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. acidicleo
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Plz help..
    A. King to Pukki for minus 8
    B. Wait one GW for same move and play Montoya / Cantwell

    1. Drogba Legend
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      B Montoya

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

      B

    3. SPorting
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Wait

    4. The_Socca_Philosopha
      • 9 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Wait and start Cantwell

    5. DAVESAVES
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      B. Monty

    6. acidicleo
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Cheers all...

    7. Benster
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      B and Cantwell... 100%

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

    How is this WC team
    Pope
    Digne,Otamendi,Emerson,Rose
    Sterling,Martial Mane,Son KDB
    Wesley

    1. Sun Jihai
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Good but not sure about Otamendi

    2. Benster
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Me no like. Sorry.

      Rose, Otamendi, Wesley

    3. The_Socca_Philosopha
      • 9 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      If Laporte is same price as Otamendi, go for Laporte.

  3. thepeen555
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    So Pukki could rise tonight along with Kdb, mane and Kane. Lots leaving it to the last day I see lol

    1. SPorting
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Wildcards closing.

  4. Miguel Sanchez
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Welbeck to too score this GW

    1. Miguel Sanchez
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      *top

  5. Whats the Mata?
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Pens down. Good luck all.

  6. ⭐ Bemba_Da ⭐
    • 13 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Anyone tempted to hit the WC button

    1. Whats the Mata?
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      9 days too late

  7. Brosstan
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Wildcard activated 🙂 Time to enjoy some friday night tinkering with a nice glass of scotch. Tomorrow will be exciting with a brand new team! Any ideas on who I should get in?

    1. Coys96
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      ....

    2. Whats the Mata?
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      The ones who score this gw

      1. Coys96
        • 6 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        lol

    3. HonestBlatter
      • 13 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Play it slowly and think all the aspects.

    4. Salah’s Sonnet
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      deadline hasn't passed though

    5. Maddi Son
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      That's awesome.

      Me and my mates have this tradition where we autofill our teams at 6:59PM on the Friday before. Then we just change it to whatever we like the next morning. Wanna join us?

    6. Mr Peanutbutter
      • 4 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      have you accidentally wildcarded before the deadline?

  8. I AM GROOT!!!
    • 13 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Haller or Kean?

    My last pick on my WC!

    1. Whats the Mata?
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Not sure Kean starts tonight

    2. Coys96
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Haller

      1. RyanKent14
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 4 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        I’ve went Kean

    3. Sim Simma
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      If Kean starts, expect a debut hattie

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

    Play Lundstram or King?

    1. Drogba Legend
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      I'm on same boat. Honestly can't decide. Gut says King

    2. Whats the Mata?
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Lund

    3. Tired and weary
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      I’ve gone Lund, pretty close call

    4. FrankieTheGent
      • 9 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      King

      1. Drogba Legend
        • 6 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        Just feel King may draw a penalty and Perez will punish me selling him and score vs Blades

    5. Jam0sh
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      How many times you ask this lol

    6. DAVESAVES
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      King

    7. Jonty Rhodes
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      I am going with both playing and Wijnaldum on bench. Makes sense?

      Good to go? OFT 1.4M in bank - I am nervious about Sterling as captain and lundstram in team?

      Ryan (Buttton)
      Digne, VVD, Bednarek (Lundstram, Rico)
      Salah (c), Sterling (vc), KDB, El Ghazi (Wijnaldum)
      Abraham, Pukki, King

  10. SoccerBoi69
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    It's an exciting one... first place on the bench?
    A) Cantwell
    B) Lundstram

  11. ooooo
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    play dendonker or lowton?

    1. SPorting
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Donck

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

      Dendonko

  12. drilsby
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Ok, just wildcarded.What do I do?

    1. Whats the Mata?
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Get players who score this weekend

    2. Boo Ya Ka Sha
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      check out the price changes pending tn...

    3. Bun Rab
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Auto select

    4. SPorting
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Hold on to your arse.

    5. El-Kloppico
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Close account

  13. Boo Ya Ka Sha
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    sorry i just need one more response on this

    A) Barnes and Martial + .5itb

    B) Rashford and Trossard

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

      A

    2. FPLtfs
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      a

    3. Tambling5
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      B

    4. Sergeant Garcia
      • 9 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      b

    5. Boo Ya Ka Sha
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      god damn. 2v2

  14. thepeen555
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Good luck all this week btw

  15. SPorting
    • 12 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Itchy trigger pens at the ready

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

    Pick one to start!
    A) Diop
    B) Cantwell
    C) Lundstram

  17. drcooper817
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Pick 2 to field:
    A. Ayoze Perez
    B. Lundstram
    C. Cantwell

    1. Sim Simma
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Ayoze,Perez

      1. Sim Simma
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 13 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        Lundie

    2. Coys96
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      CA

      1. Sim Simma
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 13 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        USA

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

      A C

      1. Sim Simma
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 13 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        DC

  18. Teahupo'o
    • 12 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Last call. Play Dunk or Lundstram?

    1. SPorting
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Lundy

      1. Teahupo'o
        • 12 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        Cheers

  19. Valar(Keith)
    • 14 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Start Ceballos or Montoya? Had Montoya in all week but second guessing myself now

    1. SPorting
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Ceballos

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

      This Arsenal fan says Montoya, Ceballos still too uncertain for me especially with a really tough fixture.

      1. Valar(Keith)
        • 14 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        Cheers. Yeah will be unleashing ceballos every week from gw 4 anyway. Cheers

    3. Bun Rab
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Montoya. Go with your gut.

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

      Ceballos. Goal fest at Anfield i think

      1. SPorting
        • 12 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        This

  20. JONALDINHO
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Gtg? Rate /10
    Pope
    Robbo - VVD - Digne
    Mane - Sterling - KDB - Cantwell - Dendoncker
    Kane(C) - Jota
    (4.0 / Kelly / Rico / 4.5).

  21. SPorting
    • 12 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Hope you all do well but not as well as me.

  22. tiger
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Pens dow......

  23. Demí
    • 13 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    https://www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk/comment/20709774

    Rainy's evil twin? Posts like this should not be allowed. Are the mods asleep?

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

      Of all things on the site you’d choose that.

      🙂

  24. THE SHEEP HUNTERS
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Did you see that Tweet? 😯

    1. Revival
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Timed perfectly with Demí post above

    2. S.Kuqi
      • 11 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Ban

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

    Be sound Digne.

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

    Who to play?

    A. Lumdstram
    B. Pieters.

    Im playing Jota

  27. pingissimus
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Draft team looks thus this week. Good old fashioned 5-4-1

    Ederson
    Robbo VVD Laporte Digne Pereira
    Pepe Buendia Gross McGinn
    Jota

    Guaita Ings Maupay Townsend

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

    Final team.
    Pope
    Digne,VVD,Lundstrum
    Sterling(vc)KDB,Martial,Mount
    Kane(c),Pukki,Rashford

    Button,Cantwell,Elmohamady,Hanley

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

      Excellent work

      Sadly I prefer it to mine - but thus week only 🙂

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

        See how it pans out. Double United attack.

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

      Like it, but not sure about United double up on offense. Maybe downgrade Martial and upgrade a defender?

    3. wernerhedgehog
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      exactly the team i drafted for a hypothetical wildcard.

  29. 03farmboy
    • 4 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Which is the best combination to have:

    Martial, mount, jota
    Martial, Pukki, Mina
    Pukki, jota, digne

    Any feed back would be appreciated?

  30. ChelseaGuy
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Barkley and Montoya over King?