In this of all seasons, it is impossible to predict what will happen not only on the final day of the Premier League, but also in the upper echelons of what has been a fiercely competitive J-League.
Gameweek 37 review
It’s not very often that two Irish players make it into the Fantasy Football Dream Team, but any joy taken from the presence of Ciaran Clark and Wes Hoolahan this week will be dampened by the fact that neither player made it within an ass’s roar of the squad going to Euro 2012.
Still, that is no reason to take away from the 11-point totals of both players as they made it into a team that is dominated by the two Manchester clubs, a little surprising perhaps, given what was at stake last weekend.
Top man in more ways than one was Yaya Toure, arguably the driving force behind City’s late surge towards what would appear to be an inevitable title triumph and scorer of an inspirational brace against Newcastle on Sunday. For that, Toure earned 15 points, a score equalled by Wigan defender Antolin Alacaraz, whose goal confirmed Blackburn’s demotion to the Championship as well as the Latics’ deserved survival in the top flight.
Two players also caught up in the relegation scrap, Bolton’s Martin Petrov and QPR defender Anton Ferdinand, got a look-in with 12 and 10 points respectively, with the peerless Robin van Persie (13) also featuring alongside the all-Manchester quartet of Gael Clichy (11), Paul Scholes (11), Ashley Young (10) and David de Gea (8).
J-League
If the monumental shake-up in the J-League last weekend wasn’t enough, there was more of where that came from again over the last few days with not one member of the top five occupying the same position they did last weekend.
As a result, Brian Duffy’s Fergie’s Fledglings have leapt into top spot despite a fairly modest 59 points, which is enough to give Brian an eight-point lead over Conor Sheehy’s A Great Bunch’a Lads in second place.
Last week’s leaders, Conell Cashell’s Cashmachines could only manage a paltry 35 points and have slipped to third in the table ahead of Matt Light’s Mamelodi Sundowns in fourth and Eoin Groarke’s Sure Now, for whom it has all gone drastically Pete Tong in recent weeks.
With only one gameweek to go, it would appear as if it is a straight fight between Brian Duffy and Conor Sheehy for the title, even if one can’t rule out a Lazarus-like recovery from Conell Cashell’s Cashmachines at this late stage.
J-League Top 5:
- Fergie’s Fledglings – Brian Duffy: 2,249 points
- A Great Bunch’a Lads – Conor Sheehy: 2,241 points
- Cashmachines – Conell Cashell: 2,233 points
- Mamelodi Sundowns – Matt Light: 2,220 points
- Sure Now – Eoin Groarke: 2,212 points
Free for all finale
What will happen on the final day of the Premier League season where virtually everything is still up for decision is nigh-on impossible to predict. One might think that you’d be better off dealing principally with players who actually have something at stake, but it is often the ones who have damn all to play for come up trumps in the end.
Look at Liverpool on Tuesday night, for instance. Although a lot of what happened at Anfield can be attributed to a shambolic defensive display from Chelsea – particularly the laughably woeful John Terry – the Reds played with an ebullience that they had been lacking on home turf all season.
If you are one of the few still caught up in a battle at the top of a mini-league, then you are unlikely to make too many transfers anyway because of the accompanying point deficit. That is unless you still have your wildcard, of course, leaving you with the rather devious option of changing your entire team to replicate that of your closest challenger and thus ensuring that if you’re already on top, you’re going to stay there. Not that we’d recommend such dubious behaviour, of course.
Considering the craziness that lies in store, all we can advise – apart from the recommended players below – is that your keep your fingers firmly crossed. We wish you the very best of luck.
JOE’s Fantasy Football Picks:
Top Dollar: Robin van Persie (£13.2 million). It’s his goals that have brought Arsenal to where they are in the table and Gooners will be relying on a couple more to secure third spot – and possibly his future – against West Brom at the weekend.
Mid-Range: Yaya Toure (£7.8 million). The main man against Newcastle and arguably the man of the match against United the week before, the younger Toure has shown that he does the business when it counts. If the chips are down against QPR, it will be to Toure that Roberto Mancini will look to make a difference.
Bargain Basement: Antolin Alcaraz (£4.3 million). It seems as if there’s a different Wigan player in this category every week, but it’s well deserved on the back of their recent run. The match-winner on Monday night, Alcaraz has two goals and four clean sheets in his last seven games.
Irish Pick: Wes Hoolahan (£5.0 million). Even though he’s about to turn 30, Trap reckons he’s the future for Ireland, but he’s very much the present for Norwich. We fancy him to continue his recent good form against Villa on Sunday.
Captain’s Pick: Sergio Aguero (£11.2 million). It’s a toughie, but if you, like us, think that Manchester City will do enough to win the title, then Aguero’s a decent bet to score against a leaky QPR defence.
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