We’ve put together our Scout Picks ‘bus team’ ahead of Double Gameweek 37 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL).
In this early selection, we select a first draft of our regular picks before they are finalised and published much closer to Saturday’s deadline.
Plenty can change between now and then, with two more Double Gameweek 36 fixtures and a whole host of press conferences still to come this week.
But in the meantime, this ‘bus team’ article – a term coined by the duo behind the Always Cheating podcast – will discuss the players who are likely to be in the running.
As ever, we are limited by certain restrictions in our selections:
- An £83.0m budget for our starting XI
- An overall squad limit of £100.0m
- No more than three players per team
GAMEWEEK 37 FIXTURES
A screenshot of the Gameweek 37 fixtures, sorted by ‘difficulty’ on our Season Ticker
THE LIKELY LADS
For the last time in 2022/23, we have a pool of Double Gameweek players to choose from.
Manchester United, Manchester City and Brighton and Hove Albion ‘doublers’ will no doubt feature heavily in our Scout Picks, with Chelsea options potentially ignored, but more on that later.
As ever, rotation is a huge concern at Man City, given that the title could be clinched before Pep Guardiola’s side have even kicked a ball in Double Gameweek 37. The title permutations are as follows:
- If Arsenal lose v Nott’m Forest on Saturday, Man City will win the title
- If Arsenal draw v Nott’m Forest on Saturday, Man City will win the title with a draw or win v Chelsea on Sunday
- If Arsenal win v Nott’m Forest on Saturday, Man City will win the title by beating Chelsea on Sunday
Erling Haaland (£12.4m) arguably looks about the safest bet, given that he is chasing down various goalscoring records, but could this perhaps be the week to back fringe players such as Riyad Mahrez (£7.4m), Phil Foden (£8.0m) and Julian Alvarez (£6.0m) over Kevin De Bruyne (£12.2m), Ilkay Gundogan (£7.3m) and Jack Grealish (£7.4m), given the schedule (see below)?
For Alvarez, his versatility and the fact he can cover for De Bruyne or Haaland is appealing.
- Wednesday 17 May: Real Madrid (h) – Champions League semi-final
- Sunday 21 May: Chelsea (h) – Double Gameweek 37
- Wednesday 24 May: Brighton (a) – Double Gameweek 37
- Sunday 28 May: Brentford (a) – Gameweek 38
- Saturday 3 June: Man Utd (n) – FA Cup final
- Saturday 10 June: Potential Champions League final
We’ll have an article on site later this week examining how Pep has previously handled rotation/minutes when the title has been sewn up, so keep an eye out for that.
Elsewhere, Man Utd and Brighton will, in all likelihood, supply five or six picks.
For United, the fixtures are appealing from both a defensive and attacking standpoint. Bournemouth never looked like coming away with victory at Selhurst Park at the weekend, creating just 0.31 expected goals (xG), while Chelsea have conceded at least two in six of their last seven matches in all competitions under Frank Lampard.
So, David De Gea (£5.1m), Luke Shaw (£5.2m) – who returned to left-back on Saturday, Bruno Fernandes (£9.4m) and – if fit – Marcus Rashford (£7.2m) all have good shouts for inclusion this week.
The quick turnaround (Thursday-Sunday-Wednesday) is a bit of a concern for Brighton, but Jason Steele (£4.0m), Pervis Estupinan (£4.9m), Alexis Mac Allister (£5.6m) and Kaoru Mitoma (£5.7m) are still attractive propositions against relegated Southampton and a potentially heavily rotated Man City side.
Mitoma has just one assist in his last seven matches but, in that time, is top among team-mates for shots in the box, big chances and penalty box touches. He’ll fancy his chances if up against Kyle Walker-Peters (£4.4m), too, who struggled to keep up with Willian (£5.5m) and Tom Cairney (£4.7m) – who often drifted into the left channel – at the weekend.
IN CONTENTION
The rest of this article is completely free to read but requires a Fantasy Football Scout user account for access – you can get yours at no cost here.
