We’ve put together our early Scout Picks for Gameweek 36 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL).
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.
ABOUT THE SCOUT PICKS ‘BUS TEAM’
The upcoming Scout Squad nominations, midweek fixtures and the pre-match press conferences will help shape those finalised Scout Picks.
There are, as ever, certain restrictions for our squad:
- An £83.0m budget for our starting XI
- An overall squad limit of £100.0m
- No more than three players per team
GAMEWEEK 36 FIXTURES
Above: The Gameweek 36 fixtures sorted by difficulty on our Season Ticker
THE LIKELY LADS
There are three really great fixtures that jump off the page this week, with European hopefuls Manchester City, Nottingham Forest and Brentford all set to face promoted opposition.
Ipswich Town may be the best of a bad bunch, but Kieran McKenna’s side have still failed to keep a clean sheet in 16 successive top-flight matches, a run which has seen them concede 43 goals.
Bryan Mbeumo (£8.2m) and Yoane Wissa (£6.7m) could both continue in the Scout Picks, then.
As you can see below, the Brentford pair are averaging 12.8 and 9.0 points per start (Pts/Strt) respectively against promoted opposition this season.
Man City, meanwhile, make the trip to St Mary’s Stadium on Saturday.
It looks like a potential bloodbath, with Southampton bottom across most of the key defensive metrics in 2025, including shots in the box conceded, big chances conceded and expected goals conceded (xGC).
Omar Marmoush (£7.6m) was pushed wide against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Friday, blunting his threat, but is up against one of the worst teams in Premier League history and carries obvious appeal.
Erling Haaland (£14.8m) was, of course, back on the bench in Gameweek 35, but having played zero minutes and been out for four weeks, will surely need time to build his way back to full fitness.
Elsewhere, Kevin De Bruyne (£9.5m) will likely make the cut: he’s combined 10 shots and 11 key passes in the last four Gameweeks, the fourth-most of any player:
Pep Guardiola’s side have picked up defensively of late, too, with five clean sheets and just six goals conceded in nine, adding to Josko Gvardiol’s (£6.4m) appeal.
As for Forest, Morgan Gibbs-White (£6.4m), Anthony Elanga (£5.4m) and Chris Wood (£7.0m) are the stand-out options from the attack.
Wood is Forest’s top player for shots, shots in the box, and, by some distance, big chances and expected goals (xG) this season.
Defensive representation, be it through Matz Sels (£5.2m), Ola Aina (£5.2m), Nikola Milenkovic (£5.2m) or Neco Williams (£4.5m), is also on the cards, particularly given the lack of other clean sheet opportunities elsewhere.
IN CONTENTION
Further Brentford picks are also in contention, like Mark Flekken (£4.4m), Nathan Collins (£4.6m) and Michael Kayode (£4.5m) at the back.
Collins has quietly racked up seven assists this season, thanks in part to his passing ability. Indeed, the centre-back is the only Brentford player to complete 1500+ accurate passes this term.
Kayode, who impressed down the right flank against Manchester United on Sunday, is another candidate: over the last six matches, no club has allowed more chances to be conceded from their left wing (40) than opponents Ipswich.
Above: Ipswich Town’s chances created conceded map in the last six matches (assists in green)
Kevin Schade (£5.1m) and Mikkel Damsgaard (£4.9m) also merit mentions, having racked up 26 attacking returns between them this season. That said, it’ll be extremely difficult for either to oust Mbeumo or Wissa, given their consistency.
Then there’s Liverpool v Arsenal and Newcastle United v Chelsea.
Mohamed Salah (£13.8m), Bukayo Saka (£10.4m), Alexander Isak (£9.6m) and Cole Palmer (£10.5m) are all options for inclusion, although both fixtures feel tricky to call, which is enough to put us off for now. Their respective defences are probably best avoided, too.
Elsewhere, West Ham United and Crystal Palace travel to Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, who are both in UEFA Europa League semi-final action on Thursday night.
It significantly boosts the appeal of Jarrod Bowen (£7.7m), Daniel Munoz (£5.3m), Eberechi Eze (£6.9m), Ismaila Sarr (£5.7m) and Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.7m).
Bowen has directly contributed to 75% of West Ham’s goals when on the pitch since Graham Potter’s arrival.
Above: Players sorted by FPL goal involvement (FGI) since Graham Potter’s first match in charge in Gameweek 21
The attacking returns and points are more spread out at Palace, of course, but Eze has previously fared well against Spurs, with one goal, one assist and 14 points across his last two meetings with the Lilywhites.
Matheus Cunha (£7.1m) also comes into the thinking: he’s top among forwards for expected assists (xA) over the last six matches.
Opponents Brighton and Hove Albion have been defensively poor recently, so adding Cunha as the third forward is a viable shout this week. Rayan Ait-Nouri (£5.1m) could potentially get a look in, too.
Fulham and Everton’s defensive form has generally been good this year, so their array of sub-£5.0m defenders are worthy of consideration, including Ryan Sessegnon (£4.2m), who was a little unfortunate to be subbed off early at Villa Park on Saturday.
Prior to that, he’d provided six attacking returns in eight appearances. Attackers from both these teams will surely be low down the priority list, however.
THE LONGER SHOTS
Bournemouth v Aston Villa is another tricky one to call, with Antoine Semenyo (£5.7m), Justin Kluivert (£6.0m), Evanilson (£5.8m), Morgan Rogers (£5.7m) and Ollie Watkins (£8.9m) likely to miss out as a result.
Julio Enciso (£5.4m) is an outside possibility if we don’t fancy the Brentford defence. He’s provided four attacking returns in his last six matches.
Finally, it’s difficult to make much of a case for a Manchester United attacker, given that we don’t know how Ruben Amorim will approach the clash against West Ham in light of Thursday’s Europa League commitments.
GAMEWEEK 36: EARLY SCOUT PICKS
