Double Gameweek 34 marks its final act with a series of nasty twists involving suspension, rotation and a self-inflicted wound.
The average total scored in the Gameweek was 64, prompting many Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers to spend late Thursday night drowning their sorrows and telling anyone who’d listen how none of their backline ended up playing.
The tale of woe started in Chelsea’s 2-1 win at Burnley, where coach Antonio Conte made six changes to his team in preparation for Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final with Southampton.
Thibaut Courtois, Cesar Azpilicueta, Gary Cahill, N’Golo Kante and Alvaro Morata were the only five to start both matches of the Gameweek and they brought in a grand total of 10 points between them.
But it was all about the absentees.
Marcos Alonso’s three-match ban for his ‘tackle’ on Shane Long was expected, confirmed and cost 18.8% of managers any chance of returns at Turf Moor, while the benching of Eden Hazard (6.8%) and Willian (16.2%) were probably the nastiest surprises sprung by Conte on the night.
The Belgian did, at least, get on for the last 19 minutes and produced eight points overall from the double, whereas the Brazilian – Chelsea’s most owned player in FPL – managed only half that, which was scant reward for the 118,000+ who had made him the eighth most purchased player of Gameweek 34.
Willian is now the fifth most sold heading into the weekend’s action, with 50,000+ userhing him out so far.
A popular pick on the Gameweek 33 Wildcard, defender Andreas Christensen (2.4%) was rested for the second time in three league outings.
Victor Moses, meanwhile, returned to the XI with a goal and an assist – he now has two goals and as many assists from his last six starts and three double-digit hauls for the campaign.
His fellow wing-back, Emerson, also provided an assist as he impressed in his role as Alonso’s understudy.
Other changes included a start up front for Olivier Giroud alongside Morata, the Frenchman earning his place after a two-goal blast from the bench against Southampton on Saturday.
The pair dovetailed surprisingly well, which only adds another layer of doubt to the Chelsea formation and teamsheet as managers decide whether to invest ahead of the Blues’ Double Gameweek 37 (LIV HUD).
Post-match, their manager was full of praise for the front two:
“To see Giroud and Morata playing in this way, to see these good combinations and links between them, and then their desire to run and press without the ball, this is the right way to have satisfaction in the future.
I am very pleased because they played very well. It’s not simple to see two strikers with this will and desire to fight and sacrifice themselves without the ball.”
Owned by 1.5%, Giroud finished as the top-scoring forward for the Double on 14 points, with Moses one behind United’s Chris Smalling at the summit on 16.
The team’s two wins over Gameweek 34 keep their faint hopes of a top-four finish alive, which could mean Conte reverts to his first-choice side for Gameweek 36’s trip to Swansea City once the distraction of the FA Cup is sorted.
But should the Blues make the final, and their Champions League drive comes up short sooner rather than later, managers might well be in for another series of unwelcome selections.
Clarets bring (mostly) good cheer
Double Gameweek 34’s Long Bad Thursday was literally that for one of the home side.
Cut-price Kevin Long (4.0) was drafted in by 66,000+ managers for Burnley’s double, and he delighted his new owners with a goal and 10 points in the weekend’s 2-1 win over Leicester City.
But delight was thin on the ground when he scored an own goal last night, although it no doubt produced an unhealthy dose of schadenfreude from those who didn’t have to endure the minus one-point haul that resulted.
Still, nine points from the double was a big return for such a small price.
And there could be more to come from him and the rest of a side that is the only one to feature in both Double Gameweek 34 and the reduced slate that follows this weekend – a scenario exploited by many who don’t have the Free Hit chip to employ.
Five Burnley defenders and keeper Nick Pope are currently owned by at least 5% of FPL managers as a result. However, it’s worth noting that they’ve managed only one clean sheet in 13 matches now, with a trip to a desperate Stoke City on Sunday likely to stretch their “resilience” again.
At least the in-form frontline is currently delivering.
Chris Wood scored at the weekend, but blanked last night, while it was the other way around for Ashley Barnes.
If Long’s intervention against Chelsea was unfortunate, Barnes’ goal was the polar opposite as he tried, and failed, to get out of the way of Johann Berg Gudmundsson’s shot and brought in seven points – he earned a bonus point as well – as the ball deflected off his heel and into the net.
The striker has now scored five goals from his last seven starts, while Gudmundsson has produced an assist in each of his last four appearances.
There are no more Double Gameweeks for the Clarets now, but their run-in (stk BHA ars BOU) is sufficiently kindly to promote patience with their assets, particularly if Arsenal still have their sights set on Europa League glory by the time the teams meet in Gameweek 37.
A Leicester siesta
Tales of rotation woe were in no way consigned to the Turf Moor encounter.
At the King Power Stadium, Leicester City coach Claude Puel wrecked the Double Gameweek schemings of managers with Wes Morgan (2.9%) or Danny Simpson (2.4%) by dropping both for the visit of Southampton. That meant a start for Aleksandar Dragovic at centre-back, while Marc Albrighton took up an unfamiliar right-back role.
It was a big shock for the previously nailed-on Morgan, who missed five matches with a hamstring injury around the turn of the year, but had otherwise been an ever-present for the Foxes this campaign.
And the fact that the side then played out a 0-0 draw to keep a clean sheet for only the second time in ten matches raises new doubts over his pitch-time for Leicester’s run-in (cry WHU ARS tot), which includes a Double Gameweek 37.
Those managers who went for Ben Chilwell as their backline cover – and at 4.0%, he’s second only to Harry Maguire (12.4%) for popularity – were rewarded with defensive returns to add to the two assists from his previous four starts.
Major interest in Leicester players has remained focused on Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy, however.
Both blanked last night, which took the 12.3%-owned midfielder to four Gameweeks without a return.
Vardy (25.7%), meanwhile, was the Gameweek’s fifth most-captained player (4.01%), and only Harry Kane had been purchased by more managers for the double.
He’d scored in eight of his ten previous matches, but last night’s blank kept him to just eight points across the Gameweek to confirm Kane as the only one of the top 10 armband choices to make it into double figures.
Both Vardy and Mahrez are now among the top five for transfers-out heading into the reduced Gameweek 35 in which Leicester play no part.
Saints alive…just
Southampton bounced back from their 3-2 Chelsea horror show with a hard-earned point that keeps their hopes of Premier League survival on the under-nourished side of slim.
Manager Mark Hughes declared post-match that his side will have to ‘go for it’ from here on in, and their schedule (BOU eve swa MCI) offers some prospect of goals, at least prior to that final-day visit from Man City.
How they fare in this weekend’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea will have some bearing on proceedings as well, but a Double Gameweek 37 should ensure that their key players remain on our radars.
One of the team’s more attractive picks, Charlie Austin, is not producing the goods, however, for the simple reason that he’s barely getting on the pitch.
He managed just 28 minutes for two points from the double as a lack of mobility continues to count against him in Hughes’ currently preferred 3-4-2-1 set-up; much to the despair of the 39,000+ who brought him in for Double Gameweek 34.
But there are a couple of stand-out performers who are worth monitoring.
Dusan Tadic ended the double with 12 points, which put him joint top among midfielders with two fixtures, while the surprise package was Jan Bednarek, who followed up his debut goal against Chelsea with a clean sheet last night.
Tallying 13 points, the 4.1-priced centre-half certainly offers value as he continues to stand in for the suspended Jack Stephens.
But his starting berth will surely be in question when his team-mate serves out his ban in Sunday’s FA Cup clash.
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