We have put together our early Scout Picks for Gameweek 6 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL).
Naturally, there is plenty of time for our weekly selection to change.
The upcoming Scout Squad nominations, as well as the pre-match press conferences, will help influence our final Scout Picks.
But this early selection, at the very least, offers an insight into the players and teams who will be under consideration.
ABOUT THE SCOUT PICKS ‘BUS TEAM’
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 6 FIXTURES
Above: The Gameweek 6 fixtures sorted by difficulty on our Season Ticker.
THE LIKELY LADS
The starting point for this week’s Scout Picks contenders is undoubtedly Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola’s side have been in fine form since the international break, winning to nil against Manchester United and Napoli. They very nearly snatched all three points at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, too.
Any talk of going without Erling Haaland (£14.3m) against Burnley is a non-starter, as evidenced by his early runaway lead in our Captain Poll. He’s scored more goals than any other Premier League player this season.
However, there will surely be room for two City attackers, with Tijjani Reijnders (£5.6m), Phil Foden (£8.0m) and Rodri (£6.4m) arguably the best of the rest.
Reijnders was chucked straight into Guardiola’s first XI in Gameweek 1, and is the only City player to have played every minute since:
But let’s not forget about Foden, who’s returned to form in recent weeks, and Rodri, who racked up 16 defensive contributions (DefCons) against Arsenal.
Defensive representation, be it through Gianluigi Donnarumma (£5.6m) or Josko Gvardiol (£5.8m), also looks on the cards for the Scout Picks. Matheus Nunes (£5.3m) could potentially stake a claim, too, but only if Abdukodir Khusanov (£5.4m) is ruled out through injury.
Elsewhere, Tottenham Hotspur and Everton have plum home fixtures, and we can expect them to also feature prominently in our Scout Picks selection.
Cristian Romero (£5.1m) and James Tarkowski (£5.5m) will likely make the cut at the back. Romero is top among Spurs players for DefCons, while Tarkowski will fancy his chances against a West Ham United side who have already conceded seven goals from set-plays this season, which is by far the worst record in the division.
This could also be good news for Jack Grealish (£6.8m) and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£5.0m), both of whom excel at delivering crosses into the box.
But teammate Iliman Ndiaye (£6.5m) gets the nod in our ‘bus team’ – he’s produced an attacking return in three of his last four matches and should be on penalties.
Mohammed Kudus (£6.6m) or Xavi Simons (£7.1m) is another tricky call for the Scout Squad pundits to decide on later this week.
IN CONTENTION
There are ongoing reservations about Manchester United under Ruben Amorim, but Bruno Fernandes (£9.0m) and Bryan Mbeumo (£8.1m) will be pushing hard for inclusion ahead of Gameweek 6.
Fernandes is the safe bet, given his vast routes to points, including penalties and DefCons.
Notably, Saturday’s opponents, Brentford, have conceded 10 goals in five matches and are only just outside the bottom three for big chances conceded:
Other midfielders currently in the mix include Mohamed Salah (£14.5m), Antoine Semenyo (£7.7m) and Enzo Fernandez (£6.7m), plus DefCon magnet Elliot Anderson (£5.5m) if we need to save some pennies.
For now, we’ve left out Salah.
Crystal Palace are unbeaten in their last 17 matches in all competitions, and aren’t far off the top for lowest expected goals conceded (xGC). Arne Slot’s team have the attacking capabilities to blow any opponent away, but given our meagre £83m budget, it’s probably prudent to distribute our funds more evenly this week, instead of opting for both Haaland and Salah.
Should we proceed with this approach, the forward who is benched between Alexander Isak (£10.5m) and Hugo Ekitike (£8.7m) in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday could begin to attract some attention. They are likely to compete with Joao Pedro (£7.8m), Chris Wood (£7.6m), Evanilson (£7.0m) and Igor Thiago (£6.0m) for a place alongside Haaland in the Scout Picks.
Elsewhere, you’d expect Chelsea (hosting Brighton and Hove Albion), Liverpool (away at Crystal Palace), Bournemouth (away at Leeds United) and Nottingham Forest (entertaining Sunderland) to feature highly in G-Whizz’s upcoming clean sheets odds list, so they could feasibly supply us with a backline option or two.
David Raya (£5.5m), Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.1m) or Riccardo Calafiori (£5.7m) could also sneak in, although we’d feel far more comfortable backing the Arsenal defence if this fixture wasn’t at St James’ Park.
THE LONGER SHOTS
Aston Villa v Fulham is tough to call. Unai Emery’s team have been really poor this season, but they’ve lost just two of their five matches and back on home turf, there are probably safer punts elsewhere this week.
Matty Cash (£4.6m) and Ollie Watkins (£8.8m) arguably carry the most appeal at Villa, but they remain ‘long shots’ unless they show serious improvement against Bologna on Thursday.
Elsewhere, it’ll be a tough ask for any of Newcastle United or Arsenal’s attackers to force their way past others in Gameweek 6, due to the robustness of both teams’ defences.
GAMEWEEK 6 EARLY SCOUT PICKS
