A tight turnaround in Fantasy Premier League Gameweeks has forced us into combining our latest Captain Sensible and Scout Picks article into one piece.
Gameweek 19 came to a close following Manchester City’s trip to Wolves on Friday night and the Gameweek 20 deadline comes just over 12 hours after that.
Therefore, we have condensed our two most important pieces of preview content into slightly shorter versions so we can get them both out in time.
We’ll begin with the Gameweek 20 Scout Picks, followed by some analysis of the captaincy.
Goalkeeper
Claudio Bravo (£4.8m) makes it into the Gameweek 20 Scout Picks for Manchester City’s clean sheet potential. Over their last four home matches, they are inside the top three for shots allowed in the box and big chances conceded. Meanwhile, upcoming opponents Sheffield United are inside the bottom three for shots in the box and shots on target in away matches this season.
Defenders
Djibril Sidibé (£5.3m) looks like he could be playing out-of-position in a new advanced role at Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton and added his fourth assist in seven matches in the 1-0 win over Burnley on Boxing Day. With a trip to Newcastle coming up and clean sheets in each of the Toffees’ last two, Sidibé’s points potential is high for Gameweek 20.
Serge Aurier (£5.1m) has two assists in his last three away matches and finds himself at Norwich on Saturday afternoon. The Canaries have conceded the second-highest number of goals in home matches this season.
Nicolas Otamendi (£5.0m) is our way of completing a double-up on the Manchester City defence considering how few chances they allow at home and how conservative Sheffield United are likely to be in attack.
Midfielders
Despite a blank against Leicester, Mohamed Salah (£12.3m) gets straight back into the Scout Picks for Gameweek 20. He was incredibly unfortunate not to get any attacking returns at the King Power Stadium, as you can READ ABOUT HERE. We think the Egyptian is back to his best and a home meeting with Wolves should bring that out even more on Sunday afternoon.
Kevin De Bruyne (£10.5m) looks the most likely to rely on among Manchester City assets when Sheffield United come to the Etihad Stadium. Not only has the Belgian created more big chances than any other player this season, but he also has attacking returns in three of his last five at home.
Lucas Moura (£7.1m) was unfortunate not to get something out of Spurs’ win over Brighton and a trip to Norwich looks perfect for him. We did want to include Dele Alli before we heard from Jose Mourinho on the subject of his recent hamstring issues, so we went for a sideways move to his colleague. As already mentioned, Norwich are especially vulnerable at the back in front of their own fans, where they tend to attack a lot more.
An assist for Jack Grealish (£6.4m) in Aston Villa’s win over Norwich earns him back-to-back inclusion in the Scout Picks. The midfielder has either scored or assisted five of his last seven outings while Watford remain in the division’s bottom four for shots conceded in the box over the last four matches.
Forwards
Jamie Vardy (£10.1m) may have had a quiet night against Liverpool but, if he plays in Gameweek 20, should have much more joy at West Ham. Over the last four matches, Manuel Pellegrini’s men have conceded 10 big chances, only two sides allowing more than that. Even though we think he could be rested, Vardy stands a great chance of getting attacking returns even as a substitute.
A Boxing Day benching for Danny Ings (£6.5m) makes him one of the most nailed-on starters for Gameweek 20 in the whole division. He has been remarkably reliable this season, scoring in three of his last four at home.
Bournemouth have conceded 44 shots in the box over the last four matches, the third-worst in the Premier League. That bodes well for Neal Maupay (£5.8m) who comes into Gameweek 20 fresh from a Boxing Day rest. The Brighton forward has two goals in the last four matches and, despite playing only 292 minutes in that period, only three players have been afforded more big chances than him during that time.
Substitutes
- Tom Heaton (£4.5m)
- Mason Holgate (£4.4m)
- Matt Targett (£4.4m)
- Pascal Groß (£6.4m)
The Captain
The Scout Picks has had a captain this season, selected by votes from our Scout Squad panel, David, Neale, Paul and Geoff.
As we are combining Captain Sensible with the Scout Picks this week, we will briefly go over the tables we usually reference in the former before revealing who has been selected.
We would also like to clarify that the majority of this research has been conducted during the day-time on Friday December 27, which means it does not include data from Manchester City’s trip to Wolves.
To find out how the Gameweek 20 captain candidates got on at Molineux, be sure to visit the Members Area and find out.
