We have chosen our best Fantasy Premier League (FPL) players for Gameweek 31.
As ever, we are limited to £83.0m for our first XI. And, after a reader vote ahead of 2022/23, an overall price cap of £100.0m is in place for our 15-man squad, too.
GOALKEEPER
David Raya (£4.9m) is our goalkeeper of choice for Gameweek 31 as Brentford prepare to visit Wolverhampton Wanderers. Julen Lopetegui’s troops are the joint-lowest scorers in the Premier League when hosting, scoring just eight goals in their previous eight matches. Meanwhile, all four of The Bees’ away clean sheets this season have arrived at the so-called lesser clubs. As for Raya, no ‘keeper has made more saves than the Spaniard in 2022/23, with 124.
DEFENDERS
Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.3m) gets back into the Scout Picks after setting up Roberto Firmino’s (£8.0m) equaliser and creating a team-high four chances against Arsenal last weekend, which coincided with a new (ish) central midfield role. Liverpool have just three victories on the road this season, but opponents Leeds United were subjected to a 5-1 thumping by Crystal Palace last time out, so there’s potential for points at both ends of the pitch for Alexander-Arnold.
Gabriel Magalhaes (£5.3m) was the most popular Arsenal defender among the Scout Squad panel in Gameweek 31. Mikel Arteta’s league leaders visit West Ham United this weekend, who have European commitments either side of Sunday’s clash. No top-flight side has kept more clean sheets or conceded fewer goals than the Gunners on the road this term, while the Hammers have found the net just three times in their last three home outings. Arsenal will once again be without the injured William Saliba (£5.1m), but there is still potential for a clean sheet.
Pedro Porro (£4.8m) has had more shots (11) than any other FPL defender over the past five Gameweeks, with a goal and assist registered in that period. A home match with Bournemouth is a great opportunity for another positive performance, given that the Cherries have scored just four goals in their last eight away matches. They also concede a lot of chances down their left, the flank Porro will be attacking.
James Tarkowski (£4.2m) continues to offer a value route into an Everton defence that has proven reliable under Sean Dyche at Goodison Park, with three of his five home games ending in 1-0 wins. The Toffees have suffered defeat in just one of those matches, so there is an opportunity to extend that run against a Fulham side that have scored only one goal in their last three outings and will once again be without talisman Aleksandar Mitrovic (£6.6m).
MIDFIELDERS
The rest of this article below is completely free to read but requires a Fantasy Football Scout user account for access – you can get yours at no cost here
COMMUNITY CHAMPION
Each week, a member of the Fantasy Football Scout community takes on the Scout Picks.
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.
Boleyn Boy’s 81-54 victory in Gameweek 6 gave them the biggest win (27 points difference) of 2022/23 so far.
Our champion this week is Athletico Timbo who has gone for the following: Pickford; Alexander-Arnold, White, Keane; Salah, Saka, March, Mahrez; Haaland (c), Toney, Jesus
The Scout Picks are 16-13 up on the community this season.
FOLLOW THE SCOUT’S WEEKLY TRANSFER PLANS
We’re running a Scout community team in FPL this season, with regulars like TopMarx, Geoff, Tom Freeman and more contributing to the weekly decisions.
And we’re not just looking one week ahead like we are with the Scout Picks but instead planning in advance for the weeks and months to come.
You can follow our team via the Premier Fantasy Tools Pro Planner, which you can learn more about here.
