There is a swift turnaround in Fantasy Premier League with a full round of fixtures taking place this weekend after a bumper schedule in midweek.
It looks like being a potentially pivotal one in terms of the Premier League title race too with each of Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City all playing away from home.
Pep Guardiola has the luxury of bringing a fully rested Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne into his side for the trip to Crystal Palace, Arsenal face an awkward test at the Amex when they take on Brighton, while revenge will be on Liverpool’s mind at Old Trafford after their dramatic defeat to Manchester United there a few weeks ago.
The Gameweek 32 deadline is at 11am on Saturday 6 April.
i‘s top scorers in Gameweek 31
- Cole Palmer – 20 points vs Man Utd: What a performance, what a season, what a player. Palmer scored his 14th, 15th and 16th goals of a stunning Premier League campaign to give Chelsea a scarcely believable victory. He’ll be £9m plus next season. Enjoy him at £6m while you can.
- Alexander Isak – 8 points v Everton: Newcastle’s main man continued his fine form with a superbly taken goal and was inches away from adding an assist to his tally only for VAR to intervene. The Swede has produced attacking returns in each of his last four appearances.
- Luis Diaz – 6 points vs Sheffield Utd: A slightly fortuitous assist for Alexis Mac Allister’s wonder goal ensured a healthier return for Diaz than his far more popular teammate Mo Salah managed. Considering how Man Utd defended in midweek he could well deliver more points on Sunday.
Includes players selected in i‘s Fantasy Football newsletter
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Gameweek 32 fixtures
Saturday 6 April
*3pm kick-off unless otherwise stated
- Crystal Palace vs Man City (12.30pm)
- Aston Villa vs Brentford
- Everton vs Burnley
- Fulham vs Newcastle
- Luton vs Bournemouth
- Wolves vs West Ham
- Brighton vs Arsenal (5.30pm)
Sunday 7 April
- Man Utd vs Liverpool (3.30pm)
- Sheff Utd vs Chelsea (5.30pm)
- Spurs vs Nott’m Forest (6pm)
Phil Foden (Man City)
Buying a player straight after they’ve just scored a hat-trick feels a bit like getting to the pub for last orders when all of your friends have been there all day: the fun has mostly already been had.
That is not necessarily the case with Phil Foden, though. Sure, he’s not going to score three goals every game from now until the end of the season, but he can certainly produce plenty of FPL points regardless based on his electric form and City’s upcoming run of fixtures.
City’s next four matches look great from an attacking perspective. The title challengers face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in the early kick-off on Saturday before taking on Luton (h), Nottingham Forest (a) and Brighton (a) in their next three.
Foden has already contributed towards more league goals (21) this season than ever before and based on his exploits against Villa it won’t be long until he overtakes Ollie Watkins at the top of the FPL leaderboard.
Price: £8.1m Points: 183 Gameweek 32 fixture: Crystal Palace (a)
Rayan Ait-Nouri (Wolves)
At the time of writing, Rayan Ait-Nouri is the most-bought defender ahead of the Gameweek 32 deadline and with good reason given his recent performances and positional switch.
With Wolves’ attack depleted by injury, Gary O’Neil has shifted Ait-Nouri up the pitch with the Algerian playing as a left-sided winger and even popping up in centre-forward positions, as demonstrated by his goal at Burnley on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old has flourished since being given more freedom, scoring two goals and laying on an assist in his last five Premier League games. He also provided both a goal and assist in his side’s FA Cup defeat to Coventry City last month.
Wolves have a promising upcoming schedule with four of their next five matches at Molineux, including two in Gameweek 35, which makes Ait-Nouri an attractive long-term pick.
Price: £4.7m Points: 67 Gameweek 32 fixture: West Ham (h)
Brennan Johnson (Spurs)
Brennan Johnson is currently rated at 75 per cent to face his former club Nottingham Forest at the moment but played down the knock he received against West Ham. “I got a kick in my knee and it kind of stiffened up a bit but it’s fine, I’m good,” he told TNT Sports.
Wait to hear what Ange Postecoglou has to say about the Welsh winger’s fitness on Friday before snapping him up but if Johnson is given the go-ahead to play this weekend he looks like a great differential option in midfield.
Although he hasn’t always started, Johnson’s numbers have been impressive for some time with 11 direct goal involvements (four goals and seven assists) to show from his last 13 league appearances. Only Richarlison and Son Heung-min have averaged more FPL points per 90 minutes than Johnson in Spurs’s squad this season.
With Dejan Kulusevski struggling for form, Johnson is likely to start against Forest and he’ll no doubt be eager to impress against his old side.
Price: £5.8m Points: 106 Gameweek 32 fixture: Nottingham Forest (h)
Rodrigo Muniz (Fulham)
It’s a good sign for Rodrigo Muniz that he played the full 90 minutes at the City Ground considering Marco Silva took off three of his outfield players after 33 minutes and maxed out his substitutions by the 71st.
Silva was deeply unhappy with the performance of his players in Nottingham and rightly so, but Muniz has been in such stunning form of late that he has earned himself a bit of leeway.
The Brazilian has been a revelation since Raul Jimenez got injured in December, scoring eight goals and providing an assist in his last nine Premier League games, form that has earned him back-to-back player of the month award nominations.
Next up for Muniz is a meeting with a severely depleted Newcastle defence. Eddie Howe is currently missing five first-team defenders, including key ones like Sven Botman and Kieran Trippier, plus first-choice goalkeeper Nick Pope.
Price: £4.7m Points: 77 Gameweek 32 fixture: Newcastle (h)
Martin Odegaard (Arsenal)
Martin Odegaard was on target during Arsenal’s home win over Luton in midweek, but typically, he is a better FPL asset away from north London where there is more space for him to operate in.
It may sound like a conspiracy theory but the numbers back it up: 64.7 per cent of Odegaard’s 142 FPL points this season have been scored in away matches, despite him playing just one more away game than at home.
Furthermore, five of Odegaard’s seven double-digit hauls have come away from the Emirates. He has produced 37 points across his last four away fixtures, including a blank in last weekend’s “intriguing tactical battle” at the Etihad.
Brighton are precisely the type of opponent that you’d expect Odegaard to perform well against given they will attempt to take the game to Arsenal in front of their own fans. The Norwegian has the quality to punish such ambition.
Price: £8.5m Points: 142 Gameweek 32 fixture: Brighton (a)