Our Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Gameweek 24 Scout Picks sees us triple-up on two teams that are set for home comforts on Saturday.
Liverpool and Manchester City both supply us with three players apiece, whilst we also look to Luton Town, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea to complete our starting XI.
As ever, we are limited by certain restrictions:
- An £83.0m budget for our starting XI
- An overall squad limit of £100.0m
- No more than three players per team
GOALKEEPER
Djordje Petrovic (£4.5m) is selected in goal as Chelsea make the short trip to Selhurst Park. The omens look good for the 1.2% owned shop-stopper for Monday’s match – Mauricio Pochettino’s troops put in a much better defensive display at Villa Park in midweek, whilst Crystal Palace have failed to score in three of their previous five in all competitions. Roy Hodgson will also be without his two best creative players through injury – Eberechi Eze (£6.0m) and Michael Olise (£5.9m).
DEFENDERS
Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.5m) earns a spot in our three-man defence as Liverpool welcome struggling Burnley to Anfield. The Reds have the most resilient home defence (nine goals against), whilst their weekend visitors have scored just 11 times on their travels – fewer than any top-flight side except Sheffield United. Admittedly, there are a few nagging doubts over Alexander-Arnold’s fitness, but he’s second for shots and chances created among all Fantasy defenders this season, so the upside is there.
Kyle Walker’s (£5.5m) potential at both ends of the pitch earns him a place in the Scout Picks. At home to an Everton side that’s scored just one goal in their last three away matches, the raiding right-back will be looking to add to the two assists he’s accrued so far. Man City are the bookies’ favourites to keep a clean sheet in Gameweek 24, meanwhile.
A trip to basement-dwellers Sheffield United looks promising for Luton’s Alfie Doughty (£4.6m). The wing-back has served up one goal and six assists in his last eight appearances and could be in line for further attacking returns, given that the Blades have conceded more goals (59) than any other top-flight side this term. Furthermore, Doughty sits second for successful crosses and fourth for chances created among all Fantasy defenders.
MIDFIELDERS
We’re expecting goals at Anfield on Saturday and draft in Diogo Jota (£8.1m) as Liverpool look to recover from their 3-1 loss at Arsenal. The Portuguese has managed four goals and three assists in his last five outings, remarkably in just 279 minutes , whilst the Burnley defence has one clean sheet in nine and is likely to concede yet again.
Phil Foden (£8.0m) welcomes Everton to the Etihad as Man City look to overtake Liverpool in Saturday’s early kick-off. The England international has scored or assisted in eight of his ten home outings this season and with a hat-trick at Brentford last time out, has made the top four in this week’s Captain Poll.
Tottenham Hotspur’s home encounter with Brighton and Hove Albion also brings Richarlison (£7.2m) into the Scout Picks. The Brazilian has netted nine goals in his last eight appearances and will fancy his chances against a defence that’s kept just one clean sheet away from the Amex. Son Heung-min’s (£9.6m) return from AFCON admittedly had us tempted, but with his minutes less certain, Richarlison gets the nod.
Cole Palmer’s (£5.9m) consistency keeps the Chelsea schemer in our four-man midfield for the trip to Crystal Palace. With the Eagles hampered by injuries from back to front, including key centre-half Marc Guehi (£4.4m), the playmaker could extend a record that has seen him produce as many attacking returns as league starts (15) this season. Palmer was deployed as Chelsea’s central striker in Wednesday’s 3-1 FA Cup win over Aston Villa, attempting four shots.
FORWARDS
It’s impossible to look beyond Erling Haaland (£14.2m) in our three-man frontline after he returned to Man City’s starting XI on Monday. Although he failed to get on the scoresheet at Brentford, the Norwegian still managed to chip in with an assist, his 20th attacking return of the season so far. In spite of Everton’s improved defensive displays under Sean Dyche, the visitors have still conceded five in their last three road trips.
Having returned in each of his last four starts, we’re also backing Darwin Nunez (£7.4m) to get amongst the points at Anfield. The Uruguayan produced eight points in December’s reverse fixture at Turf Moor, attempting two shots and three key passes, while Liverpool have scored four times in each of their last two home encounters.
Finally, Luton’s recent attacking improvement brings Elijah Adebayo (£4.9m) into our thoughts. The Hatters have served up 14 goals in the last five, with Adebayo earning 33 points during that run. Now, the prospect of him going up against Sheffield United is too good to turn down, even if his goal conversion rate of 37.5% does look somewhat unsustainable. Still, even with the expected regression on that front, he’s posting strong enough underlying numbers (third among forwards for non-penalty xG over the last six) to offer plenty of value.
THE SUBSTITUTES
- Martin Dubravka (£4.2m): The Newcastle shot-stopper claims a sub role for the visit to Nottingham Forest. No goalkeeper has made more saves than Dubravka in the last four Gameweeks.
- Gabriel Magalhaes (£5.0m): Arsenal boast the fewest expected goals conceded (17.8) in the division and they’ll be up against a West Ham side struggling for fluency in the attacking third.
- Malo Gusto (£4.2m): The Chelsea full-back has upped his creativity of late, carving out 10 chances in his last six matches.
- Pedro Neto (£5.7m): Wolves have scored in every home league match this season and thrashed opponents Brentford 4-1 as recently as Gameweek 19.
THE CAPTAIN
We chose the Scout Picks captain using a vote between our Scout Squad panel.
- Marc: Haaland, Jota, Darwin
- Tom: Haaland, Alexander-Arnold, Jota
- Neale: Haaland, Jota, Darwin
Erling Haaland is handed the armband this week, with Diogo Jota as the vice-captain.
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 victory in Gameweek 16 gave the community the biggest win (34 points difference) of 2023/24 so far.
Our champion this week is -GK22-, whose selection is as follows:
Leno; Alexander-Arnold, Trippier, Doughty; De Bruyne, Jota, Foden, Richarlison, Garnacho; Haaland (c), Adebayo
The Scout Picks are 12-11 up on the community this season after Doosra beat us by seven points in Gameweek 23.
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.
We’re currently sitting at 22k in the world.
