Babel impressing even weeks after Fulham relegation

With the Double Gamweeks and Blank Gameweeks over for another season, we can sit back, relax and enjoy life once again.

Or can we?

The finishing line is almost in sight and mini-leagues can still be won or lost over fine margins.

Liverpool and Man City are still battling it out at the top and there’s still life in the fight to avoid the final relegation spot.

Here are three poorly-owned players that may be of interest to you in Gameweek 36…


Ryan Babel

Price: £5.5m

Ownership: 0.7%

GW36 Fixture: Cardiff (H)

As a general rule of thumb, players from teams that are mathematically relegated are not worth considering in FPL. But I believe Ryan Babel (£5.5m) is defying that principle and can no longer be ignored.

He has quietly scored three goals and registered two assists in his last seven games.

The former Liverpool man is already Fulham’s sixth-highest outfield FPL points scorer, despite only joining them in Gameweek 23.

With the shackles now off, he is playing with a level of freedom that has helped Fulham win two of their last three games even if it’s been in vain.

But I can’t see his performance levels dropping anytime soon. Surely he has some sort of self-motivation to put himself in the shop window so that he doesn’t have to ply his trade in the Championship next season?

His advanced position is being duly rewarded as in the last six Gameweeks he has the second joint-most number of goals inside the box (three) among all midfielders.

Fulham’s next opponents are Cardiff at Craven Cottage. The Bluebirds are still fighting for survival and won’t simply park the bus and hope to nick a boring draw in a compact game.

The Bluebirds have conceded almost two goals per game on average on the road this season too.

I expect Ryan Babel to take advantage of their defensive frailties and be in contention to continue his unsung run of Fantasy returns.



Joel Matip

Price: £4.9m

Ownership: 1.1%

GW36 Fixture: Huddersfield (H)

The chances are that you already have Liverpool defensive cover in your team. However, do you have space to add one more but are squeezed for cash?

Look no further than Joel Matip (£4.9m).

You can’t go wrong with a regular starting sub-£5.0m defender from a title challenging team that has kept nineteen clean sheets this season.

Of course, he hasn’t been a regular from Gameweek 1 but he has played every minute of Premier League football since Gameweek 23.

Matip’s price hasn’t risen since then and he has kept six clean sheets in the process.

With that said, he doesn’t boast a noticeable attacking threat like Robertson, Alexander-Arnold of Van Dijk.

In addition, Matip’s seven penalty area touches in the last six Gameweeks are hardly worth mentioning but it’s only two less than Van Dijk during the same period.

With Matip you simply have a very good chance of a cheap and cheerful Fantasy return in Gameweek 36 through an easy clean sheet banker.

Liverpool face off against relegated Huddersfield on Friday.

The Terriers have only scored 11 away goals all season, whereas Liverpool have conceded the least number of league goals at home since August. What more could you ask for?



Dele Alli

Price: £8.8m

Ownership: 2.4%

GW36 Fixture: West Ham (H)

If an injury hadn’t hampered him for large chunks of this season, there’s no doubt Dele Alli (£8.8m) would have racked up double-digits for goals and assists by now.

He’s on course for playing his lowest number of minutes in a Premier League season but it hasn’t stopped him from registering nine FPL attacking returns.

Now that he is fully fit, Alli should hopefully see through the remainder of the league campaign and whatever is still left of Tottenham’s dream European adventure.

He still boasts an impressive heatmap for the 18/19 season and his injuries haven’t prevented him from playing in advanced positions with 40% of his touches being in the final third.

With Kane still out injured, Alli will play an important role in Tottenham’s attacking areas.

This all bodes well with the fact that they’ve also won every home match at their new state-of-the-art stadium.

Spurs still need to win games to secure Champions’ League football for the 2019/2020 season too.

Up next are West Ham who have lost three of their last four games. They can’t challenge for Europe and are safe from relegation.

Put simply they have nothing to play for.

It could be the kind of match that Alli can revel in, to build up his own self-confidence and show the Spurs faithful that he can help see them through from now till May.