Just five gameweeks left with three of those gameweeks being doubles and the first of those three is coming right up. With six teams doubling, GW34 is not the biggest double gameweek of the season in terms of how many sides have a double, but it might just be the biggest when looking at WHICH sides are doubling. While Fulham and West Ham have got very unfavourable matchups, two of the top 4 (Manchester City and Manchester United) have got excellent doubles coming up, as do Liverpool. To top it off, this season’s xG monsters and fantasy favourites Brighton have a double as well and a good one at that, especially from an attacking point of view, with home games against Wolves and Man United.
A complete overview of double gameweek 34:
| DOUBLING TEAM | FIXTURE 1 | FIXTURE 2 |
| Brighton | Wolves (home) | Man United (home) |
| Fulham | Man City (home) | Liverpool (away) |
| Liverpool | Spurs (home) | Fulham (home) |
| Manchester City | Fulham (away) | West Ham (home) |
| Manchester United | Aston Villa (home) | Brighton (away) |
| West Ham | Crystal Palace (away) | Man City (away) |
Don’t forget, the FPL deadline for gameweek 34 is set at 11h00 (UK time) on Saturday, April 29th, 2023.
Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per April 28th, 2023)
| TRANSFERS OUT | TRANSFERS IN | POSSIBLE REASONS | |
| GK | Kepa (CHE), Ward (LEI), Pope (NEW) | Ederson (MCI), Steele (BRI), De Gea (MUN) | DGW34 |
| DEF | Chilwell (CHE), Mee (BRE), White (ARS) | Stones (MCI), Alexander-Arnold (LIV), Shaw (MUN) | DGW34 |
| MID | Saka (ARS), Martinelli (ARS), Odegaard (ARS) | Rashford (MUN), Grealish (MCI), De Bruyne (MCI) | DGW34, Arsenal fixtures |
| FOR | Kane (TOT), Watkins (AST), Toney (BRE) | Diogo Jota (LIV), Haaland (MCI), Isak (NEW) | DGW34, Isak form |
Premium pick
It’s Erling Haaland (£12.3m) for Man City’s double against Fulham (away) and West Ham (home). Yes, it’s boring, and yes, City have an insane schedule coming up and yes, Pep Guardiola likes to rotate, and yes, Salah might go off on one in his double of home games in gameweek 34, but it doesn’t matter. Haaland is on course to break just about every Premier League goal-scoring record in existence, in his first season in England, and there simply is no better fantasy asset in the official game at this moment. Perhaps Harry Kane can somewhat match the Norwegian’s value overall, but he plays for Spurs and not for one of the best sides in Europe. We can use as many words as we want, but they always come down to the same conclusion. If you have Haaland, captain him. If you don’t yet, ask yourself what you’ve really been doing until now, then bring him in and captain him.
(FYI: 28 league starts | 33 goals | 8 assists | 241 FPL points)
Non-premium pick
With the likes of Brighton, Liverpool and the Manchester sides doubling this week, there are quite a lot of non-premium fantasy picks to choose from for DGW34. Especially after last night’s performance against Spurs though, we can’t see any optimal double gameweek 34 squad without Marcus Rashford (£7.1m) in it. The Manchester United attacker, who’s listed as a midfielder in the official fantasy game, came away from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with 12 FPL points, courtesy of a goal and an assist plus 2 bonus points, and is now facing a double consisting of Villa at home and Brighton away. Rashford’s double-digit haul against Spurs brought his league totals for the season so far to 16 goals and 6 assists, which at a price of just £7.1m practically makes him a must-have, at the least for the upcoming double. United are fully immersed in the race for the Champions League spots and with the FA Cup final planned for the beginning of June, Erik ten Hag’s men can fully focus on the league games to come. Whether or not United take six points from their double, we’re not sure, but we see goals here and that’s why Rashford is on top of our transfer list for this round.
The budget enabler
Incredible, but true: after about 33 rounds of action in the Premier League 2022-23 season, just eleven players in the entire official fantasy game have outscored £5.3m priced Solly March. With 144 FPL points, the versatile Brighton midfielder is having the season of his life in what is possibly the best Brighton side the Premier League has ever seen. Roberto de Zerbi’s men are on fire and they have been for a while now, and March is one of their most important danger men. He’s already got 6 goals and 10 assists to his name from 30 league starts, and he’s been delivering constantly over the past few weeks as well. Since GW27, the Seagulls’ right winger has managed 1 goal and 4 assists with the away game against Bournemouth in GW29 his only blank over that run. March has not been the most explosive midfield option with a single assist in each of his last three games, but he keeps ticking along nicely and Brighton are up for a promising double in gameweek 34. Brighton have looked more than capable of being able to score against any opponent at any time, and home games against Wolves and Man United should see goals from the home side. If that happens, you can count on March being amongst the attacking returns. (By the way if you’re playing FanTeam’s season long Premier League game where March is listed as a defender then he’s an absolute must-have).
The differential
“Diogo got a bad knock in his back but should be alright, we will see that, how that developed. Apart from that, we should be OK”. That’s what Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said shortly after his side’s victory over West Ham when asked about the status of Diogo Jota (£8.9m). The Portuguese forward, who had been injured for most of the season, was taken off just before the 60-minute mark on Wednesday for a single FPL point and it sounds like a heavy knock had much to do with it. In any case, rotation amongst the forwards is expected at Liverpool over the coming weeks, but we feel Jota could be a shrewd fantasy pick right now. Sitting in just 5.5% of all teams at the time of writing, he has delivered handsomely of late, recording back-to-back braces in gameweeks 31 and 32 (versus Leeds and Forest) for a total of 30 FPL points over his last three league games. The versatile attacker has started each of Liverpool’s last six games and even though Klopp tends to take him off between the 60th and the 80th minute, he could haul in double gameweek 34. The Reds are first hosting struggling Spurs and then Fulham, and we’d be surprised if one of the men in form for them at the moment would not rack up at least 100 minutes of action in those two games combined. What’s more, we would even be a bit surprised if Jota does not pick up a double-digit haul this week which is why he’s out GW34 differential pick.
The (vice-)captaincy
Erling Haaland. And if for some reason you are not putting the armband on the Norwegian, it should go on Mo Salah’s reliable upper arm. Expect those two to dominate the captaincy debate for double gameweek 34, but there are a few very interesting more differential captaincy options as well. These include Marcus Rashford against Villa and Brighton, Trent Alexander-Arnold versus Spurs and Fulham, and Solly March at home to Wolves and Man United.