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FPL tips: Leeds defenders dominate the rankings

FPL tips: Leeds defenders dominate the rankings
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Leeds provide five of our 12 recommendations while Sheffield United are going down swinging.

Yorkshire is where the Fantasy Premier League value is in the penultimate week of the season.

A glance across our three leading recommendations in each position sees Leeds provide five of the 12 picks, while Sheffield United have two and prevent the weekend's Premier League headline-maker Alisson Becker from clinching top spot in goal.

Need for Leeds

Top defensive picks for FPL gameweek 37
Leeds duo Diego Llorente and Ezgjan Alioski stand out in defence (PA graphic)

The PA news agency uses a Transfer Score system to combine FPL's form, cost, ownership and fixture difficulty rating (FDR) statistics.

Defence is where Leeds' dominance this week shows through, with Ezgjan Alioski joining Diego Llorente in the top three while goalkeeper Illan Meslier also comes highly recommended.

Alioski has assists in his last two games, plus his side's clean sheet in Saturday's 4-0 rout of Burnley, to average 4.4 points per game in the period covered by the form rankings – and at £4.3million, with 2.2 per cent ownership and remaining games against Southampton and West Brom, it is easy to understand his appeal.

Llorente has the edge in Transfer Score, 76 to 71, having scored in gameweek 32's draw with Liverpool and at sub-one per cent ownership.

Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold is a higher-priced third option in defence ahead of Tuesday's late-afternoon FPL deadline, with three assists in two games helping him to a transfer score of 68.

Blades finally cut through

Top goalkeeping picks for FPL gameweek 37
Aaron Ramsdale edges out goal hero Alisson Becker (PA graphic)

The other Yorkshire representative in the top flight will soon disappear but Sheffield United have free rein to enjoy their final days among the elite.

Aaron Ramsdale (76) is this week's top goalkeeping pick – he has kept clean sheets in two of his last four games and made six saves in each of the last three, which finally translated into two bonus points against Everton on Sunday.

Liverpool's lack of clean sheets caps Alisson's transfer score at 72 even after his dramatic winning goal against West Brom, with Meslier third at 69.

Top attacking picks for FPL gameweek 37
Daniel Jebbison scores maximum points for ownership and FDR (PA graphic)

There is another Blade up front in the unfamiliar figure of Daniel Jebbison. The 17-year-old was only added to FPL in gameweek 35 and his goal against the Toffees gives him a transfer score of 69, trailing only Burnley's Chris Wood (71) among strikers.

The ultimate differential, the £4.5m Jebbison goes into the midweek round appearing in only 172 of FPL's 8,230,990 teams and has games against Newcastle and Burnley as his remaining chances to make some noise.

Bale tops the lot

Top midfield picks for FPL gameweek 37
Gareth Bale claims the overall top ranking (PA graphic)

Our overall top pick for gameweek 37, though, is Tottenham's Gareth Bale.

A regular presence in the recommendations recently, the Welshman boosted his form rating with an assist against Wolves and his transfer score of 81 is five clear of any other player this week.

Manchester United's Mason Greenwood (75) is second among midfielders and fourth overall, behind Llorente and Ramsdale, while the Leeds contingent is rounded out by Jack Harrison (74) and Rodrigo (66) as the third picks in midfield and attack respectively.

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Liverpool's Alisson celebrates scoring their second goal with teammates on May 16, 2021
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Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd21145230111945
2Leeds UnitedLeeds21126337152242
3Burnley2111822681841
4Sunderland21117332171540
5Blackburn RoversBlackburn2011452517837
6Middlesbrough21104735251034
7Watford2010462926334
8West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom2171132416832
9Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds218582630-429
10Swansea CitySwansea217682322127
11Bristol City216962626027
12Norwich CityNorwich216873632426
13Millwall206772018225
14Derby CountyDerby216692626024
15Coventry CityCoventry216692730-324
16Preston North EndPreston2141162127-623
17Stoke CityStoke215792328-522
18Queens Park RangersQPR2141072127-622
19Luton TownLuton2164112337-1422
20Oxford UnitedOxford Utd2046102133-1218
21Cardiff CityCardiff2046101932-1318
22Portsmouth193882134-1317
23Plymouth ArgylePlymouth2045111942-2317
24Hull City2137111930-1116


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