So, did you score more than 12 points in blank gameweek 29? If you did, congrats, because it means you scored above the points average for the gameweek. That’s right, almost eleven million fantasy managers in the official FPL game and together they only managed an average of a measly twelve points. Of course, it should be said that GW29 was also the biggest blank of the season with just four games, which greatly contributed to what surely became one of the lowest-scoring, most underwhelming gameweeks in FPL history.

As a result, the BGW29 Team of the Week was a differential festival the likes of which we have rarely seen before. Player of the Week was Fulham’s Rodrigo Muniz, who scored a brace against Spurs and got 13 FPL points for it. The only other players to make it into double digits for BGW29 were Muniz’ teammate Antonee Robinson and Burnley’s Jacob Bruun Larsen (both 11 points), and Fulham left-back Timothy Castagne with 10 FPL points. For the sake of most of us, let’s just forget about one of the worst blank gameweeks ever and move on to regular gameweek 30!

Check out FISO’s FPL Forum for the latest discussion and don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 30 is set at 11h00 (UK time) on Saturday, March 30^th, 2024. If you fancy playing a fantasy premier league game just based on Saturday’s or the Weekend’s fixtures then have a look at FanTeam’s Daily Fantasy Games (18+ only).

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per March 28^th, 2024)

	TRANSFERS OUT	TRANSFERS IN	POSSIBLE REASONS
GK	Areola (WHU), Ederson (MCI), Dubravka (NEW)	Kelleher (LIV), Leno (FUL), Petrovic (CHE)
DEF	Doughty (LUT), Trippier (NEW), Gabriel (ARS)	Gusto (CHE), Robinson (FUL), Van Dijk (LIV)	Fulham upcoming fixtures, all transferred-out players dealing with injury doubts
MID	De Bruyne (MCI), Bowen (WHU), Saka (ARS)	Salah (LIV), Palmer (CHE), Son (TOT)	De Bruyne + Saka injury doubts
FOR	Morris (LUT), Toney (BRE), Watkins (AST)	Muniz (FUL), Haaland (MCI), Darwin (LIV)	Muniz form + fixtures,

Premium pick

Gameweek 30 offers us a few interesting premium options, including Mohamed Salah at home to Brighton and Erling Haaland at home against Arsenal, and we have chosen to go with Heung-Min Son (£10.1m). The South Korean forward was amongst the biggest disappointments of blank gameweek 29, as more than a few managers captained him for what ended up being a blank at Craven Cottage, so we are considering the upcoming home encounter with Luton Town as a chance for the player to redeem himself. After all, Son is still an exceptional footballer who is listed as a midfielder in the official fantasy game, but often deployed as a striker by manager Ange Postecoglou, and who already has 14 goals and 8 assists from 24 league starts this season. Luton have already conceded 60 goals this season and 34 of those goals were conceded away from home, which only adds to Son’s appeal as the stand-out premium fantasy pick for gameweek 30.

Non-premium pick

Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) has reached the £ 9-million price point in the official fantasy game, so he’s approaching the premium category. For now though, we are still including him as our favourite non-premium fantasy pick for gameweek 30, in which he is facing the Wolves defence at Villa Park. Like Watkins and the rest of his Aston Villa teammates, Wolves are having a very good 2023-2024 campaign so far, taking 41 points from their first 28 league games. Villa at home are a different story this season though, and we expect them to keep the three points at Villa Park on Saturday. As for Watkins, he is absolutely nailed-on as his side’s striker and main man in attack, which is only emphasised by the fact that he has penalty duties in his locker as well. With an incredible 16 goals and 15 assists from 29 league starts, the England international has more than justified his position as talisman for Aston Villa. The home game against Wolves provides him with a good opportunity to improve on those totals even further.

The budget enabler

It’s becoming a bit repetitive, we know, but when a player has 11 goals and 9 assists from 19 league starts to his name, while being priced at just £ 5.7m, he is very likely to dominate the budget enabler category. In other words, Cole Palmer (£5.7m) is once again our budget fantasy pick, this time for gameweek 30 in which Chelsea welcome Burnley to Stamford Bridge. The Clarets are looking more and more like one of the season’s prime candidates for relegation, which is in part due to their leaky defence. They have already conceded 63 goals this season (28 of which in Away games), a total only surpassed by Sheffield United so far. While Chelsea have been far from good this season, they have scored 47 goals already and they do still rank fifth in the league in terms of Expected Goals. We’re not expecting this one to become a goal fest, but we do think Chelsea will put two or three past the Clarets and if they do, Palmer is likely to be involved. Especially because with his cool head he is on penalties as well.

The differential

It sounds like fake news, but Richarlison (£6.9m) is currently part of just 4.1% of all FPL teams, despite sitting on 10 goals and 3 assists from 17 league starts. His overall ownership was undoubtedly affected by his absence from the Spurs starting lineup in gameweeks 27 and 28, but 4.1% still sounds like it’s too low for a player of Richarlison’s quality. The Brazilian has been mainly deployed as a number nine by Ange Postecoglou, which only adds to his appeal, although it should also be noted that he is not as nailed-on a starter as some of his fellow attackers. With a set of fixtures consisting of Luton at home on Saturday, followed by West Ham away and Nottingham Forest at home, we nevertheless feel confident in selecting Richarlison for our squad. On the short and the medium term, he has the potential to bring his owners both goals and assists, and his current price of £ 6.9m makes him an affordable consideration as well.

The (vice-)captaincy

As you could already infer from our premium fantasy recommendation, GW30 presents us with a few excellent captaincy options. Our armband is going to Heung-Min Son, who is facing Luton Town at home for a game in which we expect at least a goal or two for Spurs.

If you’re not one of the roughly four million fantasy managers who own the South Korean already or if you were perhaps discouraged from captaining him now after his disappointing blank in BGW29, there are good alternatives on hand hand. Erling Haaland at home to Arsenal is a good pick, as is Mo Salah at home to Brighton and Ollie Watkins at home to Wolves. More differential captaincy picks include Dominic Solanke at home to Everton, Cole Palmer for his home game against Burnley and Fulham’s Rodrigo Muniz away at Sheffield United.