Gameweek 24 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) is the first double of the season – so players from Merseyside unsurprisingly feature prominently in our (later than usual!) Scout Picks ‘bus team’.
Liverpool and Everton each play twice, facing Bournemouth and Leicester City respectively before meeting each other at Goodison Park.
ABOUT THE SCOUT PICKS ‘BUS TEAM’
In this selection, we choose a first draft of our regular picks. We will then finalise and publish them much closer to Saturday’s deadline.
Plenty can change between now and then, of course.
The upcoming Scout Squad nominations will help shape the final Scout Picks.
The midweek European ties, the pre-match press conferences and moves in the transfer market will also be factors before we sign off out selection for Gameweek 24.
As ever, there are certain restrictions for our picks:
- An £83.0m budget for our starting XI
- An overall squad limit of £100.0m – so sometimes the bench will contain glorified bench fodder
- No more than three players per team
GAMEWEEK 24 FIXTURES
Above: The Gameweek 24 fixtures sorted by difficulty on our Season Ticker
THE LIKELY LADS
There’s only one place to start regarding Scout Picks contenders in Gameweek 24.
There’ll be a Liverpool triple-up in our XI, of that there’s no doubt. The question is: which three?
Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.3m) and Mohamed Salah (£13.7m) are obvious starting places. The leading Premier League players for expected goal involvement (xGI) in their respective positions, they’ll be favoured by the vast majority of FPL managers for the Reds’ double-header.
It’s advisable to keep an eye on the transfer market regarding Alexander-Arnold. Should there be any suggestion that Real Madrid are stepping up their pursuit of the right-back as the week goes on, then it’s worth considering the scenario that he might not even be on Merseyside for the last-ever league derby at Goodison. Mr Dependable, Virgil van Dijk (£6.4m), is waiting in the Scout Picks wings.
The third Liverpool representative is the big dilemma. Van Dijk, Alisson (£5.5m) and Ibrahima Konate (£5.2m) are candidates, should we go with a defensive double-up.
Further forward, a shot-happy Dominik Szoboszlai (£6.4m) and in-form Cody Gakpo (£7.6m) are leading the charge.
| Mins per xG in home games (rank v other clubs) | Mins per xGC in home games (rank v other clubs) | |
| Bournemouth | 49.2 (4th) | 94 (5th) |
| Everton | 87.9 (18th) | 70.7 (12th) |
There are arguments either way. Bournemouth are the division’s meanest defence at home (seven goals conceded), which dents the appeal of Gakpo/Szoboszlai. And yet the Cherries are also fourth for xG on their own soil, having just hit Forest for five. Games involving Everton tend not to feature too many goals at either end, which would be advantageous for Liverpool’s defenders.
We have Gakpo in the ‘bus team’, with his run of 11 consecutive league starts also a factor. Expected minutes are as big a consideration as anything else, something that van Dijk and Alisson can also offer. Gakpo only has one goal on the road this season but his underlying numbers (27.9 minutes per shot at home, 34.3 away) suggest there shouldn’t be such a big disparity.
GAKPO HOME V AWAY
Wednesday’s team selection against PSV may be a huge influence on our final selection – he is one of just a handful of senior players making the trip to the Netherlands. Significant minutes there would change our thinking.
Elsewhere, at least one representative from the Everton backline will feature. The change in manager was a slight concern; you knew what you were getting under Sean Dyche. But David Moyes is from a similar pragmatic school and Saturday’s gritty display was reassuring for those of us interested in an Everton goalkeeper/defender.
Jordan Pickford (£5.1m) is a stone’s throw from the summit of the goalkeepers’ FPL points standings and could at least compensate for any clean sheet loss against Liverpool with save points.
Away from the doublers, Cole Palmer‘s (£11.3m) inclusion is surely a given. The midfielder, whose Chelsea side entertain West Ham United on Monday, averages 8.2 points per match in home games, just 0.4 short of Salah.
IN CONTENTION
Back to the doublers, how big do we go on Everton? There is always the lure of tripling up on any team with a Double Gameweek. Often, it’s a detrimental case of quantity and not quality.
While the Toffees’ case is not helped by one of their fixtures being against the league leaders, they do face strugglers Leicester at home. In isolation, we’d be considering Pickford et al just for that match.
Their cause is furthered by the absence of any other stand-out mismatches this week. Two of the other whipping boys we normally target, Ipswich Town and Southampton, face each other.
A defensive double-up, with the budget-friendly Vitalii Mykolenko (£4.4m) or set-piece target James Tarkowski (£4.8m), is not out of the question, then.
The players further forward are a tougher sell in a team not renowned for free-scoring football.
Iliman Ndiaye (£5.5m) is about the best of a mediocre bunch: he has scored in successive matches under David Moyes and is on penalties if, as seems likely, Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.4m) is facing a spell out with a hamstring injury.
A cautionary word on Ndiaye, though: it’s perhaps wise to wait for later in the week before committing to the Senegal international, as he too appeared to be struggling before coming off in Gameweek 23.
Ndiaye not moving freely and appears to have just gestured to the bench. Wouldn’t be a surprise if he’s off soon too
— Patrick Boyland (@Paddy_Boyland) January 25, 2025
Bryan Mbeumo (£7.8m) and Yoane Wissa (£6.3m) come into the reckoning as Brentford host out-of-sorts Tottenham Hotspur. How much we back the Bees might depend on whether Spurs have recovered their first-choice centre-backs.
Alexander Isak’s (£9.5m) imperious form is also hard to ignore but Fulham did beat Newcastle earlier this season, and the Cottagers belong to that tricky second tier of opponent – like Bournemouth – who can often cause the Magpies issues. As was the case in Gameweek 22, it might not be a week for Lewis Hall (£5.1m) or Anthony Gordon (£7.7m).
Liam Delap (£5.6m) and the corner-taking Leif Davis (£4.4m) are budget-friendly considerations for Ipswich’s meeting with Southampton. Saints have allowed more shots from set plays than any other team.
Aston Villa (at Wolves), Manchester United (hosting Crystal Palace) and Nottingham Forest (entertaining Brighton) are arguably the best of the rest in terms of fixtures, although none of them have what you would call a gimme. We’ve gone with Amad Diallo (£5.6m) and Nikola Milenkovic (£4.8m) in our ‘bus team’: expect Nuno Espirito Santo to go back to defence-first basics after Saturday’s mauling, while Amad has seven attacking returns in eight home league starts this season.
THE LONG SHOTS
Arsenal v Manchester City is in that ‘hard to call’ bracket. Occasionally cagey affairs (1-0 and 0-0 last season), occasionally goal-fests (2-2 at the Etihad earlier this campaign, 4-1 and 3-1 to City in 2022/23).
The easy decision will be to eschew any players involved in this fixture for the Scout Picks, then, despite Phil Foden‘s (£9.3m) form and the likelihood of the Gunners getting some joy from City’s questionable defence/midfield.
EARLY SCOUT PICKS
