We go again.
The Gameweeks continue to come thick and fast in Fantasy Premier League with managers given little time to collect their thoughts. Fantasy Football Scout has been a hive of activity in the last 24 hours with writers and contributors working furiously to bring you the latest team news, stats, and opinion.
On Wednesday evening Tammy Abraham overcame a hip injury to deliver a fifth double-figure haul of the season against Aston Villa. The Chelsea forward is once again a small doubt heading into Gameweek 16 although it’s unlikely anyone is selling this time around. Neale’s team news report included the following quote from Frank Lampard:
Tammy Abraham is good, he hasn’t done much in between games. We’ll make sure of that in the morning but at the moment he’s good.
– Frank Lampard
Jurgen Klopp surprised fantasy managers by dropping two of his talismanic front three as both Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah sat out the Merseyside derby. Post match quotes from the Liverpool manager did little to assuage fears of further rotation:
I have to show the respect for the boys and I’ve said a lot of times how much I like the squad and now we have to use it. We think the game will be really intense and for this you need kind of fresh legs and we try to bring them in.
– Jurgen Klopp
When quizzed by Andy on the likely Liverpool starting XI Neale nimbly evaded the question. However after his 15-point haul against Everton, Sadio Mané is included in this week’s Scout Picks. Sam, in her video review of Gameweek 15, agreed with David Wardale’s conclusion that:
Where Salah was once the undroppable driver of the Reds’ attacking juggernaut, Mane is now the man behind that particular wheel, and ignoring him is to play a very perilous game indeed.
– David Wardale
Dare Klopp rest him?
Another player to miss the midweek round of fixtures was Anthony Martial. Rotation’s Alter Ego revealed in his team news summary that the Frenchman is now fit again although unlikely to start in the Manchester derby.
With understandable concerns over rotation and injuries during this busy period, Greyhead investigated which of the Great and the Good had made the best use of their benches. The answer is Neale, who has gained an average of 5.4 points per auto-sub. A hot topic on benches followed.
Cheap defenders may come to our rescue. The talking point on this week’s Scoutcast centered around the proliferation of budget options. Joe, Andy and Az debated whether we should even be opting for four at the back.
Although there wasn’t such good news for the poster boy of defensive value this season – John Lundstram – when Sheffield United lost at home to Newcastle on Thursday evening. Reflecting on that defeat Neale suggested that conceding an early goal changed the dynamic of the match:
Sheffield United averaged 41.1% possession and 137.9 passes in the opposition half per Premier League match before Thursday night. Against Bruce’s backs-to-the-wall Geordies, those figures shot up to 72.7% and 362 respectively. All of a sudden the boot was on the other foot and a Blades side so adept at soaking up pressure and hitting teams with dynamic, direct attacks had to find a way of patiently breaking down a five-man defence.
– Neale Rigg
Lundstram owners will be hoping for a more open game when the Blades travel to Norwich City this weekend. And Joe is fairly confident they will be in luck. On the Scoutcast he revealed that no team has conceded more chances at home than Norwich in their last four home matches (17):
Norwich at home are far worse than they are away.
– Joe
Looking for opportunities is a key component of David’s Captain Sensible article. With Vardy and Mané neck and neck in the captaincy poll – in addition to his normal stats tables – David uses the members comparison tool to assess the pair. Opponents Aston Villa and Bournemouth are also scrutinised.
Manchester City are narrowly top of the latest DS stats, fixtures and clean sheet odds brought to us by G-Whizz. And Raheem Sterling is top of this week’s RMT predictions. However Pro Pundit Zophar has already sold the 24-year-old and is busy plotting on how to spend the cash.
In terms of captaincy, Zophar voiced concerns Mane’s playing time as his reason for sticking with Vardy:
Captaincy is likely to remain on Jamie Vardy. Sadio Mané playing 90 minutes on Wednesday has me worried he might be benched against Bournemouth keeping in mind their Champions League game on Tuesday.
– Zophar
Indeed in his Gameweek 16 forecast Pep Pig thinks that Salah will bounce back after his midweek benching. He also picks Marcus Rashford to shine in the Manchester derby. It was pointed out on the Scoutcast that Rashford has scored against top six teams he’s faced this season – Chelsea, Leicester, and Liverpool.
Although United-fan Andy was more cautious, suggesting that it was his side’s domination of the Spurs midfield that afforded Rashford the opportunities to score twice. He doesn’t expect a similar domination against Manchester City.
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.
Community Competitions
For a full update on all FFS Mini-Leagues and Community Competitions, please click here to read the latest round-up.
For those interested in the Head-to-Head Leagues, the main page can be linked to here. The fixtures for Gameweek 16 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 16!
