The Dugout Discussion – Saturday

The first of five days of Gameweek 34 action gets underway at 3pm, offering up a quartet of fixtures to keep us entertained.

Middlesbrough are the only Double Gameweek team on duty this Saturday as Steve Agnew takes his troops to Bournemouth.

Alvaro Negredo and Ben Gibson were the most popular picks for clashes with the Cherries and Sunderland, transferred in by 193,000 and 112,000 FPL managers respectively.

Up against a defence that’s conceded two or more goals in seven of their last eight at the Vitality, the Spaniard earned second place in our Gameweek 34 Captain Poll, with over 20% backing.

Elsewhere, Romelu Lukaku will be hoping his record against West Ham can remedy a run of one goal in his previous seven road trips – the most owned player in FPL has found the net in each of his last nine head-to-heads with the Hammers.

Swansea’s Gylfi Sigurdsson attempts to halt a run of five straight blanks as Stoke roll up to the Liberty. The Icelandic international earned more transfers out (88,000+) than any midfielder ahead of this afternoon’s deadline.

Hull take on Watford at the KCOM in the other Saturday fixture.

The Tigers have won seven and drawn one of eight matches in all competitions since Marco Silva took charge, suggesting they could deliver some differential options today. With goals in each of his last two appearances, Harry Maguire – boasting a 0.5% ownership – looks the man most likely as the battle to beat the drop intensifies.