After a brave battle with Paris Saint-Germain over two semi-final legs, Arsenal were eliminated from the Champions League this week. Whether it was deserved or not we’ll leave up to you, but what we can say is that it will have an impact on FPL planning for the remaining three gameweeks of the 2024-2025 season. The Gunners are currently leading the race for second place with a 3-point lead over Manchester City and a 4-points lead over Newcastle, and they still face champions Liverpool (this weekend) and the Magpies (in GW37), before visiting relegating Southampton to end the season. We expect this to be reflected in the FPL transfer stats over the coming days as well.
Besides that, England still has three other teams in Europe at the moment, with Manchester United and Spurs on the cusp of an all-English Europa League final, and Chelsea all but qualified for a Conference League final against either Real Betis of Fiorentina. These games are still to be played at the moment of writing. The Blues, in particular, have an intense ending of the season cut out for them, as they currently find themselves outside of the Premier League top-four on goal difference and with a tough schedule to come.
Neither Man United nor Spurs have any chance of a decent Premier League finish this season, considering their respective 15th and 16th (!) places in the league. Expect these sides to focus on the Europa League as much as they can, seeing as winning that title is their only way of qualifying for European football next season. The ramifications of this situation for FPL managers are minimal though, in our opinion, as neither team offers real stand-out fantasy picks and they both have a relatively challenging schedule to end the season.
Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 36 is set at 13h30 (UK time) on Saturday, May 10th, 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 May 8th, 2025)
| TRANSFERS OUT | TRANSFERS IN | POSSIBLE REASONS | |
| GK | Raya (ARS), Pickford (EVE), Henderson (CRY) | Sels (NFO), Flekken (BRE), Ederson (MCI) | |
| DEF | Saliba (ARS), Timber (ARS), Muñoz (CRY) | Gvardiol (MCI), Ait-Nouri (WOL), Milenkovic (NFO) | |
| MID | Saka (ARS), Salah (LIV), Murphy (NEW) | De Bruyne (MCI), Mbeumo (BRE), Elanga (NFO) | KDB and Mbeumo form + fixture, |
| FOR | Mateta (CRY), Isak (NEW), Strand Larsen (WOL) | Wissa (BRE), Wood (NFO), Cunha (WOL) | Wissa form + fixture, Strand Larsen injury doubt |
Premium pick
While not all of our Gameweek 35 fantasy picks delivered as hoped, the one who did (and in a big way) was Kevin de Bruyne (£9.5m). With Liverpool crowned champions, Bukayo Saka and Arsenal focusing on the Champions League, Erling Haaland only recently back from injury and Cole Palmer not in the best form of his life (in terms of FPL returns, that is), we identified Manchester City’s midfield maestro as an interesting premium fantasy pick, not only for the GW35 home game against Wolves, but until the end of the season. KDB rewarded the roughly 10% of FPL managers who own him with a handsome 11-pointer, courtesy of him scoring the only goal of the game last weekend. As a result, we are going with the Belgian again this weekend, when City visit relegated Southampton. While the Skyblues are well in the battle for a top-four finish, the Saints have already been relegated, in part due to their leaky defence. No team has conceded more than their 82 goals in 35 league games, which is why we feel confident in repeating KDB as our premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 36. On top of that, and as we said last week, KDB has something to prove after City informed him recently that his contract will not be extended at the end of this season.
Non-premium pick
We realise it might be a bit boring, but after repeating our premium fantasy pick, we are also repeating our non-premium fantasy pick of Gameweek 35. Bryan Mbeumo (£8.2m) was the other one of our picks last weekend who delivered, though we secretly hoped for a bit more from the home game against struggling Manchester United. In a 4-3 thriller, the Cameroon international, who already had 18 goals and 7 assists to his name at that point, came away with an assist for 5 FPL points. That’s better than nothing though, and up next for Brentford is a visit to Ipswich Town. In other words, another great chance for Mbeumo to work towards the impressive 20-goal milestone. The Tractor Boys have already been relegated, in great part due to the fact that they have conceded no less than 76 goals in 35 league games so far. Brentford, on the other hand, have nothing to play for anymore, though 8th place (they are currently in 9th, 1 point behind Bournemouth) might mean European football next season if Man United or Spurs win the Europa League, and Chelsea triumphs in the Conference League. We are confident that Mbeumo and co will play to win at Ipswich, which makes him one of the stand-out fantasy picks for Gameweek 36.
The budget enabler
We’re sticking with Brentford for our budget fantasy pick for Gameweek 36, as Kevin Schade (£5.1m) seems to have all the makings a good value investment at the moment. The German attacker has worked his way into manager Thomas Frank’s starting eleven this season and he has repaid that confidence handsomely with 10 goals and 4 assists from 23 league starts. No less than 3 of those goals were scored in the last two gameweeks, with a goal at Nottingham Forest in Gameweek 34 followed by a brace at home to Manchester United last weekend. Seeing as Brentford are facing Ipswich Town on the road next, Schade boasts the always promising form-plus-fixture combination. Add to that the fact that he costs just £5.1m at the moment of writing and what you get is a budget enabler with a more than decent ceiling. To top it off, Brentford’s remaining schedule is not bad either, especially for a player who you can easily use as your fifth midfielder as well, if needed. After their visit to Ipswich this weekend, the Bees are hosting Fulham before ending the 2024-2025 campaign at Molineux in Gameweek 38.
The differential
While Nottingham Forest’s form (and results) have dipped a bit over the past few gameweeks, the Tricky Trees still find themselves in an impressive sixth place in the league with just three gameweeks to go. That means they are really close now to their first qualification for European football since the 1994-1995 season, when they qualified for the UEFA Cup. In order to make that a reality, a victory in the upcoming home game against Leicester City looks crucial. The Foxes have already been relegated and bar Southampton, no side has scored as few goals as Leicester, which is why we are picking Neco Williams (£4.5m) as our differential fantasy pick for Gameweek 36. We are opting for the Forest wing-back because of his potential for points at both ends of the pitch this weekend. Forest have been excellent in defence this season and with a bit of luck, Williams adds to his current 1 goal and 3 assists against Leicester City on Sunday.
The (vice-)captaincy
After his fine performance and 11-point haul in Gameweek 35, we are backing Kevin de Bruyne as our captain again this weekend, when Manchester City face Southampton at Saint Mary’s.
Gameweek 36 offers a few very interesting alternatives to the Belgian as well, especially on the Brentford roster. Both Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa look like great shouts for the armband when the Bees visit Ipswich Town. The same goes for Manchester City players Omar Marmoush and Josko Gvardiol when they face Southampton away.
For further thoughts and discussions (including minleagues and side games) on the FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.