We’ve put together our Scout Picks ‘bus team’ ahead of Gameweek 21 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL).
In this early selection, we select a first draft of our regular picks before they are finalised and published much closer to Saturday’s deadline.
We are limited to an £83.0m budget for our starting XI, while our bench is also price-capped after a reader vote.
In the meantime, this ‘bus team’ article – a term coined by the duo behind the Always Cheating podcast – will discuss the players who are likely to be in the running.
GAMEWEEK 21 FIXTURES
THE LIKELY LADS
These picks come before quite a few sides take to the pitch in midweek, so are even more subject to change than ever.
In the case of Man City, Manuel Akanji (£5.0m) and Kevin De Bruyne (£12.5m) might effectively be placeholders, then, although the inclusion of Erling Haaland (£12.2m) feels inevitable barring an unfortunate injury. The current results of our captaincy poll reflect the esteem in which he is held. Despite blanking in three of his last five appearances, he is top of the pile with over 61 per cent of the votes.
The other Scout Picks staple, Kieran Trippier (£6.0m), looks equally sure of inclusion in Gameweek 21. The injury to Bruno Guimaraes (£5.7m) is a concern, but opponents Crystal Palace lack a regular goalscorer and have failed to find the net in each of their last two Selhurst Park outings. Trippier, meanwhile, has remarkably secured bonus in six successive matches.
Given the strength of Newcastle’s backline, we could potentially add a second defensive pick into the mix, with Nick Pope (£5.4m) and Sven Botman (£4.5m) leading the charge. The former is averaging 6.8 points per start since the World Cup, more than any other ‘keeper.
IN CONTENTION
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1 year, 3 months agoBeen thinking a bit about Man City's issues and I noticed Pep's comments from a couple of days ago on Ruben Dias, who he said has made a step up in his recovery and should be back training (I assume he means full training) this week, although I assume he'll take plenty of time for him to make a full return. He's important to City defensively of course (although I do think he's made a few errors this season) but you can sometimes not really notice how important he can be for their build-up. He's very comfortable at pushing the defensive line up to the halfway line and to step forward with the ball to begin attacks (although this can and has been exploited by opposition despite him generally being a commanding presence), and I feel like a lot of City's best moves begin with him, he's great at involving the CF / false 9 and receiving the ball back from them or the wide forwards and helping to keep things going and creating space for the rest of the midfield or helping to create overloads. He's in the top percentiles for all attacking stats per 90 compared to other CBs including:
- 99th percentile for passes (98th for accuracy)
- 84th percentile for progressive passes
- 95th percentile for touches in opposition box
- 87th percentile for shot-creating actions (effectively xA + xAA)
Not too surprising to see City's goals drop since he's been out (30g in 11 games with Dias before injury, 10 in the 7 since), while xG has also dropped although not as drastically (22.9 v 13.4). Oddly enough (or not depending on how you look at it, and given it did coincide with his own injury initially), Haaland's form has dipped considerably around the same time (1 blank in 11 with Dias, 3 blanks in 6 since then). I'd say City will be hoping he'll be able to make his return very soon. Their next double isn't until Feb 12th which is basically a month away, if he's had time to make his return and build up fitness by then I wouldn't be too surprised to see City begin to pick things up again then.