Welcome back to the Hive FPL!

With just 3 game weeks left in the Head to Head league and as we enter the Quarter Finals of the Hive FPL Cup things are certainly hotting up.

This will be another joint post due to GW35 finishing on Thursday and GW36 beginning on Friday - I'm starting to sound like a Premier League manager complaining about the schedule!

GW36 starts tonight with a key game at the bottom of the league as Luton take on Everton. The Toffees are now safe, assuming that they aren't subject to any further points deductions, while Luton are in desperate need of 3 points as they battle Forest and Burnley to stay in the league.

Everton were one of only a handful of teams to keep a clean sheet last week and in fact since they were hammered 6-0 by Chelsea, they've gone 3 Premier League games without conceding. Given that they have scored the joint fewest goals in away fixtures this season, I'd imagine they'll be coming to keep things tight once again.

Saturday sees home matches for both title challengers Arsenal and City. However, neither Bournemouth or Wolves will be push overs and managers will be wary of squad rotation especially at City - Pep hates FPL players!

Another game to keep an eye on will be Burnley against Newcastle. Burnley have lost just 1 of their last 8 Premier League games and finally seem to have come to terms with the step up to the top flight. Is it too little, too late? Meanwhile Newcastle know that a win will take them above United who don't play until Monday night against an in-form Crystal Palace side.

The high profile match of the weekend will be Liverpool vs Spurs. However, recent results for both sides have left what was looking like a key fixture in the battle for the title and Champions League spots as a bit of a damp squib.

Division 1 Head to Head

GW35 Results

Shamzy FC are still waiting to be confirmed as champions. They need just 1 more win to do it and no one below really looks likely to put together a consistent enough run of form even if they did lose every match between now and the end of the season.

At the bottom is where things remain particularly tight. I Feel Qatari continue their late push for survival. They are unbeaten in their last 4 (3 wins and a draw) and will almost certainly need to win their final 3 games to have a chance of survival.

Those 3 games include fixtures against Izanagi FC and Legion FC both of whom lost in GW35. In fact, of the sides currently in the relegation battle only 2 others (Suffragette City and BlockchainFPL) alongside I Feel Qatari got the win in gameweek 35.

It means that there was very little movement in the standings at the bottom of the league but that 8 sides are still involved in the fight to avoid the final 3 relegations spots.

GW36 Fixtures

@deniskj v @belemo

The really big match at the bottom of the league sees 17th take on 18th. A win for I Feel Qatari would finally see some upwards momentum as they bid to make a late charge to safety. A defeat could see them relegated depending on how other results pan out.

I Feel Qatari are one of the form teams in the league at the moment and have consistently out scored Izanagi FC in recent weeks. Looking at the make up of both squads coming into this match, I Feel Qatari are firm favourites to get the victory.

At the back, the boring move for both sides will be to go with Raya in goal at home to Bournemouth despite his howler last weekend. However, their differentials in Ortega and Pickford aren't bad shouts either. Ederson must be the most injury prone keeper on the planet after he limped off yet again in City's win against Forest. It means that Ortega will likely start. Meanwhile Jordan Pickford hasn't conceeded a goal in his last 3 matches.

In defence, Gabriel and Saliba and Ait-Nouri and Kilman are likely to cancel each other out in regards defensive points. As far as potential offensive contributions go then you'd fancy that I Feel Qatari have by far the better odds of someone popping up with a goal or an assist in GW36.

Into midfield and Izanagi FC picked a bad time to bank on Liverpool assets, in particular, the high priced Mo Salah. It'll be interesting to see whether he starts after his little tantrum at the weekend. We know that Klopp is on his way out, have we also seen the end of Salah in the Premier League?

By contrast, I Feel Qatari have a much more likely midfield goal threat in Foden and Son and the same can be said for their players upfront too.

Haaland may have had a bit of a stop start season but his expected goals per game is still at 0.99 and he registers a goal involvement every 76 mins played. Equally, Isak has 9 goals in 9 games since returning from injury and while Newcastle's away form is patchy at best, they do play a Burnley side who have conceded 37 times at Turf Moor this season and who need to play for a win.

There is a slight irony that Izanagi FC are left banking on Solanke and Mateta, 2 forwards who play against the sides that both these managers support. A good Solanke performance might end Arsenal's title bid while if Mateta continues his good run, United could find themselves sitting in 8th.

Division 2 head to head

Headline: Uwabbs FC are promoted!

GW35 Results

Uwabbs FC became the 2nd club to seal promotion to the top flight and they did so in style by hitting 85 points, the top score by a Division 2 side in GW35.

By contrast, top placed Skander TN recorded just 28 points last week, the lowest in the Division. That heavy defeat means that they still need at least 5 points to guaranteed the title.

Also at the top, Happy Boys FC lost but baring a total collapse they should still be able to confirm promotion alongside Formidable Milano whose victory took them up to 3rd.

The real battle is for the final promotion spot with just 3 points separating 5 teams from 5th to 9th in the current standings.

Of those 5 teams, Stevelight (Herbae) face an opposition in GW36 who they should beat without any problems but everyone else have tougher fixtures against active players. The fight to go up looks likely to go down to the very wire!

GW36 Fixtures

Hive FPL Cup

Round 4 Results

Roboski deployed their bench boost to good effect as they recorded the top score of the 16 teams competing in Round 4 of the Hive FPL Cup, knocking out BlockchainFPL in the process. Formidable Milano also knocked out Division 1 opposition in beating FC McKane.

Hungry Lions, the highest ranked team remaining in the tournament, also made it through with relative ease while defending champions thoth442FC are also through to the Quarter Finals with a convincing victory.

Augment FC have been riding their luck a bit all season in the head to head league and appear to have the midas touch in the Cup too. Their score of 51 saw them scrape through against Legion FC. Tequenos United also went through with a score of 51 beating valchiz fc.

Elsewhere, I Feel Qatari's good form has conicided with the start of the Cup so it's no great surprise to find them through to the QFs too. Meanwhile Yahuzah defeated KingDavid to ensure that it's an all Hive final 8.

Quarter Final Fixtures

The quarter final line-up sees 1 all Divison 2 contest between Yahuzah and Roboski. This should be a very evenly contested match by 2 sides by just 5 points and 2 places in the classic league. Both are equally strong squads with the only injury concern across either team, the slight knock to Bruno Fernandes who has until Monday night to recover.

There is also 1 all Division 1 match between thoth442FC and Augment Fc. Thoth442FC are up to 5th in the classic league while Augment Fc find themselves languishing in 42nd place, 225 points behind their opponents. Thoth played their wildcard in GW35 and so are looking in pretty decent shape for this gameweek and the remainder of the season. By contrast there's a lack of balance to Augment Fc's squad that includes them not having any City players in their team, surely not a recipe for success at this stage of the season!

The remaining matches see Tequenos United take on Hungry Lions. I can only assume that Tequenos forgot to update their team last week but they've stumbled through anyway and do have an extra transfer to use.

The final game sees 2 sides who are battingly to stay in and go up to Division 1. In fact, if Formidable Milano get results going their way in GW26 then they might be confirmed as having been promoted while if things go badly for I Feel Qatari then relegation will be guaranteed. Either way, it looks likely that these 2 sides won't be playing each other next season!