We’re backing Tottenham Hotspur’s form to continue, with the north London outfit supplying three of our Scout Picks for Gameweek 5.
Jose Mourinho’s men provide a player in each outfield position for their home encounter with West Ham.
This week’s Scout Picks selection draws on the Scout Squad submissions by Geoff, Neale, Tom and Andy earlier this week.
The Fantasy Premier League XI lines up in a 3-4-3 formation and costs £82.6m, a total of £0.4m inside our allocated £83.0m budget.
Goalkeeper
Aaron Ramsdale (£5.0m) was the only goalkeeper to earn a vote from all four panellists in Gameweek 5.
The Sheffield United stopper hosts a Fulham side that have failed to score in each of their last three matches in all competitions.
Ramsdale also offers the chance of save points against the Cottagers – his 10 saves in the last two Gameweeks were bettered by only two rivals between the posts.
Defenders
Trent Alexander-Arnold’s (£7.5m) best chance of returns may well be limited to goals or assists as Liverpool visit their league-leading rivals Everton.
Although he trails Andrew Robertson (£7.0m) for overall points, the right-back still has the edge, according to the underlying numbers.
Alexander-Arnold has produced more shots (seven to four) and created more chances (eight to five) than his Liverpool team-mate.
A promising debut away to Man United earns Sergio Reguilon (£5.5m) his debut in this season’s Scout Picks.
The Spurs left-back created four chances at Old Trafford, joint-top among defenders in Gameweek 4.
His raids down the left can take advantage of the Hammers’ weakness – David Moyes’ men have conceded 12 chances down their right flank compared with only seven on the left.
Burnley’s visit to West Brom boosts the value potential of Kevin Long (£4.5m).
The Baggies have allowed 20 efforts from set-pieces this season, more than any other side.
Sean Dyche will no doubt be aware of that, with Long and his fellow centre-back James Tarkowski (£5.4m) among the key aerial threats for the Clarets at the Hawthorns.
Midfielders
Mohamed Salah (£12.3m) is our favoured Liverpool attacker for tomorrow lunchtime’s derby.
The Egyptian has already delivered two sets of double-figure hauls in the first four Gameweeks, serving up 20 and 13 points against Leeds and Aston Villa respectively.
Salah’s fine start to 2020/21 is underlined by the statistics – his 19 shots, 15 shots inside the box and 14 chances created are all league-leading totals.
He faces a defence that have conceded twice in both their home matches this term.
Son Heung-min (£9.1m) was the only other FPL midfielder to register four votes in the Scout Squad.
Similar to Salah, the Spurs attacker has delivered double-digits on two occasions already – he produced 24 against Southampton in Gameweek 2 and 18 points away to Man United in Gameweek 4.
His haul at Old Trafford has made Son the top target ahead of tomorrow’s 11:00am deadline, with more than 1.1 million managers bringing him in for the visit of West Ham.
Son has a fine record against his weekend visitors, scoring four goals and supplying four assists in his last six meetings in all competitions.
Marcus Rashford (£9.5m) was picked by Geoff and Tom for Manchester United’s trip to Newcastle.
The Red Devils’ attacker scored in his previous away fixture, a win over Brighton in Gameweek 3.
Although Newcastle have conceded just five goals, the numbers show they’ve been somewhat fortuitous.
They have conceded 58 shots, 37 efforts in the box and 24 attempts on target – all those totals are among the bottom three sides respectively.
There’s also a chance that Rashford may be fielded up front, given that both Anthony Martial (£8.8m) and Edinson Cavani (£8.0m) are unavailable.
Back-to-back blanks from Raul Jimenez (£8.6m) have persuaded us to instead select Daniel Podence (£5.6m) as a cut-price route into the Wolves attack.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side a visit Leeds outfit who have conceded a league-leading 49 shots in the box.
Podence has shown promise as a consistent source of returns, providing an assist in two of his three appearances.
Forwards
Harry Kane (£10.6m) was the top-ranked forward by all four panellists.
Three goals and six assists in the opening four Gameweeks suggests the Spurs frontman is back to his best for the visit of West Ham.
That theory is backed up by the statistics.
Kane’s 19 shots are joint-top with Salah, while his 10 shots on target and six big chances created are both more than any other player in FPL.
He also has a prolific record against the Hammers. The Spurs forward has scored six goals in his five home meetings with the Hammers in the Premier League, netting twice on two of those occasions.
West Brom’s aforementioned set-piece weakness also points to a successful weekend for Burnley frontman Chris Wood (£6.4m).
The Kiwi international has been his side’s standout goal threat in their first three matches – Wood’s six shots in the box and four attempts on target are both at least double any team-mate.
Neal Maupay (£6.6m) heads to Crystal Palace on the back of four goals and an assist in the last three Gameweeks.
The Brighton forward has 22 points in his two away matches this term, yet sits in just 5.6% of squads.
That marks him out as a big differential against a defence without a clean sheet in the last three, conceding seven goals in that run.
Substitutes
Brighton’s Mat Ryan (£4.5m) was name-checked by two of the four Panelists – he faces a Palace side with one goal in the last two Gameweeks.
George Baldock (£5.4m) offers all-round potential at home to Fulham. The Blades’ wing-back provided his first assist of the season against Arsenal in Gameweek 4.
Wolves’ weakness down the right could be good news for Stuart Dallas (£4.5m). The Midlands outfit have conceded 20 shots from that area, double the number of the opposite flank.
Leandro Trossard (£6.0m) has mirrored his team-mate Maupay with attacking returns in three of the opening four Gameweeks.
The Captain
We chose the Scout Picks captain using a four-way vote between our Scout Squad pundits.
Because the use of Fantasy Football Scout data is used so heavily in this process, the skipper we choose each Gameweek is known only to those with a valid Fantasy Football Scout subscription and revealed to the public only when the deadline has passed.
Community Champion
Each week, one of the Fantasy Football Scout community takes on the Scout Picks by pitting their chosen XI against ours.
The Community Member who beats our team by the largest margin will win a £100 Amazon Voucher and a place in our Moderators and Contributors League for the following season.
In Gameweek 4, Gazpilicueta lost 43-32 to the Scout Picks to bring the season-long score to 2-2.
Warby84 takes on the Scout Picks for Gameweek 5, opting for a 4-4-2 line-up of Johnstone; Robertson, Stevens, Lamptey, Zouma; Salah, Son (vc), Sterling (c), Pulisic; Antonio, Jimenez.
AA33 is the current early leader, defeating the Scout Picks by a 53-point margin in Gameweek 2.
