FPL Gameweek 37 Scout Picks early selection: Villa triple-up for final ‘double’

We’ve put together our Scout Picks ‘bus team’ ahead of Double Gameweek 37 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL).

For those who haven’t seen this article series before, it’s essentially a rough, first draft of our regular picks, which get finalised and published much closer to the deadline.

We are limited to a £83.5m budget for our starting XI (making it affordable for those whose team values are low), although the bench options aren’t just unplayable fodder as you might have in your own Free Hit squads.

The final picks will stay as they are and cement our weekly selection based on the Scout Squad long-list entries, midweek minutes and fresh injury updates but this ‘bus team’ – a term coined by the Always Cheating boys – will discuss the players who are likely to be in the running.

Here it is, then: our early thoughts on the runners and riders up for selection in Gameweek 37, followed by the preliminary picks themselves.

THE LIKELY LADS

For the final time in 2021/22, we have a pool of Double Gameweek players to choose from. These ‘doublers’ will no doubt form the backbone of our Scout Picks this week but, unlike in Gameweek 37, we’re very unlikely to cherry-pick 11 FPL assets with two fixtures.

So, we start with the Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Everton options who are likely to make the cut; more on Leicester City and Burnley in a bit.

With Patrick Vieira pledging to take a look at squad and academy players in the run-in, rotation could be an issue with the Eagles. The in-form Wilfried Zaha (£6.8m) looks about the safest bet for a pair of starts, with his benching in Gameweek 35 attributed to knocks picked up from the previous match against Leeds. His only other substitute appearance in 2021/22 also came off the back of an illness. The penalty-taking winger has got eight goals in 13 matches, a period in which no FPL asset under £12.0m has had more shots in the box. Joachim Andersen (£4.6m) is similarly the securest representative from a Palace defence that has kept five clean sheets in eight matches, with Vicente Guaita (£4.6m) and Marc Guehi (£4.5m) possibly injured.

Rotation is also a concern with Villa, with Steven Gerrard saying on Saturday that his line-up is “going to change with five games in a short space of time”. The appeal of Philippe Coutinho (£7.1m) has consequently taken a bit of a blow and it can’t be ruled out that even the most ‘nailed’ of Villa assets gets a late-season breather, with little left to play for. Still, the fixtures aren’t bad and the Villans have been something of a flat-track bully under Gerrard: since he took over, Villa have kept clean sheets in eight of their 15 matches against clubs now ranked ninth or below (and zero versus the top eight). Emi Martinez (£5.5m), Lucas Digne (£5.0m) and Matty Cash (£5.3m) are all tussling for our investment, with the latter two offering a bit of attacking threat: the pair created five chances between them on Saturday alone. Further forward, Danny Ings (£7.7m) has seven attacking returns in as many matches but there’ll be concerns about his ability to get through successive starts in a fortnight, so Ollie Watkins (£7.5m) – third among forwards for goal attempts and shots in the box in the Gerrard era – might be the safer play.

Everton broke their away-day drought on Sunday but it’s been a sunnier picture at home for some time now, with Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs managing only one goal between them in recent trips to Goodison Park. Four clean sheets have been banked in Frank Lampard’s seven home fixtures in charge, so Jordan Pickford (£4.8m) or Vitaliy Mykolenko (£4.9m) – who is now playing a bit more advanced at left wing-back – have good shouts for inclusion this week, as the Toffees play host to Brentford and Palace. At the other end of the pitch, Richarlison (£7.5m) is sitting top of the Premier League table for expected goal involvement (xGI) over the last six matches, albeit with two penalties accounting for some of that total.

Away from the Double Gameweek clubs, there are two stand-out fixtures: Southampton v Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur v Burnley.

Our selections from Jurgen Klopp’s troops will almost certainly be influenced by the starts, minutes and injuries accrued against Aston Villa on Tuesday night and especially in the FA Cup final on Saturday, which happily we FPL managers will get to see before making our final decisions ahead of the Sunday morning deadline. It’d be a bit of a wasted enterprise making a case for one Red over another without that information, but it’s safe to say that Andrew Robertson (£7.3m), Luis Diaz (£8.0m) and Diogo Jota (£8.3m) could well come into the equation to challenge or supplement Scout Picks staples Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.4m) and Mohamed Salah (£13.3m). Opponents Southampton have conceded more goals, expected goals (xGC) and big chances than any other side from Gameweek 28 onwards, scoring on just seven occasions in those 10 fixtures.

The quick turnaround is a bit of a concern for Spurs this weekend, as there’ll be just over 60 hours between full-time in the north London derby on Thursday and kick-off in the Gameweek 37 curtain-raiser. But the Lilywhites’ front three, and Son Heung-min (£11.0m) in particular, are still attractive propositions against a Burnley side potentially missing both of their first-choice centre-halves. It’s a stat we’ve bored you to death with of late but it’s worth reiterating that Harry Kane (£12.4m), Son and Dejan Kulusevski (£6.3m) are first, second and third among FPL assets for attacking returns since the Swede’s full debut.

IN CONTENTION

We’ve not touched on Leicester yet, partly because their second Double Gameweek 37 fixture is away at Chelsea but also because rotation might be a concern, with the Foxes now deep into a period where they are playing six times in cup and league over the space of 17 days. The fitness of James Maddison (£6.9m), absent in Leicester’s last two league matches thanks to ongoing niggles, is the main drawback to the Foxes midfielder, who has 15 attacking returns in his last 19 outings. The rotation-proof Kasper Schmeichel (£5.0m) is certainly in contention, with Watford scoring just nine goals in Roy Hodgson’s 15 matches in charge, while Timothy Castagne (£5.3m) is also a leftfield possibility as the threat to his starts has diminished thanks to injury elsewhere.

Manchester City are usually regular fixtures in the Scout Picks but representation might be low this week, with the premiums of Spurs and Liverpool having more favourable-on-paper fixtures and Double Gameweek assets abounding elsewhere.

City, of course, are capable of racking up the goals against pretty much anyone but it is noteworthy that they’ve not scored more than two goals against Gameweek 37 opponents West Ham since David Moyes took charge and the matches are often tight affairs:

Nevertheless, season-ending injuries to three key defenders make the backline a bit easier to predict, with Oleksandr Zinchenko (£5.3m) offering us a cut-price route into the division’s statistically best defence. Again, midweek minutes will be key in cementing those City attacking selections if we make any, but given the potentially tricky nature of the match, we can expect regulars like Kevin De Bruyne (£11.9m) and Phil Foden (£7.9m) to make the cut in east London.

THE LONG SHOTS

Away at free-scoring Spurs and flat-track bullies Villa, there is little incentive to select Burnley assets despite their double-header. Potentially injury-hit at the back (we await further news on Tarkowski), they were also down a couple of forwards on Saturday and Wout Weghorst (£6.3m) continues to struggle up top. Maxwel Cornet (£5.8m) is at least among the top five FPL midfielders for xGI over the last six matches, even discounting his missed penalty in Gameweek 33, so is a maverick punt for those managers intent on going double-heavy.

Of the rest of the single Gameweekers, Leandro Trossard (£5.8m) is a real differential shout. Ridiculously in form, with four goals and three assists in his last five run-outs, he is the leading FPL midfielder for non-penalty xGI over the last six matches. He’ll also be up against a leaky Leeds side who will be without a right-back following Luke Ayling‘s (£4.3m) dismissal on Sunday.

Wolves defenders are also an outside possibility against a relegated Norwich side who are the division’s lowest scorers, although Bruno Lage’s troops aren’t in particularly good form themselves at the back.

Mid-price Arsenal assets Bukayo Saka (£6.7m) and Eddie Nketiah (£5.6m) may be the ones making way to accommodate the one-week gambles, meanwhile, particularly as opponents Newcastle have conceded just six goals in their last nine home fixtures.

GAMEWEEK 37 BUS TEAM