Scout Picks – Gameweek 1

After rolling out our Scout Picks Squad on Tuesday afternoon, it’s now time to reveal our selections for Gameweek 1 of the 2015/16 season. As the minutes tick down until tomorrow’s deadline, we place our faith in Bournemouth, Chelsea and Arsenal, in particular, to kick off the campaign in style. Here’s who we’ve gone for…

For the start of the season, the budget for the Scout Picks and Community XI is capped at 82.5m, though this will be increased as the campaign progresses.

At 4.5, Kasper Schmeichel looks excellent value for Leicester’s home encounter with Sunderland. Not only did the Foxes rack up five clean sheets in the final seven fixtures of 2014/15, their opponents scored a mere 15 goals on their travels last time out. The changes to the BPS scoring system, which rewards save points, should help the Dane’s prospects if Dick Advocaat’s side offer any threat.

Hector Bellerin is our Arsenal defender of choice for Sunday’s home encounter with West Ham. With the budget tight, we’ve gone for a short-term punt on the raiding right-back over pricier Watchlist candidate Laurent Koscielny as a route into a defence that conceded just a single goal over the summer.

Similarly, Cesar Azpilicueta edges out Branislav Ivanovic for the same reason. The Serbian remains our favoured Watchlist option but with a price difference of 6.0 to 7.0, we’re calling upon the Spaniard to bring in the defensive returns as the champions look to open their campaign with a clean sheet.

Simon Francis completes our three-man defence as Bournemouth prepare for their first ever Premier League fixture. Having chalked up a goal and six assists last year, Francis also produced more key passes than any defender in the Championship and, at a price of just 4.5, offers points potential at both ends of the pitch at home to Aston Villa.

We’ve decided to double up on Arsenal’s midfield options for the West Ham clash. Mesut Ozil has arguably been their star performer over the summer period and was second only to Alexis Sanchez for points per appearance (4.7) for Arsene Wenger’s side last season. Theo Walcott has now started each of the last three domestic matches up front (Gameweek 38, FA Cup Final, Community Shield) and, having racked up four goals and an assist over those fixtures, he seems likely to get the nod over Olivier Giroud once again.

Sadio Mane (8.0) is our preferred Southampton option for the trip to Newcastle. Yes, Graziano Pelle’s seven goals make a very convincing case but the Senegal international proved far more efficient in the top-flight last season. Mane bettered the Italian for goal conversion (18.3% to 9.8%) and minutes per goal (204.3 to 288.5) in 2014/15 and his pace could tear apart Steve McClaren’s patched-up defence on Sunday afternoon.

Eden Hazard has yet to find his top gear over the summer period but a home clash against Swansea cannot be overlooked. The Blues put nine goals past Garry Monk’s side last year and with question marks over Diego Costa’s hamstrings, the Belgian’s contribution will be vital if the champions are to kick off their title defence with a victory.

We’re doubling up on new boys Bournemouth by opting for playmaker Matt Ritchie. Coming in at 6.0, the Scot – who has set-piece duties and penalties, judging by pre-season – racked up 15 goals and 17 assists for the Cherries in the Championship and is set to face a Villa side that conceded more than two goals per match under Tim Sherwood last term.

With a five-man midfield, we’re handing Wayne Rooney one of our two spots up top for the visit of Spurs. The United skipper clearly likes his home comforts – 11 of last season’s 12 goals were scored at Old Trafford – and with a role up front secure once again, he’ll be looking to take advantage of an obliging defence that was breached 53 times last term.

Finally, we’ve gone for Christian Benteke to make an immediate impact on his top-flight debut for Liverpool. Brendan Rodgers will be desperate to avenge last season’s 6-1 Britannia mauling and, with Ryan Shawcross sidelined for a couple of months, we’re backing the Reds boss to unleash the Belgian from the off against Mark Hughes’ side.

On the bench, Phil Jagielka is perhaps a little unlucky not to make the final cut. The centre-half welcomes Watford to Goodison and is kinder on the budget (5.5) than the Toffees full-backs, whilst the BPS changes should also benefit his propensity for Clearances, Blocks and Interceptions.

Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez is likely to be fielded in “the hole” behind a front two for the visit of Sunderland. The Algerian flourished in that spot in the latter stages of 2014/15 and has quickly found his form under Claudio Ranieri, scoring twice over the summer friendlies.

Villa’s porous rearguard persuades us to draft in Callum Wilson as our budget forward. Having bagged 20 goals for the Cherries last term, his pace and movement could well prove the undoing of Tim Sherwood’s side tomorrow afternoon.

The Community Champion

As explained at the start of the week, we’ve changed the selection process for the Community Champion.

Having scrapped the weekly vote idea from last season, we now operate a lottery system to pick our weekly candidates. The community member who beats our picks by the biggest margin over the campaign will win a £100 Amazon Voucher and a place in our Contributors and Moderators League for the following season.

This week’s champion is site regular Fuzzy Warbles, whose XI comprises eight of the same players as our Scout Picks.

Community XI: Schmeichel, Azpilicueta, Bellerin, Huth, Hazard, Walcott, Fabregas, Mane, Mahrez, Rooney, Benteke.

Essentially, then, it boils down to a face-off between Robert Huth, Cesc Fabregas and Riyad Mahrez against Simon Francis, Matt Ritchie and Mesut Ozil.