With the week-and-a-half break finally behind us, it’s time to shift our focus to the Gameweek 30 Scout Picks.
We considered the Scout Squad submissions made by Marc, Sam, Tom F and Neale before coming up with our final team.
As usual, we are limited by certain restrictions:
- An £83.0m budget for our starting XI
- An overall squad limit of £100.0m
- No more than three players per team
GAMEWEEK 30 SCOUT PICKS
GOALKEEPER
With a favourable home fixture, David Raya (£6.0m) is our chosen goalkeeper in Gameweek 30. As you are likely aware, Arsenal have the best defence in the division, with the fewest goals conceded and most clean sheets. Everton certainly possess the weaponry to throw open the title race, but over the season, they are in the bottom six for actual and expected goals (xG). Furthermore, the reverse of this fixture ended in a 1-0 victory for the Gunners.
DEFENDERS
Arsenal are the bookies’ favourites to keep a clean sheet in Gameweek 30, so Gabriel Magalhaes (£7.2m) joins Raya in a defensive double-up. Beyond his clean sheet potential, the Brazilian centre-back has other routes to points: he ranks joint-seventh among defenders for headed attempts from set plays, with a 37.5% defensive contribution (DefCon) success rate in 2025/26.
Virgil van Dijk (£6.2m) is another stand-out premium defender in Gameweek 30, as Liverpool entertain Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield. The Dutchman has already scored three times this season, while his ability to serve up DefCon points also falls in his favour – he’s delivered 22 to date, mirroring the tally of fellow Liverpool centre-back Ibrahima Konate (£5.5m). Spurs are in a sorry state, but they have scored in each of their four matches under Igor Tudor, so a clean sheet may not be as assured as one might think. They are, however, bottom for set-piece xG conceded since the turn of the year, so you’d think van Dijk will get opportunities to extend his recent scoring streak.
Above: Teams sorted by set-piece xG conceded since the turn of the year
We’ve gone cheap for our third defensive selection, with James Hill (£4.2m) our chosen representative from the Bournemouth rearguard. The 24-year-old has started all 11 league matches for Andoni Iraola’s side since the tail end of 2025, and is averaging 5.1 points per start in that period, one of the best among Fantasy Premier League (FPL) defenders. With DefCon potential and a bit of attacking threat, he now faces a Burnley attack that is bottom for xG in the last six Gameweeks.
MIDFIELDERS
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