Manchester City and Chelsea are the two most-backed sides in this week’s Scout Picks.
Sergio Aguero (£11.3m) and Mohamed Salah (£13.0m) are both included for the fourth week in a row while Eden Hazard (£10.6m) and Marcos Alonso (£6.7m) feature heavily.
For the second time this season our formation has the Mike Bassett seal of approval, as we’ve gone with a 4-4-2 again.
GOALKEEPER
Lukasz Fabianski (£4.5m) gets his first place in a 2018/19 Scout Picks selection for Gameweek 4. West Ham may be without a clean sheet yet this season but their Polish goalkeeper has already scored an additional five points for his saves in the first three Gameweeks. Only Arsenal’s Petr Cech (£5.0m) has made more stops than Fabianski so far. The Hammers could register their first shutout of the campaign as they go up against a Wolves side yet to score on the road and currently ranking 17th for shots on target. Even if Manuel Pellegrini’s men fail to keep the newly promoted side out, Fabianski should still earn extras; he is yet to have a match in 2018/19 without earning save points.
DEFENDERS
Not surprisingly, it’s a third successive selection in the Scout Picks for Benjamin Mendy (£6.4m). Manchester City face a Newcastle side experiencing problems in front of goal in Gameweek 4, only Cardiff City registering a lower goal conversion rate in the first three weeks of the season. But even if the champions are to unexpectedly concede, like they did against Huddersfield, Mendy demonstrated in Gameweek 3 that he is capable of picking up bonus points even if he does not keep a clean sheet or involve himself in goals. Although, given that he is third for chance creation among defenders, Mendy has the potential to add to his four assists this weekend.
Marcos Alonso (£6.7m) remains top of the charts for goal attempts among defenders and is yet to register a Gameweek score of below 11 points. It would difficult for us not to include the Chelsea man when he is going up against a team as leaky defensively as Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth. Alonso received two top picks from our pundits and a pair of second choices, the same as Mendy.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.1m) makes his return to the Scout Picks no longer in the cheapest bracket of FPL defenders, but still a great budget asset. His forward thinking in the Gameweek 1 win at Fulham suggests we could see a repeat of the assist he registered in that match and facing a goal-shy Southampton side is the perfect opportunity for him to bank a clean sheet too.
Mason Holgate (£4.5m) gets a surprise inclusion in the Scout Picks to accommodate the popularity of Jordan Pickford (£5.0m) among our pundits this week. The only one who did not name-check the England number one was Paul, with Joe, Az and Peter all confident that Everton will collect their first clean sheet of 2018/19 against Huddersfield. The Terriers have mustered just three shots on target so far, the worst in the league. In the interest of fitting in all the best options we’ve decided to go with Holgate here, thus giving the Everton defence the mention they deserve without spending quite as much. According to Marco Silva’s latest press conference, Holgate and Kurt Zouma (£5.0m) are the only fit centre-backs at Goodison Park right now.
MIDFIELDERS
For the fourth week in a row Mohamed Salah (£13.0m) is our headline midfield option. As we said last week, we feel we are past the point of having to back up why he’s in the selection. The Egyptian is currently top of the league both for shots on goal and chance creation. Once again Salah looks to be the complete player and still looks capable of returning Fantasy points in any fixture. He was picked as the top option by Paul and Peter, second choice by Az and third by Joe.
After receiving the same number of top picks as Salah, Eden Hazard (£10.6m) gets into the selection for the first time this season. The Chelsea man has five goals in his last five matches against Bournemouth, although only one was at Stamford Bridge. Crucially, Hazard has been in fantastic form during his limited minutes so far in 2018/19. Already he has registered two assists and a goal from one start and two substitute appearances.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (£7.1m) once again is the central figure for anyone hoping to capitalise on Arsenal’s favourable run of fixtures, this week taking them to the Cardiff City Stadium. No Arsenal player has had more efforts on goal than the Armenian midfielder and he has also created more chances than any of his colleagues too. Az and Joe requested a mention for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£10.9m) who they believe will finally get involved in the goals this week, and if that happens Mkhitaryan is sure to have a hand in that.
We are predicting big things for Pascal Groß (£6.9m) and his Brighton colleagues in Gameweek 4. They host a Fulham side whose defensive problems thus far have seen them concede at least twice in each of their matches. By contrast, the Seagulls have scored five times in their last three home encounters, one against Spurs and the other two against Manchester United. Despite having his minutes managed against Liverpool in Gameweek 3, Groß still tops the chance creation charts among his Brighton colleagues, has had more shots on target than any of them, and is the team’s designated penalty taker.
FORWARDS
Sergio Aguero (£11.3m) was the only player in this week’s selection to get a clean sweep of top picks. That’s not surprising considering the Manchester City man is joint-top for shots in the league and is facing a Newcastle side that has allowed eight big chances in the first three Gameweeks. Aguero also loves scoring against Rafa Benitez’s side. In his last three home matches against the Magpies he has found the net a whopping nine times. We are not too worried about rotation yet either. The Argentinian striker started every match at the Etihad Stadium that he was declared fit for in 2017/18 and is yet to be benched for a single game so far in 2018/19.
Backing up the City man is the only other forward to pick up a nod from all four of our pundits for the Gameweek 4 line-up, Wilfried Zaha (£7.1m). The Crystal Palace man has scored twice in three matches, already proving to be good value. Only four strikers have landed more efforts on target in 2018/19 and Southampton have averaged nine accurate shots conceded per match so far.
SUBSTITUTES
Wayne Hennessey (£4.5m) is another goalkeeper who has picked up additional points for saves in every match so far this season. With Crystal Palace’s favourable fixture against Southampton in Gameweek 4, it would be difficult not to include him on the bench, especially with mentions from all four of our pundits.
In defence, we’ve put Az’s man Hector Bellerin (£5.5m) on the bench. We did want to include him in the line-up given that Cardiff are still goalless in the Premier League but could not find space for him within the £83m budget. We think he’ll do well in Gameweek 4 though.
Although we recently discovered there are better Richarlison replacements out there, Theo Walcott (£6.7m) gets a mention on the bench for the Scout Picks. He was name-checked by both Az and Peter. In fact, the former said “it would be silly not to include him”.
Our substitute striker is Aleksandar Mitrovic (£6.6m), considering his excellent form which has seen him register three goals and an assist in the first three Gameweeks. We went with Zaha over him as a result of his slightly more favourable fixture.
COMMUNITY CHAMPION
Representing the community against the Scout Picks in Gameweek 4 is AA33 who has opted for a 3-4-3 line-up of: De Gea; Mendy, Coleman, Alexander-Arnold; David Silva, Sigurdsson, Mkhitaryan, Lucas Moura; Aguero, Aubameyang, Tosun.
The community member who beats our picks by the biggest margin over the campaign will win a £100 Amazon Voucher and a place in our Contributors and Moderators League for the following season.
The Scouts have won two and lost one so far, Rasping Drive losing out by 46 points to 61 in Gameweek 3.
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