Alli and Bale return to Spurs XI as Kane is widely backed with Gameweek 34 captaincy

Amid the chaos caused by the postponement of Manchester United v Liverpool, it’s easy to forget that there is another Premier League match still to come on Sunday evening.

Tottenham Hotspur v Sheffield United gets underway in north London at 19:15 BST.

It’s a significant match from a Fantasy Premier League perspective, too, with Harry Kane (£11.9m) widely backed with the armband.

Over 2.3 million FPL managers overall have captained the England international in Gameweek 34, with 88.62% of the top 10,000 doing likewise (see below).

Kane’s ‘effective ownership’ among this leading group is in excess of 181% as a result.

He and Son Heung-min (£9.6m) were among the top three most-bought players of Gameweek 34 ahead of last Friday’s deadline, attracting a combined c. 590,000 transfers in.

Any lingering concerns about the premium FPL forward’s fitness were assuaged by interim Spurs boss Ryan Mason in his pre-match press conference and Kane indeed starts this evening.

There are only two changes to the Lilywhites’ line-up from Sunday’s Carabao Cup final defeat at the hands of Manchester City.

Gareth Bale (£9.1m) and the long-overlooked Dele Alli (£7.4m) return to the starting XI, with Harry Winks (£5.1m) and Lucas Moura (£6.7m) making way.

Mason said of his team selection ahead of kick-off:

[Dele] had an excellent training week. The boys have been bright all week but I felt that Dele stood out and had to reward him for that.

Lucas missed training all week, only joined the squad yesterday. Gareth produced a moment for us against Southampton, he was unlucky at the weekend not to get the nod; he’s also had a good training week so we felt it was right to bring him back in.

As for Sheffield United, Paul Heckingbottom has made just the one alteration from the side that defeated Brighton and Hove Albion 1-0 last weekend.

The fit-again Chris Basham (£4.6m) starts ahead of Kean Bryan (£3.9m), who is absent from the matchday squad altogether.

Sander Berge (£4.9m) is also back from injury after a lengthy absence but is only among the substitutes.

LINE-UPS

Tottenham Hotspur XI: Lloris, Aurier, Alderweireld, Dier, Reguilon, Hojbjerg, Lo Celso, Son, Alli, Bale, Kane.

Sheffield United XI: Ramsdale, Baldock, Basham, Egan, Bogle, Fleck, Norwood, Stevens, Osborn, McGoldrick, Brewster.

SUNDAY’S OTHER GAMEWEEK 34 ACTION

A match that had very little impact on the upper echelons of Fantasy Premier League went the way of the visitors at St James’ Park.

Thanks to a combination of injuries, rotation and general disinterest in either side, not a single player on show had an effective ownership of greater than 0.27% in the top 10k.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£11.3m) was back in the starting XI after a spell out with malaria and continued his fine individual record against a listless and potentially ‘on the beach’ Newcastle United, scoring one and fortuitously assisting another en route to a first double-digit haul since Gameweek 24.

A third of his 12 attacking returns this season have come against the Magpies.

Budget FPL midfielder Gabriel Martinelli (£4.9m) set up the Gabon international’s goal, with the even-cheaper Mohamed Elneny (£4.2m) scoring the opener following an Aubameyang miscue.

Bernd Leno (£5.0m), Bukayo Saka (£5.1m), Emile Smith Rowe (£4.2m) and Rob Holding (£4.3m) were all either unused substitutes or not involved as Arteta once again ran wild with the rotation with one eye on Europe.

Arsenal were again without Kieran Tierney (£5.2m) and Alexandre Lacazette (£8.4m), with Arteta offering a pessimistic update ahead of kick-off.

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