Final Word Gameweek 31 | Supercoach EPL trades, captains, PODs

We’re here – the first of the big two weeks that will dictate whether you fly up the rankings in the final two months – or begin a freefall. No finals – a flat-out race to the finish line.

For those of you struggling to make those trades last – make sure you listen to the podcast with Matty Jurman this week – who is going to be without trades for the final 6 weeks – how to navigate a very frustrating few weeks is unpacked there.

As for the Bolywood Bhoys – we’ve continued our climb, which was halted slightly last week, dropping just outside the Top 3k (remember after GW9 we were sitting at 13k) – it’s not been a bad run.

Sitting 200 points behind my mate Matty – the goal is to catch him.

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8 Trades and 3 boosts remaining heading into the week, & 3 of those will be gone come the end of the week.

The other spanner in the works is Gameweek 34, where FA Cup fixtures will fall – thankfully, we’ll have clarity on exactly which games will fall in that window by the time I’m writing again in two week’s time with the FA Cup falling immediately after the International Weekend.

Make sure you’ve caught up on Harry West’s breakdown of the teams to target over this 4-week period, but in short, guaranteed to play in both blank Gameweeks at the moment will be – Aston Villa, Brentford, Fulham, Man Utd, Nottm Forest, Spurs, and Sunderland.

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Trade Plans

Buckle up… Boost is a given if, like me, you’ve been hoarding Arsenal Defenders…

Currently, my blank players are – Raya, Gabriel, Saliba, Rice, Ait-Nouri, Foden & Haaland.

I’ve left myself a trade short of a full side this week.

I’m going to hold heavy on Arsenal assets.

Again, Westy gave us a great breakdown of exactly how you should be managing your Goalkeeping assets in the late season & Steve Nikolovski has made the strong case for Bernd Leno as the Goalkeeper to run you home.

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I’ve made the call to move on my loop keeper Tyrer for Emi Martinez, though – who is one of those guaranteed to be playing in GW34.

I still think Raya is going to be valuable in terms of Arsenal’s form running home.

I was reading into the mental side of things, but I think the fact that City have had a drop off in form means Arsenal will be able to play under less pressure than I was expecting a week ago in their run to the title.

The crossover between Villa & Arsenal is handy as well – GW33 as Arsenal face City – Villa host Sunderland… GW38, when Villa host City, Arsenal are away to Palace (and hopefully by then crowned Champions).

In defence – I’m sticking with Ait-Nouri and Gabriel, Saliba would have been a 4^th trade if allowed this week, but we can afford to move him ahead of the GW33 clash with City.

In midfield, Rice is a season-long hold, and Foden will be moved.

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I went in with three options – James Garner has been consistently strong (surprisingly so) but Everton’s run-in is ominous with Chelsea (H), Liverpool (H), Man City (H) & Brentford (A) all ahead before the end of the season.

Harry Wilson is fifth most traded in this week – if you’re set on him – I won’t try and talk you out of it – he may even arrive in my side before the end of the year but not before a 4-game stretch of Liverpool (A), Brentford (A), Villa (H) & Arsenal (A) between Gameweeks 32 & 35.

Instead, I’m going for a short-term play of the cheaper Yankubah Minteh, who, having seen off his injury issues, will be playing for a team that has a sneakily easier draw.

A really strong performance off the bench against Arsenal and a follow-up goal against Sunderland have me confident he could be back to top form for the run-in.

It also gives me some more scope in terms of my forward trade.

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Erling Haaland is finally gone – 6 games without a goal for the big Norwegian has me happy to move on, especially given City’s alarming drop-off in form and Chelsea and Arsenal the very tough return from an international break and FA Cup Quarter-Final weekend.

As discussed on the podcast, Hugo Ekitike is the only option up front in the closing stages of the season.

I think he is going to be starting in a central-striking role and scoring consistently outside of the must-have Igor Thiago (who I think will win the Golden Boot from here), and is guaranteed to be playing in Gameweek 34.

The other buy options – Dominic Solanke is a real POD option, but only if you’re one who’ll throw your chips in on the ‘0’ at the Roulette Table. 

Anthony Gordon, while impressive, will need to score almost weekly to keep his place, and Newcastle is one of the teams more likely to be blanked in GW34, with Arsenal expected to beat Southampton and give them the week off.

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Team Set-Up

I’ll be starting 10, and it’s as simple as benching all your Arsenal, City, Palace & Wolves assets.

Straightforward loop option with those guys out is Bruno Fernandes in the Saturday Morning kick-off against Bournemouth for United.

I’m fairly confident your captaincy will become irrelevant – but in the off-chance Bruno misfires – I’m going to go for Ekitike over Thiago, although you could easily sway me on the big Brazilian as he gets set for his first Brazil call-up from Carlo Ancelotti.

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Trades

Tyrer, Foden, Haaland OUT

Martinez, Minteh, Ekitike IN

Remaining: 5 Trades 2 Boosts

Captaincy Plans

Loop week

VC: Fernandes

C: Ekitike