The Community Round-Up

There may be no Premier League matches this weekend due to the FA Cup, but the community cannot afford to take a break.

With the cup results set to reveal the teams destined to face a blank fixture in Gameweek 31, our Hot Topic posters are full of guidance on the key matches to monitor.

The best use of a Free Hit chip to navigate the upcoming tricky fixture schedule also comes under scrutiny, as does the decision-making acumen of the Scoutcast team.

Meanwhile, there’s invaluable advice in our Members table round-up for those looking to take advantage of a swing in the fixtures taking place from Gameweek 28.

Elsewhere, we look at the latest standings in our community competitions and also reveal further details of our first football tournament, which is raising money in honour of a greatly missed community member.

The Community Articles

Next weekend sees the inaugural Fantasy Football Scout charity football tournament take place. Organisers My Pretty Pony and TopMarx dropped by with details of the event, which is being staged to raise money to combat ocular melanoma, after community member Simon Humber (Absinthe) lost his battle with this rare form of eye cancer in 2015.

There’s talk of filming the “action” on the day, so expect to hear and perhaps see more on the outcome and the walking wounded in a future round-up.

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

Fantasy managers will be paying close attention to events in the FA Cup over the next four days, with the results revealing which teams will miss out in Gameweek 31.

We asked the community what dream Cup results they are looking out for to ensure they can get the most out of this upcoming fixture complication.

Meanwhile, Individual has also been looking ahead to Gameweek 31 and wondering whether it is better to focus on a small group of quality players, or look to field a full XI.

Deploying a Free Hit chip could be the best solution to navigating this tricky period in the calendar. FPL Virgin has been weighing up the merits of using this vital chip in Gameweek 31 or saving it for Gameweek 35’s likely curtailed fixture list.

For those looking to fire up their second Wildcard when Gameweek 31 is over, we discussed whether it is best used immediately afterwards or whether it is worth waiting a week for further information ahead of double Gameweek 34.

However, there are many FPL managers who have already used such key chips, in particular those in the top 10,000, according to Irbox’s discussion on chip use.

Depending on FA Cup results, now could be a good time to stock up on a top heavy front three, says Deus. He points out that medium and premium-priced forwards at Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool and Leicester City are among those with a strong run of fixtures from the end of this month.

Roberto Firmino is a particularly enticing prospect as Liverpool are among only four sides currently guaranteed to play in Gameweek 31. We asked the community how they plan to invest in Reds assets given their fixture advantage and strong form of seven goals in their last three league matches.

Gunners assets are also catching the eye, according to our discussion on which of Arsene Wenger’s troops to target.

A focus on relegation scrappers could also prove lucrative according to our Hot Topic on those fighting for their Premier League survival, with Huddersfield among the teams at the wrong end of the table who won convincingly in Gameweek 27. Those eyeing up the Terriers’ budget assets will be paying close attention their cup tie with Manchester United this weekend, as defeat will ensure they play in Gameweek 31.

Cheap players who are capable of offering managers surprising points hauls were among those recommended in our discussion on Fantasy Football heroes. With Mark struggling to list any such saviours for his side this season, this was an issue that also spilt over into the latest Scoutcast.

Our weekly podcast became a source of debate itself this week when Numb canvassed your views on what else you would like to see featured on the show.

This followed a lively debate, sparked by Granville, on his fellow Scoutcasters’ controversial decision to shun Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero over his recent strong run.

Undeniably, those that made the decision to swap Harry Kane for the Argentine in Gameweek 25 have prospered, given the City man outscored the Spurs forward by 17 points since then. Diesel001’s discussion looks back on how this latest Kanexit strategy panned out. The form of this pair of elite strikers was also covered in our lessons learned from Gameweek 27 Hot Topic.

But as our “rough with the smooth” round-up of your latest scores demonstrated, Aguero was just one of a raft of players to deliver strong returns and ranking boosts for the community. During Gameweek 27, there were 15 other players to join the Sky Blues forward as a double-digit points scorer.

To view all our discussions please visit our Hot Topics page.

The Members Tables

To coincide with Spurs’ kind fixture run I’ve created this table looking at their sharpest shooters. Sun Jihai has been scouting replacements for Manchester City defender Nicolas Otamendi, who has only earned one clean sheet and delivered no attacking returns over his last six league run-outs.

Elsewhere, attacking midfielders are the focus of CorporateDJ’s latest research.

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

Elvarus continues to dominate Red Lightning’s Top 10k Any Season mini-league, with a 31-point lead over second placed Stuart Blakeley.

Impressively, all of the top four in Red Lightning’s January to May league scored centuries in Gameweek 27. The new leader is Shirin Nizar, who has netted 444 points since this competition launched.

Jack Wain retains top spot in the FFScout Moderators and Contributors, but I’ve reduced his lead to just two points and overtaken ZoumasBloomers to take first place in QPR UTD’s Frequent Summer Posters league.

Paul Gee, who is ranked 19^th overall, has reached the summit of the FFS Members League, with Ian Mannion leading the chasing pack.

There’s also a change at the top of the main FFS league, with former number one Damir Te Nay, who topped the overall rankings for six weeks earlier this season, staging a dramatic comeback to take the lead. His impressive score of 107 in Gameweek 27 also sees him climb to fifth in the overall rankings.

In TorresMagic’s Last Man Standing, the safety score was 68, which saw 75 players depart and 459 remain.

If you are running a community tournament and would like the latest scores included in future Community Round-Ups, please email us a summary of the current leaders and a link to your league, spreadsheet or head-to-head competition, at jonty@fantasyfootballscout.co.uk.