And then there was one! 37 fun, yet often arduous game weeks are in the books and we now enter GW38 with an air of positivity after joining the 100 Club last week.
With our final chip in play and sitting 24k overall we were already well within our pre-season target of the top 100k. That wasn’t going to be good enough now though and we turned our attentions to a top 10k finish.
There was no decision to be made in goal with Nick Pope on a single gameweek so David De Gea, in search of the Golden Glove award, started for us. Although it started poorly away at Brighton last Friday he returned a clean sheet in a dour match at West Ham. His 9pts took his season total to 172pts, 30pts higher than any of his previous 6 FPL seasons.
At the back it was an absolute points party! Lewis Dunk picked up a clean sheet against De Gea’s United, a result which at the time sealed their survival, and although they lost to City midweek his 9pts were an unexpected bonus. Alongside him was City defender Nicolas Otamendi. He may have only played 1 of the 2 games but his 9pts were more than welcome. As were the 15pts from Jan Vertonghen. 2 clean sheets and maximum bonus against Newcastle took him up to 7th in overall defender scoring.
Our midfield 5 was less of a points party and more like watching the Cleveland Cavs, with Leroy Sane playing the role of LeBron James. Although the City winger blanked in the Huddersfield game he he had a big game against Brighton, setting up all 3 goals and scoring 17pts. This may have been good for our team here it actually put an end to my hopes of winning my private draft’s Division 1 title. A 2 horse race going into the final 2 weeks my opponent captained Sane and my rival won his game. He knows who he is, he is likely reading this now, so Dan Weston…..F*CK YOU!!! Love you really. The 3 assists took Sane’s returns total to 10 goals and 15 assists this season. Scary to think how good he will be in Russia this summer. The only other player to pick up an attacking return was Heung Min Son with an assist in Spurs’ 2nd game. Kenedy, Paul Pogba and Willian all blanked to complete our midfield scoring.
Up top we ran with the expected big hitting duo of Gabriel Jesus and Harry Kane and my lord it was stressful. It was left up to you readers to decide who to give the Triple Captain chip to and Harry Kane just about edged it, thankfully. With both looking likely to blank in both Kane stepped up and scored the winner in the 2nd half against Newcastle. It’s hardly been vintage Kane of late but we will take all the goals. 24pts isn’t amazing but as long as your Triple Captain scores more than 2 you’ve used it okay.
So we broke the 100 barrier and scored a decent 105pts. We moved up from 24k to 13k so fingers crossed we can have a final day push for the top 10k. Either way I’ve been really pleased with this season’s consistency and finishing ahead of 99.75% of other players is nothing to scoff at.
With GW37 now over we turn our attentions to GW38 and there’s a couple headaches to address. Firstly in goal. Mourinho has confirmed De Gea wont play. This would be fine if I didn’t expect Tom Heaton to play over Nick Pope. This would obviously leave us minus a keeper. Secondly, Mo Salah. We don’t own him and he looks the stand out player to own this week. Lastly, Luke Chilwell and Ashley Barnes are expected to miss out so if there’s any rotation then we could be left playing with less than 11 players. Decisions have therefore been made to address this and hopefully I’ve not completely messed it up.
De Gea (OUT) – Romero (IN)
Kenedy (OUT) – Salah (IN)
Jesus (OUT) – J.Ayew (IN)
I’ve gone big. With David De Gea and Kenedy not playing the hit is less of a major worry. The only concern is dropping Gabriel Jesus but after the way he played in GW37 I just don’t care. It’s only the 3rd time we have taken a hit bigger than 4pts and on the previous 2 we saw green arrows, so hopefully we make it a hattrick.
As mentioned, Mourinho has confirmed that Sergio Romero will start ahead of David De Gea this week so we will follow suit. Home to Watford I’m quietly hoping for a final game clean sheet.
At the back we run with 3. Nicolas Otamendi and Jan Vertonghen keep their place whilst Matt Lowton returns to the line up in place of Lewis Dunk.
Our midfield is a very strong 5. 4 remain and Mo Salah returns. He’s been in and out for the last 5 weeks but I just couldn’t ignore him this week. Liverpool need at least a point to guarantee Champions League football and Salah needs a return to break the all time FPL top score. He starts alongside Leroy Sane away at Southampton, Heung Min Son home to Leicester, Paul Pogba home to Watford and Willian away to Newcastle. There just simply has to be attacking returns here.
Up top it’s a real budgetary mix as Harry Kane partners Jordan Ayew. Kane has broken the 200pt barrier for the 3rd consecutive season and will be looking to finish the season in form before jetting off to Russia. Ayew on the other hand is part of a Swansea team needing a 10 goal swing to avoid the drop. Obviously it won’t happen but Swansea will have to come out attacking nonetheless so against Stoke he looks to be a decent bargain pick.
So there we have it. The FPL Updates XI’s final team of the 17/18 season. It’s been a fun season so far and it would be amazing to finish it with some more green arrows. A big thank you to everyone that has read up to this point but don’t forget that we have one last captain poll to go. All votes appreciated as always and hopefully it can propel us on to an even better overall ranking. Good luck to anyone still fighting it out in min leagues and pushing for overall ranking!
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Written by FPL Guru (@FPL_Guru)
