We are now truly reaching the end of the 2018-19 Premier League campaign. With gameweek 37 upon us in about 24 hours, we’ll be entering the final two gameweeks of the season and rarely has an English title race, or indeed any football title race, been as tight as this year’s battle of titans between Man City and Liverpool. The way it looks now, the Cityzens seem to be in pole position, as it seems unlikely that they’ll drop points against Leicester at the Etihad or versus Brighton away. You never know, though. One thing we do know, is that Jurgen Klopp’s men won’t give up until the very end.
That will also be the main thought for FC Barcelona’s Ernesto Valverde after he led his men to a (flattering) victory over the Reds in this week’s first leg of the Champions League semi-finals. After Spurs succumbed to a brilliant opening half hour from the visitors from Amsterdam a day earlier, the other English semi-finalist had to recognise Barcelona’s superiority at the Camp Nou. Or maybe better said, Lionel Messi’s superiority. Considering the flow of the game, it can be considered a miracle that Liverpool didn’t score, but that’s what happened and now they have the daunting task of coming back from three behind against one of Europe’s best outfits. Still, not so long ago, PSG showed that incredible turn-arounds against Barça are possible. If they could do it, why not the best Liverpool in ages?
On to FPL. The upcoming return matches in the Champions League, as well as the upcoming games in the Europa League semis, will have their impact on team selections this weekend, so we will be taking that into account. Before moving onto our picks for gameweek 37, we’ll provide a simple overview of the two games that each team still has to play, as well as a summary of how last week’s picks performed. With just two rounds to go, it’s all or nothing for those chasing in their (mini-)leagues, while the fortunate ones in the lead need to hold on for just a little longer. Just like for Liverpool, for most FPL managers, it’s all coming down to the final games.
Don’t forget that the deadline for gameweek 37 has been set at 19h00 (BST) tomorrow Friday, May 3rd.
The remaining fixtures list for each Premier League team this season
| Team | GW37 | GW38 | Team | GW37 | GW38 | |
| Man City | Leicester (h) | Brighton (a) | West Ham | Soton (h) | Watford (a) | |
| Liverpool | N’castle (a) | Wolves (h) | Palace | Cardiff (a) | B’mouth (h) | |
| Spurs | B’mouth (a) | Everton (h) | Newcastle | Liverpool (h) | Fulham (a) | |
| Chelsea | Watford (h) | Leicester (a) | B’mouth | Spurs (h) | Palace (a) | |
| Arsenal | Brighton (h) | Burnley (a) | Burnley | Everton (a) | Arsenal (h) | |
| Man United | H’field (a) | Cardiff (h) | Soton | W Ham (a) | H’field (h) | |
| Wolves | Fulham (h) | Liverpool (a) | Brighton | Arsenal (a) | Man City (h) | |
| Leicester | Man City (a) | Chelsea (h) | Cardiff | Palace (h) | M United (a) | |
| Everton | Burnley (h) | Spurs (a) | Fulham | Wolves (a) | N’castle (h) | |
| Watford | Chelsea (a) | W Ham (h) | Huddersfield | M United (h) | Soton (a) |
(a) = away ; (h) = home
Before moving onto our picks for GW37, here are the results of last week’s picks
| TYPE | PLAYER (Club) | POINTS |
| Premium | Andy Robertson (Liverpool) | 14 |
| Premium | Mo Salah (Liverpool) | 19 |
| Premium | Christian Eriksen (Spurs) | 2 |
| Differential | Bernardo Silva (Man City) | 3 |
| Differential | Jamie Vardy (Leicester) | 13 |
| Captain | Sadio Mané (Liverpool) | 13 |
| Captain | Heung-Min Son (Spurs) | 2 |
Premium picks
After an unusual drought in terms of attacking returns for Raul Jimenez (£6.9m) that lasted three gameweeks, the Mexican striker got back on the score sheet against Watford at Vicarage Road last week. Wolves are facing relegated Fulham at home on Saturday, and especially at home, Jimenez has been a man of extremes since gameweek 24. They played six home games over that stretch and the Mexican recorded three double-figure hauls, while returning 2 points on the other three occasions. Including away games for that period, Jimenez has scored 7 goals and provided 3 assists, bringing home 76 FPL points for the 38.1% of managers that own him. Fulham meanwhile still boast the worst defensive record in the league this season, but they did shut out their last three opponents (Everton home, Bournemouth away, Cardiff home). Nevertheless, Wolves are expected to aim everything at securing the seventh spot in the League in these last two games, as a Man City victory in the FA Cup final versus Watford would mean that the seventh spot equals Europa League football next season. Raul Jimenez is a nailed-on starter and one of the best performers of the season, so try to bring him in for this one if you can.
As could be seen against West Ham at home last weekend and mid-week against Ajax in the Champions League, Spurs are not going through their best phase, in big part due to injuries. Still, they are fighting to keep hold of their current third position in the table, which is why our second premium pick of the week is Heung-Min Son (£8.9m). The Korean attacker was suspended for the first leg of his team’s Champions League semi-final clash, and even though many eyes will be on him to lead a potential comeback against Ajax coming Wednesday, he’s more than likely to start at the Vitality Stadium coming Saturday. Considering Spurs’ current struggles to break down rival defences, he might even be the one to decide that encounter. Son’s last attacking return came in gameweek 34, an assist in just four minutes of playing time, and followed his goal against Palace a round earlier. Bournemouth’s home form is reasonable, with 7 victories and 6 draws in 18 games. They did concede 25 goals over those 18 games and their recent results have been fluky. Between gameweeks 33 and 35, for example, a 1-3 loss at home to Burnley was followed by a 0-5 victory versus Huddersfield, which subsequently was followed by a 0-1 home loss to Fulham. Despite their injuries, form, and hectic schedule, Spurs should come away with three points this weekend, and if they do, Son will be instrumental.
Our final premium pick for gameweek 37 is based more on fixture than current form, though we can’t really say that Man United’s Luke Shaw (£5.0m) has been in bad form of late. It’s more a team-wide issue at United, it seems. The young English left-back played a good game against Chelsea last week and provided an excellent assist for Mata’s goal, earning him the full 3 bonus points for a total of 8 points. On Sunday, the United defence faces the League’s lowest-scoring attack when the Red Devils roll up to Huddersfield’s John Smith’s Stadium. The Terriers have scored just 9 goals in 18 home games this season. Nine. Despite a top-four finish depending on the results of their rivals as well, United can be expected to aim for a comfortable victory and hope for a mistake by Chelsea or Arsenal. With Cardiff at Old Trafford as his last game of the season, Luke Shaw could very well record two clean sheets to end the campaign in style. Add the potential of an assist in one of those games and maybe a bonus point or two, and you’ve got a defender who could represent 12+ points over two games without stretching our imagination too much.
A differential pick or two
Exceptionally, we’ve included two defenders in this week’s list, as our first differential suggestion is Wolverhampton’s Jonny (£4.3m). Wolves are facing Fulham at home on Saturday and despite the improvement in composure and form displayed by the Cottagers over the past few weeks, a clean sheet and a victory seem to be on the cards for the locals. As we mentioned earlier, a Man City victory over Watford in the upcoming FA Cup final would mean that the seventh place in the Premier League represents a spot in next season’s Europa League, and Wolves are currently in seventh. Fulham have been far from prolific in front of goal away from home this season, scoring just 12 goals in 18 away games. Wolves, on the other hand, boast excellent home form, with 9 victories out of 18 games, and just five losses. Their starting left-back Jonny is currently owned by just 3.5% of FPL managers and has recorded 19 FPL points over the past three League games, courtesy of a clean sheet against Brighton in GW35 and two assists against Arsenal the week after that. The young Spaniard is facing Liverpool at Anfield next week, so this would really be a one-week differential pick, but one that definitely pay off.
Paul Pogba (£8.5m) is our second differential pick for gameweek 37. There, we said it. Sure, he’s not a differential in terms his current FPL ownership (31.4%), but considering United’s recent form and alleged dressing room issues, we do think that counting on United’s current form is kind of a punt. In other words, more than 31% of managers might own Pogba at the moment, but how many will be spending a free transfer or even 4 points to bring him in? The Frenchman has averaged just 3.3 FPL points over his last ten Premier League games, but his 90 minutes are practically assured and he’s on penalties as well. He’ll be up against Huddersfield on Sunday, who have conceded 30 goals in 18 home games. What’s more, the last time the Terriers conceded less than two goals in a game was back in gameweek 29. In the seven games that followed, they conceded a staggering 23 goals. Pogba’s last attacking returns came against West Ham in GW 34 (2 goals and 15 FPL points) and the game against Huddersfield looks like the ideal opportunity for a next haul.
The FISO Forum GW37 transfers topic has further ideas for you to have a look at.
The captaincy
Man City are on course to decide this year’s thrilling title race in their favour, all they need is to win their remaining two games against Leicester (home) and Brighton (away). Besides the FA Cup final on the 18th of May, City have no other obligations, which means they can list their strongest starting eleven without a problem this weekend. Kun Aguero (£11.9m) is definitely part of their strongest eleven. This weekend’s home game against Leicester won’t likely be a walk-over, but few teams can withstand a Man City at full force. As far as Aguero goes, he has delivered attacking returns in every home game so far this season, including two hat-tricks. Also, his crucial goal against Burnley in gameweek 36 was his 20th of the Premier League campaign, meaning that the Argentinian assassin has now reached at least 20 goals in the PL in each of his last five season. This man is fixture-proof and even though Brendan Rogers has done really good work in relatively little time at Leicester, it’s hard to not see Aguero making a considerable contribution to Man City’s title chances, both this weekend against the Foxes and in gameweek 38 at the AMEX in Brighton.
If you feel that Leicester might be the proverbial banana peel for Pep Guardiola’s men, than you can look at their main rivals for an alternative. Liverpool’s Mo Salah (£13.3m) seems to have returned to top form for the business end of the season, illustrated by his huge 19-point haul against Huddersfield last week, making him the highest-scoring FPL asset in the game (249 points in total). Considering the intense encounter at the Camp Nou this week in which Salah failed to have an impact on the scorelines despite a few chances to do so, Jurgen Klopp will still count on Salah to bring the tricky away game versus Newcastle to a satisfying end coming Saturday evening. They’ve still got everything to lose in the League as well. Mo has scored 4 goals and provided 1 assist in his last five Premier League outings, including a double strike and an assist last week against Huddersfield. Liverpool have scored an impressive twenty times since the start of gameweek 30, while Newcastle played three home games over that period in which they conceded 4 goals. It won’t be an easy game for the Reds, but considering the stakes, one would expect Liverpool to score a few here and come away with the three points.
The weekly FPL Captain Poll has for GW37, has Aguero currently with over 50% of the votes.