We have chosen our best Fantasy Premier League (FPL) players for Gameweek 36 ahead of Saturday’s deadline.
The final selection is partly based on the Scout Squad consensus picks but midweek minutes, budget and updates from the pre-match press conferences are all factored in, too.
We line up in a 4-4-2 formation this week and, as ever, are limited to £83.5m for our first XI.
Our four substitutes, meanwhile, are always cherry-picked from the cheaper crop of players, not to serve as bench fodder or to make the budget up to £100m but rather to give some alternative, viable options who don’t cost as much as some of the names in our line-up.
GOALKEEPER
Leicester City are out of Europe but with 72 hours separating Thursday’s loss in Rome with Sunday’s visit of Everton, Brendan Rodgers may still run wild with the changes. Kasper Schmeichel (£4.9m) looks secure of starts whoever lines up in front of him and he’ll facing two sides with the worst away records in the division in 2021/22 at the King Power Stadium; and, as it happens, the two lowest scorers on the road. The Foxes have kept two clean sheets and conceded only twice in their last four home games.
DEFENDERS
Jurgen Klopp’s post-Gameweek 35 comments about rotation and Andrew Robertson (£7.3m) have steered us away from the Scot and towards Scout Picks staple Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.4m), who continues to outperform his fellow full-back – and every other single defender – for expected goal involvement despite Robertson picking up more FPL points of late. Alexander-Arnold was benched last weekend at Newcastle, so surely looks good for two starts in Gameweek 35.
Our City defensive double-up meanwhile could prove to be a bit of a gamble, with Pep Guardiola not offering up any team news beyond a certain Belgian in the broadcast section of his pre-match presser. Joao Cancelo (£7.2m) and Aymeric Laporte (£6.0m) have both started over 93% of the league matches that they have been available for this season, while City have banked clean sheets in 20 of their 34 league matches. They’re also the clear bookies’ favourites for shut-outs across Double Gameweek 36, with Cancelo racking up 25 points across the two reverse fixtures against Newcastle and Wolves. Laporte’s slight clutching of his groin in the closing stages of Wednesday’s loss may have spooked a few prospective owners but we’re keeping faith with the Spaniard in the absence of any news, with Ruben Dias (£6.1m) only just out of price range.
Yes, we might only get one start out of Marcos Alonso (£5.7m) – but how often do we preach about overlooking single Gameweek players and avoiding quantity over quality? Alonso is posting some ridiculous numbers of late, having had an improbable 14 shots and created as many chances in his last five appearances. Even if he just faces a completely out-of-sorts Wolves, that may be enough: they are 19th for expected goals at either end of the pitch over their last four matches.
MIDFIELDERS
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