Fixture planning continues to dominate discussion as the community nervously awaits the announcement of forthcoming double Gameweeks. Our hot topic posters look at the fixture permutations ahead, key captaincy candidates for our chips and exactly what a ‘template team’ really is. Our community writers, meanwhile, weigh up the more pressing decisions ahead in Gameweek 30, with a little help from the fans’ forums, bookmakers odds and team form. The sensible planners are beginning to rise to the top in our latest look at our community tournaments, while our Members tables look in detail at bonus darlings in defence and Liverpool’s best bets once their double fixtures are finally revealed.
The Community Articles
With a reduced schedule, transfer options are limited in Gameweek 30. Nevertheless, there was plenty of advice from our community writers about key captain choices and teams to focus our resources on.
Your Mum’s Athletic has taken a look at what the bookmakers are predicting for the forthcoming matches, while Bolivian Seaman’s focus has been on the fans forums for their take on likely results.
Another of our regular writers The Sarjeant took his usual colour coded look at team form ahead of the next set of fixtures, while Kavali gave us an insight into how the Fantasy Premier League veterans’ template is shaping up as they continue to ascend the rankings.
Finally, congratulations to Perchinho for being named the best community writer of February, following last week’s vote. His double Gameweek and blanks planning article continues to be a valuable resource.
Don’t forget, if you’ve got some analysis, scout reports or features brewing, be sure to visit our community section to submit your article.
The Hottest Topics
Double Gameweek planning continues to vex the community with so much uncertainty surrounding the likely dates. With limited knowledge about the fixture list, our hot topic posters muddled through to tell us there views on potential candidates for those with the Triple Captain chip in FPL still intact, while Twisted Saltergater took a close look at a wider range of captaincy candidates to consider.
We also considered the key players to ponder amongst those teams which we know are certain to enjoy double fixtures in the near future and Greenwindmill revealed that timing is key when it comes to selecting certain starters during these potentially lucrative Gameweeks.
Looking at matters closer to hand, Don Corleone weighed up the arguments for and against captaining Gameweek 30’s key players Harry Kane and Sergio Aguero. There were plenty who had both to thank for a superb Gameweek 29 tally, according to our latest Rough with the Smooth.
Riyad Mahrez is another player being considered for the armband as Leicester take on lacklustre Newcastle on Monday. As Balders pointed out, the midfielder has now joined an elite group that includes the likes of Luis Suarez and Robin Van Persie, who have scored more than 200 points in a season. There was additional praise for Mahrez in The Wizard’s discussion on the community’s favourite player of the season.
Sky Guru has also been looking back over the campaign to put forward the controversial notion that due to so many poor ranks, 2015/16 has been the best yet, as many FPL stalwarts have the added challenge of trying to conjure up a respectable finish before the season ends.
Team value will also be key to a rankings boost, says Demi, particularly for those with their second wildcard in place looking to invest in heavy hitters. Selecting some high-performing differentials will also be crucial but, as Andy85wsm’s discussion on template teams shows, there are some surprising names among these low-owned gems.
For those looking for a boost up their mini-leagues, our Scoutcast was full of advice on how to claim victory. According to Scratch‘s hot topic, however, opinion is very divided about the use of tactics such as blocking a rival’s good players to achieve victory. This discussion proved the inspiration for another hot topic by Return of Chamakh into our motivation for carrying on in FPL and how much the prospect of winning mini-leagues drives us on.
Meanwhile, the community took time out of double Gameweek planning to congratulate Prophet, who became father to a baby boy this week.
Members Tables
With Liverpool amongst those teams with double Gameweeks on the horizon, bbagins79 has been taking a peak at some of their key attackers. Elsewhere, defenders were the focus of Sinik’s latest table – in particular, their performances in FPL’s Bonus Point System.
If you’re a member and are yet to get to grips with the custom statistics tables, you can view this movie for an explanation of how they work. Also, remember to tag them so that people can find the tables with ease.
The Community Tournaments
The qualification round of Jarvish’s Frequent Posters Cup took place in Gameweek 29, with Thunder Mike, Sepp Blattered and Spectrum all breaking the 100 point mark to go into the hat for Gameweek 31’s last 32 round.
The quarter final draw in Balders’ Wimbledon Doubles tournament has been made. Notable match ups include the unseeded Scoutcast pair of Andy85wsm and myself, taking on 16th seeds Blue Lion and Gloria Kanchelskis.
BabyB may have had a disastrous stint as community champion, after losing to the Scouts in Gameweek 29 by 73 to 41 but he is set to have the last laugh. Going into Gameweek 30 he has an impressive overall rank of 720 and tops AZ’s FFS £5 Buy In league by a clear 20 points.
In TorresMagic’s Last Man Standing the safety score was 77, which saw 50 players depart and 219 remain.
Meanwhile, It is all change at the top in two of Red Lightning’s leagues. Euan Thompson is the new leader of the Top 10K Any Season league and Nial Akata has taken back top spot in the January to May league.
Andy maintains his top ranking in the FFScout moderators and contributors league after keeping second-placed Evs at bay in Gameweek 29, while in the Top 1,000 Any Season league Craig Eady also clings to first place, with Back on the Horse moving up to second.
The community’s Major League Soccer fans were out in full force this week to discuss the season’s Fantasy assets. In addition ZLNR has set up a FFS mini-league (code 11666-4806) for those taking part in the game.
Finally, for cricket fans Eden Not So Hazardous has created a FFS League for the T20 World Cup.
If you are running a community tournament and would like the latest scores included in future Community Round Ups please email me a brief summary of the current leaders and a link to your league, spread sheet or head to head competition, at jonty@fantasyfootballscout.co.uk.
