Fantasy Football Insider – Gameweek 38: And that’s all she wrote folks

With very little to play for the last day of the season is something of a lucky dip for Fantasy managers, but don’t veer too far from North London if you’re looking to make some last-ditch changes.

Gameweek 37 Review

Three Norwich players in the XI would suggest that the Dream Team is yet again a rag-tag bunch of individuals you wouldn’t expect to be there, but there is also a good smattering of players from sides competing at the top as well as the bottom of the table.

Liverpool don’t quite fall into either category at the moment but it was the Reds who were responsible for the leading individual scorer this week after Daniel Sturridge struck his first hat-trick in senior football against Fulham for a 17-point total, one more than Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla, who provided assists for all four of Arsenal’s goals against Wigan on Tuesday night.

A little further behind that duo were record-breaking Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard, who scored 14 points after his brace against Aston Villa, a score matched by Norwich’s Robert Snodgrass, who scored, provided an assist and collected maximum bonus points for his performance against West Brom.

Snodgrass was joined in the Dream Team by Canaries team-mates John Ruddy (7) and Ryan Bennett (6), who lined out in a back-line which also contained Rio Ferdinand (11) after his first goal in five years and former United man Phil Bardsley (9), who scored a vital goal for Sunderland against Southampton.

Making up the rest of the team on the penultimate weekend of the season were Arsenal striker Lukas Podolski (13), Spurs’ Clint Dempsey (13) and Everton’s brilliant Belgian Kevin Mirallas (12).

J-League

Much like the Premier league itself, the J-League is set to end with a whimper thanks to the machine-like consistency of the leading team, in this case represented by Darren McCann’s unrelenting charges, Dazzleros.

It’s going to take something awful special for Darren to be deposed at the top of the table and for Mickey Hanrahan’s Shawn Michaels Babes to make up the 40 points required on the final day but we won’t be declaring Darren the winner until the fat lady belts out a tune of a far higher standard than what we've had to put up with from the Eurovision in the last couple of nights.

Behind Darren and Marty, it’s simply a case of jostling for positions in the top five and there is plenty of scope for that with only a point separating Martin Hanway’s Marty’s Muppets in third from Neil Farragher’s Smallville Crowes in fourth, while Pamela Black’s Balgree Rovers have a bit of work to do if they’re going to finish any higher than fifth place.

J-League Top 5:

1. Dazzleros – Darren McCann: 2,322 points
2. Shawn Michaels Babes – Mickey Hanrahan: 2,282 points
3. Marty’s Muppets – Martin Hanway: 2,272 points
4. Smallville Crowes – Neil Farragher: ,2,271 points
5. Balgree Rovers – Pamela Black: 2,259 points

And that’s all she wrote folks

With only one Champions League place up for grabs, the end of this season promises to be the biggest anti-climax since that dodgy Paris Hilton video from a few years back (we’re only going on what we heard), or from an Irish football fan’s point of view, the Euros last summer.

With so little at stake and with so many players as good as on the beach already, it is virtually impossible to predict the frame of mind of the majority of teams this weekend and we can only hazard a guess as to the players who will go out on a high, in real and, more importantly, Fantasy Football terms.

The first thing to do is to look towards the teams who actually have something to play for and you don’t have to venture far outside London and particularly Norf Landan as far as that tactic is concerned.

Alan Pardew’s rather foolish comments from last weekend about not caring whether he loses 4-0 to Arsenal  have since been retracted, which, in truth, means he doesn’t care if his team lose 4-0 to Arsenal at the weekend and with the Gunners coming off the back of four goals in midweek against Wigan, it would be prudent to look in their direction once again.

Specifically, Santi Cazorla (£9.6 million), who had four assists against Wigan, Theo Walcott (£9.2 million), with three goals and 27 points in his last three games and a cheaper option, Aaron Ramsey (£5.7 million), who’s in his best run of form in ages, might be worth a punt.

As far as Spurs are concerned, Emmanuel Adebayor (£9.0 million) has two goals, an assist and 20 points in his last two games, Gareth Bale (£11.0 million) is, well, Gareth Bale and Clint Dempsey (£8.9 million) might be worth a look after a goal, an assist and three bonus points against Stoke last time out.

Apart from that and a few more selection tips below it’s pretty much a lucky dip, so as any GAA manager worth his salt will say after a particularly fear-inducing speech, as it's the last day of the season, for God’s sake will ye enjoy yourselves.

JOE’s Fantasy Football Picks:

Top Dollar: Emmanuel Adebayor (£9.0 million). He’s not somebody that appears in this section that often, but it’s hard to ignore him after 20 points and what looks like actual application of effort in his last two games. Is he due a new contract or something?

Mid-Range: Philippe Coutinho (£7.0 million). The impish Brazilian’s brace of assists against Fulham last weekend brought him to seven for the season, not bad for a man who has only made 12 appearances so far. QPR are past caring at this stage so Coutinho could run riot at Anfield on Sunday.

Bargain Basement: Aaron Ramsey (£5.4 million). Not prolific in terms of goals or assists this season by any means, but he’s playing better than he has for a long time and his tail will be up after a goal and a man of the match performance against Wigan last time out.

Irish Pick: James McCarthy (£4.8 million). We would be amazed if some club doesn’t spare McCarthy having to play Championship football next season and he’ll be keen to impress in what is his last club game in the shop window before the summer.

Captain’s Pick: Daniel Sturridge (£7.4 million). Bound to be buzzing after his hat-trick last weekend, Sturridge could do damage against a QPR side who had stopped trying a long time ago.