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Fantasy football scout tips gameweek 5: Ben Davies, Gabriel Jesus, Jamie Vardy, Phil Jones and Matt Ritchie

How many of this week's scout picks are in your team?

Mark Critchley
Friday 15 September 2017 10:57 BST
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The fantasy football season is in full swing and last weekend, managers were rewarded with a return to form from one of their favourite options.

Harry Kane, the official game’s most expensive player, rewarded the patience by finally breaking his duck for the season with a brace at Everton.

It was, however, another Tottenham player who especially caught our eye, with a performance that makes him this weekend’s outstanding pick.

Kane and Manchester United's Romelu Lukaku look like excellent options again too, but seeing as they are more likely to be in your team than not, we will put them to one side.

Ben Davies

It was not a stellar weekend for our scout tips last time out, but we did manage to identify the pick of the week in Tottenham’s Ben Davies.

The full-back has more points than any other player in the game after his clean sheet and two assists while away to Everton.

This weekend, he faces his former club and another shot-shy side in Swansea City. Defensive and attacking returns look likely, so he is still a steal at £5.7m.

Rob Elliot

In many teams from the start of the season, Rob Elliot was picked as one to watch at a starting price of £4.0m if he could hold down his starting place at Newcastle United.

Not only has he done that, he’s started picking up clean sheets too, and cheap, reliable goalkeepers allow managers to spread their funds around the rest of the side.

Elliot’s risen to £4.1m after shutting out West Ham United and Swansea, but that should not deter potential buyers ahead of a favourable home fixture with Stoke City this weekend.

Jamie Vardy

He is not putting up 2015/16 numbers just yet, but Jamie Vardy should not be allowed to slip under your radar.

At £8.5m, he is arguably Roberto Firmino’s only competition for the third striker slot and, after a challenging run of fixtures, things ease up for Leicester City over the coming weeks.

His opponents this weekend, Huddersfield Town, may have had their early resolve broken by Monday’s defeat at the London Stadium and Vardy should punish them if so.

Gabriel Jesus

If anyone is threatening to break the Kane-Lukaku axis, it is Gabriel Jesus.

The Manchester City striker £1.3m cheaper and just two points worse off than the latter, despite arguably having a tougher run of fixtures.

Those fixtures ease up considerably over the coming weeks, starting with a trip to Marco Silva’s Watford this weekend.

One thing to watch out for is his number of minutes, though. Pep Guardiola is fond of rotation and has substituted Jesus in each of his four appearances so far.

Phil Jones

Selected by just 6.7 per cent of managers and priced at just £5.1m, Phil Jones deserves more attention than he is currently receiving.

Jones looks nailed on as one of Jose Mourinho’s first-choice centre-halves so long as he can stay injury-free and he offers a cheap route into a solid backline.

With a poor Everton side at Old Trafford this weekend, prospects of a clean sheet look good.

Matt Ritchie

Another Newcastle player and one that is being unfairly overlooked as a good, mid-price midfield option.

Ritchie has two assists in his last two, enough to justify the £5.9m outlay, and is Rafael Benitez’s man on corners, free-kicks and penalties.

His disciplinary record is slightly worrying, with three yellow cards already this season, but those looking for cheaper options in the middle of the park could do much worse than the former Bournemouth winger.

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