We’ve put together our Scout Picks ‘bus team’ for Gameweek 9 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL).
In this initial selection, we select a first draft of our regular picks. They will then be finalised and published much closer to next week’s deadline.
Plenty can change between now and then, with Scout Squad nominations and a whole host of international fixtures still to come.
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.
We are, as ever, limited by certain restrictions in our selections:
- An £83.0m budget for our starting XI
- An overall squad limit of £100.0m
- No more than three players per team
GAMEWEEK 9 FIXTURES
Above: The Gameweek 9 fixtures sorted by ‘difficulty’ on our Season Ticker
THE LIKELY LADS
Erling Haaland (£14.1m) and Mohamed Salah (£12.6m) are highly likely to make the Scout Picks XI.
Manchester City might be in a mini-slump, having lost three of their last four in all competitions, but a home tie against a Brighton and Hove Albion side without a clean sheet in 2023/24 has the potential to be a high-scoring affair.
Back on home turf with Rodri (£5.8m) available, Haaland is, of course, leading the charge.
As for Salah, he is the obvious route into a Liverpool attack that ranks second for expected goals (xG), especially given that Darwin Nunez (£7.4m) and Luis Diaz (£7.5m) might not be risked from the start after their late returns from South America, as per last time. The same goes for Man City’s Julian Alvarez (£7.0m).
Worryingly, the Merseyside derby is Saturday’s early kick-off, with Jurgen Klopp previously making no secret of his disdain at Liverpool playing in this slot after an international break.
Elsewhere, there will inevitably be representation from in-form Tottenham Hotspur.
For now, we’ve opted for Pedro Porro (£5.1m) and Son Heung-min (£9.4m), but those selections could change, with Destiny Udogie (£4.9m) and James Maddison (£8.0m) also pushing hard for inclusion.
IN CONTENTION
