Scout Notes

Scout Notes – Silva Shines in City Stroll

Manchester City win again to move within two victories of securing the Premier League title, while Stoke City assets do little to further their Gameweek 31 causes.

Gameweek 33’s home match with Man United could be the entirely fitting fixture that wins City the league – a fact that will definitely trouble United fans and might well leave Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers uneasy as well.

Following a Gameweek 31 blank, Pep Guardiola’s side must see off Everton at Goodison Park if they are to take the Premier League crown with a win in the Manchester derby, so nothing is done and dusted just yet.

But it’s an entirely plausible scenario that raises the prospect of a likely double Gameweek 34 – involving Spurs away and then a visit from Brighton – in which Guardiola can rotate to his heart’s content with the team’s Champions League duties in mind.

This all casts doubt on the merits of investment in City players for our Wildcards in Gameweeks 32 or 33.

For now, however, they’re still two wins from any of that, with the latest victory secured by a double from David Silva.

The midfielder opened the scoring in the first half when set up by the returning Raheem Sterling before clinching the points just after the break from a Gabriel Jesus assist.

That’s three goals and an assist from the last three Gameweeks for Silva, who was signed by 84,000+ heading into the match. He’s now produced six of his eight goals and three of his four double-digit tallies in away fixtures this season.

Sterling returned from injury for a first start since Gameweek 27 to produce a fifth haul (two goals, four assists) from his last seven starts.

More than a million managers, including 339,000+ for Gameweek 30, had sold him since he was sidelined, however.

The other returner, Jesus, started in place of Sergio Aguero, who is expected to be out for two weeks with a knee injury. Both the Argentinian and Sterling remain among the top five most sold ahead of Gameweek 31.

The Brazilian striker completed a rare 90 minutes – only his third of the season – at Stoke and now has eight goals and five assists from just 13 starts during the campaign.

Guardiola’s changes meant that Bernardo Silva was unfortunate to drop to the bench despite delivering two goals and an assist in three of the last four Gameweeks, a run that had prompted 60,000 managers to buy him for the Stoke clash.

City’s third straight clean sheet also involved different defensive personnel, with Vincent Kompany replacing Aymeric Laporte as Nicolas Otamendi’s centre-half partner – a pairing that seems to be Guardiola’s preferred choice at the heart of his defence.

Even with a six-match blip from Gameweek 22 during which they kept just one clean sheet, the backline has now moved to 15 shut-outs for the season, taking them level at the top with United.

That’s elevated the stock of Ederson (5.6), who is now just seven points behind David De Gea (5.9) in FPL’s goalkeeper standings. The Brazilian even brought in a bonus point last night despite making just one save thanks to his pass completion.

Elsewhere, two bonus points went to Otamendi – his first since Gameweek 21 – to move him to 18 for the season, just one behind Cesar Azpilicueta as the top-ranked defender for that metric.

The Argentine has lost over 162,000 in ownership across the last six Gameweeks and has responded by keeping four clean sheets and scoring 29 points.

Potters’ poor audition

Expecting too much from Stoke assets against the all-but champions was always going to be optimistic, but few did themselves any favours last night ahead of their Gameweek 31 home match with Everton.

Xherdan Shaqiri, with 13.7% ownership, is by far their most popular player in FPL and he was easily the pick of an unimpressive bunch.

Mame Diouf’s shoulder injury has left a striker spot up for grabs, and it was Jese who was handed the chance to shine against City.

He promptly fluffed his lines, which could open the door for Peter Crouch to start the Everton encounter, although coach Paul Lambert has also used Eric Choupo-Moting in the lone striker role.

At the back, club captain Ryan Shawcross was left on the bench for the third match running, with Kurt Zouma and Bruno Martins Indi employed at centre-back.

Behind them, goalkeeper Jack Butland earned yet another save point – he’s now produced at least one of those in 12 of his last 13 starts –and has a league-leading 107 stops for the season.

The Potters have kept just five clean sheets this campaign, but four have come against relegation rivals and three of them at home.

That could tempt Free Hit Chip investment in their backline against an Everton side that has scored just three times in their last six away days.

669 Comments Post a Comment
  1. Nesvy
    • 9 Years
    6 years, 16 days ago

    Shaqiri or Zaha ?

    1. Punty McPuntface
      • 7 Years
      6 years, 16 days ago

      Zaha for this game week

  2. liboo
    • 6 Years
    6 years, 16 days ago

    wilson or King ?

    1. Punty McPuntface
      • 7 Years
      6 years, 16 days ago

      King

    2. Bavarian
      • 6 Years
      6 years, 16 days ago

      stanislas

      1. liboo
        • 6 Years
        6 years, 16 days ago

        have him already and i want to bring one more forward option from bournmouth

    3. Rupert The Horse
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      6 years, 16 days ago

      King.

  3. Wheato182
    • 11 Years
    6 years, 16 days ago

    How am i looking guys? on a hit for this week and got 9 players....

    Pope*
    Mee* - Francis - Van Dijk
    Wally - Shaq - McArthur - Salah (C)
    Tosun - Firmino - Wilson

    Still have the free hit chip but gonna save. Think its gonna be damage limitation this week!!

    1. The Wise Owl
      • 8 Years
      6 years, 16 days ago

      Should be OK

  4. Rupert The Horse
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 11 Years
    6 years, 16 days ago

    Would be amazing if Aubameyang actually rose tonight.

    1. Holmes
      • 10 Years
      6 years, 16 days ago

      why?

      1. Rupert The Horse
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 11 Years
        6 years, 16 days ago

        It would really highlight the lack of understanding within the game, and at the same time make me wonder how my own rank can be so bad.

    2. The Wise Owl
      • 8 Years
      6 years, 16 days ago

      I bet he did after the Watford game 😉

    3. jia you
      • 7 Years
      6 years, 16 days ago

      he deserves to after that performance, oh captain my captain 😉

  5. Sz21
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    6 years, 16 days ago

    Which of these to replace Siggy?

    1. Shaqiri (relative high ownership + I will have about 9/10 players so maybe better to play it safe with him?)

    2. Zaha ( Very risky it seems as he is just getting back, 45 mins last GW, but lots of potential).

    3. Stanislas- a triple up on Bournemouth v WBA if I choose him along with Wilson/Ake. Could score decently too and seems as good an option as the other 2.

    1. Punty McPuntface
      • 7 Years
      6 years, 16 days ago

      3

    2. fattfattygavgav
      • 7 Years
      6 years, 16 days ago

      Think I'm gonna go for Zaha... played well and got an assist when he came on the other day. Last time he was out for a while, he came back and hit the ground running, scored against Chelsea I think.

  6. Punty McPuntface
    • 7 Years
    6 years, 16 days ago

    Thoughts on this wild card team?

    Pope - De Gea
    Fernandez - Mistafi - Christensen - Otamendi - Chilwell
    Willian - Salah - D. Silva - Mahrez - Son
    Aubameyang - Rashford - Firmino

    Thanks in advance!!

    1. Nesvy
      • 9 Years
      6 years, 16 days ago

      very nice!

  7. CloudSky
    • 7 Years
    6 years, 16 days ago

    Pickford
    Van Dijk Daniels
    Salah Choupo McArthur
    Firmino Wilson

    2 fts, 1.5 itb

    Will probably WC in 32 but dont want to 100% commit to that decision yet. Worth a hit to get full 11 or stick with 10?

    1. Rupert The Horse
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      6 years, 16 days ago

      Nice one.

      1. Don Kloppeone
        • 6 Years
        6 years, 16 days ago

        Is it sad I was chuffed to have been the one to get this out first? lol

        1. jia you
          • 7 Years
          6 years, 16 days ago

          We are all a bit sad to be on here, so I wouldn't worry about it 😉

  8. timPgoodwin
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 9 Years
    6 years, 16 days ago

    I already have a full team for GW31 (5-4-1) but looking to set up for the next few game-weeks as I don't have my WC ... I have 2 FT's and 0.8M in the bank ...

    Fabianski - Karius
    Hegazi - Coleman - Bauer - VvD - Daniels
    Salah - Shaqiri - Walcott - Mili - Mahrez
    Kane - Wilson - Aubemayang

  9. aidmata
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    6 years, 16 days ago

    Current squad - 2FT with £1.3ITB

    FOSTER Elliot

    Mee VVD Alonso Ogbonna KENNY (Won't play)

    SALAH RICHARLISON Son WALCOTT SHAQIRI

    FIRMINO Kane Ayew

    A) Alonso and Son -> Baines and Stanislas
    B) Alonso and Ayew --> Baines and King

    1. Clifford☯
      • 7 Years
      6 years, 16 days ago

      A

  10. Clifford☯
    • 7 Years
    6 years, 16 days ago

    VVD Schindler
    Salah Walcott Milivojevic
    Firmino Wilson

    1 FT, 0 ITB

    Which moves do you recommend?

    A) Eriksen to Stanislas / Zaha
    B) Eriksen to Shaqiri
    C) Kane to King
    D) DDG to Butland

  11. mrwinner
    • 6 Years
    6 years, 16 days ago

    King is 50/50 to start the match for Bournemouth, surprised so many people are going for him. He didn't even start in his last match.

    1. Netley Lucas
      • 8 Years
      6 years, 16 days ago

      He's not flagged. He had a neck injury and missed a lot of training, came on as sub and looks okay now.