Our Gameweek 34 Sleepers XI article provides Fantrax managers with a lineup of Fantasy EPL hidden gems. Our starting eleven of Draft Premier League differential picks will help you find a golden ticket to a big score this weekend! These hints and tips will give you a better chance of picking up an all-important victory, as one of our picks could easily make the difference in a Head-to-Head game!
We'll be focusing on players that will bring us not only attacking returns or clean sheets, but also those players that score "ghost points" on the sophisticated and statistics based Fantrax Scoring System!
Fantasy EPL Gameweek 34 Sleepers XI
For this article, we use the % rostered from Fantrax. Our only rule is that each player we highlight is required to be rostered in 60% of leagues or below at the time of writing. Therefore there's a good chance these players will be free agents in your Fantrax Draft League!
GK: Sam Johnstone
Team: West Bromwich Albion
Opponent: Wolves (Home)
Rostered: 47%
Points Last Gameweek: 14
Prospects: My recent goalkeeper picks haven't been great, so this week I'm going to keep it simple and back the highest ranked goalkeeper I'm allowed to from my Goalkeeper Rankings. These rankings are based on the number of saves made, minus goals conceded, with a little bonus added on for clean sheets. My advice for goalkeeper streaming is to pick a shot-stopper with good save potential rather than necessarily clean sheet potential!
Anyway, Sam Johnstone was ranked 4th during my recent refresh of the data so he makes the cut! The Baggies host a Wolves side fresh from a 4-0 defeat to Burnley. Another decent points score for Johnstone is there for the taking. Martin Dubravka (30% ownership) is a good alternative. He scored a huge 14.25 points during the 1-1 draw with Liverpool in GW33.
DEF: Aymeric Laporte
Team: Manchester City
Opponent: Crystal Palace (Away)
Rostered: 59%
Points Last Gameweek: 2
Prospects: If you've lost track of the games, injuries, and suspensions a little in recent weeks, you may have missed that Stones is suspended for Manchester City's next two league games. Aymeric Laporte looks set to deputise in the league and is a great punt ahead of a fixture against Crystal Palace. There's a chance that Fernandinho starts in defence, but he has been mainly operating as a midfielder this season. Laporte scored the winning goal in the League Cup final and is en route to getting back into Pep's good books.
DEF: Seamus Coleman
Team: Everton
Opponent: Aston Villa (Home)
Rostered: 43%
Points Last Gameweek: 12.25
Prospects: I'm backing Seamus Coleman once again as his ownership is still far too low based on his level of performance in recent weeks. I ranked the Irishman 58th overall in my refreshed ROS Rankings earlier this week. There's no way he should be sitting in the free agent pool of any competitive Fantrax league! Coleman has gained 63.25 points during his last four appearances, one of which was from the bench. Everton face Aston Villa this weekend, and I fancy Coleman for another good performance.
DEF: Andreas Christensen
Team: Chelsea
Opponent: Fulham (Home)
Rostered: 40%
Points Last Gameweek: 12.5
Prospects: Next up is Andreas Christensen. I've said previously that I'm not a fan of him as a Fantrax asset because he doesn't have a very good points floor. 0.6 points per game to be exact if we use Drafterthoughts' excellent Useful Draft Metrics resource. But Christensen has improved under Tuchel and I like Chelsea for a clean sheet against Fulham this weekend. There is a slight issue of this game being sandwiched between the Champions League semi-final with PSG, so look towards Luke Thomas (20% ownership) for a potential safer pick. I noted Ricardo Pereira being cold in my Gameweek 34 Hot or Cold article - Thomas is the beneficiary of that.
DEF: Diego Llorente
Team: Leeds United
Opponent: Brighton & Hove Albion (Away)
Rostered: 19%
Points Last Gameweek: 9.25
Prospects: Diego Llorente is my final Gameweek 34 Sleepers XI defender. The Spaniard is finally injury free and is nailed on in Bielsa's side. This weekend Leeds face a trip to Brighton, but this pick is more of a long term one. The Whites have a very nice end of season fixture list, so I encourage you to look at their low ownership assets to aide any play-off hopes. Llorente comes up against Burnley, Southampton, West Brom and Tottenham, as well as Brighton during the next month. Leeds defenders are ranked in 3rd place in our Fixture Difficulty Tracker.
MID: Ashley Westwood
Team: Burnley
Opponent: West Ham United (Home)
Rostered: 59%
Points Last Gameweek: 18.5
Prospects: I've always been a fan of Ashley Westwood as a Fantrax asset. But this season the Burnley man has been disappointing. An average points per game of just 6.6 isn't good enough to warrant a consistent place on our rosters, proved by his ownership being under my 60% threshold. But Westwood had upped his game in recent weeks with scores of 8.5 and 9 in GW31 and GW32. I picked him up off the back of this, and was delighted to see him return 18.5 points in GW33. With Burnley a side on the up, bringing in Westwood is recommended.
MID: Ross Barkley
Team: Aston Villa
Opponent: Everton (Away)
Rostered: 56%
Points Last Gameweek: 15.5
Prospects: With every good decision usually comes a bad decision. Prior to GW33 Ross Barkley's last start in the Premier League was on Feb 21st. I held the Englishman through 8 weeks of him being benched. 8 WEEKS. I finally dropped Barkley last week, and low and behold, he starts for Villa and gains an assist and 15.5 points! Anyway, enough of my complaining. If Barkley is a free agent in your Fantrax league, go pick him up. Aston Villa face Everton this weekend, and the Chelsea loanee will surely start once again.
MID: Yves Bissouma
Team: Brighton
Opponent: Leeds United (Home)
Rostered: 48%
Points Last Gameweek: 15
Prospects: I backed Yves Bissouma last week and he returned a tremendous score of 15 points without attacking returns. The wonderful Ryan Barnes highlighted the Malian midfielder in his Ghost Point Hunters article this week, and I'm selecting him again for my Sleepers XI. At this stage of the season when options are limited, a solid player who can guarantee you around 8 or 9 points every single week is exactly what you need. Sign up Bissouma if you still can. Brighton face Leeds this weekend.
MID: Giovanni Lo Celso
Team: Tottenham Hotspur
Opponent: Sheffield United (Home)
Rostered: 34%
Points Last Gameweek: N/A
Prospects: My final midfielder is a player that I want to do well in Fantrax, but it never really seems to come together. Giovanni Lo Celso has all the tools to be a good Fantasy EPL asset. But it isn't working for him at the moment. The Argentinean was poor during the League Cup final, but I'm hoping he's given another chance against Sheffield United this weekend. Lo Celso is a very risky pick, but one that could bring high rewards.
FWD: Mbaye Diagne
Team: West Bromwich Albion
Opponent: Wolves (Home)
Rostered: 36%
Points Last Gameweek: 8.5
Prospects: Mbaye Diagne returns to my Sleepers XI for Gameweek 34 after another strong display last week. The 29 year-old Senegalese forward has been a revelation for West Brom since his arrival in January, and a pretty good Fantrax asset as well! Diagne has scored over 100 points in his 13 appearances, with a Points Per 90 of 9.2. This weekend the Baggies host Wolves in a Midlands derby, and I fancy them to pick up more points as they attempt an unlikely Premier League survival. Wolves lost 4-0 to Burnley last week, and they look to have all-but given up on this season.
FWD: Matej Vydra
Team: Burnley
Opponent: West Ham United (Home)
Rostered: 14%
Points Last Gameweek: 4.5
Prospects: And speaking of Burnley, my final Sleepers XI pick is Matej Vydra. The Czech forward has established himself in the Burnley side during Ashley Barnes' prolonged absence, and I'm backing him to stay in the side for at least another couple of games. Vydra gained consecutive attacking returns from GW29 through to GW31, and with Burnley on great form I can see him getting back involved in the goals. West Ham are this week's opponents, but I do fancy the Clarets for a goal or two. Vydra is a solid FWD3 for this weekend.
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