FPL Gameweek 30 Scout Picks: Spurs triple-up, Salah returns

With the international break finally behind us, attention turns to the Gameweek 30 Scout Picks.

This time, we roll out a 3-5-2 formation and recall a certain Egyptian. We also triple up on Tottenham Hotspur, as they prepare to face injury-hit Luton Town.

As ever, some restrictions limit us:

• An £83.0m budget for our starting XI
• An overall squad limit of £100.0m
• No more than three players per team

GOALKEEPER

A trip to Sheffield United, the lowest goalscorers in the league, earns Bernd Leno (£4.8m) a spot between the sticks. Fulham roll up to Bramall Lane on the back of two clean sheets in three matches and with save points to fall back on, the German offers plenty of routes to returns. He’ll certainly be confident of rebuffing an attack that hasn’t scored at home since Gameweek 21.

DEFENDERS

We’re keeping faith in Pedro Porro (£5.9m) as Tottenham Hotspur welcome Luton to north London. The Hatters are admittedly on a long scoring streak, having found the net 17 times in a row. The Spaniard brings plenty of attacking threat, however. Indeed, Porro has already racked up eight assists this season, more than any other team-mate bar James Maddison (£8.0m). The Hatters’ fallibility at dead-ball situations should be of interest, too, with Porro still on some set plays. Furthermore, Luton have allowed more chances from their left flank than any other team over the last six Gameweeks.

Elsewhere, Liverpool’s home encounter with Brighton and Hove Albion brings Conor Bradley (£4.2m) into contention. In the absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.5m), the right-back should be given license to roam forward and has shown his goal and assist potential in recent weeks, with eight shots and 10 key passes in his last six matches. At home to a Brighton attack that has failed to score in four of their last seven away trips, Bradley looks like a great enabler at just £4.2m.

Malo Gusto (£4.2m) offers a viable option for points at both ends of the pitch as Chelsea entertain Burnley, having delivered a series of encouraging displays from right-back since the turn of the year. The Frenchman, who was pictured in training on Thursday to ease doubts over his availability, has bagged two assists in his last four matches. David Datro Fofana (£5.0m) is also ineligible for this one, boosting the Blues’ shut-out potential. The underlying stats show that Burnley are particularly susceptible to conceding crosses down their left flank of late, something Gusto can exploit.

MIDFIELDERS

The top-rated player in this week’s RMT ratings, Mohamed Salah (£13.1m) is our second Liverpool pick for Sunday’s game. The Egyptian is the most-bought player ahead of Saturday’s Fantasy Premier League (FPL) deadline and with eight double-figure hauls in 2023/24, more than any other player, he is a potentially explosive captaincy option in Gameweek 30. Having plundered 15 points in the reverse fixture back in Gameweek 8, it’s the perfect match-up, you’d think.

Second to Salah in this week’s Captain Poll, Son Heung-min (£10.1m) is nailed on as Spurs welcome Luton. The Lilywhites have scored at least two goals in six of their last seven home outings, while Rob Edwards’ troops haven’t kept a clean sheet on their travels all season. Potentially lining up through the middle and on penalties, it’s impossible to overlook Son in Gameweek 30.

With Luton shipping chances galore, we felt we needed more than Son as representation from the Spurs attack. The South Korea international is therefore joined by team-mate James Maddison. The playmaker has produced one goal and three assists in seven starts since returning from injury and he’ll fancy his chances against a Hatters defence missing key personnel. He’s been a real flat-track bully this season, too, with 10 of his 13 attacking returns arriving against bottom-half opposition.

We can’t ignore Anthony Gordon’s (£6.0m) home form, meanwhile. The winger has only failed to return once at St James’ Park this season, with eight goals and six assists in 14 appearances. There’s also a chance he finishes the game leading the line if Eddie Howe has one eye on Alexander Isak’s (£7.6m) minutes over this three-match week. Full of confidence after winning his first full England cap, Gordon is a standout option against West Ham United.

We’ve also selected Cole Palmer (£5.8m) for Chelsea’s plum home clash with Burnley. A total of 11 goals and nine assists in 19 starts this season makes a mockery of the summer signing’s starting £5.0m price tag. The playmaker racked up 12 points in the reverse fixture and a similar return here wouldn’t be a surprise.

FORWARDS

First, we’ll address Erling Haaland (£14.3m). His omission could come back to bite us but having observed two low-scoring encounters between Arsenal and Manchester City already this season (1-0, 1-1), we’ve decided to opt against representation from either club in our Gameweek 30 Scout Picks.

Instead, there are call-ups for Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) and Rodrigo Muniz (£4.6m).

Watkins will be looking to get back amongst the goals as Aston Villa host Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday evening. This season’s top FPL points scorer (187) with the most goal involvements (31), Watkins has served up three double-figure hauls in his last seven appearances, underlining his differential armband appeal. As for Wolves, they arrive on the back of a 3-2 home loss to Championship outfit Coventry City.

Man of the moment Muniz is another obvious candidate as Fulham visit a Sheffield United defence without a clean sheet in 12 matches. The Blades’ latest three home games have ended in three losses by a combined aggregate score of 0-16. Combine that with Muniz’s form – seven goals with one assist in seven outings – and it’s easy to back the bargain forward.

THE SUBSTITUTES

• Murara Neto (£4.7m) faces Everton, the division’s most wasteful attack in terms of shot conversion.
• Antonee Robinson (£4.6m) has the potential for a clean sheet at Bramall Lane and also boasts decent underlying attacking numbers.
• Pau Torres (£4.6m) squares off against a Wolves attack missing Pedro Neto (£5.6m) and Hwang Hee-chan (£5.4m).
• Dominic Solanke (£7.2m) is unfortunate to only warm the bench, having netted 15 goals over the season.

THE CAPTAIN

We chose the Scout Picks captain using a vote between our Scout Squad panel.

Son Heung-min is handed the armband this week, with Mohamed Salah as the vice-captain.

• Marc: Son, Salah, Palmer
• Tom F: Son, Salah, Palmer
• Neale: Son, Salah, Palmer

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. They’ll also get 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 Soumyeah, whose selection is as follows:

Leno; van Dijk, Porro, Robinson; Salah (c), Son, Richarlison, Palmer; Darwin, Isak, Muniz

The Scout Picks are tied 14.5-14.5 with the community this season, having drawn with Shuddahaddum in Gameweek 29.

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.