Fresh off the back of the weekend's games let's talk about what we've learned to take into the final two gameweeks, where we should be focusing transfers and captaincy, and I'll run through my team and transfer plans as well.
⚽ Ipswich 0 - 1 Brentford 🐝
Schade, Wissa, Mbeumo all start as expected but not the high scoring game we hoped for. Wissa had scored against the bottom 3 on all 5 occasions he'd faced them, but blanked on the 6th and final time, in a week where he was one of the most bought players in the game. 5 shots as well, ended up getting a yellow for an attempted overhead kick and ended up kicking Greaves in the head rather than ball. Schade with the goal, that's 35 points for the £5.2m midfielder over the last 4 gameweeks, more than literally any player in the league. Was glad to see him score after having him on the face of the players to buy article. Mbeumo got the assist so at least no blank for a heavily popular captain. 3 clean sheets for Brentford in their last 6, they've shown improvement defensively, 3 of those 6 games they conceded less than 1 xG. Fulham home next, Wolves away GW38. Now that the Ipswich fixture has passed Wissa is a bit less obvious choice compared to some other forwards in the discussion this week, but still a great choice for £6.8m, don't be put off by the blank.
🛡️ Southampton 0 - 0 Man City 🔵
One of the upsets of the season surely, 0.11 xG vs 1.89 xG. Credit to Southampton honestly, the pressure was on to avoid the title of the worst team in Premier League history in terms of points, they've dug out draws away to West Ham and Man City in their last 2 so that record belongs to Derby still. De Bruyne and Haaland both started. 1.18 xGI for KDB as well, 5 shots taken. Haaland a bit of a surprise following no minutes last gameweek and he looked rusty, didn't even get a shot off until the 92nd minute. Unlucky if you picked him up, especially if it was a brave call like selling Salah, the upside was massive whatever way you frame it. They needed that goal so he played 90 as well, Marmoush came on late and had a brilliant moment firing an early shot across Ramsdale which came back off the cross bar. The only winners this game were Gvardiol and Ruben Dias owners. Or I guess if anyone accidentally started a Southampton defender or Ramsdale. In a bitterly disappointing season I'm sure Saints fans will take a lot of pride from that game anyway. The curse of the most transferred player continuing, KDB had over 700,000 new owners by the deadline.
🐺 Wolves 0 - 2 Brighton 🔵
Almost 200,000 new Cunha owners left disappointed as well, a poor game from him including a yellow card for giving away a penalty and hooked before the 60th minute. Strand Larsen was back in the squad but only on the bench. Welbeck scored what would have been his 10th goal of the season only to be chalked off, then scored the penalty later. That's the first time he has ever scored 10 league goals in his career amazingly, spanning over 17 seasons. 2 losses on the bounce for Wolves following that incredible run they'd been on before. So is Cunha still worth buying? I'd be reluctant now after that poor game, early sub and given the fact he likely won't be a Wolves player next season. If you've got him you keep.
🎯 Final Gameweeks & Targets
So I sorted the final two gameweeks by attacking difficulty on the Focal app, to have a look at which midfielders and forwards to look at. At this stage of the season there's two gameweeks to go, so the sensible play is to chase that burst of upside which attackers are of course likelier to get you. We'll do a deep dive in the players to buy article on Monday. Looking at the forwards there's Watkins, Wissa, Wood, Isak all popular. Watkins leaps out as having the best fixtures to me, is fourth on the ticker after Ipswich, who we're not buying from, Forest where Wood is an option, no Arsenal strikers, then Villa. Spurs home when they have the Europa League final just a few days later, then Man Utd in GW38 a few days after their final in a dead game for them. Isak has Arsenal GW37 so no rush to buy but in GW38 Everton home is really nice, and it's worth mentioning Evanilson who is in the same boat and firmly on my radar, Man City in GW37 but it's all about the GW38 fixture Leicester home.