Throughout the season, members of the Fantasy Football Scout Community are invited to take on the Scout Picks by pitting their chosen Gameweek XI against ours.
The Community Member who beats our picks by the biggest margin over the campaign receives a £100 Amazon Voucher and a place in our Moderators and Contributors League for 2025/26.
To take part, simply send an email to will@fantasyfootballscout.co.uk with the subject heading “Community Picks” giving your FFS username, FPL Team ID, and your availability for upcoming Gameweeks.
You’ll need to pick 11 players to challenge the Scout Picks in a one-off head-to-head match.
If chosen, you will have a budget of £83m to select 11 players (no subs) but outside of that standard FPL rules apply — you need to use a normal FPL formation with a limit of three players from a team.
And remember to pick a captain and a vice-captain.
Tactics
It’s tempting to think that Double Gameweeks (DGW) will give you the best chance of success, and while that seems logical, the winner in each of the last four seasons has come from a single Gameweek.
Perhaps that’s because in a DGW the pool of teams playing twice is often quite small, thereby limiting the number of viable differential picks in that round. Or perhaps it all just comes down to luck!
Past Scout Picks Winners
The manager who achieved the biggest winning margin this decade was AA33, who beat the Scout Picks by a whopping 53 points in Gameweek 2 of the 2020/21 campaign.
AA33 took advantage of early season uncertainty, when teams were still finding their feet, to record his mammoth win.
His tally of 96 points was second only to Jambot’s Double Gameweek 24 score of 100 points that year. But unlike Jambot, who shared five players with the Scout Picks, AA33 fielded an entirely different XI. The only time it happened all season.
While having a completely different side increased the possibility of a big win, AA33 still needed to choose the right players — and he did just that.
He hit four double-digit hauls to the editorial team’s one and gained a further 14 points from his captain Alexandre Lacazette.
His biggest return was Son Heung-min’s career-best 24 points away to Southampton.
Despite the pre-season hype surrounding Tottenham Hotspur, Jose Mourinho’s team put in a poor performance in Gameweek 1, losing 1-0 at home to Everton. So it was perhaps understandable that the South Korean was overlooked by the Scout Selectors of David, Neale, Tom and Andy.
And approaching half-time in the encounter at St Mary’s Stadium, with Ralph Hassenhuttl’s men 1-0 to the good, it appeared the Scouts had made the right decision — but all that was about to change.
Son scored in first-half stoppage time and then turned the game on its head with a second-half hat-trick as he repeatedly sprung the Saints’ offside trap.
Once in a Lifetime
AA33 also hit career-best returns from Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Emi Martinez.
The Everton number nine put three goals past a beleaguered West Bromwich Albion for a 17-point haul.
While Martinez saved a penalty and kept a clean sheet in Aston Villa’s opening match of 2020/21, a 1-0 win at home to Sheffield United. The Argentine has not surpassed his 13 points that day either before or since.
And if that wasn’t enough, Sadio Mane netted twice for a total of 16 points as Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-0, a score he bettered just three times across his eight seasons in FPL.
| Scout Picks | Points | Points | AA33 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meslier | 2 | 13 | Martínez |
| Digne | 1 | 0 | Tierney |
| Shaw | 1 | 1 | Ayling |
| Justin | 7 | 1 | Dallas |
| Aubameyang (c) | 10 | 16 | Mané |
| Fernandes | 2 | 2 | Rashford |
| James Rodriguez | 12 | 24 | Son |
| Harrison | 2 | 2 | Willian |
| Vardy | 2 | 14 | Lacazette (c) |
| Martial | 2 | 6 | Jesus |
| Wilson | 2 | 17 | Calvert-Lewin |
| TOTAL | 43 | 96 | TOTAL |
It wasn’t all plain sailing for AA33, however, as five of his picks blanked. But when you hit three career-best returns and a 16 pointer, it doesn’t matter very much.
Vice-captains to the Fore
Last season’s winner, The-Red-1 needed only two explosive differentials to record his 34-point winning margin.
He shared five players with the handsome and dashing editorial trio of Neale, Tom and Marc, and matched their captain choice of Erling Haaland.
However, the Norwegian unexpectedly missed City’s trip to Luton Town with a “stress on the bone“, meaning that vice-captains came into play.
The Scouts had opted for Darwin Nunez, who lived up to his troll reputation with a blank and four captain points. Meanwhile, the Community Champion selected Mohamed Salah, who scored a goal and gained a fortunate assist for 13 points, or 26 with the armband.
That’s basically where the tie was won and lost, but The-Red-1 cemented his victory thanks to that man again, Son Hueng-min. The Spurs talisman delivered 17 points courtesy of a goal, two assists and three bonus points in a 4-1 win over Newcastle United.
| Scout Picks | Points | Points | The-Red-1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flekken | 3 | 1 | Onana |
| Alexander-Arnold | 4 | 4 | Alexander-Arnold |
| Dunk | 2 | 2 | Dunk |
| Dawson | 2 | 2 | Pinnock |
| Foden | 2 | 2 | Walker |
| Gross | 7 | 7 | Gross |
| Hee Chan | 2 | 2 | Hee Chan |
| Bowen | 2 | 17 | Son |
| Ferguson | 2 | 1 | Mitoma |
| Darwin (vc) | 2 | 13 | Salah (vc) |
| Haaland (c) | 0 | 0 | Haaland (c) |
| TOTAL | 30 | 64 | TOTAL |
Winning on Aggregate
There’s another aspect to this competition, which is very important for the Scouts, and that’s the overall head-to-head score.
Last season the Scouts triumphed by 19.5 points to 17.5 over the Community, following up their 21-16 win the year before and 27-11 trouncing in 2021/22.
While you may argue, quite reasonably, that having to pick differentials inevitably makes your XI less optimal, for want of a better word, that’s not how the Scouts see it. They take great satisfaction in beating you.
And let’s face it, the Scouts are no easy opponents. Defeating them, no matter how small the winning margin, is an accomplishment to be proud of.
Have you got what it takes?
If you would like to represent the Community and think you can beat the Scout Picks, get in touch.
A reminder that to take part all you need to do is email will@fantasyfootballscout.co.uk with the subject heading “Community Picks” giving your FFS username, FPL Team ID, and your availability for upcoming Gameweeks.
After Gameweek 1 was rained off, the Scouts have taken a 2-0 lead this season. And having won the final four contests of last season, this extends their winning streak to six. Who can break that run?
