Gameweek 31 Sleepers XI: Draft EPL

Our Gameweek 31 Sleepers XI article provides Draft 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 any one of these under-the-radar picks could 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 in the sophisticated and statistics based Fantrax Scoring System!

Fantasy EPL Gameweek 31 Sleepers XI

For this article, we use the percentage rostered calculation from Fantrax and Sleeper. Our only rule is that each player we highlight is rostered in 60% of leagues or fewer at the time of writing. Therefore, there's a good chance some of these players will be free agents in your Draft league! As always, we'll take form, fixtures, projected points, and a healthy dose of intuition into account to make our selections.

The Sleepers XI table below includes a full team of Starters, as well as 5 Reserves - high-upside players with some question marks around whether or not they'll start in Gameweek 31. So keep an eye out when lineups are announced and pick them up if you see them starting, especially if you need to fill a spot on your roster. Read below for the rationale behind each of the Starter selections.

Alphonse Areola (G, West Ham)

There really aren't many reliable options for streaming goalkeepers for the coming games but given how well Alex Palmer performed for Ipswich against the Cherries in GW30, we're hoping Areola can replicate this performance. Bournemouth seem doubtful over Kluivert's fitness and now Ryan Christie has been added to the injury room so it's fair to say that their attack has taken a couple of hits. Also it's pretty terrible that there was only 1 shot on target between the 12 shots that Semenyo and Dango attempted (combined) in GW30. Maybe the honeymoon period for Iraola and his team is finally over.

Destiny Udogie (D, Spurs)

The strategy is pretty obvious - play assets against the promoted teams. With the return of van de Ven and Romero to the Spurs backline, their defence should be back to its best (stop laughing at the back!). We all know how Spursy Ange's squad can be but against a promoted team like Southampton there's always a chance of a clean sheet. The big surprise in recent gameweeks though is that Porro has not been a nailed option anymore. Hence the Udogie punt. 10.5 and 6.75 ghost point games in his last 2 starts is a good enough floor for any potential attacking returns that might come with this gamble.

Ryan Manning (D, Southampton)

If you're unable to get any of the Spurs defenders then maybe you gamble the other way and go with a Southampton defender instead! Southampton must be aware of their horrific current points tally (10) and possibly being one of the worst teams in the history of the league given Derby's 11 points total in the 07/08 season. However enter Dr. Tottenham - a team that is the definition of Jekyll & Hyde. You never know what to expect from Spurs. They could smash Man City one day and then lose to Leicester City the next. One thing is for sure, assets tend to usually score well against Spurs and given Manning's recent form of just over 9 gPPS over his last 3 games, I would definitely risk rolling him out as a DEF-3/4.

Matt Doherty (D, Wolves)

If you were unable to get Toti in the last few waiver runs, don't stress as Doherty seems to keeping up with the Portuguese CB. Doherty has been averaging around 7.5 PPS this season but in GW30, the Irish DEF had a monster score of 17.25 FPts. You'd easily take that from your DEF-3/4 in any given week. Wolves face Ipswich next and although the Tractor Boys had the shock win over Bournemouth in GW30, you'd still fancy your chance of a clean sheet against a team with the worst home record over the last 4 home games of all teams (4 games lost, 4 goals scored, 16 goals conceded).

Valentino Livramento (D, Newcastle) 

Although we're suggesting assets for this gameweek, given Newcastle have a double gameweek in GW32, it's not a bad idea to maybe go early on one of their assets, especially since they face Leicester City just before that. Over the last 6 games, Leicester City are the only team to have not scored a single goal and it does not look like it's going to change anytime soon. So Livramento seems a no-brainer pick for a clean sheet that seems almost guaranteed.

Mateus Fernandes (M, Southampton) 

If we're applying the same logic as we did for Manning, then why not go with an attacking player from Southampton as well. Over the entire season, Mateus Fernandes has recorded the most key passes, tackles and successful dribbles of all the Saints assets. He's basically the heartbeat of the attack. If Southampton are to get any more points in the league table this season, mainly to avoid further embarrassment, then expect Mateus to be in the thick of it.

Jack Grealish (M, Man City)

It's crazy how much Grealish has dropped off as a Fantasy asset over the past few seasons. Long gone are the days of his Aston Villa performances where he used to average at least 13 PPG and more! With only 7 starts this season, it's no wonder that he's qualified to be a sleeper pick. Grealish got his first goal of the season last gameweek and during his post match interview, he sounded very upset about not starting in the league as much as he used to. So he's absolutely chomping at the bit to be a regular feature in the league again. Is Jack back?

Julio Enciso (M, Ipswich)

Although Ipswich's home form has been pretty dreadful, Enciso has been a breath of fresh air in their attack. If you ignore his 1.5 FPts against a stingy Nottingham Forest defence and his early subbing against Aston Villa, Enciso has actually been averaging just over 10 PPS since his move to the Tractor Boys. According to our fixture difficulty tracker, Ipswich MIDs have the 2nd best rated fixture of all midfielders in GW31 which makes him a decent MID-3/4 for your roster this gameweek.

Tyler Adams (M, Bournemouth)

Ryan Christie has been potentially ruled out for the rest of the season but until that has been confirmed or he makes a miraculous recovery, we expect Adams to get a starting spot in the team again. Although the American midfielder has not started many games this season, his 8.9 PPS has been a great backup option for many a roster this season.

Keane Lewis-Potter (F, Brentford) 

After suggesting KLP as one of the most underrated assets this season during last week's Sleeper article, it's no surprise that he dropped an absolute stinker of a score against Newcastle - that being said he did get a yellow card! The problem is that there are barely any decent FWDs left to stream in the league this season. So if you're still scraping for a FWD-3/4 in your leagues, you could do a lot worse than KLP's 7.5 PPS this season.

Callum Wilson (F, Newcastle)

There's a slight doubt that Isak will be fit for the Monday night fixture against Leicester City so this pick is probably the riskiest one of the lot. However if there's ever a time to rest your striker during the season, it's probably against Leicester City, one of the worst teams in the league. Wilson's 3.25 FPts in 23 minutes off the bench against Brentford in GW30 is a promising sign that he could potentially bang against the Foxes if he's given the rare start.

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