FPL tips: Replace Mohamed Salah with Bruno Fernandes, stack up on Man City, Arsenal players as EPL title race hots up
- With the Premier League approaching its final furlong, teams are expected to continue fielding strong XIs
- Title race, Champions League spots, European qualification and survival from relegation all still to play for
The Premier League is approaching its final furlong and with the league champions, two relegation spots and teams competing in European competitions still to be decided, Fantasy Premier League (FPL) players can rest assured that most sides will be fielding their strongest XI for the final three weeks of the season.
As this crucial part of the season kicks into life, FPL managers need to structure their team to manage not only this weekend’s fixtures, but the Double Gameweek to follow.
Tips for Gameweek 36
Both Arsenal and Manchester City (the two teams with the biggest possible chance of winning the league) have very attractive fixtures this weekend.
Arsenal are at home to Bournemouth and as the North London side have the best defence in the league, doubling up on Gabriel and William Saliba, who have also proved dangerous from set pieces, seems a likely way to score points on Saturday.
As for City, they host Wolves, who beat them earlier in the season. Furthermore, goalkeeper Ederson picked up a shoulder injury in last weekend’s win over Nottingham Forest, which means the reigning champions are likely to field Stefan Ortega, who costs only £3.7 million.
Left-back Josko Gvardiol scored 15 points last week and with three goals in his past five matches in all competitions, could add to his tally this weekend. He has been transferred in by over 100,000 managers so far this week.
As for attackers, the obvious picks are Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland, Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden.
Those looking for a differential could go for Kai Havertz, who has over 57,000 transfers in and is significantly less owned than Saka.
The Germany attacker has bagged three goals and one assist in his past two games.
Managers can look to structure the rest of their squad with some players from Forest, Everton and Newcastle United, who all face teams in the relegation zone this weekend.
Golden Gloves candidate Jordan Pickford has 12 clean sheets so far this season and opponents Luton Town are in the bottom three for xG.
Newcastle’s Alexander Isak is averaging a goal every 103.1 minutes while Morgan Gibbs-White and Chris Wood are the best Forest picks.
Looking ahead to Double Gameweek 37
Firstly, if you have any chips left, use them for Gameweek 37 as Chelsea, Tottenham, both Manchester clubs, Brighton and Newcastle will play twice that week.
And secondly, despite the unpredictability of Manchester United, one player that has been scoring FPL points consistently is Bruno Fernandes.
The midfielder has scored 54 points in his past five games and will have two home matches against Arsenal and Newcastle in Gameweek 37.
However, at £8.5m, he is not cheap and if your squad has a lot of City and Arsenal players, getting him in may be hard.
One way to fund the move could be to drop Liverpool players.
The Reds’ title defence is essentially over and in Gameweek 36 they host Spurs followed by a trip to Aston Villa in 37.
Getting rid of expensive players such as Mohamed Salah could not only fund Fernandes but also create options for more players from the likes of City, Spurs and Newcastle.
Combinations to consider would be Ortega and Son Heung-min, Gvardiol and Foden, a straight swap for De Bruyne with some cash left in the bank, Dan Burn and Isak or Craig Gordon could go alongside Richarlison, Brennan Johnson or James Maddison.
