Launched in late March, the official Fantasy Challenge game is offering managers a fresh twist for Gameweek 33.
Separate from the main Fantasy Premier League (FPL) format, Fantasy Challenge is essentially a series of independent weekly Free Hits but each one comes with a stipulation.
For example, Gameweek 33 increases the points deductions when players get carded. Yellow ones lose five points instead of one, whilst sendings off lose eight points rather than three.
ENTER YOUR GAMEWEEK 33 TEAM HERE
Point-scoring is the same, it’s still a 15-man squad and the budget remains £100m. A captain and vice-captain need picking too, with prizes on offer.
But two big differences are that you’re allowed up to five players per Premier League team and the line-up can be edited at any point up until there are less than four teams left to play in the Gameweek.
So, who does Scout recommend?
FANTASY CHALLENGE GAMEWEEK 33: SCOUT PICKS
Initial thoughts are that this is a standard Free Hit team, with a few notable obstacles to avoid. As noted in our latest study into suspensions, names like Nicolas Jackson (£6.8m) and Nelson Semedo (£4.5m) are on nine yellows, whilst Douglas Luiz (£5.5m) can’t be selected as he’s banned for two matches.
When identifying which players have a bad ratio of minutes to bookings, we see that Sergio Reguilon (£4.4m) has started 12 times for Manchester United and Brentford yet has already racked up five yellows and his infamous Blank Gameweek 29 red card. He’s assisting plenty and is about to host Sheffield United but, unfortunately, it’s a no for the Spaniard.
As for Darwin Nunez (£7.7m), his eight cautions come at a rate of every 232.13 minutes. Only one arrived last season and almost all of this campaign’s eight came in a hot-headed November to February spell. But there’s already enough doubt over his starting spot after being selected for Thursday’s Europa League defeat.
| STARTS | MINS | YELLOWS | REDS | MINS PER YELLOW | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sergio Reguilon | 12 | 1,050 | 5 | 1 | 210.00 |
| Marcos Senesi | 19 | 1,684 | 8 | 0 | 210.50 |
| Darwin Nunez | 20 | 1,857 | 8 | 0 | 232.13 |
| Nicolas Jackson | 23 | 2,102 | 9 | 0 | 233.56 |
| Issa Kabore | 20 | 1,715 | 7 | 0 | 245.00 |
| Kai Havertz | 23 | 2,045 | 8 | 0 | 255.63 |
| Malo Gusto | 17 | 1,538 | 6 | 1 | 256.33 |
| Cole Palmer | 22 | 2,046 | 7 | 0 | 292.29 |
| Charlie Taylor | 22 | 2,046 | 7 | 0 | 292.29 |
| Anthony Gordon | 28 | 2,377 | 8 | 1 | 297.13 |
Elsewhere, Kai Havertz (£7.3m) is a popular name as managers notice his great form and imminent Double Gameweek 34. Eight bookings from 23 starts, though.
Yet the real debate is over Cole Palmer (£6.1m) versus Everton. Chelsea’s star attacker is in 98.77% of top 100k FPL squads thanks to a whopping 10 goals and six assists from his last 11 outings. But he has seven bookings from 22 starts. It’ll have to be a no for both him and team-mate Malo Gusto (£4.3m), on six yellows and a red.
Therefore, we’ll go with our Scout Picks team, sans Havertz and the Chelsea duo. Coming in for Gusto is Manchester City’s Rico Lewis (£4.2m), who is assumed to start against Luton Town because he wasn’t used at Real Madrid.
Into midfield comes Bryan Mbeumo (£6.7m) and Pascal Gross (£6.3m). Brentford host Sheffield United and Mbeumo – producer of six goals and three assists in his first 11 matches – is back from injury and already on the scoresheet.
Gross may be on five bookings but the set-piece taker is visiting Burnley, who’ve conceded the joint-third most shots from such situations (144). The German sits second for individual chance creation (86).
Finally, as an interesting aside for those wanting an alternative forward, in-form Chris Wood (£4.9m) is currently the highest-scoring player without a yellow card. He has netted in each of the last four matches to reach 108 points.
ENTER YOUR GAMEWEEK 33 TEAM HERE
JOIN THE FANTASY FOOTBALL SCOUT MINI-LEAGUE
By the way, you can join the mini-league that we’ve created.
Simply follow this link and you’ll be added automatically once you’ve entered the game.
League Code: 59d69w
FANTASY CHALLENGE PRIZES
END-OF-SEASON DRAW
- Trip to New York City
- Exclusive tour of the NBC Studio
- Includes flights and accommodation for five nights
Eligibility to win this random draw requires you to have joined the game and entered a team before 2023/24 ends. Each Gameweek team entry is an entry to the prize draw.
WEEKLY PRIZES
The top three each receive an official Premier League Nike match ball, the EA SPORTS FC game and a bundle of FPL merchandise that includes a rucksack, t-shirt, mug and more.
On top of this, the weekly winner will get a signed Premier League shirt.
