Scoutcast Episode 359 – Making plans amid the fixture chaos

Joe and Az are joined by Rich, aka Flapjack, to look ahead to Gameweek 17 and attempt to make sense of an impending fixture pile-up in the New Year.

With rates of COVID-19 escalating across UK, the top-flight schedule was left decimated in Gameweek 16. First Manchester City’s weekend clash with Everton was postponed, then Tottenham Hotspur’s Wednesday night encounter with Fulham was put back. Both matches will have to be rescheduled at a later date after a high number of club staff and players at City and Fulham contracted the virus recently.

With festive rotation also hitting hard, Fantasy Premier League teams were left threadbare, with all three outfield substitutes needed for those lucky enough to have strong benches.

Our Scoutcast trio digest the latest scheduling developments and how the postponements are likely to impact on their carefully laid plans around Blank Gameweek 18’s limited fixtures and Double Gameweek 19.

While some who held their Wildcard back in Gameweek 16 were fortunate to have already jettisoned Manchester City and Spurs assets, others were less lucky and were several players shy of a full squad.

Elsewhere, the merits of City talisman Kevin De Bruyne (£11.7m) are discussed. Could he once again be a prized asset? Or is he too expensive for his limited open play goal returns?

With the tight turnaround of matches, there has not been time for a Gameweek 17 captaincy video. Thankfully, the Scoutcast is able to help out, with armband options for the next set of fixtures on the bill. Could this be a chance for Spurs investors to reap rewards?

Fixtures are also frisked and transfer plans are revealed during this episode, which was streamed live on YouTube during Liverpool’s visit to Newcastle United. With all three of the crew captaining Reds midfielder Mohamed Salah (£12.6m), there are a few tense moments during the show.

Meanwhile, the Scoutcast delivers some sad news that Az is stepping down from regular co-hosting duties due to other commitments. This ends a four-year stint regularly joining Joe, Andy and Mark on the longest-running Fantasy Football podcast. Joe’s new regular host will be revealed in the New Year.

This latest episode of the Scoutcast was first beamed live via our YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe to get notified of future live episodes.

In addition, the Scoutcast and all our other podcasts are now also available via our Soundcloud channel.

If you’re a traditional type, you can acquire the mp3 audio version via this link or the first player below. Or you can take in the full visual experience via the second player below.