If you went all in on Newcastle for Double Gameweek 33, hats off to you, because the Magpies dominated practically all of the FPL-related rankings this past week. An impressive 4-1 victory over Manchester United was followed up with a 5-0 thrashing of Crystal Palace, which resulted in a Team of the Week with no less than five Newcastle players. Stand-out performer by far was Harvey Barnes, who got 3 goals, an assist and 27 FPL points over two games, followed by budget gem (and our DGW32 Budget Enabler) Jacob Murphy with 19 FPL points, courtesy of a goal and 2 assists.
No rest for the wicked though, as we are moving straight into another Double Gameweek on Saturday. This time four teams have a double (see overview below) and the ultimate goal here is to identify “this double gameweek’s Newcastle”. Unfortunately, none of the doubles look as enticing as Newcastle’s did in DGW32, but that doesn’t mean there is not a lot of potential. In that sense, we are particularly looking at Arsenal, who come off a heroic elimination of Real Madrid in the Champions League and who are now set to face Ipswich away and Palace at home. The other doubling side we’d punt on are Manchester City, with a visit to Everton followed by a home game against Aston Villa.
As far as single-fixture teams are concerned, you should probably not sleep on Liverpool. The Reds are visiting leaky Leicester City on Sunday and it feels like there will be goals in this one.
The doubling teams and their fixtures in Double Gameweek 33:
| TEAM | DGW33 FIXTURE 1 | DGW33 FIXTURE 2 |
| Arsenal | Ipswich Town (away) | Crystal Palace (home) |
| Aston Villa | Newcastle (home) | Manchester City (away) |
| Crystal Palace | Bournemouth (home) | Arsenal (away) |
| Manchester City | Everton (away) | Aston Villa (home) |
Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 33 is set at 15h00 (UK time) on Saturday, April 19th, 2025. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.
Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per April 17th, 2025)
| TRANSFERS OUT | TRANSFERS IN | POSSIBLE REASONS | |
| GK | Sels (NFO), Pickford (EVE), Henderson (CRY) | Raya (ARS), Martinez (AST), Areola (WHU) | DGW33 |
| DEF | Aina (NFO), Gabriel (ARS), Alexander-Arnold (LIV) | Saliba (ARS), Gvardiol (MCI), Timber (ARS) | DGW33, all transferred-out defenders are injured |
| MID | Kluivert (BOU), Palmer (CHE), Mbeumo (BRE) | Saka (ARS), Rogers (AST), De Bruyne (MCI) | DGW33, Kluivert injury doubt |
| FOR | Wood (NFO), Isak (NEW), Mateta (CRY) | Marmoush (MCI), Watkins (AST), Mateta (CRY) | DGW33 |
Premium pick
Now, before we continue, we have to mention that this premium fantasy pick comes with some risk, in the sense that Bukayo Saka (£10.5m) only relatively recently returned from injury. He was brought in from the bench back in Gameweek 30 (and immediately scored) and played no longer than 45 minutes in a league game since then. It should be noted though, that this minute management in the league also had to do with Arsenal’s Champions League quarterfinal clash with Real Madrid, in which Saka completed 74 minutes (in the first leg) and 77 minutes (in the second leg), scoring one goal in the second leg. Now that Los Blancos have been dispatched of and the Gunners find themselves in the Champions League semifinals for the first time since the 2020-2021 campaign, the focus can go back on the Prem for a bit. Saka is obviously an integral part of manager Mikel Arteta’s side and while we are fully aware of the risks surrounding his playing time (rotation, recent injury history, fatigue), he looks like a must-have to us for DGW33. The Gunners are facing Ipswich Town away first, followed by a home encounter with Crystal Palace. We are convinced that Saka will get sufficient playing time, at least 120 minutes of action over both games, which makes him a shoo-in for us as the stand-out premium fantasy pick for Double Gameweek 33.
Non-premium pick
We considered Gabriel Martinelli for this category, Ollie Watkins, William Saliba, but we have been playing FPL for some time now and one of the things we have learned over those many years is this: when Kevin de Bruyne (£9.3m) doubles, you pick Kevin de Bruyne. Rumours of increasing bad blood between the Belgian midfield maestro and Manchester City have surfaced over the past few days, as a result of the club’s decision to not extend the player’s contract at the end of this season, and if you know the player Kevin de Bruyne a little, those are the kind of circumstances in which he can rise to unrivalled heights. Combine that possibility with his many extraordinary qualities, add to that a double against Everton (away) and Aston Villa (home), and what you get is pure, raw, double-digit-haul potential. He absolutely bossed City’s last game against Palace, which resulted in a goal and an assist for 12 FPL points, and that’s not even all. He also fired six shots in that game and he created two big chances, making him Manchester City’s creator in chief by some distance. We all know Pep Guardiola’s love for rotation, but considering his side’s position at the moment and the fact that they only have the Premier League left to play for, we are pretty certain that KDB will play a majority of the minutes available during City’s Double Gameweek 33.
The budget enabler
In Double Gameweek 32, budget fantasy pick Jacob Murphy stood out with a wonderful 19-point haul. In Double Gameweek 33, we have a feeling that Morgan Rogers (£5.6m) might take on that role as Aston Villa prepare for a home game against Newcastle and an away game Manchester City. Granted, opponent-wise Rogers’ double is considerably harder than Murphy’s was last week, so we’re not expecting 19 FPL points here, but we can definitely see a return or two for the young winger. Villa did just get eliminated by Paris Saint Germain in the Champions League, so rotation might be a factor here, but our confidence in Rogers’ minutes is strengthened by the fact that he is the third-most used player under manager Unai Emery, right behind midfielder Youri Tielemans and goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez. That’s not that surprising if you look at his attacking returns in the Premier League up to this point: 31 starts, 8 goals, 8 assists, 7 clean sheets and 14 bonus points for a total of 138 FPL points. Only striker Ollie Watkins has more at this point amongst all players on the Villa roster (156 points).
The differential
With the likes of Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus out injured, and the likelihood of rotation for players like Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka due to Champions League exertions, Leandro Trossard (£6.7m) has all the makings of a great differential fantasy pick for Double Gameweek 33. He featured only 29 minutes spread over two legs against Real Madrid, but completed the 90 minutes in six of the last seven Premier League games, which makes it clear for us how Arteta sees the Belgian’s role at the moment. With a double against Ipswich away and Palace away, it could be a perfect coming-together of circumstances for the player and for the roughly 3% of fantasy managers who currently have them in their squads. Trossard has started in 23 games so far, in which he amassed 2,092 playing minutes, and got 5 goals and 6 assists for a total of 112 FPL points. That is actually just a few points behind goalkeeper David Raya (123), central defenders William Saliba (120) and Gabriel (117) and winger Bukayo Saka (117), who are all undisputed starters under Arteta. It just shows how effective Trossard can be, even when he gets less minutes than he would like, and what an interesting differential fantasy pick he currently is for Double Gameweek 33.
The (vice-)captaincy
The armband decision is not an easy one in Double Gameweek 33. We are very much divided between Kevin de Bruyne, thanks to his practically guaranteed minutes in squad full of exceptional players that needs the points, and Bukayo Saka, who has good fixtures in the double but who is at risk of some minute management by his coach. We ended up slapping the armband on KDB.
Outside of De Bruyne and Saka, we like the look of Gabriel Martinelli and Ollie Watkins as well, despite the latter’s challenging Double Gameweek fixtures. Leandro Trossard is out stand-out differential captain, while Mohamed Salah (away at Leicester) is always there for those managers who prefer security (the man has just broken the record for total goals + assists in a 38-game Premier League season) over Double Gameweek anxiety.
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