Fantasy Premier League: Why home comforts could make all the difference in Gameweek 37

Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes might have extra motivation to impress in Manchester United's last home game of the season Jan Kruger/Getty Images Share articleThe penultimate round of the Fantasy Premier League season has arrived, with some big decisions for fantasy managers to make ahead of Gameweek 37. This weekend (and a bit) sees the fixture calendar uniquely positioned, with half of the Premier League’s 20 clubs playing their final match of the campaign in their own stadium, which is significant. So, with plenty of teams still having something tangible to play for, what are the key fixtures to target and who are the potential players to transfer in with home advantage in mind? Arsenal will play their final home game of the season at the Emirates Stadium on Monday night. Mikel Arteta’s league-leading title-chasers have won five of their past six top-flight games there, and Burnley are already relegated to the Championship. Any FPL manager not yet tripled up on Arsenal should make it their top priority for this match, with four of their assets sitting among the top five most-transferred-in players for Gameweek 37 at the time of writing. Viktor Gyokeres (£9.0m), Bukayo Saka (£10.0m), William Saliba (£6.2m) and Declan Rice (£7.2m) had all been transferred in more than 40,000 times, with those numbers expected to continue to rise ahead of Friday’s 6.30pm UK time (1.30pm ET) deadline. Saka and Gyokeres are both in the captaincy conversation, with most managers likely to own just one of them. They are both relative differentials, appearing in 11.4 per cent and 15.7 per cent of teams respectively. Gyokeres was on the scoresheet in the reverse fixture in gameweek 10, and has a reputation for dominating against fragile defences — 11 of his 14 league goals this season have come against opposition in the bottom half of the table. The case for buying Saka is equally compelling, with the England winger picking up a goal and an assist in the 3-0 win against Fulham in their previous home league fixture a fortnight ago. Arsenal kept their 18th clean sheet of the season last time out at West Ham, and have done so in three consecutive top-flight games, meaning a double-up on their defence is a viable strategy. Centre-back Gabriel (£7.3m) scored 12 points in that 2-0 win away to Burnley in October, including an assist, a clean sheet and two bonus points. He’s also produced 25 fantasy points in the past four gameweeks. Somewhat surprisingly, it is goalkeeper David Raya (£6.1m) who is Arsenal’s highest-scoring player over that same period, with two save points and five bonus ones as the north Londoners continue to grind out results. Second-placed City must win on Tuesday to take the title race to the season’s final set of fixtures next weekend but Andoni Iraola’s side will also be highly motivated going into their last home match. It will be Iraola’s last game in charge, as he is stepping down after three seasons, with Bournemouth’s current position of sixth potentially enough to secure landmark Champions League football (for a club who haven’t played any kind of European football before) next season. They are unbeaten since losing 3-2 at home to Arsenal on January 3, recording eight wins and eight draws in that time, and this fixture ended in a 2-1 home victory last season. Midfielder Rayan (£5.4m) is a differential, in just 1.5 per cent of sides following his January arrival from Brazil’s Vasco da Gama, but should not be overlooked. He has four goal involvements in as many games: scoring three times with one assist, while ranking fifth in the league over that span for shots (10). Don’t rule out their assets at the back either, with Adrien Truffert (£4.7m) and Marcos Senesi (£5.2m) the highest-scoring defenders in the game over these same four gameweeks — Truffert is just 4.7 per cent owned. Bournemouth have kept consecutive clean sheets, and these two players are never far from the two-point defensive contribution bonus, having both passed the threshold of 10 in the reverse fixture in gameweek 10. Senesi has two assists in his past four matches, both coming at home, while also receiving three bonus points in a 3-0 win against Crystal Palace in Gameweek 35. Truffert has picked up six bonus points over the same period. Brentford sit eighth in the table, just four points off sixth and a potential Champions League place, and their assets are worth a look this weekend. On Sunday, they entertain Palace, who are on the beach in Premier League terms, with all their focus on the UEFA Conference League final, which comes in the midweek after the end of the top-flight season. Striker Igor Thiago (£7.3m) is a key Brentford asset to consider, given his remarkable form this season, scoring 22 league goals, though he has only one in the past four gameweeks. It’s also worth noting 13 of the 22 have come on home turf, and that the Brazilian has scored four times in as many games at the Gtech Stadium. Thiago has been outscored overall in these past four gameweeks by team-mates Mikkel Damsgaard (£5.6m) and Mathias Jensen (£4.9m), who have also scored a goal apiece in that period. The midfield duo are significant differentials, each sitting in less than one per cent of FPL sides. Damsgaard has had seven shots on goal in this span, including two big chances. While United are playing for not much other than confirming third place (if that, depending on Friday’s result between fifth-placed Aston Villa and Liverpool, who are fourth on goal difference) when they take on Forest at Old Trafford in Sunday’s early kick-off, there are plenty of significant narratives filtering into this match. Michael Carrick has been the most consistent manager or head coach in the Premier League since his appointment in January, taking 33 points from the possible 45, with just two defeats. Bruno Fernandes (£10.4m) has shown incredible form in this spell, providing a goal involvement in every home appearance under Carrick, including five double-digit hauls. He is one assist away from matching the Premier League record of 20 in a season, with this game on his own patch the perfect opportunity to equal or even surpass that mark. That makes Fernandes a popular captaincy pick for this fixture, and he’s leading the way for key passes (18) and big chances created (five) over the past four gameweeks — as he has all season. Fellow midfielder Casemiro (£5.9m) has returned to training this week after not being in the matchday squad against Sunderland last weekend, so is likely to have an opportunity to say farewell to the Old Trafford crowd after four seasons with the club. This campaign has been his most successful of the four by far in terms of personal stats, with the Brazilian scoring nine goals, including three in his past four home matches, and recording four assists. He’s another perfect homebody differential, as he was in only 5.4 per cent of FPL teams at time of writing. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms