The Scout Picks team for Gameweek 17 is built on double-ups for Leicester, Liverpool, Chelsea and Southampton.
Those three clubs all have favourable match-ups this weekend, hosting Norwich, Watford, Bournemouth and West Ham respectively.
With the turnaround between Gameweeks back to usual length this week, we saw a return for the Scout Squad on Thursday.
That means this team of players for Gameweek 17 was chosen after submissions from David, Neale, Paul and Geoff.
We line up in the 3-4-3 formation and have come in at £82.9m, just inside the £83.0m budget.
Goalkeeper
It’s been a bad few days for Burnley as they conceded 11 goals in their last three matches. However, it must be said that nine of those were scored by Manchester City and a resurgent Spurs side. The two Crystal Palace netted at Turf Moor were the first goals Burnley had conceded at home to clubs that finished outside of the top-six last season, at the fifth time of asking. Therefore, the visit of Newcastle to Lancashire presents an opportunity for Nick Pope (£4.7m) and his colleagues to get back to what Burnley are best at. Only three sides have scored fewer away goals than the Magpies so far this season.
Defenders
Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.3m) could be set for an impressive haul in Gameweek 17 as Watford come to Anfield. Only Norwich have scored fewer goals on the road (five) than the Hornets (four) this season and in the last four Gameweeks, Nigel Pearson’s new side are inside the bottom three for shots in the box, big chances and shots on target. Furthermore, Watford have scored just one Premier League goal in their last four visits to Liverpool. On top of that, Alexander-Arnold is joint-top for key passes among Liverpool players over the last four matches so, as ever, stands a decent chance of getting attacking returns.
Leicester’s defence is still the best in the Premier League heading into Gameweek 17. They have conceded just 10 goals this season (four fewer than Liverpool) and have registered seven clean sheets thus far. Therefore, a home meeting with a Norwich side that has just four away goals in 2019/20 looks encouraging for the Leicester back-line. Ben Chilwell (£5.8m) is our chosen representative from the Foxes’ defence as he has created more chances than all of his team-mates other than James Maddison over the last four matches.
Reece James (£5.0m) is finally starting to become a viable Fantasy asset after starting each of the last three Premier League matches in the right-back position and four of the last five. Only Leicester have conceded fewer goals in home matches than Chelsea this season while Bournemouth come to Stamford Bridge fraught with injuries to their attack and blanks in five of their last nine outings. Meanwhile, James himself has been taking up some advanced positions for Frank Lampard’s side and could be involved in more goals after assisting in Gameweek 15.
Midfielders
After some time out in the cold, Mohamed Salah (£12.2m) returns to the Scout Picks after unanimous backing from the Scout Squad as the best midfield option for Gameweek 17. After registering 13 points in the win over Bournemouth and overcoming his recent ankle problems, the Egyptian looks back to his best. Watford come to Anfield having conceded at least five times in each of their last three visits while Salah has seven shots on target in his last four matches, the second-best in the league over that period and two more than colleague Sadio Mané.
Kevin de Bruyne (£10.2m) has the potential to punish sellers this week as Manchester City prepare to face Arsenal’s incredibly poor defence. The Gunners still have just one clean sheet to their name since Gameweek 2 while only Aston Villa and Norwich have given up more goal attempts than them this season. Meanwhile, de Bruyne may have just one assist since Gameweek 11 but only two players have created more big chances than him in their last four matches, suggesting he is the most likely to be at the heart of any Manchester City goals at the Emirates Stadium.
Christian Pulisic (£7.5m) has blanked in each of his last four matches but there is every reason to believe that he can get back in the goals against Bournemouth. The Cherries come to London short of their two best centre-backs in Nathan Aké and Steve Cook and have not kept a clean sheet since Gameweek 11 even with them available. Meanwhile, Pulisic is joint-top among Chelsea options for shots in the box over the last four matches.
James Ward-Prowse (£5.9m) is one of two Southampton options expected to benefit from facing an out-of-form West Ham defence. Since Gameweek 13, the Hammers have conceded more big chances than any other team and shipped a minimum of three goals in four of their last six Premier League outings. Meanwhile, only two sides have allowed more headed goal attempts in the last six than West Ham, which could benefit Ward-Prowse and his excellent set-piece delivery. The Southampton man has attacking returns in four matches since Gameweek 11 and also has a role in penalties for the Saints.
Forwards
Do we have to waste much time justifying Jamie Vardy (£10.1m) making the Scout Picks again this week? This is a man with 11 goals in his last eight matches, without a blank since Gameweek 8 about to face the second-worst defence in the Premier League, Norwich City, who have conceded an average of 2.2 goals per game this season.
Like Pulisic, Tammy Abraham (£7.9m) has a great fixture this weekend as a weakened Bournemouth defence come to Stamford Bridge. Chelsea’s centre-forward arguably stands an even better chance of capitalising on this than the American. Abraham has been afforded more big chances than any of his colleagues over the last four Gameweeks and attacking returns in each of his last two home Premier League matches.
Danny Ings (£6.4m) completes a Southampton double-up ahead of an appealing match-up with West Ham. Among FPL forwards, only Vardy has scored more goals than the former Burnley and Liverpool man since Gameweek 7. Meanwhile, Ings is boasting a goal conversion rate of 36.4% during the last four matches.
Substitutes
Vicente Guaita (£5.1m) forms part of a Crystal Palace defence with clean sheets in each of the last three in a row.
James Tarkowski (£5.1m) represents an alternate route into the Burnley defence and offers some goal threat too, considering Newcastle’s issues defending headed attempts.
Martin Kelly (£4.3m) is a cheaper alternative route into the Palace defence compared to Guaita.
Dwight McNeil (£6.0m) gets a place on the Scout Picks bench because of Newcastle’s problems defending crosses into the box.
The Captain
The Scout Picks has a captain for the 2019/20 campaign.
This skipper is chosen using the conclusions of the latest Captain Sensible article and a four-way vote between David, Neale, Paul and Geoff.
Because the use of Fantasy Football Scout data is used so heavily in this process, the captain we choose each Gameweek will be known only to those who have signed up to Membership for the 2019/20 season.
It will be revealed to the public only when the deadline for the Gameweek has passed.
Community Champion
Representing the community against the Scout Picks in Gameweek 17 is THFC4LIFE.
They have gone for a 4-4-2 of Guaita; R James, M Kelly, Baldock, Robertson; Salah, Son, Willian, Maddison; Vardy, Jesus (c)
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.
Community Champion Boleyn Boy was defeated in Gameweek 16, the Scout Picks winning by an 84-64 score-line.
The current winning margin of 17 points recorded by irfansheikh in Gameweek 7 and AK in Gameweek 10 remains the score to beat.
