FPL pre-season lessons: Ings scores twice for Southampton

The Scout is highlighting the form players in Fantasy Premier League and making key tactical observations during pre-season. 

Red-hot Southampton

Danny Ings (£8.5m) has wasted no time in finding the form that saw him finish joint-second for the Golden Boot last season.

The Southampton forward scored twice and also supplied an assist in a 7-1 win over Swansea City.

Ings also appears to be sharing penalty duties with James Ward-Prowse (£6.0m) for the Saints.

Indeed, both players scored the first of their two goals from the spot.

Despite a rise in cost of £2.5m from the start of 2019/20, Ings is the third most-popular forward in FPL, sitting in 25.9 per cent of squads.

And his early run of opponents looks very encouraging.

Southampton face only two of last season's top nine sides in the opening eight Gameweeks. According to the Fixture Difficulty Ratings (FDR), five of those matches score only two. 

Left-back Ryan Bertrand (£5.0m) and winger Nathan Redmond (£6.5m) offer further options at both ends of the pitch.

They each scored once and supplied two assists against the Swans.

In-form budget picks

Elsewhere, Tomas Soucek (£5.0m) continues to catch the eye as a cut-price midfielder.

The 25-year-old scored for the second successive match in West Ham United's 2-1 win over Brentford.

Andy Carroll (£5.5m) and Wilfried Zaha (£7.0m) have also netted in back-to-back friendlies.

Carroll appears likely to start the season up front for Newcastle United, with strike rival Dwight Gayle (£6.0m) a major doubt due to an ankle injury.

See: Newcastle 2-1 Barnsley - match highlights

Meanwhile, Zaha's Crystal Palace team-mate Jordan Ayew (£6.0m) also impressed at the weekend, scoring twice in a 3-0 win over Charlton Athletic.

See: Crystal Palace 3-0 Charlton - match highlights

Don't get caught out. GW1 deadline: 11:00 BST on 12 September. Register your team now at fantasy.premierleague.com.