It’s an uneasy Scout Picks selection this week as we’re unlikely to hear team news from the majority of the competing Gameweek 18 clubs before Thursday’s deadline.
Strong benches and playing substitutes will be important, and that’s something that the absence of Erling Haaland (£13.9m) has been able to afford us.
Our weekly ‘Free Hit’ XI features double-ups on Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur and three picks from Aston Villa.
As ever, we are limited by certain restrictions in our selection:
- An £83.0m budget for our starting XI
- An overall squad limit of £100.0m
- No more than three players per team
GOALKEEPER
Bernd Leno (£4.8m) ranks joint-fourth for clean sheets, second for save points and first for bonus points among goalkeepers this season. It’s the perfect blend of what we Fantasy managers want from the man donning the gloves for our teams.
FPL’s top-scoring shot-stopper is back on home soil this week, where he has kept clean sheets in his two previous appearances.
The visitors to Craven Cottage are Burnley, the Premier League’s second-lowest scorers on the road.
DEFENDERS
Only one team has scored fewer goals on their travels than Burnley – and that’s Sheffield United.
Drawing a blank in half of their eight away fixtures this season, and scoring exactly once in the other four games, the Blades have been blunt. Even the improvements that Chris Wilder has overseen haven’t yet transformed their limited attack, with just one goal being scored in the three matches since Paul Heckingbottom departed.
With Pau Torres (£4.7m) an injury doubt at the time of writing, we’ve played it safe with Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) from the Villa defence. Konsa is level with his more revered fellow centre-half for shots in the box this season (seven), while the Villans are on a 15th-match winning run on home turf.
The third name in this weekly selection also faces newly promoted opposition – but he’s not in the best of form of late.
Kieran Trippier‘s (£6.9m) season reached a nadir on Tuesday night as his gaffe, and then a missed penalty, ultimately cost Newcastle United a place in the last four of the EFL Cup.
The Magpies’ away results, plus Luton’s home record, also means that a clean sheet is far from assured this week.
But with shut-out opportunities not exactly leaping out elsewhere beyond Villa Park and Craven Cottage, we’re chasing the upside of an attacking return. He remains FPL’s most creative defender, adding 12 key passes to his collection over his last four league appearances, while Luton are bottom-three material for both chances conceded from set plays and from their left flank in 2023/24.
It wouldn’t be a surprise to see an in-form Everton, like Luton, spoil one of our defenders’ clean sheets this weekend. But Pedro Porro‘s (£5.5m) eye-popping attacking numbers – first among defenders for shots, second for big chances created – are too good to turn down.
He’ll also be up against a makeshift Toffees left-back if Myhailo Mykolenko (£4.6m) misses out again, as seems possible.
MIDFIELDERS
Mohamed Salah (£13.2m) encounters the league’s meanest defence but carries his own proud home form into Gameweek 18, following a minor blip against Manchester United last Sunday.
The leading goal-getter, shot-taker and points-scorer among Fantasy midfielders in home fixtures this season, he’ll also be hoping to exploit the chink in Arsenal’s armour that is Oleksandr Zinchenko (£5.2m). The Egyptian scored in this fixture last season.
Son Heung-min (£9.8m) will have easier tests in 2023/24 as he’s about to encounter an Everton side that is on a run of four consecutive clean sheets.
The Toffees’ rugged centre-halves will relish the physical battle with Richarlison (£6.6m) but they’ll be less keen on crossing paths with the trickier Son, whose move to the left flank hasn’t harmed his goal threat – on the contrary, in fact, with his shot count at eight over the last two Gameweeks.
Everton’s right-back slot is a bit of an issue, too, with the two veteran options injured and Nathan Patterson (£4.4m) more at home going forward.
Bettering Son, Salah and pretty much every other midfielder of note for attacking returns per 90 minutes is Leon Bailey (£5.6m).
Getting him on the pitch has sometimes been a problem, with the Jamaica international taking a while to convince Unai Emery that he’s worthy of starts.
But the Villa boss seems to be a convert, with a benching for Bailey in Gameweek 17 only coming as a result of fitness issues.
The winger has already hit double figures for goals and assists combined, delivering an attacking return in each of the last four Gameweeks.
Jarrod Bowen (£7.8m) has scored in more matches this season (10) than any other Premier League player.
Only one double-digit haul has arrived but he’s been Mr Dependable with a points-per-match average of 5.9, which sits him fourth among midfielders behind only Messrs Saka, Son and Salah.
Opponents Manchester United will be buoyed by an unexpected clean sheet at Anfield but they’re ranked 16th for expected goals conceded (xGC) in away matches, and last weekend’s dogged display was a rare positive in an otherwise underwhelming year.
Anthony Gordon (£6.2m) had been the fifth midfielder in our ‘bus team’ picks but concerns over his fitness means we’ll avoid him in this final selection.
Instead, we’ve switched flanks and opted for the less fashionable Miguel Almiron (£6.2m).
No midfielder can better the Paraguay international for shots in the box (12) over the last four Gameweeks, four of which have been ‘big chances’.
Opponents Luton will pose Newcastle a defensive test but the fact is that they themselves still remain without a clean sheet in 2023/24, having shipped six goals in their last two outings at Kenilworth Road.
FORWARDS
Denied a ninth goal of the campaign after the abandonment of Bournemouth v Luton Town, Dominic Solanke (£6.8m) is primed for Scout Picks duty again this weekend.
No other active Gameweek 18 forward can beat Solanke for goals, big chances and shot in the box over their last six apperances.
The Cherries will have no doubt secretly hoped to have faced a beleagured Forest side still led by the now-sacked Steve Cooper. The appointment of a new manager always throws up the prospect of a previously struggling side being galvanised, as well as a few tactical surprises.
Aston Villa at least have three games’ worth of observations of Sheffield United under Chris Wilder to suss the new-look Blades out.
Wilder’s troops have put in some improved performance since his return but there was a second-half capitulation of sorts at Chelsea last weekend, with around 3.0 xG racked up by the hosts after the interval.
The prospect of facing Ollie Watkins (£8.7m) is next up for the side without a clean sheet to their name on the road.
THE SUBSTITUTES
- Murara Neto (£4.6m): Level with Leno for points per match this season, the Bournemouth goalkeeper has three clean sheets in his last five outings – two of which were on the road.
- Antonee Robinson (£4.4m): Among the top 10 defenders for final-third touches this season, he contributed an assist in the midweek EFL Cup win having done likewise in three of the last six Gameweeks.
- Vladimir Coufal (£4.6m): With the ongoing uncertainty over the West Ham goalkeeper situation, we’ve opted for the assist-collecting Coufal for the clash with a Man Utd side that has scored just once against a top-eight club this season.
- Jean-Philippe Mateta (£4.9m): Three attacking returns in two games for the giant striker, who takes on a Brighton side yet to keep a single clean sheet in 2023/24.
THE CAPTAIN
We chose the Scout Picks captain using a vote between our Scout Squad panel.
Ollie Watkins is handed the armband, with Son Heung-min on vice-captaincy duties.
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.
The-Red-1‘s 64-30 success in Gameweek 16 makes them the front-runner of 2023/24 so far.
Our champion this week is Boss Hogg, whose selection is as follows:
Martinez; Alexander-Arnold, Trippier, Pedro Porro; Douglas Luiz, Salah, Tavernier, Bowen, Richarlison (vc); Watkins (c), Wilson.
The Scout Picks are 11-6 up on the community this season, having defeated teddypicker in Gameweek 17.
FOLLOW THE SCOUT’S WEEKLY TRANSFER PLANS
We’re running a Scout community team in FPL this season, with regulars like TopMarx, Tom Freeman, Marc Jobling 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.
