De Bruyne to replace Salah? Fantasy football tips

Published on: 13 May 2022

Just two gameweeks to go and we have our final double gameweek of the season with Aston Villa, Burnley, Crystal Palace, Everton and Leicester all playing twice.

Some of you will have saved your second Free Hit chip for this week but, whether you have it or not, your transfer decisions will probably centre on which "doublers" to bring in.

Don't forget if you're not on the Free Hit then you need to take into account who those players will be facing in gameweek 38 as well. For example, Villa have a very tricky looking away game at Manchester City so you might not want to be starting three Villa assets in that final fixture.

Some of the choices are pretty obvious and you may already have them in your teams ready to go, particularly those players who've already doubled in gameweek 36 like Kasper Schmeichel, Richarlison and Ollie Watkins.

    Fantasy 606 podcast: Ou est le Stade de France?

Jamie Vardy is owned by fewer than 10% of managers

Statman Dave has picked out Jamie Vardy as his top transfer target in the Fantasy 606 podcast this week with Leicester at Watford and Chelsea in gameweek 37. He's a differential as he's owned by fewer than 10% of the managers in the game but you're obviously banking on the fact that Brendan Rodgers will start him in both games given that Leicester now only have their league position to play for.

Wilfried Zaha is another tempting option for Crystal Palace's games at Aston Villa and Everton. He's thrived under Patrick Vieira and has already surpassed his highest Premier League goals tally for a single season with 13 so far, plus he has the added bonus of being Palace's penalty-taker. He also finishes his season with a home game against Manchester United who looked all over the place in their 4-0 defeat at Brighton.

Danny Ings has also caught the eye in the past couple of weeks, coming off the bench to score against Norwich and then starting both of Villa's games against Burnley and Liverpool in gameweek 36, scoring the opening goal in the 3-1 win over the Clarets at Turf Moor. Keep an eye out for any fitness updates on Villa's Ollie Watkins who normally would be the more reliable starter ahead of Ings but limped off with an injury late on in the Liverpool game.

The Villa defence looks a good bet for gameweek 37 with home games against Palace and Burnley. Lucas Digne is not only cheaper than his fellow full-back Matty Cash but he's also owned by fewer managers so he's the one I would pick. Philippe Coutinho is a tricky one now as Emiliano Buendia started ahead of him in the win at Burnley and racked up 15 points so you could easily see him starting one of the next two games.

Let's not forget the single gameweek players either though and it's an interesting question as to how many you should have in a Free Hit team this week.

Manchester City's Kevin de Bruyne has scored 86 points in the last eight gameweeks

Son Heung-min and Kevin de Bruyne should definitely be in there as the two most in-form players in the game right now - Son's scored 98 points in the past eight gameweeks, De Bruyne just behind him on 86. Phil Foden's the cheaper option in that Manchester City midfield but don't forget you really want to be putting all of your money into your starting XI in a Free Hit team rather than spreading it across all 15 players in the squad, so go for cheap subs and push the boat out for De Bruyne. You never know, he might score four goals again!

Normally Mohamed Salah would also be on that list for me, particularly as Liverpool have an away fixture at Southampton, but can we even be sure he starts that game having been on the bench for two of Liverpool's past three Premier League fixtures? That will depend partly on how the FA Cup final goes on Saturday but you could consider the prospect of going for one of Sadio Mane, Diogo Jota or Luis Diaz instead.

Statman Dave hit us with the startling stat in the Fantasy 606 podcast that Salah is ranked as low as 10th for expected goals in the past 10 gameweeks and he's only scored five non-penalty goals in his past 20 Premier League appearances.

If you are not on a Free Hit then I wouldn't consider switching him out for a Liverpool team-mate because that's just a waste of a transfer but changing him for Son or De Bruyne is definitely an option.

Don't forget it's a 10:30 BST deadline on Sunday and if you're making Chelsea or Liverpool moves then leave them until after that FA Cup final on Saturday.

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Source: bbc.com

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