This week is a light one with only six matches, three being played on Sunday. As the season wraps, the standings have some bearing on fantasy play. Manchester City has already locked first place. I’m looking at the fight at the bottom. These teams are playing to keep from being relegated — don’t underestimate the underdog when it’s fighting for its life. So, while Swansea looks overmatched by Manchester City, I’m hesitant when a team with nothing to lose is up against a team with everything to lose.
The standard lineup at Draft Kings consists of two forwards, two midfielders, two defenders, one goalkeeper, and one utility player. Saturday’s fixtures are below. The Fixture Difficulty Rating (FDR) comes from the Fantasy Premier League website. The rating is from 1-5, with one being the lowest difficulty rating and five being the highest (higher the rating, better the team).
Fixtures for April 22, 2018
| Home Team | FDR | Away Team | FDR | Weather |
| Arsenal | 4 | West Ham | 3 | Partly Cloudy |
| Stoke | 2 | Burnley | 3 | Partly Cloudy |
| Manchester City | 5 | Swansea | 3 | Cloudy |
West Ham. M/F. Marko Arnautovic ($7,000) With nine goals, Arnautovic ranks 19th in the league. West Ham’s M/F averages 10.3 FPPG but has a very high ceiling, having scored 31.8 points against Southerland.
Stoke City. D. Moritz Bauer ($4,400) Let’s look at someone that has everything to lose — 19th place, tagged for relegation, and five points from 17th place. Burnley is not a very prolific team with 34 goals on the season. Over the last 10 games, Stoke has only given up an average of 1.2 goals and no more than three goals over. Bauer averages 5.7 points per game with a ceiling around seven points.
Follow Elaine @ElaineC_Speaks.
