The final day of the season is close at hand and with only a
few league positions yet to be decided most teams don’t have much to play for.
From a chairman’s point of view each league position is worth £1.2m so they’ll
be putting the pressure on their managers to do their best to climb the
rankings. In the same way we’ll be hoping our FPL teams make a late dash up the
rankings to achieve as high a finish as possible. Below we've got a brief
preview of each game that makes up GW38 plus a player from each team to
consider as you look to win or climb your mini-leagues.
Arsenal v West Brom
West Brom visit the Emirates on the back of an impressive
3-0 victory over the champions on Monday evening whilst the Gunners have all
but confirmed 3rd place and automatic qualification to the Champions
League group stages. With their focus now firmly on the FA Cup final against
Aston Villa, Wenger will undoubtedly rest a few of his first teamers, which is
bad news for those of us who loaded up on Arsenal’s stars prior to the double
gameweek.
Theo Walcott – With 5
big chances from just 215 minutes and the expectation of rotation, Walcott
could looks set to be a main attacking threat this week
Joleon Lescott – With 4
clean sheets from the last 5 games including games against Liverpool, United
and Chelsea, another shut-out isn't out of the question and Lescott carries a goal threat from set pieces too.
Aston Villa v Burnley
Villa were embarrassed by Southampton last week and will be
in two minds this week. They won’t want to go to Wembley in terrible form
lacking confidence but they’ll want to rotate players and keep them fresh.
Burnley are preparing for life in the Championship and will hope to finish the
season on a high whilst some of their players will be in the shop window hoping
for moves back to the Premier League next season.
Tom Cleverley – With 3
goals in his last 5 appearances he’s a man in form and will want to carry that
to Wembley.
Danny Ings – In what
is very likely to be his final game for Burnley he’ll want to go out with a
bang against a very poor Villa defence.
Chelsea v Sunderland
A match that has nothing riding on it after Sunderland’s
hard earned draw away to Arsenal on Wednesday ensured their Premier League
safety. Neither team will be particularly up for this which means anything
could happen – as we saw at the Hawthorns on Monday.
Diego Costa – A player
of undoubted quality that is owned by very few live teams. Fit enough to start
on Monday evening he could be a real differential for this week.
Costel Pantilimon – 2 clean
sheets last GW and plenty of save points up for grabs. Sunderland look more
likely to keep a clean sheet than score against Chelsea.
Crystal Palace v
Swansea
Palace have the worst home record in the league but still
have the potential to finish in the top half if they win and other results go
their way. Swansea’s position in 8th is secure but they’ll want to
enjoy their last away day of the season.
Yannick Bolasie – If he
can get his shooting boots on he can grab a few goals. He’s often in great
positions but has struggled to finish the chances off all season.
Bafetimbi Gomis – 5 goals
in his last 5 appearances shows he’s a man bang in form.
Everton v Spurs
Spurs could finish 5th with a win but were
unimpressive against Hull last week despite their win whilst Everton will want
to finish their very average season with a home win to give fans some hope of
success next season.
Romelu Lukaku – A low
ownership striker with 20 points in his last 3 games against a poor travelling
Spurs defence.
Erik Lamela – 3 attacking
returns in his last 5 games shows his potential.
Hull v Man Utd
This match means everything to Hull. They need to win and
hope Newcastle fail to beat West Ham to secure their status in the Premier
League. United have just 1 win and 3 goals in their last 5 games so it looks
to be the ideal time to play them but it is still quite an ask of Steve Bruce’s
team.
Nikica Jelavic – The
striker has enough quality to get the goal Hull need to stay up and he looked sharp
against Spurs despite his recent injury woes.
Ashley Young – The
winger has shown plenty of attacking promise in terms of both assist and
goalscoring potential recently.
Leicester v QPR
The Foxes secured their Premier League status last weekend
whilst the Rs are destined for the Championship. QPR are woeful on their travels and
Leicester will want to give their fans an end of season party.
Leonardo Ulloa – A strong
aerial presence could see him take advantage of the shaky QPR back line.
Matt Phillips – One of
just a few shining lights in the QPR squad this season has shown he can be an
explosive FPL points scorer.
Man City v
Southampton
Both teams have scored 6 goals in a game recently but Man
City have been in much better form with Southampton losing a couple of games
against supposedly weaker teams. Southampton know though that a win combined
with a couple of other outcomes this
weekend could see them finish as high as 5th which would all but guarantee
Koeman the manager of the year award.
Yaya Toure – Probably his
last game in a sky blue shirt so he’ll want to continue his goalscoring form from
last weekend.
Shane Long – Back in
the starting lineup last week with 2 goals and 2 assists against Villa.
Newcastle v West Ham
Newcastle need a win to guarantee survival regardless of
what happens at the KC Stadium. However, Sam Allardyce will be out to do all he
can to send his old employers down to the Championship. Neither team are in
good form so it will be a tight affair in what could be a crucial game this
weekend.
Moussa Sissoko – You feel
that if Newcastle are going to score they’ll need the powerful midfielder to be
at his best
Mark Noble – The pressure
could get to the Newcastle defence and cause them to give away a penalty for the
West Ham midfielder to put away.
Stoke v Liverpool
Liverpool need a win to confirm 5th place whilst
Stoke are guaranteed of a top half finish. Stoke surprised Spurs at the
Britannia a couple of weeks ago and could do the same against Liverpool this
week who only have 1 win in their last 5 games.
Jon Walters – Plenty of
shots inside the box recently suggests he’s been unlucky not to get on the score sheet.
Steven Gerrard – After
all of the media attention last week, Gerrard will be looking to make his mark
in his final Premier League game.
***All the best for your FPL aspirations heading into this final gameweek. May your final arrows be green***
