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11th May 2017

The three players you need in your Fantasy Football team this week

Conor Heneghan

Go hard or go home.

The J-League

Perhaps realising that there is no room for slip-ups down the final straight, the big hitters in the J-League all upped their game in Gameweek 36, with 66 points representing the lowest score in the top five.

Ogie Nolan’s Tullig Panthers gave themselves some breathing room at the top of the table by extending their lead to 20 points over Alan Duggan’s Klippity Klopp, but 20 points is a margin that could easily be made up in what is a mammoth penultimate gameweek of the season.

The teams behind them have a little more work to do to bridge the gap. Darragh Harkin’s Pruners Postmen lead the charge in third place, followed by Brian Haugh’s Hauzinho Harriers in fourth and Derek Dickenson’s 2 Girls, 1 Schlupp in fifth.

Special mention must go to Roger Holmes’ Real Sosobad, who just missed out on a place in the top five after registering a whopping 127 points (thanks largely to triple captain Alexis Sanchez) in Gameweek 36.

J-League Top 5

  1. Tullig Panthers** – Ogie Nolan: 2,226 points
  2. Klippity Klopp – Alan Duggan: 2,206 points
  3. Pruners Postmen – Darragh Harkin: 2,173 points
  4. Hauzinho’s Harriers – Brian Haugh: 2,163 points
  5. 2 Girls 1 Schlupp – Derek Dickenson: 2,160 points

This week’s leaders: Tullig Panthers** – Ogie Nolan

Gameweek 37

Double gameweeks don’t come around very often in Fantasy Football and double gameweeks involving half the teams in the Premier League are even rarer still.

Such a packed schedule in the penultimate weekend of the season will only add to the drama in whatever various mini-leagues you happen to be involved in and if you’re not going to put it all on the line and take a risk now, then you never will.

Of all the teams in action twice in Gameweek 37, Manchester City players would appear to represent the safest route to success.

They still have something to play for, they’re in form having stuck five past Crystal Palace last weekend and they have two games at home against opposition they’re well capable of beating comfortably, Leicester City and West Brom.

In a similar vein, Arsenal’s season was in danger of petering out completely but after two comfortable 2-0 victories in a week, they’re in with an outside shout of a Champions League place. Stoke and Sunderland hardly represent the most formidable opponents, so if you loaded up on Gunners for their double gameweek last time out, you’re as well to keep the faith.

If and when making transfers this week, managers should remember to do so with the chips in mind; safe to say if you haven’t used ‘triple captain’, ‘bench boost’ or ‘all-out attack’ by now, you’re as well go out with all guns blazing this weekend.

As was the case last week, meanwhile, managers should remember that with Friday night football returning this weekend, there will once again be an early deadline of Friday, 12 May at 6.45pm.

This week’s picks

Safe bet: Diego Costa (£10.5 million). On what might be his farewell tour before a potential move to China, the temperamental striker has regained his early season form with three goals and three assists in his last five league outings.

There is a chance, of course, that if Chelsea do wrap up the league before they play Watford at home on Monday that Antonio Conte might give the big guns a rest, but we reckon Spurs will make sure they won’t have the title handed to them on a plate.

Dark horse: Nacho Monreal (£5.9 million). Arsenal aren’t exactly renowned for having a watertight defence, but they have kept three clean sheets in their last four games.

Of the regular starters at the back, Monreal is the cheapest and he chips in with the odd assist as well.

Captain’s choice: Kevin de Bruyne (£10.4 million). The leading provider of assists in the Premier League this season with 18 in total, the Belgian has laid on four goals in his last four games, earning 34 points in that period after a goal of his own against Crystal Palace last weekend.

With home games against Leicester and West Brom to come in the course of the next week, De Bruyne is our choice to get De Armband in the most important week of the season.