Tips

The Complete Guide to Scout’s tips and advice for FPL Gameweek 4

Welcome to the Fantasy Football Scout guide to FPL Gameweek 4, the final round of fixtures before the first international break of the season.

And what a blistering start it’s been with clean sheets in short supply – as Neale noted in his Big Numbers article:

[only] three clean sheets have been recorded by the ‘big six’ in total after three Gameweeks, as many as Liverpool managed themselves in the same period last season.

Holly revealed on the Scoutcast that she’s already moved away from her double-up on The Red’s back-line, although Luke still has faith in Manchester City and Liverpool’s defences. For those who feel the dearth of clean sheets is set to continue, Joe took a look at attacking defenders. Chelsea’s Emerson (£5.5m) stood out with 4 of his 6 goal attempts arriving in the box.

The Chelsea left-back was also the subject of a members-only article, examining his credentials ahead of a good run of fixtures for The Blues between Gameweeks 4 to 12.

Raheem Sterling (£12.3m) got involved with FPL last weekend, replying to a tweet from Scoutcast regular Andy. This week, the England international is once again one of the main armband contenders. David noted in the Captaincy Video that Sterling has had seven ‘Big Chances’, two more than fellow premium-midfielder Mohamed Salah (£12.5m).

Both players make the Scout Picks for Gameweek 4, which features a Manchester City triple-up ahead of Brighton’s visit to the Etihad. Kevin de Bruyne (£9.7m) and Oleksandr Zinchenko (£5.5m) join Sterling. TheFantasyFreÆK noted in his hot topic article:

Zinchenko created 5 chances in Man City’s game vs Bournemouth, and that makes him second only to Trent in defenders for chances created since the season began.

Making his first appearance of the season in the Scout Picks is West Ham’s Sébastien Haller (£7.4m), tipped to do well by all four pundits. The French centre-forward will be up against a Norwich defence that has conceded more shots on target than any other side and let in the highest number of goals so far with eight.

With an attractive set of fixtures, West Ham have a number of players who could offer points returns over the coming weeks. David, when taking an in-depth look at their credentials, concluded that: 

While there could be value in waiting for one more match to assess the Hammers’ players, those who are brave enough to select one for Gameweek 4 could well benefit.

Although Mark McGettigan (aka The FPL General) advocates the importance of saving a transfer ahead of the international break:

Injuries often occur during internationals (most of which turn out to be nothing more than a sore toe) but it is comforting having those two frees available if you do get unlucky with a few knocks.

The only exception to that rule, he noted, is the on-fire Teemu Pukki (£7.0m). Fellow Irishman Matt Kearney (aka Bowstring the Carp) concurred:

With [Pukki’s] high ownership he will certainly do a lot of damage if you don’t have him.

Pukki is the outstanding captain pick for those who feel like venturing away from expensive players like Sterling and Salah. David dives into the stats and draws his conclusions in the regular Captain Sensible article. 

Going in the opposite direction to The FPL General, MINUS FOUR (aka “The James Bond of FPL”) suggest that managers shouldn’t be afraid of playing aggressively and taking a -8 if they need to. Employing such an approach last season, MINUS FOUR finished inside the top 300 overall.

The major team news is the absence of Anthony Martial (£7.7m). The Frenchman is the most-sold player ahead of the Gameweek 4 deadline, with nearly half a million managers ruthlessly showing him the door. Rotation’s Alter Ego started a hot topic on potential replacements

14 Premier League clubs had midweek matches with the second round of the League Cup getting underway, while Wolves progressed through the Europa League qualifying rounds. For managers worried about fatigue, FP Elephant has collected the minutes for the popular players.

For fans of puns and Star Trek, Greyhead has served up a treat with his review of The Great and The Good. You’ll be tickled to learn that “Mark continues to Klingon to top spot”… 

For those of you still reading this article, G-Whizz brought us the DS stats, fixtures and clean sheet odds for Gameweek 4: Manchester City record a whopping DS of 762. While for Scandinavians and lovers of all things fantasy, Meltens and TallestJohn have once again kindly provided us with their regular articles.

Meltens previews Gameweek 22 in Fantasy Allsvenskan and TallestJohn gives us his guide to Gameweek 19 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

Gareth Mantle is the new leader of our Fantasy Football Scout mini-league and is up to twentieth overall in only his second season. Gareth Triple Captained Kane in Gameweek 1, Wildcarded in Gameweek 2, and played his Bench Boost in Gameweek 3. Will he play his Free Hit in Gameweek 4?

There are currently 42,801 managers participating in the Fantasy Football Scout mini-league, to join them enter code ooyz44 in your Leagues’ section on the FPL site. 

Tom Foster moves to the top of our FFS Members mini-league and, unlike Gareth, is yet to play a chip. This is Tom’s twelfth FPL season. Currently 76th overall, his best finish is 48th in 2017/18. One to watch!

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 3 was 36, this saw 217 managers eliminated. Over 3,900 will take part in Gameweek 4 when 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) has seen his lead at the top of the FFS Mods & Cons mini-league cut to a point by FFS founder Mark Sutherns. Mark gained attacking returns from six of his front seven on his way to 70 points in Gameweek 3.

Gareth Oakes held onto first place in RedLightning’s Top 10k Any Season mini-league. Gareth played his Wildcard in Gameweek 3 and is now 447th overall. A good week for Gareths! Managers with a top 10k finish may join the league using the code m0tq9y.

Frenchman Francois Jacquemot has a 13-point lead in Chaballer’s Top 1,000 HoF League and is up to 56th in the overall standings. Shyam Kumar moves into second spot, his faith in Sébastien Haller was repaid as the West Ham forward contributed 13 points to an impressive Gameweek score of 80 points.

2017/18 champion Yusuf Sheikh leapfrogged 2016/17 champion Ben Crabtree to take the lead in the FPL Champions League. Yusuf used one of his free transfers in Gameweek 3 to bring in Mason Mount. He was immediately rewarded with 8 points courtesy of a goal and a bonus point. Run by 2014/15 FPL winner Simon March (aka Dufflinks) to qualify for this mini-league you must have won FPL!

In the FFS Eliteserien mini-league Svein Johansen consolidated his place at the top with an excellent 80 points in Gameweek 19. He climbs one place to sixth overall. Eirik Pedersen deployed his Attack! Attack! chip to good effect gaining 83 points and moving into second spot in the FFS mini-league. The Attack! Attack! chip enables your strikers to score double points. Eirik is 17 points behind Svein heading into Round 20.

Daniel Sebestyen slips to second in the FFS Allsvenskan mini-league as Henrik Mäkitalo takes over at the top. Henrik’s captain Sead Haksabanovic contributed 30 points to his impressive total of 91. This sees Henrik move up to a nosebleeding second overall, just two points off first place. Third in the FFS mini-league is Simon Eriksson. Simon sits at eighth place in the overall standings with Daniel in seventh. 

Finally, Boris Bodega previewed a forthcoming community tournament called “The Pundits Playoff“. To join send an email to punditsplayoff@gmail.com with your FFS Username, FPL ID# and the pundit(s) you wish to name your team after. Entries close on Friday 13 September.

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


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

2,901 Comments Post a Comment
  1. tractorjess
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Forgot to get rid of Ndombele, oops.

    Best shout to replace him with? Looking at McGinn, James or H. Wilson.

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

      McGinn will probably do the job

  2. Fernando Torres
    • 12 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Play 2
    A) Soy
    B) Lund
    C) Pieters

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

      AC

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

    haller & lanzini

    1. Taking the Mkhitaryan
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Ok

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

    Have a feeling Salah will outscore Sterling again today.. this deadline needs to hurry up. 😛

    1. Make United Great Again
      • 11 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Have a feeling Mane will outscore Salah 🙂

      1. Eat my goal!
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 5 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        I've a feel KDB will outscore Mane!

    2. Wild Rover
      • 13 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      I'm even considering (C) Haller as well as Salah. Need to walk away

    3. SADIO SANÉ
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      I do too but I'm always pretty pessimistic about captaincy - my vices are killing it so far, C/VC pretty much matched each other for me last year too

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

      Might be overthinking it BF. Sterling is the superior captaincy this GW. Log out before you make a mistake

  5. Gazpilicueta
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Silver lining?

    We should get to see the UTD lineup before deadline right? so i can choose my martial plan? eg, is greenwood playing (I guess not)

    1. thegaffer82
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Greenwood will play...

      There’s nobody else to replace Martial with now Sánchez and Kaku are gone.

      1. Joey Barton and Friends
        • 12 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        can they not put Rashford up top and James on the wing?

        1. Gazpilicueta
          • 9 Years
          4 years, 7 months ago

          this is what i expect.

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

            Exactly. Or a good chance Juan Mata will start.

            Pereira also an option.

            Chong and Gomes not out of the picture.

            By no means a given that Greenwood starts, if I had to bet on it personally I'd day he does not start. Other players ahead of him.

            United fan.

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

        Peireira, Mata both could come in.

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

        Rashford
        James/Mata/Lingard

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

      You wont get to see

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

    Took a -8 to get this squad - G2G??

    Pope
    Robbo - Digne - Zinchenko
    Sterling (C) - KDB - Salah - Mount - Donkers
    Haller - King

    Button - Greenwood - Lundy - Montoya

    - play dendonk or a different bench player?

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

      Think Mount is a mis-step... especially this week.

      I am in the minority though.

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

    Start Greenwood or Trossard?

    1. Podge
      • 13 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Tross

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

      Trossard

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

      My dilemma too. Yesterday I was on Greenwood but starting to swing towards Trossard. How are you feeling?

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

        Actually has Green in my start 11 now but leaning towards tross, u recon Mason will start?

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

      Trossard is not the option.

      Bad player, bad team.

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

        Dont agree, great player.

  8. Gaffa914
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Best Lucas replacement for 9.0m or under

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

      Eriksen

    2. goriuanx
      • 13 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Take a hit and get Pepe, Son or KDB.

    3. SADIO SANÉ
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Cantwell

  9. Simon B
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Lots of Greenwood or Lundstram comments.,.

    but what about who to play out of Greenwood or Kelly?

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

      Kelly

      1. Simon B
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 8 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        It’s what my head is telling me, but.....

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

    Replacement for Barkley:

    A. Mount.
    B. Felipe Anderson.

    Leaning towards Felipe.

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

      Yeah Felipe looks good

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

        Think Barkley will start with Pedro out

    2. benbro
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Question on Mount is, let’s say he gets 60% of all Chelsea assists.

      How many goals do you think Abraham and Giroud will get.

      My feeling is that Haller will outscore them combined.

  11. Mortal.Swinbat
    • 13 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Can anyone give me a review of Callum Wilson so far this season? I haven't seen his games - seems silly to think about transferring him out seeing as he hasn't blanked yet (5,5,5) but I believe 2 of those assists were from winning free kicks and he was hooked early last week - worrying for 7.9mill?

    Cheers

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

      Haller has Nor and AV next, Wilson has Lei and Eve next. Should I do Wilson to Haller for a hit?

    2. SADIO SANÉ
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Owner and watched closely, he's not playing great (did have a great chance against Sheff and City). I did think about waiting until GW4 to bring him in, so I just see those points as a bonus, nice fixtures now

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

      Not good. Better options around that price point.

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

    Bench one
    Soyunchu or Greenwood?

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

      Greenwood

  13. SpaceCadet
    • 10 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Play one

    A. Dunk
    B. Lund
    C. Greenwood

    1. Hairy Potter
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      B

  14. No Professionals
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Thinking about putting aguero in on WC is killing me

    Feel like I would have to WC him which feels risky due to sterling

    I'd lose KDB

    I'd lose haller who you'd back to score today

    Still want to do it though!

    1. No Professionals
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Captain no wc

    2. the dom 1
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      On WC get Kun i say!

    3. benbro
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Go KDB and HALLER.

  15. Gudjohnsen
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    A. Zinchenko, Cantwell
    B. Soyuncu, F.Anderson or Lanzini

    Have Pukki and Haller

    1. Hairy Potter
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      A

    2. FantasyFS007
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      A

  16. Crouching Tiger
    • 11 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Seriously. Norwich striker is the most owned striker in FPL game. And by a margin.

    This is probably the first time in FPL history that happens...

  17. Beasts FC
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 4 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Haller and 4.5 def or Barnes and zinchenko

  18. FantasyFS007
    • 12 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Ings or Greenwood for first sub?

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

      Start ings

  19. the dom 1
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Any Kun captains out there or are you all swaying to Stirling?

    1. Andy'81
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      I've got it in on him today, fingers crossed it comes off.

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

      Have both, Kun (c)

    3. FOO FIGHTER
      • 4 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Kun my captain and have Sterling.

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

      man its a tough one as I have both too! arghhhh lol

    5. No Professionals
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      God don't ask that question, the ffs police will be after you!

  20. Twisted Melon
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    KWP back for next GW?

  21. JenkoJunko
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Morning all! So do i...

    A. Take a punt and play Greenwood and keep Martial to save FT for two FTs after Int Break? Would potentially leave me only one sub as have Dendoncker and Lundstram left?

    Or Swap Martial for:
    B. Mount
    C. Maddison
    D. Lanzini
    E. Siggy
    F. Bernard
    G. Pulisic

    Any advice would be great! Good luck all!

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

      either swap from Mount or save till after IB

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

        swap to*

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

      Keep Martial. Donkey will start.

    3. JenkoJunko
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Thanks gents. I'm tempted to save the FT for sure. Would you take a punt with Greenwood over Lundstram or Dendonk?

  22. SHOWSTOPPERRR
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    A) Kelly
    B) lund
    C) dendo
    D) green

    Pick one to start..

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

      A

  23. FOO FIGHTER
    • 4 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    If you do not have Greenwood I reckon he is the one to have on the bench as if he starts today and you do not have him then many will race to get him in even if Martial makes a comeback after IB.

    And he is dirt cheap.

    What does everyone think?

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

      Am risking playing him.over Dendocker and Rico.

      1. FOO FIGHTER
        • 4 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        Thank heavens I am not in your pickle. Who is your first sub?

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

        It's not a risk playing him over those two!

  24. bradplum
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Captain Salah Pukki or KDB? No sterling!

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

      Salah

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

      I am going KDB.

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

    On a -8 with this squad:

    Pope Heaton
    Laporte VVD Digne Lundstram Dunk
    Salah Sterling KDB Mount Dend
    Greenwood Pukki Wesley

    Do I wildcard? Thanks

    1. FOO FIGHTER
      • 4 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Unless you thinking of getting Kun...

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

      No

  26. V-2 Schneiderlin
    • 13 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    On WC and have Aguero up front should I go with:
    A. Pukki and Greenwood
    B. Ayew and Barnes

    Have limited funds. Looking at long term. (Have Cantwell in midfield if that influences anything)

    1. Astronautovic
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      A. You can still downgrade to Barnes later if you want.

      1. V-2 Schneiderlin
        • 13 Years
        4 years, 7 months ago

        Thanks

  27. Gaffa914
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Thoughts on Lucas Moura AND Robertson ——> De Bruyne and Digne for a -4

  28. FantasyFS007
    • 12 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Ings or Fraser to start?

  29. ignis88
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    Play one:

    A) Kelly

    B) Greenwood

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

      A

    2. ignis88
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      C) Martial -> Mount (-4)

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

        Does A not have one of the best possible fixtures for him?!

        1. ignis88
          • 6 Years
          4 years, 7 months ago

          Yeah, I'd say so, Palace away are beast at keeping clean sheets. Just last minute jitters 🙂

  30. Gazpilicueta
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 7 months ago

    I am thinking of doing

    Rico and Jota
    to
    Soyuncu and Tammy A

    This would allow me to keep Martial for when he is back, and I would be very happy with my team. thoughts anyone?

    1. Andy'81
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 7 months ago

      Taking a hit to keep a red flagged player? Not a big fan of that.