At the moment of writing, the Burnley versus Everton relegation battle cracker at Turf Moor still needs to be played, but seeing as we’re not including any Toffees or Clarets in our FPL picks for our GW32 transfers, we’ve gone ahead and written a slightly early gameweek preview to support your planning of the season’s final stretch. With the double gameweek fixtures for GW35 and GW36 now announced, the complexity of the remaining part of the season has becomes more tangible and planning for all of it is already starting this week, especially for those with no, or almost no, chips left. As it looks now, only gameweeks 34, 35 and 38 will contain no doubles and no blanks, but it should be noted that there are still games to be arranged from postponements earlier in the season, while there is also still the likely possibility of postponements as a result of English teams advancing in domestic and international cup tournaments. In this piece, we’ll be focusing on what’s right in front of us though, gameweek 32.
GW32 is an interesting one in the sense that it might be the last time we see a regular, single gameweek without any off-pitch complications this season. The focus will be on Arsenal as they host a toothless Brighton side, on Manchester United visiting a struggling Everton side in serious danger of relegation and a free-scoring Spurs side rolling up to Villa Park. The home game of Leicester against Crystal Palace will attract attention as well, also because the Foxes have one of the more favourable DGW33 match-ups. In normal circumstances, we would’ve mentioned Chelsea earlier as well for their visit to Southampton, but the Blues seemed completely off the boil against Brentford and still have a tough Champions League clash with Real Madrid coming up this week. European obligations this week should also be accounted for when considering fantasy picks from Liverpool, Manchester City (both played on Tuesday), West Ham and Leicester (both play on Thursday evening).
Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 32 is set at 18h30 (UK time) on Friday, April 7th, 2022.
Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per April 6th, 2022)
| TRANSFERS OUT | TRANSFERS IN | POSSIBLE REASONS | |
| GK | Ramsdale (ARS), Sa (WOL), Mendy (CHE) | Schmeichel (LEI), Sa (WOL), De Gea (MUN) | |
| DEF | Tierney (ARS), Reguilon (TOT), Alexander-Arnold (LIV) | Doherty (TOT), White (ARS), James (CHE) | Tierney and Reguilon injuries, Doherty form + no blanks |
| MID | Coutinho (AST), Salah (LIV), Bernardo (MCI) | Maddison (LEI), Bowen (WHU), Son (TOT) | Maddison fixtures + DGW33, Bowen fit again, Son form + no blanks |
| FOR | Broja (SOU), Jimenez (WOL), Dennis (WAT) | Toney (BRE), Kane (TOT), Cucho (WAT) | Broja can’t play v Chelsea, Jimenez suspended, Kane and Cucho form |
Premium pick
Even though the premium assets from both Liverpool and Manchester City can haul at any time, this week sees them placed lower in the pecking order for this category as the two Premier League giants are facing each other at the Etihad on Sunday. We have therefore shifted our attention for GW32 to Harry Kane (£12.5m), who seems to be back to his best after a sub-par first half of the season. Tottenham’s Very Own has now returned in six consecutive league outings, totalling 5 goals and 5 assists since gameweek 27 for 55 FPL points, or just under 10 points per game. That’s true premium fantasy pick performance right there and we’re hoping that he can make the upcoming away game against Villa Park his seventh consecutive game in which he provides an attacking return. The Villains are no walkovers under Steven Gerrard and their 42 conceded goals rank them right in the middle of the table in terms of defensive solidity, but Spurs will be pushing to secure Champions League football for next season and we’re betting on a few goals from them as a result.
Non-premium pick
James Maddison (£6.8m) appears to have picked up some good form ahead of Leicester’s favourable run of fixtures on the short and medium term. With this weekend’s home game against Palace followed by a double against Newcastle and Everton (both away) in DGW33 and a home game versus Villa in GW34, Leicester actually boasts one of the best runs of all teams, on paper at least. As for Madders, he’s been a great differential asset over the past games as he scored against Brentford in GW29 from a wonderful set-piece and provided an assist against Man United last weekend as the Foxes drew 1-1 at Old Trafford. The Eagles will provide a stern test for Maddison and his teammates though, as Patrick Vieira’s men have not conceded a goal in their last three games (against Wolves, City and Arsenal, no less). Then again, only seven teams have scored more than Leicester’s 43 successful attempts, so everything points at an interesting clash of styles at the King Power Stadium on Sunday.
The budget enabler
For our budget category this week, we’re looking at an Arsenal defender as the Gunners face goal-shy Brighton this weekend before dealing with a relatively OK double gameweek 33 against Southampton and Chelsea, both away. Contrary to previous season, Arsenal represent decent defensive solidity this season with just four teams conceding more than the 34 goals they have conceded so far, and three of those four teams are above them in the table currently. We’re going with Ben White (£4.6m) as our budget enabler of the week as he’s preparing to face what’s probably the most ineffective attack of the entire Premier League right. Opponents Brighton have shockingly managed just a single goal in their last seven league outings, back in gameweek 28 at Newcastle, so they must not be relishing the prospect of facing one of the league’s best defences this season. White is not the most exciting pick of the bunch, but he’s a nailed-on starter and he sits on 13 clean sheets for the season already. Fingers crossed for a fourteenth shut-out against the Seagulls on Saturday.
The differential
One of the best things for a fantasy manager is to have a differential asset going into a favourable fixture in great form, preferably even goal-scoring form, and that is exactly what Jack Harrison (£5.5m) is offering us this weekend. The Leeds winger, who is listed as a budget midfielder in FPL, has back-to-back goals to his name against Wolves & outhampton and Leeds are now visiting Championship-bound Watford. The Whites seem to have picked up a bit of resilience and form as a whole under new manager Jesse March, with them currently on a mini-streak of three games without a defeat. In Watford, they are facing a team that is currently battling for its last chances of Premier League survival, which means that this can go either way, in our opinion. Either Leeds makes quick work of the Hornets by scoring quickly and all but securing their Premier League status, or the game drags on as Watford turn up tightly organised and looking for the counter. However it ends up going though, Harrison will be one of the form players on the pitch and he looks likely to be involved in any potential Leeds goals.
The captaincy
As we wrote earlier, the Manchester City – Liverpool clash has removed their players from the picks pool for us this weekend, but that definitely doesn’t mean that none of their players are worth considering. The likes of Kevin de Bruyne, Mo Salah and Sadio Mané can score in any game at any time, and they could definitely haul this weekend, but we’re giving the armband to Harry Kane instead. The England captain is playing away at Villa Park and while this is no easy game on the road by any stretch of the imagination, we feel he has a considerably higher chance of hauling than most other premium assets this weekend.
Besides the Spurs main man, you could also opt for his partner in crime Heung-Min Son, who has scored 3 goals and given 1 assist over his last two games. Even Spurs’ new team addition Dejan Kulusevski is worth considering with his 5 assists in his last five games. Elsewhere, Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo away at Everton could deliver big, as could Raphinha away against Watford. For those who prefer a form player at home, James Maddison against Crystal Palace on Sunday could be the way to go.