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

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The 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 (vs Burnley)

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.

Bournemouth (vs Manchester City)

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).

Bournemouth's Rayan celebrates scoring in his side's win over Fulham

Bournemouth winger Rayan has registered an attacking return in his last four games (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)

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 (vs Crystal Palace)

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.

Manchester United (vs Nottingham Forest)

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.

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Flyers hope last year's late success runs into new season: 'We're not satisfied'

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The Flyers had the fourth-best record in the NHL after the Olympics last season. They’ll need to work hard to keep up the momentum.

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Esteban Ocon to leave Haas putting F1 future in doubt

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Esteban Ocon is fighting to save his Formula 1 career after the Haas team announced they would split with the Frenchman at the end of the year.

Ocon, who won the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix for Alpine, joined Haas in 2025. He has been in F1 since 2016 and has also driven for the Manor and Force India teams.

There are no obvious berths for Ocon on the grid in 2027 but he insisted: “This is absolutely not the end of my Formula 1 career.”

The 30-year-old added in a statement on social media: “I leave this project with my head held high and proud of my performances in what were not always the easiest of circumstances for various reasons and factors outside of my control.

“My immediate focus is the next race weekend. I will continue to work hard with the team, maximise every opportunity, and keep extracting every bit of performance from the car.

“There are still many races to go this season and, as always, I will give it my everything behind the wheel for myself and for my team.

“I am still motivated. I am still hungry.”

Ocon has been outperformed by team-mate Oliver Bearman since joining forces with Haas last year.

This year, the Briton is 13th in the championship, three places and 13 points ahead of Ocon. Bearman has out-qualified Ocon 13-6 at an average advantage of 0.144 seconds.

Last year, Bearman finished 13th and Ocon 15th, separated by just three points, and in qualifying it was 18-7 at 0.175secs

Haas team principal Ayao Kumatso said: “Esteban’s professionalism and commitment have proved valuable as we continue to grow as an organisation.

“Together this year we tackled the challenge of a major regulation change, where Esteban’s driving experience and inputs were significant as we’ve worked hard to develop the VF-26 across the season.”

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Northern Ireland: Jess Kelmore one of five new call-ups for World Cup play-off

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Sparta Prague forward Kess Elmore is a surprise first call-up for Northern Ireland’s 2027 Women’s World Cup play-off with Portugal.

Elmore, 27, is a former England youth international and is one of five new call-ups in Michael McArdle’s squad.

Galway United full back Lucy-Jayne Grant is included for the first time, as are the Irish Premiership trio Naomi McLaughlin, Jane McMaster and Charlotte Havern.

Havern has had a strong campaign for champions Cliftonville, while McMaster has stood out for Linfield and McLaughlin has impressed for Glentoran after a mid-season switch back to the league from Aberdeen.

There are several absentees through injury, including Kelsie Burrows, Laura Rafferty, Nadene Caldwell, Megan Bell, Joely Andrews, Danielle Maxwell and Caragh Hamilton.

Northern Ireland host Portugal at Inver Park on Friday, 9 October before the return leg in Portimao four days later.

The sides last met in Euro 2025 qualifying when Portugal ran out 4-0 winners in Liera before a narrow 2-1 victory at Mourneview Park.

If McArdle’s side can upset Portugal, who are ranked 28 places higher than NI, then they would face Iceland or Croatia in the next play-off round.

While the majority of teams who win the second play-off round will progress to the finals in Brazil, Northern Ireland’s ranking means they would likely face an additional inter-continental play-off round in February, as the lowest European side, if they are to make a first World Cup.

Northern Ireland squad

Goalkeepers: Jackie Burns (Burnley), Lauren Perry (Montrose), Maddy Harvey-Clifford (Cliftonville)

Defenders: Rebecca Holloway (Birmingham City), Rebecca McKenna (Birmingham City), Ellie Mason (Charlton), Natalie Johnson (Norwich City), Fi Morgan (Celtic), Abi Sweetlove (Linfield), Emily Cassap (Sunderland), Lucy-Jayne Grant (Galway United ), Jane McMaster (Linfield)

Midfielders: Aimee Kerr (Glentoran), Mia Moore (Glentoran), Brenna McPartlan (Burnley), Keri Halliday (Hearts), Connie Scofield (Sheffield United), Naomi McLaughlin (Glentoran), Charlotte Havern (Cliftonville).

Forwards: Lauren Wade (Hearts), Casey Howe (Celtic), Leyla McFarland (Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland), Cora Chambers (Linfield), Kess Elmore (Sparta Prague).

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