It’s that time again.
It’s just a couple of days before what has to be my favourite day of the year, when all 20 teams play at the same time and our overall ranks and mini-leagues are ultimately decided in one frantic 90-minute period.
It’s been a good season for me personally, having joined Fantasy Football Scout as a permanent member of the team just before the start of the campaign and going on to have a finish that (hopefully!) will see me add a top 10k finish to my season history.
GAMEWEEK 38: GOALS, GOALS, GOALS?
I’m always fascinated by Gameweek 38, as medium-long term planning is no longer required and people look for ways of making one final push. Who are the one or two players that can salvage someone’s season? Is there a differential captain that can propel you up the rankings? Can we benefit from a hit that needs to be repaid instantly, or is this too big of a gamble? Add into the mix the unpredictability of Gameweek 38 that in previous seasons has seen Manchester City hit for eight by Middlesbrough, Liverpool stung by Stoke City and Tottenham Hotspur pounded by Newcastle United and you have a recipe for an explosive end.
In fact, looking at the fixtures, I think there is huge potential for some hauls. Norwich v Spurs, Chelsea v Watford, Leicester City v Southampton and Liverpool v Wolverhampton Wanderers all look like great games – and I can see big wins for the bookies’ favourites. In fact, I can see goals in every fixture, with players from Newcastle, Brentford and Crystal Palace perhaps going under the radar, despite good-looking games against Burnley, Leeds and Manchester United (!) respectively.
For me, you could fill two different squads with players and I wouldn’t be comfortable betting on which would score the points (see below). There are just so many options, but Son Heung-min (£11.2m) is the one that seems indispensable. It’s likely that if at this point you don’t have him, he will be priority number one, as he seeks to chase down Mohamed Salah (£13.1m) for the Golden Boot and faces statistically the worst defence in the league. Norwich have conceded an expected goal (xG) every 41.3 minutes and have shipped the highest number of goals in the league (79); is there a sofa big enough to hide behind if you don’t own the South Korean wizard?
