Tips

The Complete Guide to Scout’s tips and advice for FPL Gameweek 1

It feels like we’ve had a half-term rather than a summer holiday – Gameweek 1 is upon us already!

During the break Fantasy Football Scout has been busy producing absolutely tons of exciting content. The aim of this guide is to distill that knowledge into a digestible format. As Andy’s recent guest Simon succinctly put it when explaining his use of stats: “it’s almost impossible to watch 20 hours of football per week”.

The first piece of advice given by three-time top 200 finisher Lateriser is:

Read up about football more and then tinker… What happens when you are doing this is that you are strengthening your instinct, your subconscious… and then you tend to be more decisive.

– Lateriser

The most important news for you to read first is the team news.

Neale reported the headlines from Thursday’s press conferences: Chelsea’s new-signing Hakim Ziyech is out for a couple of weeks; Christian Pulisic is ahead of schedule and could feature this weekend; Mason Holgate will miss Everton’s trip to North London with a toe injury; and Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl confirmed that budget ‘keeper Alex McCarthy is his No 1.

David and co have been reviewing all the pre-season matches in the Scout Notes and analysing the new additions to the Premier League in the Scout Reports.

If you want to quickly look up a particular team or player, the easiest way to find the information you need is via The Complete Guide to Pre Season. This section of the website lists all the articles associated with each club.

Pay Attention to Captaincy

Another of Lateriser’s rules – pay attention to captaincy. It can make up 25 per cent of your score and it’s the biggest decision you make each week. Our upside-chasing Pro Pundit advocates, on occasion, bringing in a player for a hit – even for one Gameweek.

The first Captain Sensible article of the new season has, for a change, been written by Jan Sienkiewicz. Jan finished in the top 100 overall last season and mustered 657 captain points, the second-most in the world. 

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the popular choice with a clear lead in the captain poll, but Jan is not convinced by the underlying stats:

[Aubameyang] has been in a rich vein of form lately and the spirits are certainly high at the Emirates. However, the underlying data shows us that Arsenal’s attack has been underwhelming, creating very little from open play.

– Jan

For the double-points maestro, Liverpool are the more attractive proposition:

The Liverpool attack looks set to fire against Leeds United in a game in which suits them tactically, even if they have been lacklustre in pre-season. Both Salah and Mané will look to start the season strongly and maintain their brilliant goalscoring records at home.

– Jan

Mohamed Salah scored in 15 home matches last season, more than any other player.

However, in our Captaincy video Joe and David took a different view. A reminder that David went on a successful 17-Gameweek captain run back in 2018/19:

Aubameyang is my choice at the moment… the eye test is looking good, he made Liverpool look distinctly average [in the Community Shield]… and when he plays smaller teams he tends to look better.

– David

Joe concurred, highlighting the Arsenal man’s excellent record against the minnows (teams outside of the top six): his expected goals is doubled, his number of big chances is doubled, even his shooting accuracy is doubled. 

When in doubt back the odds.

– Lateriser

It’s notable that Arsenal and Liverpool’s opponents, Leeds and Fulham, have the worst odds of recording a clean sheet. Thank you as ever to G-Whizz for posting his regular summary.

Wise Words

I’ve been sharing a splattering of Lateriser’s tips in this article, but we are lucky enough to have several excellent managers to call upon. The days when I used to write articles on the Top Five managers in the Hall of Fame are no longer needed – the top three are now all signed up as Pro Pundits.

So far we’ve heard from number three on the list, Darren Wiles, who recently finished 140th in the world and has three top 1,000 finishes in the last four seasons. He’s found that going ‘big at the back’ has served him well:

A strategy that threatened to take off at the start of last season, going big at the back has been the key to a lot of my success over the last four years.

– Darren

Darren’s FPL draft includes four premium defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andrew Robertson, Matt Doherty, and Aymeric Laporte.

He’s also managed to squeeze in Salah, Aubameyang, and Werner! Somehow he’s done this with the same £100m budget as the rest of us.

Up front the Southampton fan has picked Che Adams and Aleksandar Mitrovic, giving him the same front three as Joe, who was roundly ridiculed on the Scoutcast by Az and Andy for having two £6.0m forwards. 

Interestingly, Pro Pundit Az has revealed a very similar front three, with the exception of Ings for Adams. The debate would clearly seem to come down to whether you think Ings is worth the extra £2.5m over Adams.

Value for money and the merits of going big at the back have also been discussed by the community. Thanks to this piece from kierenbwfc and the resulting hot topic.

To be fair to Az, it’s worth pointing out that Ings is just a placeholder for Anthony Martial his team. The co-host of the revamped FPL BlackBox podcast is set on owning the Manchester United forward for Gameweek 2.

Joining Az on the podcast is the legendary FPL manager and this website’s founder, Mark Sutherns. Mark has returned to Fantasy Football Scout and will be contributing his thoughts and insights over the coming season. Commenting on the proliferation of stats and content available to FPL managers, Mark reflected:

These days everyone can get a glut of knowledge, information and data in their timeline with relative ease. But to work out how best to process it, how you learn to separate luck from skill and focus on improving the input, not dwell on the output, that might just be the new marginal gain.

– Mark

Don’t be surprised if Mark adds to his four top 1,000 finishes.

Another manager looking to join Az with Martial in his Gameweek 2 squad is Lateriser, although the upside-chasing manager is starting with him on his Gameweek 1 bench! India’s two-time FPL champion outlined his thinking in his latest Pro Pundit article

Meanwhile Pro Pundit Tom Freeman has been scouting the Red Devil’s summer signing Donny van de Beek. The new addition gives Ole Gunnar Solskjær an extra dimension to his already gifted attack. Although Tom feels he may have to settle for a place on the bench, at least to start with.

Intriguingly, Tom’s headline differential pick is Christian Pulisic, who, as mentioned earlier, is in contention for Monday’s trip to Brighton. And he’s got the potential to deliver even if he’s named among the substitutes:

An appearance off the bench might not be the end of the world for owners, considering his ability to haul from limited minutes, as evidenced at Anfield last season.

– Tom

Costing the same price as Chelsea’s Captain America is the Blues latest recruit from the Bundesliga, Kai Havertz. Chelsea fan and Pro Pundit Zophar, ran the rule over the former Bayer Leverkusen star. The German’s impressive goal conversion ratio of 19 per cent led the six-time top 5,000 manager to describe him as an “ice-cold finisher”.

Another player singled out by Tom as a differential ahead of the new season is Dele Alli. Indeed he is a player I highlighted when examining Mourinho’s attacking formation. Spurs have been much debated this pre-season both in terms of their attack and defence.

Pro Pundit Sam Bonfield shared her thoughts on the improved backline during the restart period, explaining how it bodes well for the coming season. While community member FPL Octopus argues that their defenders have been underpriced. And I took a look at the potential offered by Matt Doherty.

Join in the fun!

The Head-to-Head leagues and Last Man Standing are back, and we’re dishing out £2,500-worth of giveaways in the Community Members mini-league, plus there are a plethora of competitions for you to take part in: perhaps you fancy yourself against Greyhead’s The Great and The Good?

Take a moment to read this article to find out the League Codes – watch out for those Gameweek 1 deadlines. And thank you, as ever, to RedLightning for administering a number of our community mini-leagues.

Enjoy the new season.

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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

3,246 Comments Post a Comment
  1. brixtonBob
    • 10 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Oh deadline 90 minutes before kickoff. Is that how it will be every week this season.

    1. Christina.
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      hope so.

    2. Holmes
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Yep

    3. Zimo
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      I've petitioned for them to mix it up every week. Sometimes an hour sometimes 3 sometimes a full day sometimes right as match starts

      1. Gobigorgohome
        • 12 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        huh

        1. Zimo
          • 5 Years
          3 years, 6 months ago

          I kid 😛

    4. Gobigorgohome
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      yes

    5. Takedog1
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Didn’t even know and was in middle
      Of changing my team

    6. Homer21
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Forgot.... D'oh!!

  2. Christina.
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    WC wk 2 is so 2019/20.

    Not this year.

    1. IN SANE IN DE BRUYNE
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      20 is this year

      1. Holmes
        • 10 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        He is talking about first WC 😉

    2. Ask Yourself
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      3 is the one this year

    3. DandyDon
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Usually I do it to tear up my team now for the first time I’ve actually planned to do it and it feels good

  3. Zimo
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Can't wait for the game to update in 2 hours

  4. R.C
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Lateriser with Werner cap hmmmm

    1. Christina.
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      too much birthday cake

    2. DandyDon
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Surprised more haven’t gone for it. We all have him in our team as we think he will start well so why not

    3. French Gooner
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      What’s his final team ?

    4. Powers106
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      I flirted with a TC Werner because wouldn't a hattie in his first PL game be one for the ages? Then I went c Salah.

  5. Hulk Smash
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    I'm pleasantly surprised by how satisfied I am with my GW 1 team this season - probably because I have tinkered a lot less and I have a clear plan in place.

    I've left 1.5m in the bank so that when I've swapped Auba and Salah to Bruno and a City mid, I will have enough left over to upgrade Saka to whichever Chelsea midfielder shows the most early promise (Pulisic/Havertz/Ziyech).

    Anyone else planning similar?

    1. Kip
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      2.5 itb For
      Auba+Willian => KDB+Bruno, who can be alternating captains when playing at home

    2. Fero1905
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Not the same but close. I will change salah or Auba to fernandes and then zaha to i think haverts

    3. Powers106
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      I kept 1.5 itb for moving Son --> Bruno but will be hard if Son gets a brace or something

  6. Matjes_taet
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Auba benched. 😀

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

      Ban

    2. svasei - Up (?) the Rovers
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Source or BAN

  7. Our Tiny Windows
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Good Luck everyone.

  8. thepoet85
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 9 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Best of luck folks.

  9. fc_skrald
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    How strange, I only have one son in my team; Son. A few seasons ago I had 5 or 6 sons if I remember correct.

    1. JT11fc
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      You have 15 i hope

      1. JT11fc
        • 5 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        son's are going out of fashion

  10. Bury94
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Good luck for the season, hope you all do well, but not as good as me

  11. L'Aeroplanino
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    @afcstuff 4m
    Mesut Özil not in Arsenal’s squad today. [BBC] #afc

    1. The Wise Owl
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      I am shocked

  12. I SPEAK ENGELS AND DRINK GI…
    • 4 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Salah noooo post hit again wtf... My luck ofc

  13. olly:)
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    best of luck all

  14. Ser Davos
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Anyone with Ville Ronka’s ID

    FPL’s Herbert Chapman

    1. R.C
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Check HoF

  15. tiger
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    I for one am glad that the tinkering phase is over...

  16. Pat Bonner
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Switched Ings to Havertz at last minute and went 352. Mid looks decent at least Auba salah son Havertz Soucek

    1. bitm2007
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      It does Werner or Jimmy up front ?

      1. Pat Bonner
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 12 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        Werner and mitro up top

        1. bitm2007
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 9 Years
          3 years, 6 months ago

          Sounds good if Chelsea's new team hit the ground running.

    2. denial
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Went the other way. Just can't cope with a 4.5 striker to start with.

      1. Pat Bonner
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 12 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        Yes that’s the problem but 4.5 mids not much better

  17. Zimo
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Already hate my team 🙂

    1. Gudjohnsen
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Hahahahahahahah, same.

      1. Zimo
        • 5 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        😆

  18. bitm2007
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 9 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Sky Sports games haven't closed yet if you want to keep the pens up. You can get plenty for your MITB in that.

  19. jia you
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Thankfully got that Auba news just before deadline 😉

    1. Holmes
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      :0

    2. Muchentuchel
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Are you talking about the news that he'll score a hattie?

      1. jia you
        • 7 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        Yup, glad you got it too, Auba(C) 🙂

    3. Pat Bonner
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      That he’s scoring a hatrick today!?

    4. bitm2007
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      missing the first two GWs ?

  20. Sun Jihai
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    I'm confused with this Fanteam - so Auba is a forward?

  21. Mr. Greedy
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Hang on. Have I missed the deadline? I thought is was 11:30.

    1. svasei - Up (?) the Rovers
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      90 mins deadline this year to counter leaks.

      1. Mr. Greedy
        • 14 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        No last minute changes for me then. What will be will be.

    2. L'Aeroplanino
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      ouch

    3. Mambino
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      want an extra half hour do you...so greedy

  22. kamdaraji
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Team locked in!

    Mccarthy (Steer)
    Shaw Justin Doherty TAA Mitchell
    ASM Periera Salah Son Auba
    Mitrovic Werner Davis

  23. DycheDycheBaby
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Captain in the early game. Who is nervous right now? Arsenal to flop again away from home?

    1. Nomar
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Normally, but I don't think you can go wrong with Auba and Fulham defence should get absolutely shredded by that Arsenal attack.

    2. Holmes
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      What's done is done, no room for nervousness now...

    3. Steve The Spud
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      I’m not confident to be hones t

  24. Nomar
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Well, I've punted on Rodrigo instead of Mitrovic.

    I just don't trust Fulham and Leeds will be decent with Bielsa. Gone with Lemina as my £4.5 mid.

    1. Pat Bonner
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Not convinced on mitro either but I have him. Was tempted by Nketiah punt

      1. Nomar
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 14 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        Funnily enough I fancy Leeds to score against Liv more than I fancy Fulham to score v Arsenal. I just really don't rate Fulham, ultimately, and Bamford is Championship level so can see Rodrigo being the main man for Leeds.

        Plus he has Fulham defence next week. Hopefully he can do some damage.

  25. Herman Toothrot
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 11 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Just spotted that you can play Draft via the app now. About time!

    1. bitm2007
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Isn't it too late for GW1 ?

  26. PascalCygan
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Good luck everyone!

    Let the crippling anxiety commence!

  27. Athletic Nasherbo
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    I said on the last day of the season just I wouldn’t play next season and after tinkering in the summer to try and cure my boredom, I have managed to do it!

    No team submitted. Final out of the Fantasy Football cycle.

    Good luck all, seems like a year where a better rank can be achieved quite easily with the lower numbers.

  28. DantheManinaPan
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 10 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Extremely happy with my team...

    Apart from the lack of Auba!

    This first game is gonna be tough to watch but will enjoy the rest of the weekend!

    1. Pumpkinhead - I'm ITK …
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Apart from the lack of Auba!

      Brave.

  29. QUEN
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Good luck all

  30. Homer21
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    It's a kinda relief when you can't tinker anymore.... whew!

    1. Gudjohnsen
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      This