Double Gameweek fever swept through the Fantasy Football Scout community this week, following the news that Spurs and West Ham play twice in Gameweek 22 due to their Wembley clash being shifted from December 31 to January 4.
But with Mauricio Pochettino’s side in the midst of a torrid run of form, our community discussions reveal plenty of conflicting views on how striker Harry Kane can best be used over Christmas and New Year.
The chat also takes in Liverpool’s impressive recent performances, while the statisticians in our Members’ area have been busy analysing Watford defenders and cheap creative midfielders and carry out some early planning for that forthcoming double.
Elsewhere, our community article section reviews an eventful season for those playing Norwegian top-flight Fantasy Football game Eliteserien.
We finish off with run down of the most successful managers at the summit of our community competitions.
The Community Articles
As the Scandinavian winter sets in, we bid farewell to Fantasy Eliteserien, the Norwegian top-flight game that became a surprise Fantasy Football hit among the community this season. Following the final set of matches last weekend, MrKlin of Norway dropped by to take a look at the campaign’s stars, flops and ones to watch for next season.
Congratulations to MrKlin for winning November’s community writer of the month vote for his regular updates from the competition. A £20 Amazon voucher is on its way to him.
Hutch James has been canvassing the crowd once again for their Gameweek predictions, with Liverpool’s swashbuckling attackers gaining high praise from the masses.
And Top Marx returns with his latest examination of the best of the best in the Career Hall of Fame review for Gameweek 15.
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
Badger Badger was first on the scene to gather your views on the surprise announcement that Spurs and West Ham will soon take part in a double Gameweek, with Kane’s role in this special New Year event among the key issues being discussed.
For Ludo, the Spurs talisman looks a shoo-in for the Triple Captain chip, given his double-figure potential. However, some in the community have doubts over his reliability, particularly at home, where he has failed to find the net against the likes of Swansea, Burnley, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace.
Given Kane’s poor returns against “easier” opponents, this week’s Scoutcast discussed the notion of temporarily parting company with Kane over much of December.
Pep Says is among those considering this strategy, and put forward some details of how to make the most of the Spurs striker’s 12.8 price tag over the festive fixtures.
He also canvassed the community for their views on how best to utilise a potential Kane cash windfall, while we turned to more immediate matters and asked whether the Spurs man can even be trusted with the armband this weekend, when Stoke City pay visit.
There were plenty of Kane captains who took part in our “rough with the smooth” round-up of the community’s Gameweek 15 highs and lows, suggesting that they may be about to hatch exit plans for the striker. His blank against Watford last weekend was the eighth time in 14 starts he has failed to deliver returns.
Among those who had a strong Gameweek was The Curse of Raheem, who may well have deployed the best Free Hit chip ever, with his recruits helping him climb more than 110,000 places into the top 5,000.
Another who did well last weekend was Jay Egersdorff. He cemented his position at the summit of our Live Hall of Fame after handing the armband to Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, who notched a brace and maximum bonus returns against Newcastle.
The Chelsea maestro is among this week’s most popular transfer targets, but Deano wonders whether he will be rested during the upcoming congested schedule, with three Gameweeks staged within just ten days. This busy run kicks off with a trip to West Ham, a team that has an atrocious record when it comes to hosting the top clubs.
Another player being acquired en masse is Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho, who followed up his 18-point FPL haul against Brighton with a Champions League hat-trick in his side’s 7-0 rout of Spartak Moscow on Wednesday. We asked the community for their views on doubling, or even trebling up on Reds attackers, given their convincing form, while Bouncebackability weighed up the merits of turning instead to the cheaper Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey.
Spartac Mac makes further comparisons across all outfield positions in his examination of points per match data, while DokDok666 dropped by to consider why Romelu Lukaku is performing more like a midfielder than a striker at present.
Bargain hunting among the ranks of the Manchester United forward’s former club, Everton, was among lessons we learned this week after they gained a victory over Huddersfield in Sam Allardyce’s first match in charge.
But according to Doosra’s latest number crunching, revealed via G-Whizz, the Toffees may be best avoided this weekend when they take on that in-form Liverpool attack at Anfield.
Watford is always a good source for cut-price gems, with Marco Silva’s troops travelling to Burnley, Crystal Palace and Brighton and hosting Huddersfield, Leicester and Swansea over their next six. In light of this, Twisted Saltergater has been taking a close look at two of their key defenders, Marvin Zeegelaar and Kijo Femenia.
In addition, there’s further budget offerings mentioned in our Hot Topic on Gameweek 16’s best differentials.
This week we revealed who had qualified from our open to all FPL cup competition, which saw those with a Gameweek 15 score of less than 55 fail to reach the first-round draw. With a qualifying round score of just 40, Zoumas Bloomers was among those to miss out, prompting him to wonder whether overall rank may be a better criteria for selection.
Finally, we welcomed a new member to the team this week, with Pukka Geoff joining our crew of moderators.
To view all our discussions please visit our Hot Topics page.
The Members Tables
Following on from Twisted Saltergater’s Hot Topic, I’ve created this table looking at Watford defenders’ key data.
Creative midfielders, available with a price tag of less than 6.0, come under the gaze of lonesomepundit, while FPL Virgin has been indulging in some early Double Gameweek 22 planning by examining the vital statistics of West Ham’s options.
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
Az continues to lead the FFScout Moderators and Contributors league with a 14 point advantage over second-placed Jack Wain.
There’s also no change at the summit of Red Lightning’s Top 10k Any Season mini-league, which is topped by Stewart Latham, while Dhruv Dharnidharka has regained the lead from Konrad Struski in the FFS Members League from.
Mathew Morrison is the new leader of the Top 1K Any Season league and the FFS Old Farts Club, for our community’s elder statesmen and women, has a new leader, with Mick Harris taking top spot.
In TorresMagic’s Last Man Standing, the safety score was 34, which saw 161 players depart and 1,621 remain
ZoumasBloomers may have missed out on FFS Cup qualification, but he still enjoys a healthy lead over second-placed Lackless777 in QPR UTD’s Frequent Summer Posters league.
Matchweek 10 of the Community Watch tournament takes place in Gameweek 16 and organising committee member Dreams  was on hand to recap the previous round’s events and look at the key match-ups this weekend.
If you are running a community tournament and would like the latest scores included in future Community Round-Ups, please email us summary of the current leaders and a link to your league, spreadsheet or head-to-head competition, at jonty@fantasyfootballscout.co.uk.
