Whatever you have planned this weekend, make sure your schedule is nice and clear at 4.30pm on Sunday to soak in a pivotal top-of-the-table clash between Manchester City and Liverpool at the Etihad.
City looked to have wrapped up a fourth Premier League title in five years at the turn of the year, however, a mini-wobble (if you can even call it that) coupled with Liverpool’s 10-game winning run means that just a solitary point separates them in the table.
Although it can be filed in the must-not-lose category for both, a victory would be particularly opportune for Jurgen Klopp’s chasers, given they appear to have a tougher run-in with games against top-four chasing Manchester United and Spurs still to come.
That Super Sunday clash is clearly the pick of the fixtures this weekend but given it is virtually impossible to predict whether it will be a high-scoring thriller or a nervy 0-0, it could be one to swerve from a Fantasy Premier League perspective.
More on Premier League
That is precisely what we’ve done by removing Mo Salah, a virtual ever-present in our selections this season, from the side this week. Champions League contenders Arsenal and Spurs account for five of this week’s picks, while a couple of in-form playmakers also make the cut.
Here are i‘s picks for Gameweek 32:
Nick Pope (Burnley)
With goals proving difficult to come by, clean sheets may be Burnley‘s best route to surviving the dreaded drop down to the Championship. The Clarets sit in 10th for shutouts this season with seven, while Nick Pope occupies the same position for save percentage amongst goalkeepers. Pope will be hoping to add to his collection of clean sheets this weekend when Burnley face a Norwich side that has failed to score in 17 of their 30 league matches.
Price: £5.4m Points: 93 Gameweek 32 fixture: Norwich (a)
Related Stories
Kieran Tierney (Arsenal)
With the threat of being dragged into the relegation battle minimal and the chances of breaking into the European spots even more remote, Brighton are a team treading water until the summer. The Seagulls have lost six of their previous seven league matches, scoring just a solitary goal in the process. That profligacy should bode well for Arsenal’s defence. There’s not much to separate them, but Kieran Tierney is just about the pick of the defenders, averaging more points per game (4.82) than his colleagues.
Price: £5.1m Points: 106 Gameweek 32 fixture: Brighton (h)
Related Stories
Matt Doherty (Spurs)
Prior to Gameweek 27 at the back end of February, Matt Doherty had accumulated only 11 FPL points and looked to be destined to be shown the door by Spurs in the summer following another underwhelming season. Fast forward to the present day and the Irish wing-back is a man reborn having scored twice and registered four assists in his previous six matches. Remarkably, no player has earned more FPL points over the last six gameweeks than “Dochertino”.
Price: £4.8m Points: 66 Gameweek 32 fixture: Aston Villa (a)
Reece James (Chelsea)
With Joao Cancelo, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson all featuring in the same game, Chelsea’s Reece James looks to be the premium defender of choice this weekend – unless of course you’re backing Manchester City and Liverpool to play out a goalless draw. James started on the bench against Brentford, but will likely be parachuted back into the starting line-up following that shock 4-1 defeat. Despite only playing 18 times, James is the top-scoring defender in the division with five goals.
Price: £6.2m Points: 109 Gameweek 32 fixture: Southampton (a)
James Maddison (Leicester)
Were it not for the intervention of Michael Oliver at Stockley Park, the FPL managers with James Maddison in their teams would have been celebrating another double-digit return from the in-form playmaker. After assisting Kelechi Iheanacho with a peach of a cross, Maddison thought he’d won the game at Old Trafford, only for his strike partner to be adjudged to have fouled Raphael Varane. Maddison has combined eight goals with seven FPL assists so far this season.
Price: £6.8m Points: 124 Gameweek 32 fixture: Crystal Palace (h)
Related Stories
Son Heung-min (Spurs)
For the third season running, Son Heung-min has reached 20 goal contributions (14 goals, six assists) in the Premier League and this campaign is shaping up to be his most productive yet. A goal and assist apiece during Tottenham’s 5-1 thrashing of Newcastle on Sunday meant that Son crept ahead of Jarrod Bowen and Joao Cancelo and into bronze position on the FPL points podium. Returns of 15 and 12 points respectively over the past two gameweeks show that the South Korean is hitting a rich vein of form.
Price: £10.9m Points: 177 Gameweek 32 fixture: Aston Villa (a)
Kevin De Bruyne (Man City)
Kevin De Bruyne has hardly featured in i‘s FPL tips this season, due to a combination of injury issues, loss of form and the dreaded Pep roulette. However, fresh from an 11-point score in Gameweek 31, the Belgian is selected ahead of the titanic battle between the Premier League title challengers at the Etihad on Sunday. Only the aforementioned Son (with 75) and Bowen (72) have accumulated more FPL points among midfielders in 2022 than De Bruyne (69). Time to make the switch from Mo Salah, perhaps?
Price: £11.7m Points: 134 Gameweek 32 fixture: Liverpool (h)
Christian Eriksen (Brentford)
Christian Eriksen most certainly repaid i‘s faith in Gameweek 31 by scoring and helping himself to two bonus points during Brentford’s shock 4-1 win at Stamford Bridge. That goal was Eriksen’s third in a week after he capped his return for Denmark with strikes against the Netherlands and Serbia. The Dane’s impact for his new side has been immediate with the Bees winning all three matches in which he has started.
Price: £5.5m Points: 17 Gameweek 32 fixture: West Ham (h)
Eriksen, Brentford and football’s feelgood story of the year
This is an excerpt from The Score, Daniel Storey’s weekly round-up of all 20 Premier League clubs
Brentford’s growing issue this season was that they failed to create sufficient chances from central areas, instead relying upon wing-backs and wide midfielders, and thus became predictable and so easy to defend. Since Eriksen arrived – one of the best creative attacking central midfielders over the Premier League’s last decade – everything has changed. It’s not just the chances Eriksen creates himself, but the space he creates for those wide players because opposition teams need at least one player to look after him.
It goes beyond the impact on the pitch. We did not know what version of Eriksen would return; we’re not even sure if he did. But by providing such a lift, by making good on lost time and by salvaging a career that looked lost, he will have immediately increased the team spirit threefold at Brentford. Now they aren’t just part of a relegation survival fight – they’re included in the feelgood sporting story of the year.
Sign up here to receive the newsletter every Monday morning.
Related Stories
Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
As already mentioned, Brighton are certainly a team to target on FPL based on their recent struggles, which is why Bukayo Saka joins Tierney in this week’s picks. Saka has scored more FPL points than any other Arsenal player this season and been in good form of late with three goals and an assist to his name across his last six matches. The 20-year-old should be well-rested too after missing both of England’s matches during the international break due to illness.
Price: £6.8m Points: 138 Gameweek 32 fixture: Brighton (h)
Harry Kane (Spurs)
“His performance was amazing. I said to him at the end of the game it was a shame he didn’t score, but he played fantastic and made an assist.” Harry Kane’s failure to score in Sunday’s 5-1 victory was a source of bemusement to those watching (and of frustration to his FPL managers), but as his manager Antonio Conte alluded to, he was absolutely integral to Newcastle’s second half demise. After a slow start to the campaign, Kane has now zoomed to the top of the FPL leaderboard among forwards with 21 points more than anyone else.
Price: £12.5m Points: 140 Gameweek 32 fixture: Aston Villa (a)
Cucho Hernandez (Watford)
Watford created some big goalscoring opportunities and played well at Anfield without managing to claim a point. Everton’s dismal form means that the Hornets are just about clinging on to their survival hopes and Roy Hodgson’s side simply have to beat Leeds this weekend to give their salvage mission a shot in the arm. Cucho Hernandez has emerged as Watford’s most in-form attacker, scoring three goals and registering an assist in his previous four appearances.
Price: £5.1m Points: 60 Gameweek 32 fixture: Leeds (h)
Get involved
Join the i readers league on Fantasy Premier League for the 2021-22 campaign, enter this code when prompted on the website: t96gm9. You can also sign up to i‘s dedicated fantasy football newsletter to receive tips, injury updates and more each week throughout the season.
from Fantasy Football | Latest FPL tips, team advice and analysis | iNews https://ift.tt/nKvimF9
via IFTTT
Post a Comment