Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 38

Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 38 – FPL Premier League

As Roy Orbison once sang, ‘it’s over, it’s over, it’s over’…ok so it’s not over just yet but you know what we mean! It’s hard to believe that 37 game-weeks have passed since we innocently set out on our seasons FPL journey, a season that has brought both highs & lows with the most recent low being DGW37 but we’ll leave that in the past and instead we’ll try and concentrate on GW38. Aside from City & Liverpool, the remaining teams have nothing to play for which means it is difficult to predict who will start, let alone perform well, however we will endeavour to point you in the right direction! We have decided not to include any goalkeepers in this week’s article as we don’t believe that many of you will consider spending a transfer on a keeper this week. So for once last time this season, here are this week’s tips.

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Defenders
On the final day of last season 36 goals were scored and there were just four clean sheets so we’re not even going to try and predict who might keep clean sheets, instead we’re going to focus on the defenders who might find their way onto the score sheet and first up is the Everton pair Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman. Baines has at times been overshadowed by Coleman this season but he has still managed to weigh in with five goals and five assists, while Coleman has certainly established himself as one of the finest attacking full backs in the Premier League and has picked up six goals and two assists. Recent form would suggest that Baines is a better bet, as in his last four games he has a goal & two assists while Coleman has just a solitary assist in his last nine, although if money is a factor Coleman is £0.8m cheaper. Everton face a Hull team who have taken just a point from their last four games and are clearly looking forward to their jaunt to Wembley next weekend, so while Everton have nothing to play for don’t be too surprised should they knock a few past Hull and they might even keep a clean sheet, but don’t bet on it!

If any team can keep a clean sheet this weekend it’s Chelsea, after all they did manage to hold Norwich scoreless last weekend! If Chelsea had a decent goal scorer they would have wrapped the league up weeks ago particularly when you consider that they have kept 14 clean sheets in their last 21 games. Ok, that’s enough talk about clean sheets, we’re supposed to be talking about goal scoring defenders and that means John ‘The Pikey’ Terry and Gary Cahill both of whom have chipped in with three goals, Cahill has also managed two assists. Chelsea face Cardiff this weekend and the Welsh club have not excelled in the art of defending this season so don’t be surprised if either Terry or Cahill manage to find the back of the net once more. If for some reason you fancy taking a gamble at the back you could consider Ashley Cole who has started the last two league matches and should he start this one he’ll be keen to show Roy Hodgson that there’s still some life left in the old dog!

When it comes to goal scoring defenders Liverpool’s Martin Skrtel leads the way with seven, it’s just a shame his defending has left a lot be desired at times throughout the season! While it’s highly unlikely that Liverpool will lift the league title on Sunday they have to hold out some hope that West Ham will do them a favour (look out your window right now and you’ll see the 3 little pigs flying by!) and if this happens they will need to win themselves. Liverpool face a Newcastle side who have been working on their tans since March and have conceded 17 goals in their last 8 games so there’s every chance that Skrtel could once more work his magic from a set piece. Newcastle have only scored five times in their last eight games so Skrtel might even pick up a clean sheet, although yet again the 3 little pigs spring to mind!

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Midfielders
If there are any managers out there who sold Yaya Toure when he got injured in GW34 and have not yet brought the Ivorian back into their squad do yourself a favour and get him for the final game-week! Since his return to the squad he has picked up two goals & three assists in three games and in all honesty he has driven City to the title. City will go into the final day of the season knowing that in all likelihood they will need to win and with Yaya at the wheel we fancy them to comfortably beat a West Ham team whom they have already scored 12 against in 3 games this season and Toure is likely to once more be amongst the goals.

Unfortunately all non-Liverpool fans will remember only one incident relating to Steven Gerrard this season and that will of course be that unfortunate slip against Chelsea! However it shouldn’t be forgotten that he has been one of the driving forces behind Liverpool’s excellent season and this has seen him claim 13 goals as well as 13 assists and we wouldn’t be at all surprised if Liverpool’s captain adds to those impressive stats on the final day of the season. At £9.6m Gerrard might be a little expensive for some and if this is the case you could turn your attentions to Raheem Sterling who has scored three & claimed two assists in his last four games and is available for just £6.2m.

Eden Hazard was clearly at fault for at least one if not two of the goals which Chelsea conceded to Atletico in the 2^nd leg of their Champions League semi-final and in the aftermath of that game a sort of war of words broke out between Hazard & Mourinho and this resulted in the Belgian being benched for the visit of Norwich last weekend. Granted, Jose probably has a point in that Hazard does not sacrifice himself for the team but one thing is certain, he is without doubt the team’s most creative player, scoring 14 and creating another 10 out of a club tally of 69 goals. Now obviously we cannot predict what Jose will do this weekend but he will surely want to finish the season on a high and for that reason we believe Hazard will start. If he does start he will be up against a demoralised Cardiff who boast the 2^nd worst defence in the league and he really could have a field day. Should Hazard be priced out of your reach you could always look to Willian who has featured in Chelsea’s last five league games, scoring two and creating another in this period and represents an excellent differential as he features in just 0.6% of teams.

With four wins from their last five home games only Manchester City have a better home form record than Spurs. Christian Eriksen has only appeared in the last four of these games at White Harte Lane but in these four games he has plundered three goals and five assists and with Spurs set to host Villa, whose recent form has been shocking, on the final day of the season we’re once more tipping the Dane to shine. Spurs have scored 15 goals in their last 8 games with Eriksen having a hand in 60% of those (4 goals & 5 assists) so you can see just how key the youngster is to Spurs’ attacking play.

For those of you who are trying to free up some cash and take a gamble at the same time you could always consider Crystal Palace’s Yannick Bolasie or Stoke’s Marko Arnautovic. Bolasie has gone largely unnoticed for the vast majority of the season but has actually picked up three assists in his last five games and anyone who saw the Liverpool game on Monday night will have seen him give them a torrid time as their season crumbled and with Palace travelling to an already relegated Fulham, we fancy the Frenchman to once more put his pace & trickery to good use. Arnautovic was named Stoke’s young player of the season on Monday night although this is hardly surprising given the fact that the Austrian has picked up four goals and nine assists in his debut season for the club. The youngster has flourished as the season has drawn to a conclusion, scoring three & creating four in the last eight games and represents excellent value for money at £5.1m. It’s worth noting that both of these players currently feature in less than 1% of teams.

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Forwards
Who would have imagined that Edin Dzeko would fire City to the title, but with five goals in the last three games it would appear as though that is exactly what he has done! City go into their game on Sunday against West Ham knowing that three points will definitely see them crowned champions and let’s face it the Hammers are unlikely to put up much of a fight and we quite fancy City to win it in style. The Bosnian’s ownership levels have risen significantly in recent weeks and he now features in 17% of teams but is great value for money at just £7.4m. While the odds on Liverpool now winning the title are about as long as David Moyes winning manager of the season, they know that they must beat Newcastle on Sunday to keep alive those faint hopes, so as we have done on many occasions this season we are once more tipping their deadly duo of Luis Suarez & Daniel Sturridge. Sturridge hasn’t been firing on all cylinders of late and as a result his ownership levels have dropped to just below 23% so while he isn’t a differential you would have to assume the majority of serious FPL players have dropped him, so should he fire against Newcastle he could potentially fire you to glory!

Much to the frustration of many fantasy managers Ryan Giggs decided to give youth a chance against Hull on Tuesday night with young James Wilson grabbing the headlines as he scored twice on his debut. Now despite his promising debut we’re not tipping the youngster, instead we’re going with his more illustrious colleague, Robin van Persie. The Dutchman has had an injury ravaged season with Giggsy introducing him from the bench in the last two games, but despite these injuries he has still managed 12 goals. With Wayne Rooney under the weather we suspect that Giggs will start with van Persie against Southampton on Sunday and we wouldn’t bet against him finishing the season with a brace, just as he started it.

A number of mid-priced forwards who we fancy could do well on Sunday are Southampton’s Rickie Lambert, Everton’s Romelu Lukaku and Newcastle’s Loic Remy. With four goals & four assists in his last eight games Lambert is enjoying a decent end to the season and with Roy Hodgson due to announce his provisional World Cup squad next week we quite fancy Lambert to give the gaffer one final reminder! Last season Lukaku scored a hat-trick on the final day of the season to bring his final tally to 17, this season the Belgian yet again goes into the final day of the season on 14 goals! He couldn’t, could he? While we’re not tipping him to score a hat-trick this time around we do fancy him to score against a Hull team who are likely to rest their most important players ahead of the FA Cup final. Newcastle have only managed five goals in their last eight games so it might come as somewhat of a surprise to see us tipping Loic Remy! They travel to face a Liverpool team this weekend who will either be gunning for goals or suffering from a hangover following Monday nights collapse at Selhurst Park. Whichever Liverpool it is, we reckon they will leave gaps at the back (why stop now?!!) which Remy could possibly exploit and with the Frenchman keen to secure a move to a big club next season he will want to finish the season off in style.

We’ll leave you this season with a couple of punts and they are Dwight Gayle of Crystal Palace and Stoke’s Peter Odemwingie. Gayle came off the bench to devastating effect on Monday night as he turned Liverpool’s dreams into nightmares with two goals and we wouldn’t be at all surprised should this cameo earn him a start against Fulham on Sunday. Stoke have been quite impressive of late and sit 3^rd in the current form table and it wouldn’t be the biggest shock should they knock a few goals past West Brom on Sunday.

Thank for reading Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 38. This article was written by Kop