Fixtures Game-week 37 – Double Delight – FPL Fantasy Football Premier League

Roll up, roll up its another double delight this week as six teams play twice to entice you to fill your boots for one final push for glory ahead of the seasons climax next week. Whether you are leading that all important mini-league or indeed chasing down an opponent, this week offers up a massive opportunity to make a difference and you are in the right place as we will tell you exactly who plays twice this week, whether we think they are worth the investment, a look at how you can best utilise some forward thinking to set yourself up for next week and a different slant on taking hits when it’s a double game-week all in one fell swoop! Let’s get to Double Delight GW37…

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Ok so it’s getting smaller and smaller but here are the two remaining weeks of the season in all their glory highlighting who has a double, who has it tough and who has it easy, on paper….

Green are those we feel have favourable fixtures…

Red are those we feel have less than favourable fixtures…

Yellow are those that we are understandably sitting on the fence for…

Blue are the magic 6 who have a DGW37…

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In terms of those that do not have a double in GW37 there are a few stand outs here – 

The Good –

Arsenal. The Gunners look all set to confirm their 17th straight season in the Champions League. Whilst this is some achievement they have been ridiculed by many, including their own own fans, for Arsene’s claim that 4th place is a trophy in itself. Well whatever he thinks they’ve won – congratulations because you’ve won it again more or less! To secure the ‘trophy’ they have a couple of great fixtures coming up, namely West Brom at home and Norwich away. Arsenal are traditionally strong at home so despite West Brom fighting for their lives we would expect this one will be beyond them and Arsenal will be too strong for them. It shouldn’t be a goal fest by any means but should still be comfortable enough for the home side. Norwich slumped at Old Trafford and come GW38 unless they get a result at Chelsea which is unlikely then they could well see themselves relegated in this one. Again, like West Brom, Norwich will be fighting for their lives here but again, like West Brom, will probably go out with a whimper as Arsenal’s class and superiority should be enough to send the Canaries down to the Championship.

Chelsea. Ignore what Jose says about their title hopes being over. He knows it is out of their hands but he also knows that if they look after their own business and win the remaining two games then you just never know… It would almost certainly be a travesty given the brand of football they have played this season but it would also be so like Jose to pull off the improbable. Like Arsenal, Chelsea end the season against two relegation candidates and should have enough to see them both off. It’s Norwich at home first in GW37 followed by Cardiff in GW38. They should beat Norwich easily enough and come GW38, Cardiff may already be relegated or fighting for their Premier League status. The fact that Chelsea could be looking ahead to a  Champions League final by then also may play merry hell with their line-up but this weekend taught us that Jose knows how to juggle the two.

Liverpool. Like Chelsea, Liverpool have to win their remaining two games now and hope that Man City slip up somewhere along the way (sorry Stevie, couldn’t resist!). The fact that City go to Everton this week will be a strange one for all Scousers and Norwegians alike as the whole province will be cheering on Everton we imagine. Liverpool do have to still take care of Palace in GW37 and Newcastle in GW 38 though to stand a chance. We expect they will although the Palace one will be the trickier of the two. Newcastle at home on the final day though is about as much as a certainty as they could have hoped for.

The bad and the ugly all in one –

Norwich. Has an interim manager ever been dealt a worse hand of cards to try and keep a team up? We doubt it. Having been trounced 4-0 at Old Trafford in a game they were never going to win given the circumstances, Mr Adams has the unenviable task of trying to keep the club in the league by visiting Chelsea and then hosting Arsenal. Stranger things have happened but we expect two defeats and possibly relegation as a result. From a fantasy perspective stay away. From a reality perspective, stay away also as it may be doom and gloom in the city of Norwich.

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GW37 Double Delights

The other standout’s are of course those six teams in blue who have a DGW37 to contend with. Let’s talk through their merits or otherwise over the two game-weeks that remain –

Aston Villa – GW37 Hull (h), Man City (a), GW38 Spurs (a)

A 4-1 trouncing at Swansea will not have endeared Villa to any fantasy managers that were looking to them for any kind of ‘cheaper’ investment for the double and rightly so. Hull at home in the first one may be the only hope as Hull have more or less secured their place in the league next season and will have one eye firmly on the FA Cup final. The second game is Man City away so you can write that one off we imagine. This is basically a single week for Villa with a thrashing at City added on for good measure.

Hull GW37 – Villa (a), Man Utd (a),  GW38 Everton (h)

Hull’s snatched point away to Fulham has pretty much seen them safe and with the cup final looming we expect they may well take their foot off the gas. Villa away could go either way but certainly Man Utd away will be difficult given all the circumstances and so again, like Villa, we would recommend caution with Hull players. If you have them already then fine but don’t buy them expecting much, as you won’t get much.

Man City – GW37 Everton (a), Aston Villa (h), GW38 West Ham (h)

City just have to win their final three games and they are Champions. Simple as that. Or is it? The fact is that they have only actually won three of their last six PL games so it may not be as straight forward as it seems. The first of the double games may well be the decisive one. We would fully expect them to beat both Villa and West Ham at home but Everton away may be Liverpool or indeed Chelsea’s only remaining hope. The fact that Gareth Barry is ineligible is ironic at the least as he has been a lynchpin for Everton this season and will only help City’s cause further. Everton are strong at home traditionally but look to be tiring as of late despite that victory against Utd.

Man Utd – GW37  Sunderland (h), Hull (h), GW38 Southampton (a)

The Giggs reign got off to a flier with a 4-0 thumping of Norwich and many fantasy managers would have been delighted to see the goals split equally between Rooney and Mata despite the latter causing a few headaches for a while by starting on the bench. Utd probably have the kindest of all of of the DGW schedules with two games against teams below them in the league. Neither will be straightforward but we expect they should win both games. Southampton away on the final day is probably their most difficult fixture remaining.

Sunderland GW37 Man Utd (a), West Brom (h), GW38 Swansea (h)

The Great Escape is well and truly on now. They thrashed fellow strugglers Cardiff last time out but will still need a victory or two to secure their safety we imagine. The trip to Man Utd is on paper a tough one but with positive results against both Chelsea and City on the road recently in the bag they will be confident that they can pull off something similar at Old Trafford. Beyond that they have two games to secure their fate which is all they could have asked for really. Both West Brom and Swansea are inconsistent to say the least so Sunderland should be able to pull this one off but it will be nervy.

West Brom  GW37 Arsenal (a), Sunderland (a), GW38 Stoke (h)

West Brom will probably still be with us next season now barring some sort of catastrophe. They are four points ahead of the relegation zone but given the fixtures of Norwich and the form of Cardiff, perhaps only Fulham could still drag them back into the mire but they have a game in hand to ensure this doesn’t happen. Their double is Arsenal away and Sunderland at home which is pretty tough to be fair. We wouldn’t recommend their defenders that’s for sure and it is hard to make a case for anything further forward although Amilfitano has managed to average six points over the last five games so perhaps he is the one player to look at especially given that he is nailed on to start and is priced at just £4.2m.

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DGW Strategy – When is a -4 really just a -2?
Many fantasy managers will be considering taking a hit or two or even three this week to take advantage of DGW players. On the face of it each one comes with the penalty of a -4 point deduction but let us explain why it may not be as bad as that and why we feel that hits in the right places may pay off big time…

On a normal ‘single’ game-week your hit is -4, simple as that. On a ‘double’ game-week you are presumably replacing a player who will play once with one who will play twice. Assuming that both players simply play a minimum of 60 minutes in all of their games then the single week player scores 2, the double week player scores 4. That is your hit halved to -2 before we even take into consideration what they may do over two games as opposed to one.

Let’s take a very basic example – If you own Romelu Lukaka, who has one game this week, but fancy that Sergio Aguero will do better over two…

Lukaku has a relatively tough fixture and has been fairly quiet as of late. Aguero on the other hand can be explosive at times. If you do the transfer for a hit then the least you can expect, barring yellow cards, is that Lukaku will total 2 and Aguero 4 points. You took a -4 so you are still only -2 on the deal. But that’s before Aguero does anything. Assuming Lukaku doesn’t score or assist against City then Aguero has in response two chances to deliver and you would expect he might do just that and more to pay off your -2 hit.

The whole thing is a gamble as your single game-week asset could of course go postal and ruin the the theory but if you plan it carefully enough and get a bit of luck then it could likewise pay off massively for you.

Fixture Fun

Chelsea are the only English side left in Europe and as such they face Atletico Madrid tomorrow night in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final. Be sure to check out any team news for injuries after this one.

Good luck as ever to one and all for GW37 and happy planning ahead!

Thanks for reading Fixtures Game-week 37 – Double delight this article was written by Inittowinit