Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 36
Welcome to Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 36. As the last of this season’s Double Game-weeks exits stage left, I am tasked with helping you survey which players you should prioritise in the final three game-weeks of the season. Much like the title race, a lot of your mini-leagues will be going down to the wire so it’s important that you use your transfers wisely as they may ultimately define the relative success or failure of your season. No pressure then.
No doubt you all have a few players who just a few short weeks ago seemed to make perfect sense, but now have you questioning your own sanity (the jury is still out on treble Brighton), hey, don’t sweat it, I got your back. Some of my suggestions are fairly obvious (treble Liverpool anyone?) and the rest are here on the basis of good form, good fixtures or a mixture of both. We’re in the end game now, let’s do this.
Goalkeepers
If money is tight, fear not, because not only is my first tip Vicente Guaita the most inform keeper, he’s also cheap as chips (£4.2m). Whilst his mate Wayne is off learning about Adolf, Guaita has made the Palace number one jersey his own. They’ve had a few tricky fixtures of late, but sandwiched between the defeats to Spurs and Manchester City, Guaita picked up 9 and 10 points respectively in the fixtures at home to Huddersfield and away to Newcastle. In the last four matches, no keeper has had to make more saves (22) and this helped contribute to his points tally with 5 save and 5 bonus points. To further add to Guaitas appeal, a quick look at the fixtures will show you that arguably no team has a better run to see out the season; Everton (H), Cardiff (A), Bournemouth (H).
If you look solely at clean sheets then the most inform keeper is not surprisingly Manchester City’s Ederson (£5.6m) with 8 in his last 10 fixtures. Anyone who went into DGW35 with City defensive cover would have hoped for the best but prepared for the worst given the opposition, in the end, it was another 2 clean sheets with Ederson imperious. With their focus now solely on the league title, it wouldn’t be all that surprising if they reigned in their often cavalier attack, battened down the hatches and ground out a few more results like the 1-0 victory over Spurs at the weekend. Ederson has just one less clean sheet (18) than the top scoring keeper in the game Alisson (19), but with Liverpool defenders a more alluring prospect it’s the city man who would be my go-to guy if money is in abundance.
Defenders
The fact that most of us kept at least one Liverpool defensive asset through the doubles is a testament to how much things have changed in the Liverpool backline this season. AT picked Trent Alexander-Arnold in his GW35 tips article so I’ll go for his team-mates Andrew Robertson (£6.8m) and Virgil van Dijk (£6.6m) just to keep things fresh. As AT pointed out last week, both Robertson and Van Diijk have outscored every defender in the game by some distance, indeed, both have in fact outscored every forward in the game, and only four players in the game (Sterling, Hazard, Salah and Mane) have more points on the board than the Red’s defensive duo. Impressive stuff. This week Huddersfield visit Anfield and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see more than one Liverpool defender ending the match with a double-digit haul. If you don’t have one get one, and if you have one why not get two. You know it makes sense.
The top scoring defenders this season not surprisingly are comprised of players from Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City, but it’s the man down in 8th spot who is my next pick. Patrick Van Aanholt (£5.5) featured in a lot of early season teams thanks to his 18pts in the closing game of the previous season, but the value of team mate Aaron Wan Bissaka seen both his appeal and ownership regress. Heading into the final 3 weeks of the season a lot of us have now removed Wan-Bissaka, but given the favourable fixtures mentioned (see Vicente Guaita above) then a punt on the more attack-minded Van Aanholt could be a smart move. Whilst he did start GW35 on the bench with ‘Woy’ favouring the more defensive Joel Ward, I’d expect him to return to the fold in GW36 where he’ll be keen to end this campaign as he did the last.
The inclusion of Lucas Digne (£5.3m) will not come as much of a surprise following his fourth double-digit return of the season against an out of sorts Manchester United in GW35. However, his inclusion is not based solely on those 14pts. Everton have seen something of a resurgence in recent weeks, and Digne has picked up 6 clean-sheets in his last 8 which include shut outs against Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and now ‘United’. Everton finish the season with a tricky trip away to Spurs but with Palace (A) and Burnley (H) in his next 2, the Spaniard could be an easy to reach alternative to all those Brighton defenders stinking out our backlines.
Midfielders
Another player to make the cut thanks in no small part to his GW35 performance is Digne’s teammate Gylfi Sigurðsson(£7.3m). A goal, assist and maximum bonus at home to the Red Devils, meant it was a tidy 14pts for Sigurðsson; his 6th double-digit haul of the campaign. Only Christian Eriksen has created more chances than Sigurðsson’s 15 in the last 4, and only 5 players have more goal attempts (11) in the same period. With a paltry 6.5% ownership, Siggy is the ideal type of player for those looking for a differential that could push them to ML glory.
By the end of this article, it will be apparent that Crystal Palace players make up the spine of this offering thanks largely to their favourable fixtures. Next up is a player I’ve somehow never owned either this season or last, but with the introduction of VAR, I can pretty much guarantee he will be a permanent fixture come 2019/20*. Since joining Crystal Palace in 2017, Luka Milivojevic (£6.4m) has taken 20 penalties and only missed twice. You can’t predict when a team will be given a penalty, but given that the Eagles have been awarded more than any other Premier League side over the last two seasons, then it’s safe to assume the trend will continue. *Providing of course that Wilfred Zaha is still a Palace player come next season.
With a home fixture against relegated bottom of the table Huddersfield it’s a given that Liverpool players are a must this week. Many of you will be doubling up with both Mo Salah (£13.2) and Sadio Mane (£10.0) and I wouldn’t argue with either. I’ll not waste your time or mine getting into the why (surely it’s pretty obvious), all I will say is that there will be a lot of people entrusting their Triple Captain on one of these players, so make sure you have at least one of them, preferably both.
Those who kept the faith in Gerard Deulofeu (£5.6m ) into DGW35 were rewarded with a brace and 16pts at home to Huddersfield in ‘Part 1’ of DGW35. Given his recent injury problems he could be overlooked, but with home games against Wolves and West Ham in his final three fixtures, ‘Gerry D’ may be a shrewd move for those wanting to freshen up their post DGW wildcard.
Forwards
Wilfred Zaha (£6.8m) makes up my Eagles quartet this week, partly because ‘Eagles Quartet’ sounds like a cool band, but mainly (once again) it’s all about those fixtures I keep banging on about. His goal against Arsenal in GW35 may have been his first in five matches, but his 31 penalty box touches (top for forwards) in his last four suggest that if he masters the art of staying on his feet he could add to his 9 goals and 8 assists before the season draws to a close.
I’m always reluctant to tip Newcastle players (Just ask Init about Florian Lejeune) but Ayoze Pérez (£6.1m) is here on merit thanks to 6 goals and an assist in his last 6, topped and tailed with 16pts at home to Everton (GW30) and 17pts at home to Southampton (GW35). Pérez has always been something of an enigma. He’s clearly talented but over the five seasons I’ve watched him at St James’ he at times appeared half-hearted at best and downright lazy at worst. Whilst the fixtures are mixed (Brighton (A), Liverpool (H), Fulham (A)) much like the end of last season, Ayoze seems to be ‘up for it’.
The eternal question of form vs fixture hangs over my final pick. Any player who faces Arsenal (H), Man City (A) and Chelsea (H) in their next three fixtures would usually get a swerve. However, the form of Jamie Vardy (£9.0m) simply can’t be ignored. He scored again at the weekend, his 9th in his last 10 and for the 5th time this season he also took the maximum bonus, no mean feat; just ask Mo Salah.
Ok guys and gals, that’s it for me for this season (on writing duty at least) so for the final time, I wish you all good luck this coming game-week and hope you are bestowed with arrows of green.
Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 36. This article was written by Rosco.
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has the pool presser been done yet? Everybody fit? If so I’ll get Salah and Mane.
Yes Raz, everyone is fine, all the main ones anyway, Salah is back from his jaunt and he said rotation was unlikely;
“I will not push that wrong mindset with a fresh line-up or whatever, no chance for that. We had enough time to recover from the last game, we have enough time to recover for the next game. Barcelona has nothing to do with the game on Friday.”
Sweet. Yeah, I’ll just do it all today. Tomorrow I”ll be at the eye clinic they will be stuffing my eyes with needles and I’ll be looking hazy for the rest of the day. Harharhar.
I’d do it then. Once had a rival who didn’t do a transfer or change his team one week as he’d gone in for laser eye surgery and mistakenly thought he’d be able to see clearly immediately afterwards! True story. And he’s a Dr so you’d have thought he may have known better.
Evening all thoughts here. I feel I kind of need Mane or maybe Firmino. I quite like option G as it allows me to keep Jimenez. I’m not sure Llorente will start two games in a week. Means I will be rotating on the last position
A) DCL and Mane in for Eriksen and Jimenez (-4)
B) Mane in for Sterling
C) Rondon and Mane in for Eriksen and Jimenez (-4)
D) Firmino and Hoilett in for Llorente and Eriksen (-4)
E) Mane and two cheap bench fodders who won’t play for Eriksen, Hojberg and Kiko (-8)
F) Save or anything else
G) Mane and Quaner in for Llorente and Eriksen (-4)
DCL? Ummm option zero.
i like option g smash
If it helps, I did Sterling and KdB to Salah and Mane.
Which one you captaining Raz
I would also like to know. I have no idea at the moment.
Yes I think G does the least damage. Shame about the -4 as that can hurt a lot at this stage, but Mane should help cover that over the next 3 weeks.
The other idea, which I think I’ve suggested already, involved dropping Laporte. But he’s pretty much undroppable.
Yeah that was the original plan. Drop Laporte down to Shaw or Kolasniac on wildcard but not sure I can do that now.
I would go with C but the -4pts makes me hesitant. Do you need to take a risk in your ML? If so go for it!
My rival will certainly captain Mane so I need to cover that really
Probably worth the -4pts then.
Oh well went with G
You TCing Mane or Salah?
So by the sounds of it KDB needs to go but who comes in? I was thinking one of the Silvas or Siggy? Also, I’d quite like to start Long but I don’t know who he comes in for?
Cheers!
Players I’d consider would be Pogba; Babel; one of the Silvas; Eriksen.
Babel is a nice sentimental shout. Bilva I’m worried about game time but I think he looks good for the rest of the season? Eriksen I fear might start getting rotated if the results go Spurs’ way this weekend? Or am I overthinking it.
Babel, all jokes aside, is in really good form and Cardiff loom for Fulham. Fulham seem quite liberated, as if getting into a groove that will I hope see them promoted straight away.
But in terms of nailedness then Pogba, who I’m hoping will do something in the final two games, if not before, may be the best bet. I know Man U are unravelling. But even so, not bad fixtures.
And in fact I’m currently debating Pogba or Eriksen out for Mane.
For what it’s worth I’d probably ditch Eriksen for Mane.
Bernardo probably and I’d start Long over Llorente who may be rested for midweek, bearing in mind he’s their last forward standing for that one.
BSilva for me. I don’t think Llorente or Long start this week though. I think Ings comes back in and Llorente will be needed for champs league
Don’t think it’s worth a hit to change, reckon one will get at least some game time.
Evening all
Finished on 109 which has put me 16 points behind 1st place in my main ML!
What do you think to the following moves this week:
Sterling, KDB & laca out with mane, salah and Wilson coming in for a -8. I will TC either mane or salah, I will bring back in sterling next GW.
Rivals below:
16 points behind 1st place – no mane or salah
6 points behind 2nd place – owns salah
3 points behind 3rd place – no mane or salah but owns firmino
Only 1st place owns sterling!
Thoughts?
Captain mane! No one above you has him so if he plays well you’ll have a huge jump. To near the end for you to go safe with Salah.
Me on the other hand is on top, I’ll be going safe with Salah
May as well go for it. Don’t forget they will also likely bring in one or both also though. Any TC’s left for them?
Yeah, I’d go for it
1st has TC & BB left over – he has 2 FTs but hasn’t made any moves yet, he will struggle to get in salah unless he does sterling.
2nd has TC – he has 1 FT and 0.4 so if he wants Mané he’s taking a hit. (Probably more worried about him plus he’s winding me up with texts
)
3rd has no chips – he’s done his FT and I think he’s gone hazard to mane.
I have reset to triple pool taa, Salah and Bobby.
With Barca coming up I wonder how their team against Newcastle will shape up… it’s been moved to Saturday night now.
I’d imagine they just keep going with the strongest possible available now, especially after what Klopp said today. Only one out of the usuals that I’ve the smallest murmur about for tomorrow is TAA due to a minor back complaint but it was nothing concrete at all.
Evening everyone. It’s all about rank for me now. Which of these moves looks best?
1) Eriksen & Rashford to Moura & Firmino
2) Sterling & Eriksen to Salah & Bilva
3) Trippier to TAA and roll the other FT
4) Some other genius that I’m not seeing
Got 2 FT and 0.1 ITB.
Thanks.
I’m sure I answered this question last night, unless I’m starting to hallucinate.
So I’ll refer the right honourable member to the answer I gave then.
You did my friend. I was just fishing for some other opinions. Can’t seem to settle on anything I’m happy with.
I like the Mitro punt, but don’t think I’m bold/stupid enough to lose Kun.
I’m surprised I didn’t suggest a Liverpool defender for Trippier.
But I do have it hot for Mitrovic and Babel, not that either stand any chance of making my own side.
You did, sir. Hence option 3 😉
Who does Eriksen become if Sterling becomes Salah? Sterling could then come back next week.
I would have 7.6, so Bilva would seem the obvious choice?
I’d be sorely tempted with that then. And I just saw it was option 2 already
Definitely 3 if you ask me (and you just did)!
Or come to think of it (just saw you have 2FTs, thought the other moves were for a hit) option 2 could work, or even can you do Rashford to Firmino via downgrading Trippier? Might as well sell Trippier to fodder, could play one of the Brighton lads easily this week…
Cheers Zed. That might be the final encouragement I need to push the button. If I do Rashford to Firmino then ditching Trippier leaves 4.2. I know their form is off, but United’s last two fixtures are tempting me to keep hold of Rashford. I also will be playing TC this week, so getting in Salah is very appealing.
If you want to TC Salah then yeah go for 2… Rashford could do something in the last two games agreed. The only thing that would concern me is losing Sterling could be harmful at this stage with no CL and all, and Eriksen’s been in a bit of a form, but you can’t have them all…