We’ve put together our Scout Picks ‘bus team’ ahead of Double Gameweek 31 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL).

This is a new feature we first rolled out last month and it’s essentially a first draft of our regular XI, which gets published much closer to the deadline.

Those final picks will stay as they are and cement our weekly selection based on the Scout Squad long-list entries, international action/minutes and fresh injury updates but this ‘bus team’ – a term coined by the Always Cheating boys, as it’s the XI you set at the start of the week in case you get hit by a bus before the deadline – will discuss the players who are likely to be in the running.

Here it is, then: our early, rambling thoughts on the runners and riders up for selection in Gameweek 31, followed by the preliminary picks themselves.

THE LIKELY LADS

Forget the two middling teams who ‘double’: Gameweek 31 is all about some juicy-looking fixtures for most of the top seven.

Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City all face clubs in the bottom six, while Manchester United are at home against a Leicester City side who have struggled defensively all season and West Ham United entertain an Everton outfit with the division’s worst away record.

The two north London clubs have slightly less favourable match-ups on paper, with Crystal Palace and Newcastle United trickier tests than FPL’s Fixture Difficulty Rating (FDR) would have us believe, but you can bet that Harry Kane (£12.5m) will again be in the Scout Picks conversation given the complete absence of form from other FPL forwards and his own purple patch. Since Gameweek 18, he has delivered 16 attacking returns – that’s at least seven more than any other striker has managed in that time. Son Heung-min (£10.9m), meanwhile, has scored more home goals than any Premier League player this season.

As for the top three sides, there’ll inevitably be considerable representation. Five names from these clubs feature in our Scout Picks bus team but more/others could follow, with international minutes, injuries and illness set to be deciding factors when we finalise our selection at the beginning of April. The main nagging doubt regarding Liverpool, Chelsea and City is that they are all in UEFA Champions League action in the days after Gameweek 31, so there is the very real potential for some minute management a week on Saturday:

READ MORE: Which FPL Gameweeks could be affected by European rotation?

With the acknowledgment that the above could come into play, the likes of Joao Cancelo (£6.9m), Kevin De Bruyne (£11.7m), Andrew Robertson (£7.2m) and Mohamed Salah (£13.3m) would ordinarily be top of most managers’ shopping lists for fixtures against Burnley and Watford.

With the expectation that Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.5m) will miss or at least not be risked in Gameweek 31, and with question marks over whether Reece James (£6.1m) will be rushed back for Brentford given the double-header against Real Madrid that awaits, Robertson and Cancelo are the stand-out premium defenders – providing the Scot recovers from illness, of course.

Third and fourth behind only Salah and Alexander-Arnold for FPL returns this season, Robertson and Cancelo will also be up against the two teams who have scored the fewest number of goals in 2022.

We’ll keep a spot for James free should the wing-back look like he may feature against Brentford and it’s probably fair to say that a Chelsea defender of some variety will make the cut in our weekly selection. Antonio Rudiger (£6.1m) is usually a safe bet, having been benched in only one league match that he has been available for all season, but Trevoh Chalobah (£4.7m) could save us some pennies on our meagre £83.5m budget: the uncapped centre-half started all three league fixtures immediately after the autumn international breaks, while Andreas Christensen (£4.6m) is currently nursing an injury and Thiago Silva (£5.7m) will have a late return back from South America ahead of Gameweek 31.

As for Salah and De Bruyne, their tallies of 8.8 and 6.9 points per start in 2021/22 ranks them first and third among midfielders with meaningful game-time. Salah has delivered 12 attacking returns in his seven previous run-outs against the Hornets, while De Bruyne has double-digit scores in his two previous meetings with Sean Dyche’s side.

IN CONTENTION

As well as the premium bunch listed above, there are some cheaper alternatives from the top three who will be fighting for our attention.

The big downside is the unpredictability of the line-ups: there are at least five players competing for the front three slots at Liverpool and City, while there are even more in the running for the attacking positions at Chelsea.

Should we get any tip-offs or reduction in competition for places (ie through injury/illness), however, there are plenty of options. Riyad Mahrez (£8.7m), for example, has scored more FPL points against Burnley than he has versus any other side and is the midfield meat in the Salah/De Bruyne sandwich when it comes to the aforementioned points-per-start averages.

Kai Havertz (£7.9m) is in terrific form, too, with five attacking returns in his last three starts. Eight shots in the box and four big chances have arrived during his three ‘out of position’ run-outs up top in Gameweeks 28/29.

Away from the title-chasing trio and there are some more eye-catching clashes, not least between the two clubs who are on six-game losing streaks. Norwich are the division’s lowest scorers in the league this season so the expected return of the influential Adam Webster (£4.3m) from injury comes at an opportune time for the Seagulls as they attempt to improve on a run of just one shut-out in 12 matches. Robert Sanchez (£4.6m) and the attack-minded Tariq Lamptey (£4.5m) may well enter the thinking as a consequence.

Leeds United’s dearth of clean sheets (none since Gameweek 14) will interest Che Adams (£6.9m) and Armando Broja (£5.5m), with the former in better form and posting some strong underlying numbers since his current run in the starting XI began in Gameweek 23. However, the Saints’ own recent struggles and four-game losing streak could play into the hands of Raphinha (£6.5m), who is third among FPL midfielders for expected goal involvement (xGI) since Jesse Marsch took charge. The Brazilian’s recent Covid case means that he’ll be well-rested for Gameweek 31, as he hasn’t travelled to South America to hook up with his national team.

The fact that it’s taken us this long to address the two teams who ‘double’ in Gameweek 31 tells you everything about faith in Everton and Burnley assets.

Jordan Pickford (£4.9m) and Nick Pope (£5.4m) come into the goalkeeper conversation, at least: they are third and second respectively for projected points in the upcoming Gameweek.

Everton’s league-worst away form perhaps gives Pope the edge, with the Toffees to come to Turf Moor after the reigning champions hand the England international the opportunity to rack up the save points on Saturday.

It’s that dismal record on the road that also revives interest in West Ham United assets like Said Benrahma (£5.9m) and Michail Antonio (£7.5m), although plenty of ‘easy’ opponents have come and gone since the Hammers’ misfiring forward last found the net.

As for the other Toffees and Clarets assets worthy of consideration… there aren’t that many. Fond memories of Wout Weghorst’s (£6.4m) Double Gameweek 26 haul mask the fact that he has one of the worst rates of xGI among FPL forwards, while Everton’s two £7.5m+ strikers have managed to scrape one goal between them this calendar year. Anthony Gordon (£4.5m), unbeaten for shots, chances created and xGI among his teammates since Frank Lampard took charge, is about the best of a bad bunch and a budget enabler if nothing else.

THE LONG SHOTS

Manchester United’s clash against Leicester City is worthy of note, as no club has kept fewer clean sheets on the road than the Foxes this season. Despite this fact and Cristiano Ronaldo‘s (£12.2m) Gameweek 29 hat-trick, it’s still a long shot that he or compatriot Bruno Fernandes (£11.6m) gets into the Scout Picks running given the limited budget and premium candidates elsewhere.

Aston Villa’s struggles against the ‘top eight’ means that Philippe Coutinho (£7.5m) will likely find it tough to get a look-in, while Palace’s fine recent form (one defeat in seven league matches and only four goals conceded) means that Bukayo Saka (£6.7m) and co are probably in ‘long shot’ territory for once.

GAMEWEEK 31 BUS TEAM

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO GAMEWEEK 31

INJURY AND TEAM NEWS
SCOUT PICKS
DIFFERENTIALS
WILDCARD: BEST PLAYERS POSITION BY POSITION
CAPTAINCY DISCUSSION
TEAM REVEALS
EXPERT OPINION
RMT/POINTS PROJECTIONS
TOP 10K ANALYSIS
VIDEO CONTENT