After a minor blank gameweek six rounds ago and a major blank gameweek just before the international break, FPL is now fully immersed in this season’s business end. Gameweek 32 is the first major double gameweek of the season and it’s going to have an impact, be sure of it. No less than ten teams are playing twice this week, including Man City, Man United and Chelsea, and many double match-ups look more than favourable, on paper at least. It should therefore come as no surprise that the large majority of our picks this week focus on assets from the top-six clubs with a double gameweek. The schedule for this week (as shown below) will also seduce many FPL managers into activating one of their chips, so take that into account when making your decisions. Another decision you should consider before betting online is to check your-promotional-code.co.uk website and see if that will help you out.
The transfer deadline for gameweek 32 is set at (11:30am GMT) on Saturday, March 30th.
| TEAM | OPPONENT 1 | OPPONENT 2 |
| Brighton | Southampton (home) | Chelsea (away) |
| Cardiff | Chelsea (home) | Man City (away) |
| Manchester City | Fulham (away) | Cardiff (home) |
| Tottenham Hotspur | Liverpool (away) | Crystal Palace (home) |
| Manchester United | Watford (home) | Wolves (away) |
| Wolves | Burnley (away) | Man United (home) |
| Watford | Man United (away) | Fulham (home) |
| Fulham | Man City (home) | Watford (away) |
| Chelsea | Cardiff (away) | Brighton (home) |
| Crystal Palace | Huddersfield (home) | Spurs (away) |
| Southampton | Brighton (away) | / |
| Arsenal | Newcastle (home) | / |
| Newcastle | Arsenal (away) | / |
| Liverpool | Spurs (home) | / |
| West Ham | Everton (home) | / |
| Leicester | Bournemouth (home) | / |
| Everton | West Ham (away) | / |
| Bournemouth | Leicester (away) | / |
| Burnley | Wolves (home) | / |
| Huddersfield | Crystal Palace (away) | / |
Premium picks
When Man City are trailing the leaders by two points with a game more to play, eight games left until the end of the season, and a double gameweek coming up in which they are facing Fulham (away) and Cardiff (home), you know what you have to do. Exactly, ignore the rotation risk and get as many of those City big hitters as you can. Raheem Sterling (£11.6m) is therefore our first premium pick of the week, partly because we’ve picked Aguero as a captaincy candidate later on and partly because Raz is on fire. The young Englishman has had an international break to remember, scoring 3 goals and winning a penalty against the Czech Republic, and then scoring and assisting again a few days later against Montenegro. Rotation could be a worry for him, considering he played 70 and 90 minutes respectively in the previously mentioned games, but he’ll have had four full days of rest and preparation for the away game at Craven Cottage on Saturday. Fulham have conceded 30 goals in 15 home games this season, while Pep’s men have put 26 in the back of the net in 14 away games. After that, Sterling is up against Cardiff at the Etihad, where the Cityzens have scored an incredible 53 goals in 16 games. The Bluebirds, on the other hand, have conceded 26 goals in 14 away games so far, and like Fulham, a clean sheet looks, let’s say, unlikely for them. Raheem Sterling could haul BIG this week.
Our second premium pick of the week has a double gameweek as well, though at first sight his fixtures look tougher than City’s. Manchester United’s Paul Pogba (£8.9m) will be facing Watford (home) and Wolves (away) in gameweek 32, both of which are serious candidates for the “Best of the Rest” title this Premier League campaign. There is, or could be, more here than meets the eye, though. Both Watford and Wolves have made it to the semi-finals of the FA Cup (in which they face each other on April 7th), which means that both teams could very well prioritise the upcoming cup games over this week’s Premier League encounters, especially considering their excellent positions in the league. In terms of Pogba, this means that he could be facing two teams that won’t start with their strongest starting eleven and with one eye on the FA Cup already. United, on the other hand, are in full-on battle with Spurs (3 points ahead), Arsenal (2 points ahead) and Chelsea (1 point behind) for a top-four finish, which means Champions League football next season. The French midfielder has been a bit disappointing from an FPL point of view lately, with just 8 points from his last 4 games, but he was bound to experience a drop in point-scoring form at some point after a spectacular start under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. He still made 8 attempts on goal over that period, of which 4 were on target, and created another 4 big chances for his team mates. Lukaku’s return to the starting line-up did result in Pogba playing a deeper role but Lukaku is an injury doubt at the moment with a foot problem. Pogba is fit, a guaranteed starter and should still be in charge of the penalties for the Red Devils, while his magnificent assist for national team-mate Griezmann last week showed an abundance of confidence. Add to that his GW32 fixtures and his reasonable price tag, and picking him becomes something of a no-brainer.
With so many interesting attacking options this week, our final premium pick might surprise some. We recommend the inclusion of Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta (£6.3m), who is facing Cardiff (away) and Brighton (home) in gameweek 32. The Blues go into both games as heavy favourites, which is partly thanks to the difficulty both opponents have at times when it comes to scoring goals. The Bluebirds have scored 18 goals in 16 home games (and 3 in the last 4), while the Seagulls have scored just 15 goals in 15 away games. Chelsea, on the other hand, though erratic at times as far as their performances and results go, have already kept 12 clean sheets this season. Add to that Azpilicueta’s 5 assists and the fact that, as captain, he barely misses a minute of Premier League action, and it becomes clear how the Spaniard has become one of this season’s highest-scoring defenders. Against Cardiff and Brighton, he’s likely to get plenty of chances to bomb forward and add to his assist tally, so serious FPL points could be on the cards at both ends of the pitch for him this week.
A differential pick or two
Even though it’s not the first time we’re recommending Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen (£9.2m) as a differential, it still feels strange to consider one of the very best players in the Premier League as one. He is though, in the most literal sense of the word, with an ownership of just 5.4%. The abundance of (cheaper) midfield alternatives probably plays a role in this, as does his decent-but-not-dazzling output this season. Still, 5 goals and 9 assists is far from a bad balance after 30 games. Eriksen hasn’t posted an attacking return since gameweek 26, when he scored a goal and provided an assist for a 13-point haul, but he has a double gameweek with fixtures against Liverpool (away) and Palace (home) coming up. Neither of those teams are push-overs in defence, with the Reds especially having conceded just 9 goals in 15 home games (the Eagles conceded 24 goals in 15 away games). Still, Spurs are fighting for a spot in the top three and the return of Dele Alli will surely boost their spirits, as well as their goal-scoring potential. Eriksen takes charge of plenty of set-pieces and when Spurs threaten, he’s usually involved. Add to that the fact that the Palace game will be the first game Pocchetino’s men will play in their brand-new stadium, and the Danish maestro looks like a powerful differential pick for this double gameweek.
Our other differential pick of the week is the only player in this list without a double gameweek. Leicester’s Jamie Vardy (£9.1m) is facing Bournemouth at home in gameweek 32, an outfit that has conceded 35 goals in 15 away games, while the Englishman himself has found himself in a bit of a purple patch since the arrival of Brendan Rodgers at the Leicester helm. Vardy has scored 5 goals and provided a single assist in his last 6 Premier League games, rewarding the 9.1% of FPL managers that own him with 38 points. Due to the many enticing-looking double fixtures this week, many FPL managers might overlook Vardy as a transfer target, which only adds to his differential potential this week. On top of that, Leicester are facing a kind run of fixtures after the Bournemouth game this weekend: Huddersfield (away), Newcastle (home) and West Ham (away). Getting Vardy now could pay off both this week and over the longer term.
For more transfers ideas for GW32 have a look at the fiso forum GW32 transfers topic and, as many managers will have saved their Free Hit Chip for this gameweek, also check out the fiso forum GW32 Free Hit topic.
The captaincy
As we mentioned earlier in this article, Sergio “Kun” Aguero (£11.8m) is one of our captaincy picks for gameweek 32. With a double gameweek coming up in which City are first visiting Fulham and then hosting Cardiff, there is simply no getting around the Argentinian striker. He has scored 10 goals and provided 2 assists in his last 11 Premier League games, and he’s going to come into GW32 fully rested, courtesy of not being called up for national team duty during the international break. As a matter of fact, Kun has posted attacking returns in each home game for which he started this season, boasting an average of 11.6 points per game. His two hat-tricks, against Arsenal at home in GW25 and against Chelsea at home in GW26, have contributed to that enormously. As far as rotation worries go, his main rival for the spot up top, Gabriel Jesus, hasn’t started a league game since gameweek 22 and the Brazilian also featured in both of the games his national team disputed over the international break. Still not convinced Aguero should get the armband? We’ve covered the defensive highlights of both of City’s gameweek 32 opponents earlier in this article when making the case for Raheem Sterling. Just captain one of the two.
Our second suggestion for the captain’s armband and our final pick of the week is Chelsea’s Eden Hazard (£10.9m). The talismanic Belgian spent a successful week with his national team, as he scored twice against Russia (one penalty) and once a few days later versus Cyprus. In gameweek 32 he’s facing Cardiff in Wales and Brighton at Stamford Bridge, who have conceded 31 goals (in 16 homes games) and 27 goals (in 15 away games) respectively. What’s also interesting in terms of Hazard as designated penalty-taker for the Blues, is that Brighton have conceded most penalties this season (9), while Cardiff have caused the second-most penalties (7). Both teams are expected to employ a defensive approach to their encounters with Chelsea, but that didn’t deter Hazard from ripping them apart earlier in the season. In gameweek 5, the Belgian forward scored a hat-trick against Cardiff in London, while he scored a goal and provided an assist against Brighton at the AMEX in gameweek 17. Hazard is notorious for delivering frustrating performances at times, at least from an FPL point of view, but his current form, his central role in his team and his double gameweek fixtures make him a stand-out candidate for the armband.
As you can see from the fiso forum GW32 Captain Poll, Aguero and Sterling are really the only captain picks being considered.