Scout’s Matchday 3 picks for the free-to-play SPITCH Fantasy game

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The Fantasy Premier League (FPL) deadline has passed: now attention turns to SPITCH, where you effectively have a Free Hit chip to play every week and are only judged on your best five matchdays!

So one week of accidentally forgetting to play won’t be problematic – even starting in April still gives you a chance of winning prizes.

There are two season-long options for the 2022/23 campaign, one of which is free and has a £2,500 prize pool.

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HOW TO PLAY SPITCH

SPITCH is a platform where managers can use their football knowledge to defeat others and win money prizes.

As with FPL, managers commit to a formation and have a budget to buy players for their line-up, in the quest to score points and win prizes.

But unlike FPL, managers can actually go under or over their ₵1,200 budget – this will determine how many positive or negative points they begin the round with.

Each week of ‘Season’ mode requires a new line-up with no captains. Managers are allowed up to nine players from the same club and can alter teams mid-matchday. ‘Safety Net’ automatically replaces non-starters, whilst a sophisticated scoring system rewards defensive actions in a way that FPL does not.

MATCHDAY 2 REVIEW

These were the top-scoring players of the weekend matches.

Meanwhile, 27 players finished with a negative score, headlined by Callum Wilson (-79) and Daniel Podence (-50). There were no red cards, penalty misses or own goals for the Newcastle United forward – just a series of fouls and lost tackles.

A special mention goes to Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic, who only entered proceedings in the 84th minute but found a way to end on -35 points.

SCOUT’S MATCHDAY 3 LINE-UP

The selection for Matchday 2 totalled 1,341 points, which ranked at 5,503rd place.

Joao Cancelo (365) was included and subsequently rewarded for making 83 passes, seven successful tackles and an assist for Manchester City’s fourth goal.

Aleksandar Mitrovic (-16) missed a penalty, whilst the absent Matt Targett (0) wasn’t able to be replaced via ‘Safety Net’.

Dean Henderson (₵58) is the highest-scoring goalkeeper so far, with 719 points far ahead of the next best, Jose Sa (₵63). A clean sheet is already in the bag and Henderson will be confident of another against an Everton side without Dominic Calvert-Lewin (₵121).

In this 3-3-4 formation, goal scorer Reece James (₵138) is backed to follow up Sunday’s 478 points with more success against Leeds United.

Ben Davies (₵66) set up the first Spurs equaliser and now has an appealing home clash with Wolves, although be aware that clean sheet points don’t exist in SPITCH. Completing the back line is Ruben Dias (₵145), who netted in last season’s equivalent trip up to Newcastle.

On this occasion, our squad has gone ₵19 over budget because that is allowed in this game, it just means starting with -19 points. Still, knowing how to spot budget gems like Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (₵22) is important, as prices will remain this way until a mid-season refresh.

The Leicester City man followed a pre-season of goals by netting against Brentford on the opening day. Both he and forward Jamie Vardy (₵100) will be eyeing more returns when Southampton visit.

Furthermore, there is an Arsenal double-up for their match versus Bournemouth. Gabriel Jesus (₵156) scored a stunning 891 points in Matchday 2 and is a prime candidate for captaincy in FPL. Midfielder Oleksandr Zinchenko (₵90) joins him in our line-up.

Spurs’ Dejan Kulusevski (₵94) tallied 465 two games ago, whilst Ivan Toney (₵100) already has a goal and two assists in this league campaign. Then there is Mohamed Salah (₵250). A man who needs no introduction, he scored a hat-trick at Manchester United last season and – with the way things have started for Erik ten Hag – it’d be foolish to suggest he couldn’t do it again.

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