We’ve put together our Scout Picks ‘bus team’ for Double Gameweek 36 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL).
The upcoming Scout Squad nominations and midweek European ties, as well as the pre-match press conferences, will help shape our finalised picks on Friday.
Nonetheless, this early draft, at the very least, offers an insight into the players and teams who will be under consideration.
There are, as ever, certain restrictions for our squad:
- An £83.0m overall budget for our starting XI
- An overall squad limit of £100.0m
- No more than three players per team
GAMEWEEK 36 FIXTURES
Gameweek 36 fixtures, sorted by difficulty on our Season Ticker.
THE LIKELY LADS
It’s Double Gameweek time, so Manchester City and Crystal Palace players unsurprisingly feature prominently in our ‘bus team’.
We’ve maxed out on City assets, with Rayan Cherki’s (£6.5m) superb form giving him a clear head start over Antoine Semenyo (£8.1m) in the race for Scout Picks inclusion.
Nico O’Reilly (£5.2m) and Erling Haaland (£14.6m) are no-brainer selections.
We have to devote much greater attention to our Palace players, however, with huge teamsheet uncertainty, particularly for Sunday’s home encounter with Everton.
The Eagles are in midweek European action, of course, with the primary focus for them now being the Conference League. Oliver Glasner rotated five players out on Sunday, so midweek minutes will be vital in determining our final Scout Picks.
Dean Henderson (£5.1m) and Maxence Lacroix (£5.2m), for now at least, are the leading contenders from Palace. You’d think that these positions – goalkeeper and centre-back – are less likely to need a rest compared to, for example, the ‘up and down’ wing-backs.
Indeed, Daniel Munoz (£5.9m), who has already scored against Everton this season, was hooked at half-time on Sunday in a pre-planned substitution. Will Glasner do the same again, given the Conference League focus?
Elsewhere, Brighton and Hove Albion have a very presentable home fixture against already-relegated Wolverhampton Wanderers.
We’ve sided with Jan Paul van Hecke (£4.6m) at the back, but further forward, there’s not much in it between Yankuba Minteh (£5.5m), Jack Hinshelwood (£5.1m), Pascal Gross (£5.5m), Kaoru Mitoma (£6.1m) and Danny Welbeck (£6.3m).
Hinshelwood has been very threatening from open play since switching to a No 10 role, and has the best rate of expected goal involvement (xGI) of any Brighton player in the last six matches (see image below), but Welbeck isn’t far behind and has penalties in his locker.
Gabriel Magalhaes (£7.2m) and Bruno Fernandes (£10.4m) are the other no-think picks, up against West Ham United and Sunderland respectively.
Gabriel emerged with a nine-pointer from his last meeting with West Ham.
IN CONTENTION
Now, onto some of the closer calls.
Given that Palace’s second fixture is away at Man City, there are legitimate questions over whether an attacker is even necessary this week, especially with so many other decent single Gameweek options available.
Ismaila Sarr (£6.4m) and Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.6m), for example, could be looking at 90-120 minutes across the two matches, and it’s feasible that they could get most of their game-time against City.
As for Aston Villa, they arguably have the best fixture of all, with relegated, managerless Burnley so often there for the taking. With one eye on Europe, Unai Emery massively rotated his team in Gameweek 35, but there is now only a six-point buffer from sixth-placed Bournemouth, and they really need the three points for their Champions League pursuit.
With fixtures against Liverpool/Man City to follow, the Spaniard will likely go strong at Turf Moor, but who could inflict the damage, if anyone?
Morgan Rogers (£7.5m) and Ollie Watkins (£8.8m) have blanked in successive matches, but over the last six Gameweeks, have seven combined attacking returns. They’re the best Villa options for xGI in that timeframe, too.
We could also be tempted into a Villa defensive pick, with Burnley failing to score in four of their last five home matches:
Image from WhoScored
With plenty of rotation uncertainty elsewhere, Arsenal should name a settled side for the trip to West Ham. In addition to Gabriel, one of Bukayo Saka (£9.8m), Eberechi Eze (£7.3m), Declan Rice (£7.2m) or Viktor Gyokeres (£8.8m) will likely make the Scout Picks.
Saka looked particularly sharp on Saturday, scoring and supplying an assist in only 45 minutes of playing time.
Elsewhere, could Everton be the weekend’s dark horses? With Palace in European action on Thursday, you would not be surprised to see Glasner ring the changes at Selhurst Park. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£5.2m), with three attacking returns in four matches, could potentially catch the Eagles off guard.
Tottenham Hotspur v Leeds United feels tricky to call, so it is perhaps best left avoided, but Pedro Porro (£5.2m), Richarlison (£6.3m), Anton Stach (£4.8m), Noah Okafor (£5.6m) and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.8m) are possibilities. Leading the line under Roberto De Zerbi, Richarlison has produced 13 points across his last two matches.
THE LONGER SHOTS
With ‘doubles’ and favourable fixtures elsewhere, you’d be hard pushed to make a case for Liverpool and Chelsea players ahead of their Saturday meeting.
Fulham and Bournemouth players may take a backseat, too, in another hard-to-call encounter at Craven Cottage.
A second United attacker might not be necessary, although Sunderland have been far from convincing on home turf of late, losing four of their last five. Casemiro (£5.8m) would probably be the favoured option to join Fernandes, at least while we wait for an injury update on Benjamin Sesko (£7.3m).
Harry Maguire (£4.4m) is a cheap option at the back, too.
Finally, Morgan Gibbs-White (£7.7m) and Bruno Guimaraes (£6.8m) have their merits this week, but the Monday/Thursday/Sunday turnaround for Nottingham Forest is far from ideal, while Guimaraes tends to do better at St James’ Park, with 14 of his 16 returns coming at home.
We have to wait to see whether Gibbs-White recovers from the facial injury sustained on Monday, too.
GAMEWEEK 36 EARLY SCOUT PICKS
