Cianan’s Column: All things GW38 and season’s end

The end of the season is officially upon us, and the best advice you’re going to get is to have patience. GW37 saw the Premier League title decided, so we’re anticipating rotation for Arsenal and Man City, but particularly for the Gunners. Given that all matches are set to be played at the same time this Sunday, team leaks are far more likely, meaning you can make more informed transfers later down the line based on who’s playing and who’s being rested. There is a chance there are no leaks, but there is no need to rush moves just for the sake of it.

Still, the question remains of who you can bring in, and it’s worth having a grasp of the options ahead of time. Assuming you have, say, three Arsenal players and three Man City players, you will probably need to replace one or two (if you have the transfers), depending on who’s out. If Haaland is benched (unlikely, but stick with me here), you need to know who your replacement striker option is. It could be as easy as Marmoush, who has scored in two of his last three appearances, if we find out he’s starting, or Richarlison. Tottenham need to beat Everton to stay up, so they will be eager to get on the scoresheet, with the Brazilian having already bagged seven career goals against the Toffees. West Ham also desperately need points, so Bowen offers utility as this season’s fourth-highest scoring forward.

Elsewhere, if Saka doesn’t feature (which we can consider quite likely with Arsenal’s looming Champions League final), who are you selling him for? If you can afford Palmer, Chelsea are still competing for European football, and he has only 12.5% ownership, the result of his subpar season. Liverpool still need to confirm Champions League qualification, so you could go for Szoboszlai. He’s been the Reds’ talisman this year, notching 13 goal contributions, including two assists in his last game against Villa. Of course, you could be nostalgic and play Salah for his last Liverpool hurrah, though his season has been so shoddy it would be an (expensive) fit of romanticism for a soon-gone FPL era. Gibbs-White has also had an electric season, though given the likelihood you have a Bournemouth defender (Senesi, Hill, or Truffert) for their solid fixture against Forest (A), he becomes harder to recommend.

While there are usually sparse clean sheets in the last gameweek of the season, there are still three defenders to consider, two from Tottenham, Porro and Danso, and West Ham’s Mavropanos. Porro and Mavropanos have assist and goal threat, respectively, while Danso is the cheapest at £4.2m, with all more than capable of achieving DEFCON points. Both sides are trying to claw their way out of next season’s second division, so as far as guaranteed starters go, they have the greatest clean sheet odds.

I think my point is clear: you need to have a contingency plan so that, whatever the chaos brings, you know your moves. If you own the most common Arsenal/Man City assets, such as Haaland, Semenyo, Gabriel, Raya, etc., it’s highly unlikely that none of them starts. But still, it’s best to prepare for the worst and hope for the best, and if no leaks come our way, there’s nothing wrong with making a safe bench transfer. You never know, this could be one of those weeks where the bench saves your bacon.

On a personal note, this season is still in the balance. I only started taking FPL seriously last season, when I finished 37,750th, while I’m currently 96,777th. So definitely a downgrade, but still in the top 0.7% of managers, so if I can stay in the top 100k, I’ll consider this year a minor success (also currently topping The Boar league, which is a nice plus). But that’s it from me; thank you to The Boar’s Sport team for giving me the opportunity to pen this column, and to everyone who’s read it over the past year.

Rapid recommendations

● Hits aren’t worth it at this point in the season, unless you’re chasing rank, since you only have one gameweek to make the points back.
● Captaincy is once again a wait-and-see call, but based solely on points potential and likelihood of starting, Haaland is the best option, followed by Fernandes.
● On the topic of Fernandes, he will undoubtedly want to grab another assist to surpass the all-time assist record for a single Premier League season, while Brighton will be desperate to beat the Red Devils, given they could even net Champions League football. So, although a tough fixture for both at first glance, there could be a lot of goals in that fixture.
● At 2% and 0.5% ownership, Anthony and Flemming are impressive differential options. The wooden spoon derby of Wolves and Burnley could be flush with goals as neither team has any reason to hold back.
● You can’t roll your transfers into next season, so last but certainly not least: use them or lose them, folks.

The Boar Standings
1st: Dwight Club (2272) – managed by Cianan Sheekey
2nd: Meganerd FC (2236) – managed by Megan Green
3rd: parths11 (2190) – managed by Parth Malik

The Boar’s 25/26 FPL Standings (post-GW38)

We’ll update this article post-GW38 with the final standings!