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Dave & Joe’s Fantasy Football Mix - GW35

28 April 2015

We know it's only Tuesday but what a let down this DGW has been so far. There needs to be a miraculous recovery and subsequent hat-trick from Alberto Moreno if it wants any hope of being remembered for anything other than the week that Dave’s season imploded. Still, there are two games left so we can hope for fireworks from Liverpool and Chelsea and sheer goalscoring impotence from the likes of Hull. The article this week is focusing on picking out players who are trying to potentially gain a move or save their arses with their performances over the last 4 gameweeks.

 

The Upper Echelons

With the season limping towards its conclusion, the top 7 look fairly set in stone. Chelsea are champions elect while United, City and Arsenal fight for the 2 remaining automatic Champions League qualification spots. Liverpool in 5th seem to have left it too late to make a push for the Champions League and will instead have to be content for a place in the Europa League, football's poison chalice. Here they will be joined by either Southampton or Tottenham. With upheavals pending at City and United and a Champions League-less season ahead for Liverpool, Spurs and Southampton – we take a look at the players looking to cement a spot at their clubs, and those looking to impress Europe's big boys.

Dave:Two teams, different stories, same results - summer upheaval. Firstly, a Man City side who looked poor this year seem set to buy big this summer to fix an ageing squad. Jesus Navas, the 23 year old man trapped inside a 29 year old’s body (how is he possibly that old?!), has just started to showcase what we like to call The Emmanuel Adebayor Conundrum - when it looks like the end is nigh, suddenly the performances come out of nowhere. In GW33 he looked capable of completing rudimentary tasks like passing and running which is a promising improvement on early season form. He needs to go big for the last 4 games, at £7.2m he is a risk but a big differential at 1.2% ownership worldwide. The other team to look at is Southampton, the perennial selling club. Koeman made some good loan signings, one of whom is Toby Alderweireld. On loan from Atletico, he might not yet have done enough to warrant a place in their team so look for him to perform over these final few weeks. Southampton have 3 nice fixtures before a final day game against City, so you should see some clean sheets from the league’s joint-best defence. At £4.8mandownership of 2.6% he’s a no-brainer to get in if you want to double-up with Clyne or free up some funds.

Joe:The first name that comes to mind here is Raheem Sterling. Still only 20 years old, the winger has immediate ambitions beyond the immediate abilities of Liverpool and seems likely to move to a Champions League team in the Summer. The mercurially talented Jamaican-born winger is expensive at £8.6m but is surely a decent bet for a points-laden climax to his season as he looks to impress Europe's elite. Graziano Pelle is another who may be looking to secure a move to a Champions League team. After a mid-season slump, the £7.4m striker is now firmly back in FPL manager's eye's with 3 goals in his last 3 games. 30 in the Summer, and now part of the Italian national team, Pelle may see this as his last chance to make it to the very top.

 

Mid-Table Mediocrity

From Swansea in 8th, all the way down to Newcastle in 15th, there are a lot of teams in the Premier League who realistically have nothing to play for. However, many of their players may not want to indefinitely repeat this anticlimactic cycle of mid-table anonymity and will instead be playing out of their skins to secure moves to more powerful clubs with higher ambitions and greater opportunities than their current employers.

Dave:I’m being generous throwing Villa into this section, but a man who has found his mojo and will be looking for pastures new next season is Christian Bentekeat £7.6m. The Tim Sherwood revival continues and, by inspiring Benteke to score some goals, he may have just packed his bags for him. Benteke has the added bonus of semi-decent fixtures and an FA Cup final to look towards as a showcase of his talents. Another season in Birmingham may be seen as stagnating back in Belgium where he has fallen behind Lukaku in the pecking order, so expect to see two things between now and June: goals and a transfer request. Moving over to London, Carl Jenkinson (my captain on the final day last season when he scored his only Arsenal goal) currently has no idea where he will be playing football next season. Now Arsenal’s third choice right back, a move looks on the cards for him this summer. Not being quite as good as Coleman or Clyne means he’ll probably end up at Liverpool as opposed to United with both sides needing to have Glen Johnson/Antonio Valencia respectively not play first-team football anymore. Of course he could replace Coleman or Clyne depending on who does move this summer too so with his place next season up in the air and some good fixtures coming up, he too will look to show his talents in a bid to find a new home. Pair that with West Ham being most likely to have a clean sheet next week according to our algorithm and he looks promising at £5.0m. I also would’ve included Fabian Delph in this section had he not been outscored by Tom Cleverley so far this season.

Joe:Everton are the most in-form team in the league with 16 points from their last possible 18. However, due to their woeful start to the season, this run has come too little too late and many of their star players have expressed their desires to seek pastures new in the Summer. Look to wantaway winger Kevin Mirallas at £7.2m and the increasingly unpopular Romelu Lukaku at £8.7m to act as differentials for your team as they look to impress potential Champions League suitors. Another option may be Ross Barkley at £6.6m who may become the next English starlet to enter the Jack Rodwell/Scott Sinclair school of excellence at Manchester City. The final four weeks of the season gives them one final chance to put themselves in the shop window and add a few zeros to their price tag.

 

Cut Adrift

We know it’s still quite close down at the bottom, but we're be inclined to say that we think that Hull, Burnley and QPR are destined for the drop. Sunderland may also come into the mix but we think Leicester and Villa may have played their way out of trouble this year and Newcastle’s slump came just a little too late to really throw them into the danger. Not all teams can live a fairy tale like Bournemouth did this week (the classic fairy tale where a billionaire Russian owner leads you to glory, think it’s called Made In Chelsea), so needless to say some of these players have Premier League aspirations for next season.

Dave:Only one place to start, bragging about Dame N’Doye. Tipped him up last week and he’s netted 13 points with a game to play. He is Hull’s lone saviour and a player who may find his way into a new club next season, I can just see him sitting on the bench for Watford. He does have potential to do a Pavel Pogrebnyak though and somehow become worse in a lower league. Another player we touched on last week was Danny Ings, the much-heralded, not as good as Harry Kane but probably better than Saido Berahino, future of English football. He’s deceptively young at the age of 22 and just stinks of scoring 6 goals next season for Liverpool. However, Burnley have 4 decent fixtures coming up and whether Ings plans on saving them or is daydreaming of smalltalk on the bench with Fabio Borini next season, he needs goals.

Joe:QPR and their merry band of mercenaries look doomed to relegation this season. However their last few games will most likely see their performances improve as their players look to secure moves to Premier League teams. Of course, one must start with Charlie Austin. It would be highly unlikely to see the 17-goal striker slumming it in the Championship next year and a few more goals in the run-in will only alert more teams to his quality. At £6.4m he is a real cut-price option for managers looking to save for DGW37. Dutch international, Leroy Fer, is another who will be leaving Loftus Road this Summer. At 25, the strong and skillful midfielder is approaching his prime and will be looking to attract a team from the other end of the table. At £5.2m he offers another budget option to managers as the season comes to a close. Finally, at £4.6m, Matt Phillips offers an even cheaper option. Since breaking into the QPR team in February, the 24 year old Scot has an impressive 5.1 PPG. Another who will surely remain in the Premier League.

 

As always, we’ll answer any comments or questions you might have. Feel free to give us a shout on twitter too! 

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