With just under three hours remaining until Villa and United get Gameweek 2 underway, we roll out our second set of Scout Picks for the 2015/16 campaign. We’ve doubled up on Southampton, Swansea, Liverpool and West Ham in our starting XI, with all four facing home comforts this time around.
For the start of the season, the budget for the Scout Picks and Community XI is capped at 82.5m, though this will be increased as the campaign progresses.
Swansea’s home clash with Newcastle brings Lukasz Fabianski into contention. The top scoring keeper in last year’s Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game, he faces an attack that notched just 14 times on their travels in 2014/15 and has save point potential to fall back on should the Magpies find the net.
We’re keeping faith in Southampton’s Cedric Soares for the visit of Everton tomorrow lunchtime. The Saints earned 11 clean sheets at home last term and the raiding right-back’s assist against Newcastle persuades us to keep the faith, despite his half-time withdrawal at St James’.
Liverpool’s Monday evening match with Bournemouth brings Martin Skrtel onto our radar. The Slovakian earned more bonus points than any defender in 201/415 and should benefit from the BPS changes this time around, whilst his aerial threat should also pose problems in the opposition box for Eddie Howe’s men.
With the return of Carl Jenkinson placing some uncertainty over the West Ham defence, we’re opting for the security of Aaron Cresswell at home to Leicester. Granted, he’s the priciest route into Slaven Bilic’s backline but two goals and four assists in his debut season highlight the left-back’s attacking potential.
We’re opting for Dimitri Payet as West Ham welcome Leicester to Upton Park. The Frenchman – who created more chances than any player in Europe’s top five leagues last season – has already opened his account with an assist in the Gameweek 1 win over Arsenal and his creativity could prove the undoing of a defence that shipped two at home to Sunderland last time out.
Sadio Mane was somewhat unlucky not to get amongst the goals away to Newcastle last weekend. Handed a central role behind Graziano Pelle, the Senegal international found the net every 144.5 minutes at home last year – quicker than any regular midfielder – and looks poised to terrorise Everton at St Mary’s tomorrow lunchtime.
We’re backing Alexis Sanchez to earn a start and pick up the points away to Palace. After last week’s disaster at home to West Ham, Arsene Wenger is desperately seeking a response and the Chilean’s cameo off the bench bodes well for his chances against a defence that’s kept out their opponents in just two of Alan Pardew’s 19 league matches in charge.
After bagging the winner away to Stoke on Sunday, Philippe Coutinho looks in fine form for Liverpool’s home encounter with Bournemouth. Whilst Christian Benteke looked a little off the pace, the little Brazilian dazzled in a central role and should pose the Cherries plenty of problems on Monday evening.
Bafetimbi Gomis is our preferred route into Swansea’s attack for the visit of Newcastle. The Magpies conceded more headed attempts than any side in Gameweek 1, suggesting that the Frenchman’s aerial threat could prove crucial to Garry Monk’s men this weekend. No player produced more attempts inside the box than Gomis’ five in the opening round of fixtures.
Harry Kane was a little unlucky not to find the net against United, firing three attempts inside the box without success. With visitors Stoke devoid of Ryan Shawcross for the next couple of months, though, Kane could be set to convert those underlying numbers into Fantasy returns this time around.
Leader of this week’s Captain Poll, Wayne Rooney travels to a Villa side that have managed a single clean sheet at home under Tim Sherwood’s guidance. With the midlands outfit looking to go on the offensive, Rooney’s 41% of FPL owners will be hoping for an improvement after he opened the season with a somewhat fortuitous assist in last week’s narrow win over Spurs.
Kyle Walker warms the bench for Tottenham’s home clash with Stoke. Priced at just 5.0, the right-back looks to have retained a starting role despite the arrival of Kieran Trippier and bearing in mind that the Potters scored 16 times on their travels last term, the hosts could be in line for defensive returns.
Andre Ayew is a little unlucky only to make the bench. Having scored on his debut at Chelsea, the former Marseille man has taken no time to highlight the eye for goal that saw him notch ten times in Ligue 1 last year. Visitors Newcastle boasted the second-worst away defence in 2014/15 and, on the back of last Sunday’s showing against Southampton, Steve McClaren still has plenty of work to do.
At a price of just 6.5, Diafra Sakho could be a steal this weekend. Having scored four times in pre-season, he looks West Ham’s likeliest source of goals and with Payet pulling the strings in midfield, the Senegal striker is even an outside captaincy pick for some at home to Leicester.
The Community Champion
Having scrapped the weekly vote idea from last season, we now operate a lottery system to pick our weekly candidates. The community member who beats our picks by the biggest margin over the campaign will win a £100 Amazon Voucher and a place in our Contributors and Moderators League for the following season.
Last week saw Fuzzy Warbles beat us by a 12-point margin, thanks to his decision to start Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez against Sunderland.
This week’s champion is Daniel Levy – Not the Spurs Chairman, who has opted for the following side:
Community XI: Fabianski; Skrtel Cresswell Alderweireld; Payet, Lens, Mane, Sanchez; Gomis Kane Benteke
Like last week, both teams have eight of the same players – this means it’s a straight fight between Toby Alderweireld, Jeremain Lens and Christian Benteke and Soares, Coutinho and Rooney.
