We are well into the business end of the Premier League season as the fight for European and relegation survival takes centre stage, with less than 10 Game Weeks left.
Game week 31 will be heavily affected by squad rotation in view of the quarterfinal ties in Europe at their halfway stage. It is time to ignore the big-hitters and stick to players with something to play for.
West Ham and Tottenham for instance, only have the Premier League to play. Also, teams in the relegation battle tend to produce surprise results during the final stretch of the season.
Par for the course, Football Castle has compiled the best FPL Game Week 31 picks ahead of the early deadline at 18:30 GMT on Friday, April 9.
Goalkeepers
Edouard Mendy(£5.2m): Chelsea have kept eight clean sheets in 11 Premier League fixtures since Thomas Tuchel’s appointment and face Palace, Brighton and Fulham in three of their next four games. Only Ederson has more shutouts than Mendy’s 14 this season and the Chelsea goalkeeper has picked up 31 FPL points in the last four GWs.
Additionally, Mendy faces Crystal Palace who have registered the second-fewest shots on target in the last six GWs.
Defenders
Cédric Soares(£4.6m) the Portuguese full-back is deputizing for the injured Kieran Tierney and offers attacking promise.
Cédric faces Sheffield United and Fulham in the coming Game weeks and would get enough opportunities to go forward as well as keep clean sheets. Arsenal are 2.02 to shut out their struggling hosts in GW31.
Ben Mee(£4.9m) is a decent pick for GW31 as he faces Newcastle who have desperately struggled for goals.
Although the Burnley defence isn’t the water-tight unit it used to be, Mee still has attacking prospects and could nick points at either end of the pitch.
Midfielders
Raheem Sterling(£11.3m) was handed 30 minutes last weekend and an unused substitute in midweek against Dortmund. Sterling is set to start in GW31 and could well prove a GW31 gem against Leeds.
The England international is in otherwise good form and assisted City’s second against Leicester in GW30. Sterling will be looking to take out his frustrations on Bielsa’s side, he is 6.17 to open the scoring.
Jesse Lingard(£6.3m)
As I learnt the hard way on monday night, you must get Lingard in your team right away if he isn’t already in.
The 28-year-old has registered 12 successive points and no one has more goal involvements (nine) than the England international since his West Ham debut on February 3. And he surely passes the eye test following his showing at the Molineux.
Forwards
Harry Kane(£11.7m)
After hosting Man United in GW 31, Spurs have two matches in Gameweek 32 which bodes well for the 27-year-old.
Kane is the Premier League’s top scorer and is in red-hot form, grabbing six goals and two assists in his last six GWs.
Kane will bask in the run of games as he and Spurs have the Golden Boot and Europe to play for. They also have favourable fixtures up to GW 37. Kane is 2.27 to score anytime against United.
Jamie Vardy(£10.1m)
Leicester are in a good way and face West Ham, West Brom, Palace, Southampton and Newcastle in their next five games. Vardy is as good a purchase as strike-partner Kelechi Iheanacho(£5.8m) who still has a meagre 5.7% ownership given his form.
As all 20 teams have less than 10 games left, it is imperative to unearth gems if you’re seeking a late flurry in your mini-leagues and Iheanacho’s good fixtures are hard to ignore.
Chris Wood(£6.2m)
Burnley are famously unfashionable, however, have become a more attractive outfit in recent weeks. The New-Zealander has now scored three matches on the spin and faces a very poor Newcastle side who have conceded at least two goals in nine of their last 13 matches.
The clarets need to win to ease their own relegation worries and this is an ideal opportunity to pick up three points.
