Welcome to the Fantasy Football Scout Guide to Gameweek 28.
Firstly don’t get caught out – we have an early deadline this week: Friday 19:00 GMT deadline.
Read on for help with those all-important transfer and captaincy decisions.
Captain candidates
Mohamed Salah once again tops the Rate My Team tool and the captaincy poll ahead of Liverpool’s trip to Watford.
However, is trusting a player who has scored just twice in away matches this season – and not at all when Mane has played – a good idea?
In his Captain Sensible article David left us in no doubt:
The case for Salah is very strong, considering his underlying data. Yes, he is still without a goal in an away match than Mané has started, but Salah’s underlying statistics suggest he is due at least something at Vicarage Road and that such an unwanted fact is nothing more than happenstance.
– David
But he’s perhaps not the only option to consider.
Form versus Fixtures
Heading into Gameweek 28, two players encapsulate the perennial form versus fixtures dilemma.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin is the form player. As Neale noted in his analysis of the underlying stats:
Since Carlo Ancelotti took charge in Gameweek 19, no other FPL asset has had more attempts on target or big chances than the Everton striker.
– Neale
However the fixtures stiffen for the Toffees, who are second bottom in our Season Ticker for the next three matches.
Although Pro Pundit Tom Freeman feels the fixtures aren’t as bad as they seem on first glance, and includes Calvert-Lewin as one of his forwards to consider.
Leicester City, on the other hand, are top of the Season Ticker.
But the out-of-form Jamie Vardy has failed to score since Gameweek 18. Did we see any signs of encouragement in Gameweek 27?
Pro Pundit Sam is one manager who will be keeping the Foxes forward:
There were some glimmers that the old Vardy we used to love pre-Christmas is coming back.
– Sam
Pep Pig – top of RedLightning’s January to May League (league code aafkpq) – picks out Jamie Vardy as one of the three players to watch in Gameweek 28:
I’ve stuck with my plan to bring him in for the in-form Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and even giving him the armband over Mohamed Salah.
– Pep Pig
However David did caution in Captain Sensible:
When he was at the height of his powers earlier in the campaign, Vardy was not busting many statistics, he was simply dominating them. He was doing well because he was regularly top for shots in the box, big chances and shots on target for four-match blocks at a time. So the fact his numbers have dropped off in line with his returns is certainly more of a factor in his decreasing points potential than some would have us believe.
– David
Both Calvert-Lewin and Vardy have been named in this week’s Scout Picks but rumours circulating on Friday night suggest the Leicester striker may not even be in the starting XI.
Grealish versus Harvey Barnes
A question many have been considering recently is what to do with Jack Grealish, who has provided just one assist in the last four Gameweeks. FPL Virgin asked the question – should we sell Grealish?
Pro Pundit Az was fairly unequivocal in his answer:
I think Villa go down and their fixtures couldn’t be worse. He’s literally their only threat, teams that are capable in defence are surely just going to mark him out of the game. He might get the odd assist, but Leicester / Chelsea options may be more explosive with their run ins so I think I’m going to ditch.
– Az
Meanwhile JohnRoss concluded in his hot topic that it was worth selling Grealish if you are buying Harvey Barnes.
And the Leicester City midfielder was one of the names picked out by Pro Pundit Zophar in his latest piece which looked at stats and upcoming fixtures to identify which players to target.
Team News
Neale brought us the latest news with Rotation’s Alter Ego providing us his summary in a hot topic.
The headline is that Martial is doubt for Manchester United, Solskjaer revealed:
I don’t know with Anthony, to be honest. I’ve not asked. He tried [on Thursday] morning, so he wasn’t that bad, but we’ll have to do a scan [on Friday] probably.
– Solskjaer
Another United player who has got people talking this week is january-signing Bruno Fernandes.
He’s a player Joe transferred in for Son last week with the Portuguese delivering a 14-point return in Gameweek 27. He’s particularly good at penalties, scoring 22 out of 24 over his professional career.
Speaking of his new signing Solskjaer said:
He has been known for his set plays. He has practised quite a few penalties and I wasn’t in doubt that he would score.
– Solskjaer
Although Karam noted on the Scoutcast that Fernandes does take the vast majority of his open play shots from distance, which isn’t great for Fantasy potential.
Another player potentially taking over penalty-taking duties is Kevin De Bruyne.
In the absence of Sergio Aguero, the Belgian stepped up and converted his spot-kick against Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Holly (aka FFCommunity_) opened a hot topic on what to do with Kevin?
Despite the blank fixture for Man City this Gameweek, the Scoutcast were unanimous in their decision to keep De Bruyne. Highlighting a potential Double Gameweek 29 for the champions.
Looking ahead
Considering what we know of the expected blank and double Gameweeks for the season, FPL Virgin outlined his trademarked plan – the “FPL Virgin Chip Strategy“
In his community article he explained why he feels using his Wildcard in Gameweek 33, Bench Boost in Gameweek 34, and Free Hit in Gameweek 37 could reap rewards.
It was an excellent week for The Great and The Good, with all bar one of the featured managers gaining green arrows. The FPL General has played his Wildcard and Greyhead expects him to Bench Boost in Gameweek 29. Can he match Andy’s success in Gameweek 27?
Finally in his Gameweek review, TheFantasyFreÆK looked back on data from the previous seven seasons before concluding:
After going through the data, I can confidently say that this season to date has witnessed some of the worst defending in the league’s history. To put things into context, at this stage, Villa have conceded 330 shots inside the box while West Ham have conceded 86 big chances. The FPL repercussion is that the findings cannot be more obvious, target attackers who play against these teams!
– TheFantasyFreÆK
Useful information for planning future transfers.
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.
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Community Competitions
Don’t miss out on your chance to win a share of £300 in prize money by entering the latest edition of the open-to-all Fantasy Football Scout Cup.
Sign up via the entry form here. The deadline for entries is 10:30am on Monday 2 March.
For an update on all FFS Mini-Leagues and Community Competitions, please click here to read the latest round-up.
For those interested in the Head-to-Head Leagues, the main page can be linked to here. The fixtures for Gameweek 28 can be found below:
Use the drop-down menus to show your league and division. To find out which league and division you are in, follow the instructions on the main Head-to-Head page.
Once the Gameweek starts, if you click on your opponent’s name you will be linked to their team on the FPL website.
May your arrows be green!
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Marital Perez Barnes