We’ve put together our Scout Picks ‘bus team’ ahead of Gameweek 35 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL).
In this early selection, we select a first draft of our regular picks before they are finalised and published much closer to Saturday’s deadline.
Plenty can change between now and then, with four more Double Gameweek 34 fixtures and a whole host of press conferences still to come this week.
But in the meantime, this ‘bus team’ article – a term coined by the duo behind the Always Cheating podcast – will discuss the players who are likely to be in the running.
As ever, we are limited by certain restrictions:
- An £83.0m budget for our starting XI
- An overall squad limit of £100.0m
- No more than three players per team
GAMEWEEK 35 FIXTURES
Times given in BST
THE LIKELY LADS
Manchester City host Leeds United on Saturday afternoon in a tasty-looking clash at the Etihad. The Whites conceded a whopping 23 goals across their seven April games, with Bournemouth, Liverpool, Crystal Palace and Arsenal all racking up big wins. That suggests a Man City attacking double-up is the way to go, but Pep Guardiola’s troops are in UEFA Champions League action against Real Madrid just over 72 hours later, so there is the very real potential for some minute management at the weekend.
Erling Haaland (£12.4m) is the stand-out pick, having converted his 50th goal of the campaign at Fulham on Sunday. For now, he’s joined by Riyad Mahrez (£7.3m), who could stand to benefit most domestically, with Bernardo Silva (£6.7m) preferred on the right wing in each of Man City’s last three UEFA Champions League knockout ties. However, a similar argument can be presented for Julian Alvarez (£6.0m), even more so if Kevin De Bruyne’s (£12.2m) ‘niggle’ continues to keep him out.
Defensive coverage is probably required, too. The security of an Ederson (£5.4m) start might be favoured by the Scout Squad pundits, but Ruben Dias (£6.0m) is also in the mix, against a Leeds side that have scored just once in each of their last three away trips.
There’ll inevitably be representation from Brighton and Hove Albion. Three names currently feature in our Scout Picks ‘bus team’: Jason Steele (£4.0m), Pervis Estupinan (£4.8m) and Kaoru Mitoma (£5.6m). Everton have struggled down the flanks of late, especially at right back, with Ben Godfrey’s(£4.3m) recent horror show against Joelinton (£6.0m) still fresh in our minds. Seamus Coleman (£4.2m) might be back in contention for this one, although it’s hard to look past Mitoma regardless, having been handed his ‘rest’ at the weekend. Solly March (£5.3m) and Alexis Mac Allister (£5.5m) are alternatives should we choose to look elsewhere.
IN CONTENTION
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