As always, we roll out our weekly regular look at the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game. Tipping the hat to the front runners at the top of the Scout League, we also cast an eye over the transfer market ahead of Saturday’s deadline…
We have a new leader in the Scout League this week as El Tri flies to the summit after a Gameweek 12 score of 86. Handing Carlos Tevez the armband produced 38 points, while Luis Suarez also notched double figures, with an 11 point haul against Wigan. In midfield, Santi Cazorla and Gareth Bale racked up two goals, an assist and maximum bonus points between them in the north London derby, and Marouane Fellaini provided an assist against Reading. With a total of 812 points already, El Tri has also made his way to the top of the overall standings.
Iyad Zahlan slips to second spot in the Scout League, and number three in the world, despite a strong 66 point return last weekend. He chose to captain Suarez, while Cazorla and Bale were joined by Michu in finding the net, taking Iyad’s overall points haul to 808.
Climbing up to third spot is T.I, who bagged 84 points in Gameweek 12. His decision to transfer in David Silva and hand him the armband was an inspired one and with Carlos Tevez also producing the goods in a 5-0 win over Villa, the City duo harvested 51 points. Raheem Sterling also hit double figures and was joined by Bale in picking up the midfield points. T.I. is placed 8th overall, sitting on 792 points.
Making his way into fourth is David Beckett, who produced a monster haul of 102 points last weekend. Captain Suarez was joined by Tevez up top, while his midfield four of Silva, Bale, Cazorla and Fellaini produced 40 points between them. David also benefitted from Joe Hart’s clean sheet and Joey O’Brien’s goal and maximum bonus haul for West Ham against Stoke – he moves to 19th in the overall standings, with 779 points.
Brian Madigan completes the top five. Another of our managers to hand Suarez the armband, he also saw Demba Ba, Silva, Bale and Eden Hazard find the net to earn him a 70 point Gameweek 12 haul. Brian sits in 24th spot on 778 points.
The efforts of our top five keep the Fantasy Football Scout on top of the Best Leagues standing. An average of 793.8 has increased our lead to 25.2 points over our nearest challengers; intriguingly, only one of the above-mentioned sides have Robin Van Persie in their ranks.
For the contributors, Facer keeps his number one spot, thanks to the efforts of Tevez, Sterling, Bale and Fellaini.
Market Forces
Faith in the Norwich defence has taken a dramatic rise this midweek. With four clean sheets in their last five, John Ruddy and Javier Garrido have earned a combined 100,000 new investors.
Elsewhere in defence, West Ham duo Winston Reid and Joey O’Brien have acquired more than 47,000 new owners between them, despite a difficult upcoming schedule. Jose Enrique’s new role on the left of the Liverpool front three has tempted 29,000 to get on board the bandwagon, while Stoke’s resilience has kept Asmir Begovic and Ryan Shawcross on many a Fantasy radar.
Raheem Sterling’s display against Wigan has seen 69,000+ trades in – his price has now moved up to 5.5, while plenty of mid-price midfielders have seen significant investment. James Morrison (41,000), Michu (34,000) and Kevin Nolan (22,000) continue to attract ownership, and a couple of premium priced Spanish playmakers have also received plenty transfers in. Santi Cazorla has been snapped up by almost 46,000 managers and David Silva is also proving popular, with 18,000 new owners to boast of. Jason Puncheon’s attacking potential and cut-price appeal has seen his ownership rise by 18,000, with three home games in the next four for Southampton.
Up top, it’s Luis Suarez who has proven the most popular. With attacking returns in each of his last five, the Liverpool forward has made his way into 69,000 new teams – significantly more than second placed forward Carlos Tevez, with 42,000 transfers in. Shane Long has also picked up plenty new owners – over 33,000 have snapped up the West Brom man. Below those three, there’s a queue of players finding new homes; Dimitar Berbatov, Demba Ba, Olivier Giroud, Steven Fletcher and Robin Van Persie have all been subject to over 14,000 transfers in.
In terms of departures, Marouane Fellaini’s suspension has seen him shed over 87,000 owners, while over 44,000 have had quite enough of Fernando Torres. Chelsea pair Juan Mata and Eden Hazard have combined sales of 33,000, though it’s Yaya Toure who is second only to Fellaini for midfielders, with 27,000 selling on the Ivorian. Up top, Berbatov, Ba and Peter Crouch have all been sold by over 20,000 Fantasy managers as forward lines are reassembled.
At the back, it’s no surprise to see injured keepers Ben Foster and Michel Vorm continue to be moved along and Brede Hangeland’s three-match suspension has persuaded 29,000 to part company with the Fulham centre-half. Faith in a Chelsea rearguard that has failed to keep a clean sheet in seven continues to diminish, with Petr Cech, Branislav Ivanovic and Ashley Cole moved on by a combined 50,000 ahead of Sunday’s showdown with City.
