Fantasy football tips for gameweek 38: De Bruyne, Salah, Mane, Vardy, Kane, Son
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The final Fantasy Premier League gameweek of 2021-22 is almost upon us and your transfer strategy will depend on what you are trying to do, whether that is protecting a lead in a mini-league with safer picks, or looking for a couple of differentials to haul a rival in on the home straight.
I remember managers opting to captain Sadio Mane on the last day of last season rather than going for the more obvious choice of Mohamed Salah, which paid off handsomely as Mane ended up scoring both goals in Liverpool's 2-0 win over Crystal Palace.
It could be a similar situation on Sunday if you decide to go for Harry Kane over Son Heung-min in Tottenham's game at Norwich. Son will almost certainly be the more popular choice having scored 96 points in the past eight gameweeks compared with Kane's 59, but Statman Dave was telling us in the Fantasy 606 podcast that the recent stats point to Kane - he's had the most shots on target in the past five gameweeks with four goals to show for it, and he'll surely still be on the penalties even though his strike partner is chasing Salah for the Golden Boot.
Ryan Sessegnon was another name flagged up by Dave as a good Tottenham selection for gameweek 38 - he only costs £4.3m and there's definitely the potential for attacking returns in that left wing-back role which could mean big points if combined with a clean sheet against the lowest-scoring team in the Premier League this season.
Would you pick Harry Kane over Son Heung-min at Carrow Road?
We're certainly helped that lots of teams like Tottenham still have plenty to play for on the final day of the season, which hopefully makes team selection a little easier to predict.
That's not necessarily the case with Salah though, who came off with a groin injury in the FA Cup final, and although Jurgen Klopp gave a positive prognosis on his star man on Friday he also said that "Mo doesn't want to take any risks" with the big one against Real Madrid still to come.
I would actually be tempted by Mane or Luis Diaz if I was going for a Liverpool midfielder this week, and I do fancy them to score a few goals against Wolves making sure they can take advantage if Manchester City slip up at home to Aston Villa.
Kevin de Bruyne would be my number one City target for that game and would also be a simple swap for Salah, although his ownership has understandably climbed since his fantastic four-goal show against Wolves. Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling are better differential selections in that City midfield, but you've got be confident you can guess who'll get the nod to start.
There's plenty of other tempting options within the fixture list on Sunday as we go in search of that one big final score, and Chelsea's home game against Watford certainly fits that category. Mason Mount is the standout choice as their highest points-scorer this season and looks likely to start having had a rest against Leicester on Thursday. Reece James and Marcos Alonso both played 90 minutes in that one so they might be slightly riskier picks, but those two always carry the potential of massive hauls.
Statman Dave was definitely right with his prediction that Jamie Vardy would end the season on a high - four goals in the games against Norwich and Watford, and he might even be a good captaincy choice for you this week with a home game against Southampton. James Maddison and Harvey Barnes should also come into the reckoning for you there.
Finally, another couple of names to pick out for gameweek 38 would be Jarrod Bowen and Ivan Toney.
Bowen has scored 33 points in his past three gameweeks going into West Ham's final game at Brighton, a match they have to win to have any hope of overhauling Manchester United to finish sixth for another adventure in the Europa League next season.
Meanwhile, Toney's Brentford are finishing the season like a train with seven wins in their past ten games, and they welcome a Leeds team who have to win to give themselves the best chance of staying up. That will give Brentford spaces to exploit, and why Toney should have a great chance of adding to his 12 Premier League goals, probably supplied by Christian Eriksen who has been one of the signings of the season - another one picked out by Statman Dave in this week's Fantasy 606 podcast as a promising final-week punt.
Alistair Bruce-Ball presents the Fantasy 606 podcast alongside Premier League winner Chris Sutton and Statman Dave. The latest episode previewing gameweek 37 is available on the BBC Sounds App.
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