Following on from our semi popular Premier League predictions, we offer our weekly EPL Fantasy preview – The Own Goal FPL Week 34.
Each week we’ll attempt to give a quick round-up of some of the points of interest in Fantasy Premier League.
We used to do a podcast through our Fantasy United team, but who’s got time for that these days.
So much football it’s hard to keep up, and here is our best effort.
So enjoy The Own Goal FPL Week 34 preview.
Disclaimer: We are Ipswich Town fans, so have no prejudice against any side in this division. Or the next, come August 2019.
FPL Week 34 – WHO’S GOT SOMETHING TO PLAY FOR
It is at this stage of the year where it is hard because some teams have things to play for more than others.
A team that has bugger all to play for isn’t going to be up for the fight as much as a team battling for a Top 4 spot or desperately trying to avoid relegation.
So as ever we have slightly over complicated it with the below.
So we used whether teams were in a race for some end of season achievement or not. We gave out points from 1-10 according to importance of the prize they are trying to win as follows – Title Race (10), Top 4 (8), 7th Place (2), Relegation (Sliding from 10 – 1 relative to danger).
Throw in some negatives like a team already relegated (-10), in a European competition or FA Cup for distraction factor (-1).
Then add whether the team has a new manager, newish manager, or likely to have a new manager to impress. Or if there’s anything like a new stadium, or desperate desire to break a long title drought.
Plus add the number of off contract players for added desperation to impress for a new contract or elsewhere.
Here’s all the numbers combine for our Who Has More To Play For figure.
| Team | Total Points | Race | Already Relegated | Europe | FA Cup | New Manager | OffContract | Other |
| Cardiff | 20 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| Chelsea | 17 | 8 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| Liverpool | 16 | 10 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
| Manchester United | 14 | 8 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Arsenal | 13 | 8 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Manchester City | 12 | 10 | 0 | -1 | -1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Tottenham | 12 | 8 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Leicester | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| Newcastle United | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Brighton | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Burnley | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Everton | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Crystal Palace | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Southampton | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| West Ham | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Watford | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Fulham | 4 | 0 | -10 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 0 |
| Bournemouth | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Wolves | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Huddersfield | -2 | 0 | -10 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
FPL Week 34 – CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN
Who do you captain this week? Here’s the quick rundown on who may be best.
We developed a small metric into who could be the best to take as captain this weekend.
Compiling goals/assists per game for the last five games, the entire season, and the record against the club they are playing this weekend. Also throwing in their team’s recent last 6 form compared to the season overall, and the difficulty of the fixture based on the official FPL stats.
The results are here, and it says Vardy is the option.
| Player | vs | Total | TeamForm | EasyGame | G/A PG vs | G/A PG L5 | G/A PG 1819 |
| Vardy | Newcastle | 8.55 | 1.76 | 4.00 | 0.67 | 1.40 | 0.72 |
| Aguero | Crystal Palace | 8.16 | 1.20 | 4.00 | 0.83 | 1.20 | 0.93 |
| Sterling | Crystal Palace | 8.00 | 1.20 | 4.00 | 0.67 | 1.20 | 0.93 |
| Son | Huddersfield | 6.23 | 0.33 | 4.00 | 1.00 | 0.20 | 0.69 |
| Murray | BOU / CAR | 6.07 | 0.94 | 4.00 | 0.57 | 0.20 | 0.35 |
| Eriksen | Huddersfield | 5.52 | 0.33 | 4.00 | 0.00 | 0.60 | 0.59 |
| Mane | Chelsea | 5.46 | 1.07 | 2.00 | 0.57 | 1.20 | 0.61 |
| Salah | Chelsea | 5.01 | 1.07 | 2.00 | 0.71 | 0.40 | 0.82 |
| Hazard | Liverpool | 4.52 | 1.08 | 1.00 | 0.56 | 1.00 | 0.88 |
FPL Week 34 – OUR TEAM
You can’t give off tips without putting your money where your mouth is, so our team details are here for your information. Feel free to pick our team apart at your leisure.
FPL – Electric Higuita Exp
FPL Week 34 STATS AND STUFF
Here’s some slightly useful information about upcoming games for each team. We have a table showing the split between top and bottom 6 teams, and the sweet middle for each teams next six weeks.
Following on from that, we have designed a measure to rank each team’s next 6 games in difficulty. Using opposition ranking, points, factoring in home and away fixtures, and using a calculation of current form.
With thanks to Transfermarkt for and WhoScored most of the above stats.
