We have come to the penultimate gameweek of the 2024-2025 Premier League season and it’s a bit of a weird one. Not as much in terms of league fixtures, both GW37 and GW38 are regular gameweeks with ten fixtures each, but in terms of what’s happening outside of the Premier League between now and next Sunday (May 25th), when Gameweek 38 kicks off. Allow us to explain:
- Friday, May 16th (19h30 UK time): Gameweek 37 kicks off with Aston Villa vs Spurs.
- Saturday, May 17th (16h30 UK time): FA Cup final between Crystal Palace and Manchester City.
- Tuesday, May 20th (20h00 UK time): Gameweek 37 final fixtures, those being Crystal Palace vs Wolves and Manchester City vs Bournemouth.
- Wednesday, May 21st (20h00 UK time): Europa League final between Spurs and Manchester United.
- Sunday, May 25th (16h00 UK time): Gameweek 38 kick-off.
In a way, it kind of feels like two major games (the FA Cup final and the Europa League final) have been squeezed in between the two final Gameweeks of the Premier League season. So, even though there are no doubles or blanks to take into account for once at the end of the season, FPL managers do have that to take into account. As a result, we expect a fair amount of rotation at Palace, Man City, Spurs and Man United. Fortunately, these are teams that do not boast too many appealing fantasy assets at the moment and their Gameweek 37 fixtures are not particularly appealing either. You might consider Palace’s home game against Wolves and Manchester City’s home game against Bournemouth, also because both sides will have played their FA Cup final a few days prior. That especially goes for City, as they are still battling for a top-four finish, while Palace are all played out in the league. Then again, GW37 offers a couple of decent alternatives as well.
Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 37 is set at 18h00 (UK time) on Friday, May16th, 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 14th, 2025)
| TRANSFERS OUT | TRANSFERS IN | POSSIBLE REASONS | |
| GK | Sels (NFO), Raya (ARS), Fabianski (WHU) | Pickford (EVE), Martinez (AST), Flekken (BRE) | |
| DEF | Robinson (FUL), Trippier (NEW), Kerkez (BOU) | Mykolenko (EVE), Gvardiol (MCI), Muñoz (CRY) | Trippier injury doubt |
| MID | Fernandes (MUN), Salah (LIV), Murphy (NEW) | Eze (CRY), Bowen (WHU), Schade (BRE) | All transferred-in midfielders in good form, Schade fixtures |
| FOR | Marmoush (MCI), Isak (NEW), Cunha (WOL) | Watkins (AST), Beto (EVE), Wood (NFO) | Beto form + fixture |
Premium pick
In part due to the complex build-up of fixtures for the coming week or so, we didn’t immediately see a stand-out premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 37. Champions Mo Salah and Liverpool are practically on holidays already, Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland (who have proven somewhat to be very injury prone this season) have first got the FA Cup final on Saturday, and Bukayo Saka is playing Newcastle at home. Therefore, if you’re set on investing in a premium fantasy asset this week, we would go with Cole Palmer (£10.5m). The England international is not in the best form of his life at the moment, FPL-wise at least, but he’s still got 15 goals and 10 assists to his name from 34 league starts this season. What made us go with Mr. Ice Cold though, is the fact that they are facing what is possibly the worst Manchester United side in the modern Premier League era at Stamford Bridge on Friday. On top of that, the Blues currently find themselves outside of the top four by two points with two games to go, meaning that they are still fully in the race for Champions League football next season. Man United, on the other hand, are in 16th place (!) and the fact that they only managed to win four away games all season definitely has a lot to do with that. The Red Devils, who will be more focussed on their Europa League final, have conceded 25 goals on the road so far, so we see Chelsea as the clear favourites here. Let’s just hope it’s Palmer, their best player, who guides them to victory.
Non-premium pick
Coincidentally, we’ve got a bit of a similar kind of match-up for the Friday evening game of Gameweek 37, when Aston Villa host Spurs. The home side is currently 6th in the league, one place below Chelsea (and on equal points), while the away side is one place below Manchester United (that’s right, Spurs are 17th). Like United, Spurs will have their eyes entirely on next Wednesday’s Europa League final, while Aston Villa, like Chelsea, will be turning up in full force as they eye a top-four spot. To be honest, with Tottenham’s abysmal defensive record, we can see this turning into something of a thumping for the Londoners, which is why Ollie Watkins (£8.9m) is our non-premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 37. Like our premium fantasy pick Cole Palmer, Watkins is not having the kind of record-breaking season like he had last season, but he is still sitting pretty with 16 goals and 7 assists from 29 league starts. The England international also got on the scoresheet in GW36 against Bournemouth to score the only goal of the match, which will hopefully have given his confidence a little extra boost. As we wrote earlier, anything can happen against the Spurs side they are facing on Friday, so what we’re hoping for is a double-digit haul from Villa star forward (and penalty taker) Watkins.
The budget enabler
Out of our fantasy picks for Gameweek 36, only the Brentford boys delivered attacking returns, with Bryan Mbeumo getting as assist for 6 FPL points against Ipswich Town and Kevin Schade (£5.2m) scoring the only goal of the game from that assist for 11 FPL points. As a result of that and considering Brentford’s favourable home fixture against Fulham in Gameweek 37, we are repeating our budget fantasy pick to go with the previously mentioned Schade. The German winger has found a rich vein of form right at the end of the season, with 4 goals in the last three games, bringing his total FPL points to 145. His attacking returns for the season now read 11 goals and 4 assists from 24 league starts, and that is nothing less than a fantastic return for a player currently still priced at £5.2m and he might very well have a bullet or two more in the chamber. We think so, because Brentford are playing Fulham at home this weekend, followed by Wolves at Molineux to finish the season. If you are looking for a budget player with a high ceiling who you can easily include in your starting eleven for the final two games of the 2024-2025 campaign, we’d recommend you look no further than Brentford’s German winger (who is listed as a midfielder in FPL, by the way).
The differential
After 13 years and 199 goals, Jamie Vardy (£5.3m) will be leaving Leicester City at the end of this season. The living club legend and Premier League champion would have liked to do so by keeping his side in the Premier League, but with relegation to the Championship confirmed weeks ago for the Foxes, that unfortunately was not to be. Instead, the ever-motivated former England striker will be looking to make his last game at the King Power Stadium one to remember. In that sense, the stars seem to have aligned for a goodbye in style, as Leicester host Ipswich Town with Vardy just one goal away from the incredibly impressive 200-goal marker for the club. We expect the home side to do everything within their power to help him reach that historic milestone (as if he needs any help), against a side that has shipped 77 goals so far this season. It might be the football romantic in us talking here, but we feel that this special combination of circumstances makes Vardy a smart shout for differential fantasy pick for Gameweek 37. And with a current ownership of 4.9%, he is absolutely a differential.
The (vice-)captaincy
The captaincy for Gameweek 37 looks like a bit of an open debate and we have ended up going with Ollie Watkins for Villa’s home game against Spurs. The Villans still have everything to play for, while Spurs will be focusing on Wednesday’s Europa League final.
There are plenty of FPL manager who prefer not captaining a player who plays on Friday, but fortunately there are a few good alternatives for the armband as well. These include Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo and Kevin Schade at home against Fulham, Chelsea’s Cole Palmer at home against Manchester United and Bukayo Saka for Arsenal’s top-of-the-table clash with Newcastle.
For further thoughts and discussions (including minleagues and side games) on the FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.