There’s a full quota of matches to choose from this time around as we reveal the players from our midweek Scout Squad article to make the Gameweek 36 line-up.
Premium assets among Spurs, Liverpool and Manchester City’s ranks are a priority, so we’ve gone bargain hunting to fill many of the remaining berths in our 84 million budgeted XI.
This starts between the sticks, with Newcastle United’s Martin Dubravka (4.5) earning a spot for the visit of bottom club West Brom.
Clean sheet prospects look strong for the Slovakian, given that the Magpies defence has conceded just once in their last four St James’ Park encounters – a record tally they share with Liverpool.
We’ve made further savings by drafting Burnley defender Kevin Long (4.1) into our three-man backline. With regular centre-back Ben Mee still on the sidelines, the Irishman looks certain to start once again at home to Brighton to promise points in both penalty areas.
Long has earned a goal – from a corner – and an assist since deputising for Mee over the Clarets’ last four matches. Meanwhile, Chris Hughton’s side are particularly vulnerable from set-pieces, shipping 20 goals, including a league-high 14 from corners.
The Liverpool recent resilience at Anfield has persuaded us to loosen the purse strings and turn to centre-back Virgil van Dijk (5.7) for the visit of a Stoke City side that has mustered just three goals from their last six away matches.
We also harbour some hope that the Dutchman can deliver attacking returns. Always a threat at set-plays, he has already scored once for his new club, in the FA Cup, and has four goals in the league since arriving in the English top flight in 2015.
Ben Davies’ (5.8) potential is strong ahead of Watford’s visit to Wembley on Monday. The Hornets last scored on the road in the league on New Year’s Day and have shipped 14 away goals over that period.
The Welshman, meanwhile, has been in excellent form this season, involved (either scoring or assisting) in nine goals, which is more than any other defender. His rate of one key pass every 49 minutes also makes him the season’s most creative regular starting defender.
Team-mate and fellow left-back Danny Rose is expected to return to the squad for Monday’s encounter, but we’re still willing to take the risk on Davies retaining a starting berth and delivering returns.
Liverpool’s top-four status is still far from secure, so it looks like Mohamed Salah’s (10.6) potent threat will be required against Stoke, despite the small matter of a Champions League semi-final second leg clash against Roma to come in midweek.
Jurgen Klopp’s press conference suggested that he would make few changes to the line-up that defeated the Italian side 5-2 at Anfield.
So it seems that Salah will start and he will be primed to add to a tally of 31 league goals, particularly as it took him just 23 minutes – off the bench – to deliver a brace and 13 points against the Potters in the reverse fixture.
Salah is also on a scoring run of seven straight league matches at home, while the Stoke defence have been dire on their travels conceding 37 goals – only West Ham have allowed more (42).
Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling (9.0) will collide with that Hammers defence at the London Stadium on Sunday.
The winger found the net, and also earned an assist, to grab 11 points against Swansea City last weekend and has delivered attacking returns in each of his last five appearances. That form has made him the most popular midfield signing ahead of tomorrow’s deadline.
Spurs’ Son Heung-min (8.3) takes another of our five midfield places, based on his strong home form and Watford’s frailties in away matches.
The South Korean has delivered nine goals and five assists at Wembley, where he is top for goal involvement (43%) among Spurs assets. He also has a taste for big scores against Watford, returning 19 points in last season’s encounter and finding the net at Vicarage Road in Gameweek 15’s reverse fixture.
Similarly, Wilfried Zaha (6.9) scored in Crystal Palace’s 3-0 away victory over Leicester City in Gameweek 18. We’re backing him to find the net again when the two sides meet at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
Three goals and two assists in the Eagles’ last six four builds a case for his inclusion, as does the Foxes’ solitary clean sheet from their last four road trips.
Since cementing a starting berth in Gameweek 10, set-piece specialist Johann Gudmundsson (5.0) has been pivotal to Burnley’s attacking ploys, with more assists (seven) than any team-mate. He’s also scored twice over that period and has four assists from the last five Gameweeks.
Brighton’s visit to Turf Moor should hand him plenty of opportunities to add to that tally, given the Seagull’s fragility on set-plays.
Harry Kane (12.9) has plenty of motivation to put Watford to the sword on Monday night as he attempts to chase down a Salah’s five-goal advantage in the race for the Golden Boot.
Over his last four run-outs Kane has mustered just seven shots, two off Son’s figure and substantially behind Christian Eriksen’s 14 attempts.
But across the season, his Wembley form has been strong, knocking Salah into second for shots (101 to 82), shots in the box (64 to 61) and efforts on target, by 43 to 40.
Kane is currently the top Gameweek 36 target among FPL managers, with more than 139,000 transfers-in, and also leads our captain poll.
Gabriel Jesus (10.2) looks set to escape Pep Guardiola’s rotation while Sergio Aguero continues his recovery from knee surgery. The Brazilian faces West Ham’s erratic defence having found the net three times and collected as many assists over his last four starts.
Southampton boss Mark Hughes will surely have earmarked his side’s home encounter with Bournemouth as a must-win match in their bid to avoid relegation. This has prompted us to hand a bench spot to right-back Cedric Soares (4.7), who has earned two assists and a clean sheet in his last three run-outs.
Marko Arnautovic (7.0) also merits a mention on the back of an exceptional run of form, with four goals and an assist in his last eight starts, including a 16-point FPL haul at home to Southampton in Gameweek 32.
This should be enough for him to reward our faith against City, who may well rotate their backline with the title secure. The Sky Blues failure to keep a clean sheet in three of their last four run-outs also bodes well for the Austrian.
We have turned back to Southampton for our reserve striker selection, with Charlie Austin (5.8) claiming a call-up.
Even though he has been benched in three of the last four matches, Austin has made the most of his chances, firing in a shot every 32 minutes and scoring in an 18-minute cameo off the bench against Arsenal in Gameweek 33.
The Community Champion
Representing the community against the Scout Picks in Gameweek 33 is Nani. R U Ok?, who has opted for a 3-5-2 line up of Pope; Gomez, Trippier, Alexander-Arnold; Willian, Son, Hazard, Eriksen, D. Silva; Lukaku, Firmino.
The community member who beats our picks by the biggest margin over the campaign will win a £100 Amazon Voucher and a place in our Contributors and Moderators League for the following season.
The champion to beat remains Gregor, who achieved victory over the Scouts by a 33-point margin in Gameweek 5.
