many clean sheets in all honesty. Benjamin Mendy is playing like a striker, so I can see him continuing in my picks for the foreseeable future. I think David Luiz offers good value at £5.5m with the fixtures to come, and as Newcastle have proved to be quite dogged against Chelsea in previous seasons, it might take a set-piece goal to break them down. I’m still waiting for Seamus Coleman to come good – he has the pedigree and Bournemouth offers a good platform to get some attacking returns. Jeffrey Schlupp remains a good “OOP” prospect and is £1m cheaper than Patrick van Aanholt – both could do well against Watford despite their fantastic start to the season.

Arsenal v West Ham looks like a goal-fest, so I’ve gone for Henrikh Mkhitaryan in midfield. The rest of their options look too risky, with Aaron Ramsey enjoying a relaxing time on the bench and Mesut Ozil looking like he wants to join him.

Richarlison has the fixtures to continue his great run of form and David Silva is unlucky to be so far down on my list – he ran the show against Huddersfield but there are always some question marks around his starting spot – but I think he will get the chance to add to his majestic free-kick that he scored at the weekend.

Up front, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang picks himself and he looks set to be a decent differential as more and more managers make the swap to Aguero. I expect Alexandre Lacazette to come back into the side, but Aubameyang’s security of starts means surely he has to have a place in the Scout Picks this week. Sergio Aguero also has to be included on the back of his hat-trick (and assist) for the managers that ignored the hysteria that was created by that nonsense article.

Aleksandar Mitrovic continues to impress and Burnley have shown that the Europa League may be taking it out of them already – the fortress that was Turf Moor was breached three times by Watford last week and I expect Fulham to cause them all sorts of problems.

Wilfried Zaha and Marko Arnautovic are both brilliant mid-priced assets and I fancy both to get a goal against Watford and Arsenal respectively.

Peter said…

It’s a bittersweet feeling as the “template” continues to perform well – harder and riskier to go against the grain but, in the words of John ‘Hannibal’ Smith: “I love it when a plan comes together”.

And cries of “boring” will resoundingly ring out as I reprise my Gameweek 1 Anfield trio of Andrew Robertson, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah. Following last week’s picks, I was understandably criticised by some for sacrificing Salah and Harry Kane for the less expensive Mane and Sergio Aguero but came away relatively unscathed from those omissions. This week, the Egyptian (but not the Englishman) returns to the fold, no doubt carrying the armband of many an FPL manager. In the interests of balance, I should also remind readers than my selections of Raheem Sterling and Jamie Vardy didn’t go quite as well as hoped!

For goals, I’m loving the look of the Vitality Stadium. Ryan Fraser was the one that got away from my own FPL team, but does return for a second time in my picks, as does Richarlison. Benjamin Mendy hasn’t left them since Gameweek 1 and doesn’t like doing so anytime soon.

Chelsea and Arsenal both opened each other up at will on Saturday night and, with this week’s respective opponents  Newcastle and West Ham sitting behind only Huddersfield for chances conceded at this embryonic stage of the season, Marcos Alonso, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang join the squad.

That’s a significant financial outlay already, so I make no apologies for compromising quality for value in my final selections. Whilst my understanding is that the Scout Squad shortlists don’t strictly have to comply with any financial restrictions, we do try to keep financial fair play and the restrictions of the final picks in mind. Vaguely!

Finally, Neil Etheridge – my third-choice goalie – is only slightly tongue-in-cheek, but last year Luka Milivojevic made his FPL season largely through spot-kicks and the spoiler in me would love to see Etheridge defy expectations by picking up penalty save points on a weekly basis.