Welcome back! Fantasy Premier League returns as Gameweek 13 kicks off the busiest period of the season. There’s been a lot to digest over the international break: the headline news is the return of Jose Mourinho following the sacking of Mauricio Pochettino, and here at Fantasy Football Scout we’ve been taking stock of the season and busy plotting our path to FPL glory.
Spot of team news first, post-embargoed quotes emerged from Jurgen Klopp regarding the fitness of Mohamed Salah:
It is not serious but in the short period we have to let it settle it is always tight for the game. We will see. He trained completely yesterday, a full session, but we have to see how he reacted.
Make of that what you will. The element of doubt might prompt some to switch their allegiances to team-mate Mané. Neale penned an insightful article on a tactical shift at Liverpool favouring the Senegalese. Catching our attention in the opening line, he noted:
From Gameweek 25 of last season onwards, Sadio Mane (£12.1m) has outscored Mohamed Salah (£12.3m) in Fantasy Premier League by 190 points to 152.
He went on to discuss how formation changes and the excellent deliveries from the flanks have exploited Mané’s prowess in the air.
The article is members only as it relies heavily on the use of Opta statistics. For those who aren’t yet members, this week it was announced that monthly subscription options are available for £2.99 per month with introductory offer of £1.99 for the first month.
Mané also caught the eye of Pro Pundit Ash and, along with Trent Alexander-Arnold, is included in this week’s Scout Picks. Trent’s clean sheet potential is highlighted away to a Crystal Palace side who are the joint-lowest scorers at home this season.
In total five players from Merseyside make the Scout XI. Everton’s enticing home fixture with Norwich City proved too juicy a carrot for our selectors with three of their number featuring.
Theo Walcott is not one of the trio, hardly a surprise to many fantasy managers. However, the odd eyebrow may have been raised when Pro Pundit Tom Freeman discussed the inclusion of the ex-Arsenal winger in his side.
Tom featured on a Meet the Manager interview with Joe and explained how he likes to have some fun with his fourth midfielder slot. A hot topic on the subject ensued.
One such player coming under scrutiny recently has been Mason Mount, and he was debated by our Scoutcast panel of Joe, Tom, and fellow Pro Pundit Holly. Many are considering a switch to Pulisic, with David enthusing about the American’s excellent performance against Crystal Palace.
However, Tom noted that perhaps this isn’t the week to make the move with a trip to Manchester City up next. Frank Lampard also mentioned a hip injury as the reason for his withdrawal in that Palace match. Indeed risk-averse managers may choose to heed the advice of Pro Pundit and Chelsea-fan Zophar:
I am not keen on acquiring [Pulisic’s] services ahead of a period which sees Chelsea play 11 matches in 40 days. The Champions League group is very tight with three teams sitting on seven points and I wouldn’t be surprised if Chelsea fielded their strongest line-up in that competition as they play West Ham and Bournemouth, both at Stamford Bridge right after those games. Pulisic is yet to play three games a week at the top level in his career and with a hip injury problem to manage I think it is highly unlikely he does so now.
Although as Neale reported in the team-news round-up, his rival for place in the Chelsea starting XI Callum Hudson-Odoi is currently nursing a hamstring injury. His relegation to the subs bench in recent weeks prompted Pro Pundit Sam to look for a replacement, with fellow Pro Pundit Andy joining her in opting for Tielemans. While a third Pro Pundit Az decided to invest a little more to acquire the services of team-mate Maddison.
With Pro Pundits seemingly taking over the site, community writer Greyhead was inspired to assess their credentials in a bonus edition of The Great and The Good. Sam is currently the best ranked of the elite bunch, often timing her transfer to perfection, but Lateriser has gained the most immediate transfer points.
Over the international break he took a look ahead to the upcoming winter schedule and highlighted how well Tottenham duo Kane and Son have done in recent seasons. Having underperformed somewhat in the opening 12 Gameweeks, will the arrival of Mourinho boost their fortunes?
Lateriser included research on the new manager bounce in his hot topic, while moderator Gregor – an excellent manager with six top 10,000 finishes and a best of 29th overall – questioned the effect on Spurs assets. And Neale’s in-depth Scout Report on Mourinho highlighted the potential for improvement at the back.
For those not enjoying their best season like community member Rupert the Horse, comfort can be found in Lateriser’s very name – a reference to his late surges up the ranks. Hopefully his quote will make you feel better:
In my best season to date, I was ranked 1.8 million exactly halfway through the season. I finished the season at an overall rank of 77.
Mental health was the subject of a thoughtful article from former FPL winner and, yes you guessed it, Pro Pundit Simon March. Simon confided that he oftens finds himself worrying about the players he doesn’t own, and gave the example of another former FPL winner Ben Crabtree, a devout Evertonian who never picks Liverpool players. Not only did Ben win FPL without Liverpool players but he is currently ranked 24k. The article contains excellent advice for all.
Captaincy Debate and Award Nomination
David brought us the latest Captain Sensible article, delving into the stats to highlight a number of potential armband candidates.
As Greyhead discovered in his examination of the Pro Pundits, Tom Freeman has gained the most captain points this season. Tom’s revealed he will be trusting Raheem Sterling with the armband.
Jamie Vardy is the popular captain choice amongst FFS managers and currently leads the captain poll.
His and Leicester’s form has been the subject of much debate – is it sustainable? It was a question I considered when using expected goals data to assess the performance of the top six teams and Leicester this season.
And G-Whizz brought us the latest DS stats, fixtures and clean sheet odds with Arsenal tipped to do well. Aubameyang captain anyone?
To view all our discussions please visit our Hot Topics page, and if you’ve got some analysis, scout reports or features brewing, be sure to visit our community section to submit your article.
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.
Finally I’m delighted to say that Fantasy Football Scout has been nominated for Online Media of the Year at the FSA Awards! Our category will be decided by a public ballot, so if you would like to see us crowned the winners then you can VOTE FOR US HERE.
Community Competitions
For a full update on all FFS Mini-Leagues and Community Competitions, please click here to read the latest round-up.
The Fantasy Football Scout Cups are back! Entry for both the free-to-all and members only cups is open now.
Boris Bodega announced the start of the second period and looked forward to MatchWeek 5 in his Pundits Playoff preview. The article featured an interview with Pirlo’s Pen from the aptly named Unbelievable Jeff FC. Unbelievably, he was the best manager in the first period.
For those interested in the Head-to-Head Leagues, the main page can be linked to here. The fixtures for Gameweek 13 can be found below:
Use the drop-down menus to show your league and division. To find out which league and division you are in, follow the instructions on the main Head-to-Head page.
Once the Gameweek starts, if you click on your opponent’s name you will be linked to their team on the FPL website.
Best of luck for Gameweek 13!
