Tips

The Complete Guide to Our FPL Gameweek 3 Tips and Advice

To Wildcard or not to Wildcard? 

That is the question many FPL managers are already asking themselves even at this early stage of the season. Before you think there’s something fishy going on, a reminder that with an evening kick-off in the Premier League we have a Friday deadline of 19:00 UK time

As the FPL General observed in his opinion piece:

“The beauty of FPL is that there is no right or wrong way to play it… Do what’s right for your squad and ignore everything else.”

As usual, Fantasy Football Scout provides the perfect mix of stats, reviews, and expert opinion to help Wildcarders and non-Wildcarders alike. 

Making the headlines in Gameweek 2 was Teemu Pukki (£6.8m). FPL managers have been clamouring to squeeze the red-hot Finn into their sides, with nearly 1 million taking the plunge so far. David examined his credentials in a members-only article this week, concluding that:

“There is a lot to like about Pukki, both in terms of his underlying statistics, and his upcoming opponents.”

A more controversial talking-point has been the merits of doubling-up on Liverpool’s defence. So far, the Reds have failed to keep a clean sheet – a disappointing start after recording 21 shut-outs last season. 

The decline in their underlying stats was highlighted by David on the Scoutcast:

“Last season [Liverpool’s] average xGC (expected goals conceded) was 0.76, against Southampton it was 1.94 – the worst xGC that Liverpool have recorded since the start of last season.”

This prompted a strong rebuttal from Az, who feels that two weeks is not nearly long enough to judge Liverpool’s defence. He also pointed out that Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.0m) and Virgil van Dijk (£6.5m) both recorded attacking returns in Gameweek 1. 

Meanwhile Neale took a closer look at which defenders have been the most attacking in the opening two Gameweeks of the season. The members-only article uses stats to analyse involvement, distribution, and goal threat for FPL defenders. Neale ends the article with a word on out-of-position defender John Lundstram (£4.1m), whose midfield exploits have caught the eye:

“[Lundstram] currently sits top of the FPL defenders’ xGI table after two Gameweeks – an outcome most of his owners wouldn’t have dreamed of ahead of Gameweek 1.”

The Sheffield United defender makes the starting eleven in this week’s Scout Picks, along with two Manchester United defenders in the shape of Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£5.6m) and goalkeeper David de Gea (£5.6m). Part of the thinking behind the double-up is that opponents “Crystal Palace are bottom of the league for total goal attempts, shots inside the box and big chances”.

TheFantasyFreÆK would no doubt approve of their selection, noting in his Gameweek 2 review that Manchester United’s defense conceded “zero big chances” to Wolves. United are second behind Tottenham Hotspur for a clean sheet in G-Whizz’s DS stats, fixtures and clean sheet odds for Gameweek 3.

Transferred in by over half a million managers, Anthony Martial (£7.7m) with two goals in two games, added further weight to those considering an early Wildcard. Prosckol observed in his community article “Wildcard activation tips”:

“A guaranteed forward who is classified as a midfielder in FPL at £7.6 at the time of writing can’t be ignored considering the threat he provides.”

With so many players performing well, it’s potentially a tricky choice for the armband this week. David’s Captain Sensible article looks at the best candidates. With favourable fixtures Harry Kane (£11.0m) and Raheem Sterling (£12.2m) appear the front runners for the job.

Elsewhere, Greyhead provided us with an update on The Great and The Good

“After two weeks Mark is just ahead of the rest, but Joe is just behind along with Sean Tobin, but they all still sit outside the 150,000 rank at this early stage.”

It will be interesting to see how many of this elite bunch deployed their Wildcard in Gameweek 3.

For Scandinavians and lovers of all things fantasy, Meltens and TallestJohn have once again kindly provided us with their regular articles. Meltens previews Gameweek 21 in Fantasy Allsvenskan while TallestJohn gives us his guide to Gameweek 18 in Eliteserien Fantasy. Updates on the respective FFS mini-leagues in Eliteserien and Allsvenskan are found later in this article.

To view all our discussions please visit our Hot Topics page, and if you’ve got some analysis, scout reports or features brewing, be sure to visit our community section to submit your article.

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.

COMMUNITY TOURNAMENTS

Mark Fisk retains the lead in our Fantasy Football Scout mini-league and is up to eleventh overall. Mark played his Wildcard in Gameweek 2 after using his Bench Boost in Gameweek 1. Will he play a third chip in Gameweek 3? 

The current top three in the Scout mini-league all opened the season playing either their Bench Boost or Triple Captain chip followed by a Wildcard.

There are currently 42,639 managers participating in the Fantasy Football Scout mini-league, to join them enter code ooyz44 in your Leagues’ section on the FPL site. 

Jill Lees tops our FFS Members mini-league for the second week running with 181 points. Impressively, Jill’s explosive start has been achieved without using a chip. She is up to 252 overall in only her second season playing FPL.

The code to join the FFS Members League can be found on the Members page

In TorresMagic’s Last Man Standing the safety score for Gameweek 2 was 35, this saw 236 managers fall at the second fence. 3,934 teams are through to Gameweek 3, the threshold for elimination remains at 5%.

It is possible to enter the competition up until Gameweek 22 using the code bcvy39, however you must pass all the previous safety scores to qualify. Aside from bragging rights, the winner will receive a free Fantasy Football Scout Membership for the 2020/21 season.

Steve Horan (aka FPL Fairy) moves to the top of the FFS Mods & Cons mini-league aided by double-digit returns from Lundstram, Digne, and De Bruyne. Steve is up to 13,595 overall in this his twelfth FPL season. He’s finished in the top 4k on four previous occasions.

Gareth Oakes is the new leader in RedLightning’s Top 10k Any Season mini-league after captaining Pukki. This bold decision sees him move up to 1,573 in the overall standings. Gareth is also in his twelfth FPL season, his best finish is 6,578. Managers with a top 10k finish may join the league using the code m0tq9y.

Double-figure returns from Pukki and Lundstram have helped Frenchman Francois Jacquemot to first place in Chaballer’s Top 1,000 HoF League. Francois has three top 10,000 finishes in the last four seasons, his highest end-of-season rank is 472, which came in 2016/17.

In the FPL Champions League run by 2014/15 FPL winner Simon March (aka Dufflinks), 2016/17 champion Ben Crabtree retained his lead. Everton-fan Ben, who famously doesn’t pick Liverpool players, scored a very impressive 72 points. 

In addition to Gameweek 2 heroes Lundstram, Digne, and De Bruyne, Ben captained Sterling and gained 9 points from Henderson in goal. He moves up to 11,574 overall. To qualify for this mini-league you must have won FPL!

To the 5,983 managers who have entered the FFS Head-to-Head Leagues – thank you for your continued patience! Mark Reynolds (aka MIR) this week provided the latest update on the leagues.

Behind the scenes Mark, Geoff, Mat (aka matzi11a), and Chris Atkinson (aka RMT’s Professor) are working hard to get this competition out as fast as they can. Watch this space. There will be 300 divisions spread across 8 leagues with promotion and relegation taking place at the end of the season. 

In the FFS Eliteserien mini-league Svein Johansen held onto first place despite managing only 29 points in Gameweek 18. He’s dropped to seventh overall. With 11 rounds to go he’ll be hoping to beat his previous finish of 4,420. 

Luke Dyer remains in second place now just 8 points behind Svien, while Eirik Pedersen moves up to third.

It’s as you were in the FFS Allsvenskan mini-league with Daniel Sebestyen and Simon Eriksson still topping the charts. Daniel successfully played his Attack! Attack! chip in Gameweek 20, where all strikers get double points. He moves up a nose-bleeding second overall after scoring 85 points!

Not to be out done, Simon deployed the Park The Bus chip, where all defenders get double points. A whopping 108 points, his first three-digit score of the season, pushed Simon up to sixth overall. Henrik Mäkitalo jumped into third spot, he played his Park The Bus to even greater success scoring 118 points, moving up to eighth overall.

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 geoff@fantasyfootballscout.co.uk

Lessons learned from Gameweek 2

TopMarx Fan of Fantasy Football and Monty Python. "Archimedes out to Socrates, Socrates back to Archimedes, Archimedes out to Heraclitus, he beats Hegel. Heraclitus a little flick, here he comes on the far post, Socrates is there, Socrates heads it in! Socrates has scored! The Greeks are going mad, the Greeks are going mad! Socrates scores, got a beautiful cross from Archimedes. The Germans are disputing it. Hegel is arguing that the reality is merely an a priori adjunct of non-naturalistic ethics, Kant via the categorical imperative is holding that ontologically it exists only in the imagination, and Marx is claiming it was offside. Follow them on Twitter

1,687 Comments Post a Comment
  1. sminkypinky
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    First... to admit my season hasn’t started as wished.

    1. Big Ping
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      What you did there, I like it

  2. andrinho
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Is King & Vardy to Pukki & Rashford worth 4 point hit?

    1. Ninja Fury
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Personally, yes.

    2. Zenith UK
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Yes, I'm about to go without Man U attack and I am already regretting it!

    3. Hawk Eye
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      did the Vardy to Rashford part myself

  3. Ninja Fury
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Choose 1:
    A) Coleman
    B) Wan B

    1. Zenith UK
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      B

  4. OptimusBlack
    • 10 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Who to play ?
    A- Söyüncü
    B- Wesley

    1. OptimusBlack
      • 10 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      🙁

    2. Bragazeti
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      I'd play Wesley

    3. The Wanton Trader
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      I think you give Wesley one more chance...

      1. OptimusBlack
        • 10 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        That's right

  5. Bury94
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Start Montoya, Dendoncker or King?

    1. 2hotty
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Monty

      1. Bury94
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 6 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        Yeah that's who I've got there atm, cheers

  6. Zenith UK
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    So far every option has received one vote;
    Pope, McGovern
    Digne, AWB, Kelly, XXX, XXX
    Sterling, Mane, Ceballos, XXX, XXX
    Kane, Wickham, XXX

    A) Lund, Zinc, KDB, Martial & Greenwood - (0 ITB)
    B) Lund, Zinc, KDB, Cantwell & Pukki - (0 ITB)
    C) Laporte, Lund, Son, Cantwell & Pukki - (0 ITB)
    D) Laporte, Mina, Martial, Cantwell, Pukki - (0.5 ITB)
    E) Other option?

    1. Zenith UK
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      I'm currently on A, leaning to B though...
      *Note, B = 0.9 ITB (just shy of Laporte instead of Zinc, but could have Walker with 0.4 ITB)

    2. Ninja Fury
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      A, but would prefer to have some sort of POOL defence as cover

      1. Zenith UK
        • 7 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        Not until they keep back to back CS at the earliest.
        A means no Pukki. Gutted I can't fit Martial and Pukki in. Thank you for input

        1. Ninja Fury
          • 7 Years
          4 years, 7 months ago

          could sacrifice KDB as you already have MCI cover and use the funds elsewhere

          1. Zenith UK
            • 7 Years
            4 years, 7 months ago

            How about;

            Pope, McGovern
            Digne, AWB, Laporte, Lund, Kelly
            Sterling, KDB, Son, Ceballos, Cantwell
            Kane, Rashford, Wickham

            Maverick, no Liverpool?

    3. SHOOTER MCGINN
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      C.

  7. OleGGMU
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Final call
    Start jota ( 3-4-3) or Mcginn ( 3-5-2)?
    VVD or TAA?
    Thanks lads

    1. Ninja Fury
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      I prefer TAA & Jota

    2. 2hotty
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      VVD Jota

    3. Psychedelic Fish
      • 4 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      TAA McGinn

  8. Hobolicious
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    1) VvD + 0.9m ITB
    2) Robertson + 0.4m ITB

  9. 2hotty
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Play which 2

    A=Diop
    B=Lundy
    C=Barkley
    D=Dendonker

    Thanks

    1. Tonyawesome69
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      B and D

  10. Teror
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Start Lundstram or Jota?

    1. 2hotty
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Always the attacker

    2. il Brutto
      • 10 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Jota

  11. Hawk Eye
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Deeney down injured )-:
    Replacement:
    A. Chichirito
    B. Barnes
    C. Pukki
    D. Origi
    E. other...

    1. Psychedelic Fish
      • 4 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Pukki

    2. Zenith UK
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Pukki. Chica won't start, Haller back. Origi probably no minutes.

  12. Tonyawesome69
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    pick 1 to start:
    1. lundstram
    2. king
    3. dedoncker

    1. 2hotty
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      1

    2. Hawk Eye
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      king

    3. Rock Papiss Cissès
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Gone King myself

  13. Tmel
    • 13 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Pope
    Robbo Laporte Digne TAA (Rico)
    Salah Sterling Martial Trossard (Dendoncker)
    Pukki Jota (Greenwood)

    Used my 2 FT to get Martial & Pukki but still feeling very uneasy about not having Kane & KDB (particularly with their fixtures).

    a) Leave as is
    b) WC and get in Kane, KDB (amongst others)

    1. Tonyawesome69
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      a

    2. LeicesterA
      • 9 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Exact same team as me, expect I’ve got Perez over Trossard.

      WC was tempting, mainly through fear or no spurs and KDB. But holding strong. It’s a long game and you simply cannot have them all.

  14. TyroneGAA
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    If Your on a wild card I would have absolutely no doubt that You should have Kane up top no matter what or have a way of getting him in.. just my opinion

    1. radawson
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Thanks.

    2. Tiki-Taka
      • 13 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      I've tried, he just ruins the rest of the team too much, especially given Sterling is always as good or better a captain option right now

      1. il Brutto
        • 10 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        I agree. Salah/Mane + Sterling + Kane is just too much imo.

        1. TyroneGAA
          • 6 Years
          4 years, 7 months ago

          I got them in and I’m happy with my team

          1. il Brutto
            • 10 Years
            4 years, 7 months ago

            I've played around with having all three and I prefer my team with only two of them and I'm not brave enough to go without Pool. There's no one right way to play this game.

  15. The Wanton Trader
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Can’t wait to unleash this... 🙂

    Pope
    AWB / VVD / KWP
    Sterling / Martial / KDB / Ceballos
    Firmino / Kane(c) / Pukki

    Button / Doug Luiz / Lundstram / Hanley

    GL all...

    1. The 12th Man
      • 10 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      You too.
      Looks good.

      1. The Wanton Trader
        • 6 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        🙂

    2. My heart goes Salalalalah
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      when was your birthday? Did you not have a 1 next to your name few days ago?

      1. The Wanton Trader
        • 6 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        It changed about 10 days ago I think.

    3. Zenith UK
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Nice team!

      1. The Wanton Trader
        • 6 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        Thanks a lot..

    4. RAFA THE GAFFA
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Great team

      1. The Wanton Trader
        • 6 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        Cheers Brucey..!

  16. JJeyy
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Bench on of - Perez, Lundstram and VVD

    On VVD but then the other two clash...

  17. DAZZ
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Man there will be soooo much salt if Liverpool defenders return this week. I pray for a clean sheet! WCers in tatters

    1. The Wanton Trader
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      I’ve kept one. 😉

    2. Rainer
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Those WC'ing would be able to get defenders in place of the Liverpool ones, who could return points of their own, believe it or not.

  18. Wakanda
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Choose 1 for the next 5 fixtures

    a) Maguire, Otamendi, Son
    b) Lundstram Mane, Cantwell

    Has Kane and no liverpool players
    Also have to play all the players

    1. il Brutto
      • 10 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Don't fancy either option. Would prefer Maguire, 5.0 def, Son, Mane.

  19. how now brown cow
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Ooh. King to pukki -4 is tempting with the potential price changes.....

  20. Garfield1001
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 10 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Play Pope or Heaton?

  21. Super salah
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Help please, pick 1 from each. Thanks

    1 A) lamela
    B) trossard

    2 A) zinchencko
    B) coleman

    1. il Brutto
      • 10 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      BB

  22. JustPark
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Sterling (c) KDB(vc) or the other way?

    1. il Brutto
      • 10 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Sterling C

  23. Bookmark
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Play Lundstram over Montoya/Perez or change nothing?

    Pope
    VVD Robbo Digne Montoya
    Sterling KDB Perez Salah
    Jota Pukka

    Button Lundstram Douglas(AVL) Greenwood

    1. DIMITRIS
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      I benched Montoya, and will play Lundstram because I missed 14 points last weekend, and It was TOUGH. I don't want to make the same mistake twice. Cheers.

  24. DIMITRIS
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Good to go ?
    Pope
    Robertson | AWB | Lundstram
    Trossard | Salah (C) | Siggy | Sterling | Pulisic
    Abraham | Rashford

    bench: Montoya, Rico, Greenwood

  25. ChickenTikkaMoSalah
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Any late injury news?

  26. Cak Juris
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 11 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Best enabler:
    Kelly or Hanley ?

  27. Magic Zico
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Only 3 scout picks this GW, to be scared or rejoicing?

    1. Rainer
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Green arrow confirmed 😉

  28. Mesh
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 10 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Been away for a few days.
    What's the news on Digne and Zinchenko? Thanks

    1. Rainer
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Both fit.

      Baines & Mendy both back in training this week.

      1. Mesh
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 10 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        Thanks mate

  29. smix
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Start 1:
    A. Montoya
    B. Lundstram
    C. Perez

    1. 2hotty
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      monty

    2. il Brutto
      • 10 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      C

  30. Snapes on a Plane
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Pick one to play guys
    A) Cantwell
    B) Lundstram
    C) Diop

    1. il Brutto
      • 10 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      A