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 narrowed down to a squad of 15 (with the starting XI not exceeding £83m and no club represented by more than three players) ahead of the Gameweek 5 deadline at 11:30 BST on Saturday.

Peter Kouwenberg – who has three top 300 finishes to his name – joins our regular panel of Scoutcast regulars/site contributors Az, Joe and Paul to expand on their notable selections and omissions in the article below.

Liverpool’s tricky-looking fixture at Tottenham Hotspur sees their assets fall from favour, with Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah getting only three votes between them and Andrew Robertson being overlooked entirely.

Marcos Alonso and Benjamin Mendy are backed across the board, as are their team-mates Eden Hazard, Pedro and Sergio Aguero. Alonso, Hazard and Aguero are, in fact, the first names on the teamsheet for all four of our panelists in their respective positions.

Southampton and Wolves assets are also popular this week, most notably in defence and between the sticks.

Most popular picks: Alex McCarthy, Marcos Alonso, Benjamin Mendy, Eden Hazard, Pedro, Sergio Aguero, Danny Ings (four), Rui Patricio, Matt Doherty, David Silva, Callum Wilson (three)

Paul said…

The first match of the Gameweek, Spurs at home to Liverpool, plays a big part in shaping my squad.

Factor in Man City and Chelsea’s favourable home matches and I’m willing to overlook Mohamed Salah and co. for once.

By avoiding those two teams, there’s an argument for tripling up on City and Chelsea against promoted sides, while Arsenal’s trip to Newcastle could also deliver goals.

The Gunners have netted eight times in the last three Gameweeks, doing so at least twice on each occasion, and are finding their scoring touch ahead of some nice fixtures that could elevate interest in Unai Emery’s regulars.

As most of my attackers are obvious candidates, I have again looked to defence for some differentials.

Jannik Vestergaard could pose a threat for Southampton at home to Brighton. The big centre-half bagged seven goals for Borussia Monchengladbach over the last two Bundesliga seasons and faces a defence ranked third worst for efforts conceded from set-plays.

A clean sheet could also be on the cards. Brighton – along with Cardiff – are one of just two sides yet to score on the road. That echoes their issues from last season, when Chris Hughton’s men scored ten goals away from home.

Matt Doherty’s delivery from right wing-back offers a cut-price option at £4.4m for Wolves’ home clash with Burnley. He’s their top performer for successful open play crosses (11), while five efforts in the box is just one less than Marcos Alonso.

Although they’ve mustered just a single clean sheet, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have conceded just four big chances, the third most resilient record in the league.

Diego Rico is a slight risk but I reckon he’s done enough to keep his place at home to Leicester, even if Charlie Daniels is passed fit.

Crucially, he took four of Bournemouth’s six corners at Chelsea in Gameweek 4 and created two big chances. Furthermore, no side have allowed fewer big chances than the Cherries’ two. If he’s given dead-ball duties, the summer signing is clearly one to watch.

Joe said…

Manchester City’s continuing fine run of games sees me once again turn to Pep Guardiola’s assets.

Key players such as Sergio Aguero and David Silva were not involved in international duty and should be fresh for Fulham’s visit. With more goal attempts (20) than any other player, the Argentinean striker looks near-essential and the key captaincy option for Gameweek 5.

Meanwhile, David Silva sits at the summit of my “Assist Imminent” table in the Members section, to give me confidence he can turn his strong underlying statistics into tangible returns.

The Sky Blues’ rampaging full-back Benjamin Mendy did feature for France during the international break, but I’m betting his fitness levels will be able to cope with Saturday’s clash with a Fulham side that has conceded nine goals and not managed a clean sheet yet this campaign.

Elsewhere, I like the look of Leicester assets against a Bournemouth outfit that has only managed one shut-out this season. Jamie Vardy’s return from suspension makes him a strong pick. If money is tight, I’ve put forward the Foxes’ creator-in-chief James Maddison, who has taken more corners and delivered more key passes than any of his team-mates. The former Norwich man is also joint-top for shots among Claude Puel’s charges.

Romelu Lukaku’s impressive start to the season has also caught my eye. The 7% of FPL managers who own the Belgian should feel optimistic of returns away to Watford given that he has found the net three times so far and is the second-best player in terms of shots in the box, on-target efforts and big chances.

Az said…

I sometimes struggle with these Scout Squad selections, but I actually found this one relatively easy to write. There are some really good fixtures out there for us to tap into, although I am not sure there are going to be many clean sheets outside of the obvious Chelsea v Cardiff game.

My biggest selection was going against Mohamed Salah and picking Sadio Mane. Although Salah’s stats are impressive, you can’t ignore the form of Mane and if I were to pick one it would be the Senegalese international. I’m really looking forward to the Spurs game, as it gives both of these teams a chance to make a case for themselves as title challengers. I do think Liverpool have enough to see off Spurs though, which is why I haven’t got any Tottenham assets in my selection.

My midfield is actually quite differential-heavy this week. Eden Hazard is being bought by a lot of people and he’s the man I fear most this week. Neil Warnock has already made some excuses for Cardiff’s inevitable defeat and I can see this being a real rout. If I had Hazard, I’d captain him. I’d also be confident if I owned Pedro (who scored off the bench last week) and Kepa (who has already got a couple of clean sheets to his name). I’m also a very happy Marcos Alonso owner, of course – I wouldn’t want to be without him for this one.

Up front, Sergio Aguero is a no-brainer. He normally starts at home and Fulham won’t sit back; this is going to be an open game and I expect him to bang a couple of goals.

I was really impressed with Alexandre Lacazette leading the line for Arsenal against Cardiff. He looks in great shape and goes up against a Newcastle United side who I still think are in a bit of a crisis.

James Maddison, Jamie Vardy and Ricardo Pereira are my Leicester picks. Over the coming weeks, I expect all three to be in the points and their ownerships to rise. If you don’t own at least one of them, I’d get them in. Pereira loves to maraud forward, Maddison is going to prove his worth as chief creator in the team and Vardy has had a nice rest and should be back to his best. Wildcarders: make sure you’ve grabbed a couple of their assets, is my advice.

Peter said…

It’s a nice mix of premium and budget defenders this week, all of whom I feel have great attacking potential. Marcos Alonso and Benjamin Mendy form two of the three towers constituting many managers’ R-A-M defensive strategy and I suspect their inclusion needs little justification, with Chelsea and Manchester City hosting Cardiff and Fulham respectively.

Huddersfield have had fewer attempts (25) than any other side so far this season and only Leicester have notched the same miserly shots in the box tally (14) so I wanted defensive cover from Crystal Palace in the hope that James Tomkins will be back to help shore things up. Jeffrey Schlupp would probably get the nod if I knew he would be getting the full 90, but I’ve gone for Patrick van Aanholt, who has fired off an effort every hour thus far.

Even cheaper and with potential at both ends are Cedric Soares and Matt Doherty, whose goalkeeping team-mates I’ve also backed against a Brighton side yet to score away from home and a Burnley attack which doesn’t inspire. Diego Rico also deserves an honorary mention after his mouth-watering debut against Chelsea.

I’m just not ready to release Mohamed Salah yet amidst debate as to whether he can repeat last year’s form and whether it’s a myth that the Reds perform best against the top sides. I can’t deny that, for different reasons, both Gylfi Sigurdsson (form) and Raheem Sterling (rotation) could be considered punts, but it’s impossible to resist the temptation of those inviting West Ham and Fulham defences which, along with Huddersfield and Burnley, currently “lead” the goals conceded chart.

My striker selections largely follow the form guide. Short of Pep Guardiola issuing a legally binding assurance that he won’t be starting Sergio Aguero, the Argentinean is likely to carry the hopes and armbands of many an FPL manager this weekend. City’s opponents, Fulham, carry a not insignificant threat of their own in the shape of Aleksandar Mitrovic, who continued his rich vein of form for Serbia earlier in the week and will be aware that the Citizens have not kept a clean sheet since their opening-day victory over Arsenal.

Callum Wilson, meanwhile, is in the form of his life, whilst the aforementioned clash at Goodison Park should be open enough for Marko Arnautovic to get on the scoresheet, despite West Ham’s general malaise.

The Community Champion

This week’s champion is zophar, who has an exceptional track record with seven top 10,000 finishes – the best of which was an overall rank of 17 in 2010/11.

The Community Champion who has the best lead over the Scouts during 2018/19 will win a £100 Amazon voucher (currently we can only offer Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com vouchers).

Last week’s champion, AA33, beat our Scout Picks 41-37 with a 3-4-3 line-up of De Gea (6); Mendy (5), Coleman (2), Alexander-Arnold (2); David Silva (2), Sigurdsson (2), Mkhitaryan (1), Lucas Moura (5); Aguero (6), Aubameyang (8), Tosun (2)

Eden Wizard’s Gameweek 2 victory over the Scout Squad crew by a score of 77-68 remains the deficit to beat.

Become a Member and access our data

Memberships for the 2018/19 campaign are now available for the price of £15.

Join now to get the following:

• Plot your transfer strategies using the fully interactive Season Ticker.
• Get projections for every Premier League player provided by the Rate My Team statistical model.
• Use Rate My Team throughout the season to guide your selections and transfers.
• Get access to over 130+ exclusive members articles over the season.
• Analyse our OPTA-powered statistic tables specifically tailored for Fantasy Football Managers.
• Use our exclusive tool to build custom stats tables from over 100 OPTA player and team stats.
• View heatmaps and expected goals data for every player.
• Use our powerful comparison tool to analyse players head-to-head.

CLICK HERE TO BECOME A FANTASY FOOTBALL SCOUT MEMBER