We’ve doubled up on Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Fulham and Liverpool for our Gameweek 20 Scout Picks.
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
GAMEWEEK 20 SCOUT PICKS
GOALKEEPER
Bournemouth goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga (£4.5m) makes it into the Scout Picks this week.
The Cherries have secured clean sheets in two of their last three home games, shutting out Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur, and will fancy their chances of registering another when they face goal-shy Everton on Saturday.
Sean Dyche’s side have failed to score in seven of their last nine matches.
DEFENDERS
While Liverpool’s backline has struggled to keep clean sheets consistently without Ibrahima Konate (£5.1m), Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.2m) remains the most creative defender in the Premier League.
The right-back heads into an appealing meeting with Manchester United with one goal and three assists in his last five appearances, so the potential for a haul continues to be high.
Defenders sorted by StatsBomb xG assisted in 2024/25
Another name on the above list, Antonee Robinson (£5.0m), also features in our Gameweek 20 selection.
Only two players have contributed more assists than the US international this season, with Marco Silva’s preference to attack down the left flank a core principle in Fulham’s approach.
Meanwhile, the Cottagers rank joint-third in G-Whizz’s clean sheet odds list this week.
Ezri Konsa’s (£4.4m) stock has taken a tumble of late, with just one clean sheet since the start of December.
However, from a shut-out perspective, Leicester City have scored just one goal in their last four matches.
It’s also worth noting the Foxes have conceded more headed chances than any other club both over the season and under Ruud van Nistelrooy, boosting the centre-back’s appeal.
MIDFIELDERS
Mohamed Salah (£13.6m) gets into the Scout Picks yet again.
The Egyptian should benefit from Manchester United’s poor recent form, as they have lost five of their last six league games under Ruben Amorim, a period which has seen them concede 13 goals.
As for Salah, he’s already surpassed the 200-point mark in just 18 matches.
Despite a blank against Ipswich Town, Cole Palmer (£11.4m) keeps his place in the Scout Picks.
With just one attacking return in four matches, his output has recently dropped, but he is joint-second among midfielders for key passes in that timeframe, having fashioned four big chances.
Crystal Palace are not likely to pushovers on Saturday but Palmer is Chelsea’s key player under Enzo Maresca and will surely play a major role in unlocking Oliver Glasner’s backline.
Bryan Mbeumo (£7.7m) has been boasting superb consistency in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) this season, averaging 6.2 points per match.
With a trip to Southampton up next, he’s almost impossible to ignore, even if his away output has suffered due to Brentford’s poor form on the road in 2024/25.
New Saints’ boss Ivan Juric tends to be quite defensive-minded, but left-back Kyle Walker-Peters’ (£4.3m) attacking forays can leave space in behind, something Mbeumo will hope to exploit.
Antoine Semenyo (£5.6m) has registered an attacking return in two of his last three Premier League appearances and scored when Bournemouth last met Everton in Gameweek 3.
Furthermore, only Erling Haaland (£14.8m) has racked up more shots than the Ghana international over the season.
Quite a few of those efforts are admittedly low-value, but Everton were particularly poor against Nottingham Forest last time out. It could therefore present a decent opportunity for Semenyo to add to his seven attacking returns.
FORWARDS
While Erling Haaland is Rate My Team’s (RMT) top forward for projected points in Gameweek 20, his price tag once again proved a major obstacle and forced too many compromises elsewhere.
For that reason, we’ve settled on Alexander Isak (£9.2m), Ollie Watkins (£8.8m) and Raul Jimenez (£5.5m).
Newcastle United travel to injury-hit Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday lunchtime. The Lilywhites have conceded 12 goals in their last three home games and rank second-bottom for expected goals conceded (xGC) from Gameweek 9 onwards.
As for Isak, he is in a rich vein of form, with 11 goals, three assists, 17 bonus and 91 points in his last 11 appearances.
Players sorted by total points in Gameweeks 9-19
With Jhon Duran (£5.8m) suspended, Watkins gets the nod for Aston Villa’s home clash against Leicester City.
The Foxes are bottom for goals and shots conceded since the appointment of Ruud van Nistelrooy. They will also be without first-choice ‘keeper Mads Hermansen (£4.5m) through injury again on Saturday.
Watkins was particularly bright against Brighton and Hove Albion earlier this week, dispatching his penalty with ease and later turning provider for Morgan Rogers (£5.5m), who is also banned in Gameweek 20.
Finally, Raul is a slight rotation risk with Rodrigo Muniz (£5.5m) lurking,
However, the Mexican scored a trademark goal last time out and was unlucky not to double his tally later in the game.
Raul has scored in each of his last two home starts, with Ipswich Town up next at Craven Cottage.
SUBSTITUTES
As ever, the tight £100m budget means that we’ve been forced to scrabble around for a few bench options who will, hopefully at least, give us a minimum of appearance points.
- Martin Dubravka (£4.2m): The Newcastle goalkeeper offers decent value for his owners, with first-choice shot-stopper Nick Pope (£4.9m) still not fully fit.
- Neco Williams (£4.3m): Nottingham Forest have kept three straight clean sheets, while Gameweek 20 opponents Wolverhampton Wanderers will be without talisman Matheus Cunha (£7.0m) through suspension.
- Jarell Quansah (£3.9m): A cheap £4.0m-or-under defender was required due to budgetary constraints – and Quansah is that man. One positional rival in the shape of Joe Gomez (£4.9m) is injured, while another, Ibrahima Konate (£5.1m), is only just back in training.
- Tyler Dibling (£4.5m): Southampton team-mate Dibling is an exciting prospect against a Brentford side who are yet to win on the road this season. He scored against Crystal Palace last time out.
THE CAPTAIN
We chose the Scout Picks captain using a vote between our Scout Squad panel.
We’re handing Mohamed Salah the armband, with Alexander Isak our vice-captain.
COMMUNITY CHAMPION
A Fantasy Football Scout community member takes on the Scout Picks each week.
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.
Boleyn Boy’s 80-44 victory in Gameweek 6 gave them the biggest win (36 points difference) of 2024/25 so far.
Our champion this week is wolverine, who has gone for: Kepa; Gvardiol, Kerkez, Huijsen; Salah, Gordon, Martinelli, Wilson; Haaland (c), Watkins, Wissa
The Scout Picks are 11-5 up on the community this season.
FOLLOW THE SCOUT’S WEEKLY TRANSFER PLANS
We’re running a Scout FPL community team 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 read more about here.
2 months, 29 days ago
Bench Pedro or Enzo??