As they prepare to face Burnley in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off, three Liverpool players form the spine of our Gameweek 2 Scout Picks.
After Sam, Az, Neale and Tom submitted their Scout Squad selections earlier this week, we have chosen our best players ahead of tomorrow’s 11.00 BST deadline.
We line up in a 4-3-3 formation and come in at £82.7m, just under our £83.0m budget.
GOALKEEPER
Brighton and Hove Albion’s Robert Sánchez (£4.5m) is our chosen goalkeeper in Gameweek 2 ahead of a favourable home fixture against Watford.
Despite last weekend’s first-half jitteriness at Turf Moor, Albion had the second-best expected goals conceded (xGC) total from open play in Gameweek 1.
If they can sharpen up defending set-pieces, we’re backing them to keep a clean sheet against a Hornets side who could only boast the sixth-best attacking record in the Championship last season.
DEFENDERS
We’ve doubled up on Liverpool’s backline ahead of their Gameweek 2 meeting with Burnley, via Trent Alexander Arnold (£7.5m) and Kostas Tsimikas (£4.1m).
Both full-backs have the potential to deliver points at both ends of the pitch, and shared corner-taking duties at Carrow Road last time out.
It may potentially be the last time we can call on Tsimikas for a while, too, given the news that Andrew Robertson (£7.0m) returned to full-training earlier today.
Having Virgil van Dijk (£6.5m) back, as well as both Joel Matip (£5.0m) and Joe Gomez (£5.0m), will surely boost the Reds’ clean sheet count in the coming weeks, while a capacity crowd at Anfield can also be an important factor. In fact, the Reds have lost their opening home league fixture only twice since 1966/67.
Luke Shaw (£5.5m) also offers significant assist potential, and was perhaps unfortunate not to return more than his solitary point against Leeds United in Gameweek 1. Having carried on his Euro 2020 form and played a crucial pass in the build-up to Manchester United’s second goal, he carries real potential as the Red Devils visit Southampton.
Rúben Dias (£6.0m) takes up the final spot in our backline after an impressive 2020/21 campaign at the heart of Manchester City’s defence, which saw Pep Guardiola’s side keep 19 Premier League clean sheets, more than any other side.
MIDFIELDERS
Fresh from their huge opening day hauls, Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) and Bruno Fernandes (£12.1m) are rather obvious inclusions in this week’s picks.
After the first round of matches, Salah ranks joint-second for goal attempts (five) and top for penalty area touches (14). It’s also worth noting that having netted at Carrow Road in Gameweek 1, he is now just two goals short of joining the list of Premier League players with 100 goals in the competition.
Fernandes put on a ruthless display of finishing against Leeds United last weekend, as he scored three goals from as many goal attempts, and takes on a Southampton side who have conceded more goals than any other Premier League side in 2021.
Man City representation seems like a must against a Norwich City side who arrive on the back of a 3-0 home defeat to Liverpool but picking a safe starter is as tricky as ever following last week’s defeat at Spurs.
Kevin De Bruyne may have been in the reckoning had he not missed training on Friday, while Ferran Torres continues to flatter to deceive as a false nine and Riyad Mahrez, City’s stand-out pre-season performer, had an off-day at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Jack Grealish (£8.0m) ought to be involved from kick-off, at least, and showed glimpses of his potential down the left flank on Sunday.
FORWARDS
‘Get the ball to Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£8.0m)’ seems to be Everton’s mantra under Rafael Benitez, with last weekend’s bombardment of crosses to the striker and even summer transfer policy hinting that the Toffees are building their team around the England international.
On top of that, weekend opponents Leeds looked particularly vulnerable in the middle of the pitch last weekend, conceding more chances from that position than any other team.
While Calvert-Lewin caught the eye in Gameweek 1, Danny Ings (£8.0m) didn’t particularly shine and was starved of service throughout.
Nevertheless, the visit of a Newcastle United defence that has conceded the second-highest number of shots in the division since their move to a rather adventurous 3-5-2 in Gameweek 30 of last season commands attention.
The Magpies’ total of six big chances conceded against West Ham was also twice as many as any other club allowed in Gameweek 1.
Lastly, and very much least in most people’s eyes, is Neal Maupay (£6.5m).
Ivan Toney (£6.5m) is the obvious choice at this price point and it’s true that Maupay’s goal conversion rate is poor over the last two campaigns (11.3% in 2020/21 and 10.4% in 2019/20).
But after seeing him drop a lot deeper when Danny Welbeck was part of the Albion side last season, his presence around the six-yard box was notable against Burnley – and even he generally hits the target from that range.
THE CAPTAIN
We choose the Scout Picks captain using a four-way vote between our Scout Squad pundits.
Because we use Fantasy Football Scout data so heavily in this process, the skipper we choose each Gameweek is known only to those with a Fantasy Football Scout subscription and revealed to the public only when the deadline has passed.
Here is how we voted for Gameweek 2:
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.
Jairzinho takes on the Scout Picks this week with a 3-5-2 team of: Sanchez, Cancelo, Shaw, Tsmikas, Salah (c), Jota, Greenwood, Mahrez, Sterling, Ings, Benteke.
Jairzinho’s uncle, a footballer back in the 1960s, is living with Alzheimer’s at the moment – so we’re more than to happy to promote the fine work of the Alzheimer’s Society and their fundraising efforts in his honour:
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-involved/make-donation
