Dilemmas of the Week - GW38

As I commented a week or so ago, 'form' always becomes more and more unpredictable in the closing weeks of the season, maiking it very risky to use any purely elective transfers, even on apparently very 'favourable' fixtures. There are quite a few unbalanced match-ups in our final batch of fixtures for his season, but.... it's very difficult to guess who's going to play well this Sunday,... or indeed, who's even going to play; there are surely bound to be some eccentric 'rest rotations', and token run-outs given to thus far rarely used squad players.

At least there's still quite a fight on for European qualification, with 5 teams chasing the last 3 Champions League spots (and still a hypothetical, if extremely remote possibility that City could miss out....), and a theoretical chance that Brighton or Brentford could yet attain the Europa Conference League through finishing 8th. However, Arsenal have joined Liverpool in an unassailable position at the top of the rankings, Bournemouth, Fulham, and Palace have fallen out of touch with the European chase, and there's never been much to dispute in the bottom half of the table this season, so.... there are a few 'dead rubbers' this week, 4 games out of the 10 with absolutely nothing at stake (except 'pride'....).

I am trying to streamline these weekly round-ups, aiming to confine myself to just the injuries to players that are likely to have a major significance in FPL; and also, of course, only to new injuries - I figure everyone should be aware of players who were already ruled out for the last gameweek! [I currently find the 'Injuries & Bans' summary on Fantasy Football Scout the most reliable resource for this kind of information - go check that out for more comprehensive coverage.]

So, what are the conundrums we face ahead of Gameweek 38?

Does anybody need to be moved out because of injury?

Willam Saliba picked up a hamstring problem against Newcastle last weekend - which will leave Arsenal with a bit of a makeshift defence; the only recently back-from-injury White and Calafiori will presumably have to deputise for the missing Timber and Saliba.

Tariq Lamptey picked up a knee problem ahead of last week's game, and looks set to miss this week as well.

Marc Guehi and Adam Wharton will both be kept out by injuries they picked up in the Cup Final last Saturday (both blows to the head, although Guehi's issue is now said to be bruising around one of his eyes rather than 'concussion'). And Ben Chilwell is now said to have a problem with an 'illness', so Palace might be a bit short-handed at Anfield.

Everton's Seamus Coleman and Jarrad Branthwaite picked up leg-muscle problems in last week's game, and will miss the Newcastle game - Michael Keane and Ashley Young will presumably deputise.

Alexis Macallister was unexpectedly omitted last week and is now said to be being given a rest for an unspecified fitness issue.

Alexander Isak was a late omission last weekend with a groin problem; touch-and-go whether he'll be OK to start this Sunday.

Murillo played on for the whole game against West Ham last week, despite twisting an ankle in the first half; he's been out of training since, and seems likely to be absent on the final day.

Jørgen Strand Larsen has picked up another knock, and is now said to be doubtful for Sunday (which probably makes it more likely that Cunha will start - although Pereira has said that he doesn't fancy him in the No. 9 role, so that might go to Hwang, Guedes, or perhaps Munetsi).

Do we have any players who are dropped, or not looking likely to get the starts we hoped for?

Marcus Rashford is apparently just about fit to play again at Villa; but he is ineligible to play against parent club Manchester United this week.

Joao Pedro, back from his latest three-match ban last week, was apparently omitted after a training ground bust-up with one of his defenders; and Fabian Hurzeler has said that he'll be sit out this final weekend as well.

Jamie Vardy decided that he'd like to end his Leicester career in front of his home fans last week, so has made himself unavailable for selection.

Mateo Kovacic is banned for one-match, after being sent off for a 'denial of a goal-scoring opportunity' offence against Bournemouth on Tuesday evening, while Lewis Cook is beginning a three-match ban for 'serious foul play' in the same match (bit of a harsh call in my opinion, but the club have chosen not to appeal it).

Jose Sa was omitted without explanation on Tuesday night, in favour of Dan Bentley; that might well happen again.

And Manuel Ugarte was left out of the Europa League squad for Wednesday's final, which raises questions about his place at Manchester United (although it's doubtful if Casemiro can play twice within four days, and they don't have many other options in the engine-room).

Did anyone give other cause to consider dropping them?

Anyone who suffered through that dreadful Europa League Final on Wednesday night is surely going to be ditching any Manchester United or Spurs players they might still have had. And I rather think this Sunday's game might be Ruben Amorim's last at the club.

Did anyone play so well, you have to consider bringing them in immediately?

As I said a couple of weeks ago, I think elective transfers at this time of year are usually a bit of a rash indulgence - certainly if you're feeling forced to make them early to avoid a price-rise, when it's certainly preferable to hang on until close to the deadline to try to firefight late injury developments. But even if you have no injury gaps to plug, it's quite a gamble to replace a starting player when you only have one match to show a return on the change.

Most of the outstanding performances in the last gameweek came from keepers, and you certainly don't want to be swapping them on a whim. I suppose Danny Welbeck, Cody Gakpo, and Omar Marmoush also had very impressive games - but do they really look massively more tempting than the players you have already?

The stronger temptation for most FPL managers now is to bring in players from Arsenal or Aston Villa, or possibly Bournemouth, who appear to have the weekend's 'easiest' fixtures.

It was never actually specified in the 'rules' for the 'Assistant Manager' chip if it would cease to be available in GW37 if you hadn't activated it yet. But I saw people on a couple of Facebook forums last week claiming that they had just deployed the chip for the first time; thus, presumably, you would also be able to play it just for this final gameweek, if you'd forgotten about it until now! And it seems quite a lot of people had waited until GW36 to play it; so, many have it in play this week. But with all the uncertainty of end-of-season form, and so many curiously mismatched fixtures on the closing day, it really is a complete lottery as to who to select for it this time. Fulham against City, Everton against  Newcastle, Wolves against Brentford, Spurs against Brighton, and perhaps even Manchester United against Villa all have table-bonus potential - and that would be my running order; Marco Silva and David Moyes have produced some of the best returns for this chip. (Some might fancy Palace against Liverpool, perhaps; but I don't think the Cup winners have got much going for them at the moment apart from the 'Eze Factor'; and although Liverpool have been very flat since clinching the title, I would expect them to raise their level considerably for their final appearance at Anfield, when they'll be celebrating their title victory with their fans.) Others, no doubt, will be banking rather on BIG wins for Arsenal against Southampton or Bournemouth against Leicester.

BEST OF LUCK, EVERYONE!

DON'T FORGET The Boycott.  Even if you have played the new 'Assistant Manager' chip this year, please do criticise and complain about it online as much as possible. And raise objections to it with any football or media figures you know how to contact, and - if possible - try to find a way to protest about it directly to the FPL hierarchy (and let me know how, if you manage that!).

I worry that the fight on this is only just now really beginning: we'll have to push hard for the next few weeks to try to ensure that this silly, game-distorting innovation does not become a permanent feature of FPL from next season.

#DownWithTheNewChip