It’s time to look ahead to Gameweek 6 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) with our early Scout Picks.
This is the first draft of our regular picks. They will then be finalised and published much closer to Saturday’s deadline.
Plenty can change between now and then, of course, with Scout Squad nominations, midweek matches and a whole host of press conferences still to come.
We are, as ever, limited by certain restrictions in our selections:
- An £83.0m budget for our starting XI
- An overall squad limit of £100.0m
- No more than three players per team
GAMEWEEK 6 FIXTURES
Above: The Gameweek 6 fixtures sorted by difficulty on our Season Ticker
THE LIKELY LADS
There’ll be plenty of Wildcard chips deployed ahead of Gameweek 6 based on the results of our on-site poll.
Near the top of many managers’ wish lists, and likely ours, will be Brentford and Arsenal assets.
West Ham United have shipped nine goals and a league-high 20 ‘big chances’ in their first five games, with nothing working despite a full pre-season under Julen Lopetegui.
Bryan Mbeumo (£7.2m) took his total to four goals in five matches at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday and will surely be in the Scout Picks running this week.
Thomas Frank’s side are without a clean sheet, admittedly, but they’ve come up against Manchester City, Liverpool and Spurs so far, so defensive cover via Mark Flekken (£4.5m), Ethan Pinnock (£4.5m) or Nathan Collins (£4.5m) might be the way to go.
As for Arsenal, Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) is tussling with the heavy hitters from other clubs but you’d need a darned good reason to omit him against Leicester City. He’s provided an assist in each of the Gunners’ five league games this season.
Kai Havertz (£8.1m) could just as easily haul, with Gabriel Martinelli (£6.9m) and Leandro Trossard (£6.9m) cut-price alternatives.
Leicester are bottom for headed goal attempts conceded so far, with 18 (see below), so Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.1m) will fancy his chances.
Above: Leicester have conceded 18 headed attempts so far this season, more than any other side
If the Scout Squad panel favour a defensive, rather than attacking, double-up, David Raya (£5.6m) enters the conversation.
Despite a kind opening schedule, Newcastle United sit 15th for expected goals conceded (xGC), so Erling Haaland (£15.3m) is included for obvious reasons.
IN CONTENTION
Staying at St James’ Park, other Manchester City assets ought to be in the conversation.
Newcastle usually score at home, so it’s further forward where our interest currently lies.
Savinho (£6.5m) has supplied three assists in four league games, Ilkay Gundogan (£6.5m) is getting into some great goalscoring positions, while Phil Foden (£9.3m) is surely edging closer to a start.
The fact the Magpies are joint-bottom for key passes conceded from their left flank perhaps favours Savinho, but all three could feasibly come into Scout Picks contention.
Chelsea are a team in form, with three wins in four, a period which has seen them score 11 goals. There’s a definite rotation/minute’s risk with the wider players, but Cole Palmer (£10.6m) and Nicolas Jackson (£7.7m) are very much in the ‘in contention’ conversation.
Jackson is second in the Premier League for expected goals (xG) over the first five Gameweeks. Crucially, he’s actually finishing those chances under Enzo Maresca, with four goals from 3.3 xG.
Representation from Aston Villa, Liverpool and Bournemouth also seems likely – but who? Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) or Morgan Rogers (£5.2m)? Mohamed Salah (£12.8m) or Luis Diaz (£7.9m)? Antoine Semenyo (£5.6m) or Evanilson (£5.9m)?
There are club-specific dilemmas across the park, with the cheaper options currently favoured.
Given the lack of clean sheets in recent times, perhaps the best bet is to back attack-minded defenders in Gameweek 6.
Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.1m), Antonee Robinson (£4.7m) and Lucas Digne (£4.6m) have decent away fixtures and rank first (13) and joint-eighth respectively for chances created (five).
Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez (£4.5m) isn’t far behind with four key passes, and arguably has the best fixture of all at home to Southampton on Monday.
Eberechi Eze (£6.9m) and Chris Wood (£6.1m) are also in the mix against Everton and Fulham.
THE LONG SHOTS
There probably won’t be too many takers in Jarrod Bowen (£7.5m), given West Ham’s ropey start under Lopetegui, but he has registered one goal and two assists and will be up against a Brentford side without a clean sheet.
The likes of Emile Smith Rowe (£5.8m), Adama Traore (£5.1m), Dwight McNeil (£5.4m) and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.9m) could feature but it’ll be very tough.
Meanwhile, defensive assets like Robert Sanchez (£4.6m), Levi Colwill (£4.5m) and Nikola Milenkovic (£4.5m) are hard to make a case for given the strength of Brighton and Hove Albion and Fulham’s attacks.
Finally, Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur feels like a tricky match to call, so it’ll be interesting to see how the Scout Squad panel view assets like Bruno Fernandes (£8.3m), Son Heung-min (£10.0m) and James Maddison (£7.5m).
Maddison surprisingly ranks second among all players for expected goal involvement (xGI) in the first five Gameweeks.
GAMEWEEK 6 BUS TEAM
