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The Fantasy Football Suffix - Gameweek 36 Saturday

9 May 2015

The finishing line is fast approaching, and the end is now in sight. There are not many more opportunities to make up the vital ground on your rivals now, and every point is worth fighting for. But where are the gains to be made? Well, with the final double gameweek not until next week (involving Arsenal and Sunderland) it would be unwise perhaps to ignore the form players. These seem to be lurking around the bottom of the Premier League, rather than up at the top. Saturday's action involved all of the teams fighting near the bottom, so let's take a look at how they got on.


EVE v SUN
Since leaving the Europa Cup, Everton's form has improved to some degree, whilst Sunderland grabbed a vital victory last time out over Southampton. But with only two away victories all season (Palace and Newcastle) the stats were not on their side, especially as Everton are unbeaten at Goodison this year. In the first half it was Lukaku who posed the biggest threat with Pantilimon keeping his side in it on a number of occasions.

After the break early domination from Everton failed to make the breakthrough and it was Sunderland that caught them on the counter and took the lead. A shot from Jordi Gómez took a deflection off the leg of Danny Graham who found his name on the scoresheet for the first time since late 2013. The second goal came for the visitors when Jermaine Defoe scored his 4th goal since joining the club in January, assisted by late substitute Adam Johnson. An invaluable 2-0 away win for Sunderland in their fight for survival. Bonus points were awarded as follows:


Graham - 3pts
Defoe - 2pts
Pantilimon & Van Aanholt - 1pt

AST v WHU
Last time out at Villa Park, the hosts beat Everton 3-2 and they would have been confident about welcoming a West Ham team whose form has dropped off a cliff. However, the only three games they have won in 2015 have come against Villa's relegation rivals Hull, Sunderland and Burnley. Their miserable form continued here as they looked devoid of ideas in the first half. The only surprise was that it took Villa just over half an hour to score. Jack Grealish picked up the ball, traded passes with N'Zogbia before drilling a low cross into the box which allowed an unmarked Tom Cleverley to score his third goal in three games.

Despite this form he is still owned by just 0.5% of FPL managers. Just under 13,000 managers did decide to take a punt on him this week and they were duly rewarded. In the second half the only real action of note was Enner Valencia having a goal ruled out for offside, but it's fair to say that West Ham's season is over and they probably know that Sam Allardyce won't be around next year. Survival looks almost assured for Villa now, and you wouldn't bet against them winning both of their final games against Southampton and Burnley.

Okore - 3pts
Grealish & Vlaar - 2pts

HUL v BUR
With Burnley going into this game almost dead and buried, it was Hull's task to avoid joining them. They showed their intent, dominating the visitors in the first half. Robbie Brady rattled the cross bar with a free kick, but that was as close as they came to actually scoring.

As everyone knows at this level, you must take your chances - and Hull failed to do so. After the break Burnley managed to gain a foothold and when Michael Dawson was ordered off the pitch because of a blood injury they seized their chance. Ben Mee sent a ball in but Elmohamady could clear only as far as one of his own players and the ball fell sweetly for Danny Ings to lash home his first goal since February, and Burnley's first since beating Manchester City in mid-March. It wasn't enough for Burnley to avoid the drop as results elsewhere went against them, but it was enough to drag Hull into the bottom three.

Ings - 3pts
Shackell - 2pts
Heaton - 1pt

LEI v SOU
Leicester hosted Southampton knowing that their only loss in the last six games had come against the league champions, Chelsea. Meanwhile, Saints had won only once in five games since their talismanic keeper Fraser Forster had been out injured. Indeed, manager Ronald Koeman decided to play Paolo Gazzaniga over Kelvin Davis.

Pit didn't make much difference as a rampant Leicester took just seven minutes to find the opening; Riyad Mahrez scoring his third of the season with a great strike following an assist from Ulloa. On 19 minutes he doubled his tally when he fired past Gazzaniga with a ball provided to him from the impressive Jamie Vardy.

Effectively this was game over as Southampton laboured for the remaining 70 minutes. Leicester never looked in danger of losing another clean sheet as Robert Huth in particular impressed with his marshalling and encouragement of the back line. The closest the visitors came was a speculative long range effort from Sadio Mané.

Mahrez - 3pts
Schmeichel - 2pts
Huth & Schlupp - 1pt

NEW v WBA
As we all know the events of the last seven days forced Newcastle onto the back pages for all the wrong reasons, and it was a nervous Tyneside that welcomed Tony Pulis and his West Brom side. With the Baggies still not totally out of the relegation scrap, Pulis set up his side to cause problems for Newcastle. With their inability this season to deal with set pieces, it seemed almost inevitable that they would concede from another. Victor Anichebe headed home a laser guided freekick from Craig Gardner after Dawson had been taken out by Gutiérrez.

With their recent run of eight defeats in a row combined with Albions normally solid defence you wouldn't have put much money on Newcastle finding a way back. But they did, courtesy of another deadball. Ryan Taylor, on free kick duties had taken a couple of poor kicks already, before he sent another one (arguably miscued) into the box where it looped up for Ayoze Perez to smash it on the half volley past Boaz Myhill.

The second half was pretty unmemorable, although the introduction of Papiss Cissé following his seven match ban for spitting (and concurrent knee surgery) would have given the Toon Army some confidence going into the final two matches. Especially since he tops the “minutes per goal” in the Premier League this season. Well, if you're after a differential you could do worse I guess...

R. Taylor - 3pts
Anichebe - 2pts
Ayoze - 1pt

STO v TOT
Despite sitting joint third in the FPL scoring charts this season, managers continued to dump Harry Kane from their teams this week with over 46k deciding that his work for them was done. With Spurs only remaining target to qualify for the Europa League, arguably they have lost their mojo. Stoke meanwhile are also only picking up points for position, but they proved more than a match in this game.

The opening goal was scored by Charlie Adam (four goals now in his last six) who scored with a rare header after a poor defensive clearance from Jan Vertonghen. No assist was awarded after it came off the Spurs centre half. There was no assist for the second either, scored by Steven N'Zonzi. Lloris and Dier tried to deal with a cross from Diouf but only managed to mess it up by colliding with each other, with the ball falling to N'Zonzi who scored with a neat finish.

In the second half Stoke continued to press, and Vlad Chiriches saw red for a second book able offence following a foul on Diouf. Ten man Spurs eventually conceded the third goal when Marko Arnautovic - who was a constant attacking threat - sent in a cross for Mame Biram Diouf to make it ten for an impressive debut season. Spurs doing their best NOT to qualify for the Europa League judging by this showing (and who would blame them!)

N'Zonzi - 3pts
Cameron - 2pts
Diouf - 1pt

CRY v MUN
There was no Van Persie or Di Maria in the United squad as news of a virus at Old Trafford emerged. The first real talking point came midway through the first half when Ashley Young crossed from the left with the ball striking the hand of Scott Dann. The referee awarded the penalty and it was Juan Mata who put the ball away. He wasn't fazed by Palace keeper Speroni indicating which side he should put the ball, doing exactly that and still scoring.

United lost both Luke Shaw (again) and Wayne Rooney to injury in the first 45 minutes. After the break, it was a Palace half-time substitute who equalised. A foul on Glenn Murray (for which he was awarded the assist) saw a freekick that Jason Puncheon took that took a deflection off Daley Blimd and flying past De Gea. It was the Spanish keeper that - as so often this season - kept United in it with a string of stunning saves.

United grabbed all three points on 78 minutes when Ashley Young got his second assist of the evening, sending in a long cross that Marouane Fellaini headed home at the far post. 2-1 the final score to the visitors, who are on course to grab the fourth spot ahead of arch rivals Liverpool.

Young - 3pts
Fellaini & Mata - 2pts

Join me tomorrow for Part Two of the Suffix which will wrap up Sunday's games and the Monday Night Football which will see us gather more data on which Arsenal players will be the ones to bring in for the double gameweek.

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