Gameweek 15 Scout Picks based on Liverpool and Man City’s appealing fixtures

Liverpool, Manchester City, Aston Villa and Leeds form the spine of the Scout Picks for Gameweek 15.

As ever, we have chosen this line-up with the help of Scout Squad submissions made by David, Neale, Tom and Andy.

We have used the 3-4-3 formation once again, coming in at £80.7m, well inside our budget of £83.0m.

Goalkeeper

No team has a better expected goals conceded (xGC) score than Aston Villa over the last four matches, which bodes well for Emiliano Martínez (£4.9m) ahead of a home match against Crystal Palace.

Defenders

Owners of Andrew Robertson (£7.3m) will fancy returns at both ends of the pitch against West Bromwich Albion in Gameweek 15. Liverpool’s defence has conceded just four league goals since the start of November while the Baggies mustered an expected goals (xG) score of just 0.05 against Aston Villa.

Benjamin Mendy (£5.9m) earns a place in the Scout Picks having started mostly in appealing home fixtures for Manchester City this season. After a rest in the EFL Cup, we expect him to start against Newcastle in Gameweek 15. The Citizens have an impressive defensive record recently (conceding just once since Gameweek 10), while Mendy could take advantage of Newcastle’s weak right flank. They have deployed DeAndre Yedlin, Emil Krafth, Javier Manquillo and even Jacob Murphy this season in what is quickly becoming a problem position for Steve Bruce.

Vladimir Coufal (£4.6m) offers excellent value at West Ham, having created the second-highest number of chances among all defenders over the last four matches.

Midfielders

Sam Allardyce has not had enough time to mark his stamp on West Bromwich Albion, which is why we have no qualms trusting Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) for Gameweek 15. The Baggies still have one of the worst defences this season, behind only Leeds for goals conceded, while their xGC score is the highest in the division after 14 Gameweeks. Knowing that Salah only needed half-an-hour to rack up 16 points at Crystal Palace and has registered an attacking return in all but one home match this season, he is an obvious inclusion.

Kevin De Bruyne (£11.8m) is sure to explode points very soon, and we expect that to come against Newcastle. The Magpies have conceded at least five times in three of their last five league visits to Manchester City and are not in the best of shape after their midweek EFL Cup exit. Over the last four Gameweeks, De Bruyne is top among all midfielders for shots on goal and behind only one other for key passes.

Jack Grealish (£7.8m) continues to offer an excellent route into Aston Villa’s attack, the England international still their most important asset. Ahead of hosting Crystal Palace, his recent move back into the middle of has helped get the best out of him. Over the last two Gameweeks, Grealish leads the way among midfielders for key passes and penalty area touches; also ranking joint-fourth for shots.

Raphinha (£5.4m) could be well on the way to providing a route into Leeds’ attack via the midfield – and it helps the Scout Picks that he costs less than £6.0m. Over the last four matches, he ranks inside the Premier League’s top seven for chances created while only seven players 

Forwards

Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£7.9m) has blanked in just two matches this season and, even though his supply lines have suffered in the absence of recognised full-backs and James Rodríguez, he faces a Sheffield United side that has given up more headed chances than any other across all matches this season.

Patrick Bamford (£6.4m) has recently improved his output in home matches, unfortunate to blank against Arsenal, assisting against West Ham and scoring in the 5-2 win over Newcastle. We fancy him to find the net against Burnley considering only three Premier League players have more shots on target than Bamford in the last four matches.

Chris Wood (£6.2m) gets into the Scout Picks on account of his upcoming fixture: Leeds United. Not only have they conceded the most goals of any team over the last four Gameweeks, but they also rank worst for giving up headed chances and shots set pieces.

Substitutes

• Alex McCarthy (£4.6m)
• Michael Keane (£5.1m)
• Stuart Dallas (£4.7m)
• Bertrand Traoré (£5.9m)

THE CAPTAIN

We choose the Scout Picks captain using a four-way vote between our Scout Squad pundits.

Because the use of Fantasy Football Scout data is used so heavily in this process, the skipper we choose each Gameweek is known only to those with a valid Fantasy Football Scout subscription and revealed to the public only when the deadline has passed.

Here’s how we voted for Gameweek 15:

THE COMMUNITY CHAMPION

Each week, one of the Fantasy Football Scout community takes on the Scout Picks by pitting their chosen XI against ours.

The Community Member who beats our team by the largest margin will win a £100 Amazon Voucher and a place in our Moderators and Contributors League for the following season.

The Scout Picks were victorious over ONEDENNISBERGKAMP in Gameweek 14, winning by a 98-88 score-line, extending our lead for the season to 8-6.

Rupert the Horse takes us on for Gameweek 15 going with a 3-4-3 line-up of Martínez; Robertson, Stones, Dallas; Salah (c), De Bruyne (vc), Grealish, Klich; Firmino, Calvert-Lewin, Bamford.

AA33 is the current leader, defeating the Scout Picks by a 53-point margin in Gameweek 2.