Blank gameweek 32 was one for the differentials with just two of the weekend’s Team of the Week boasting an ownership of more than 7.5%. As a matter of fact, no less than seven of the highest-scoring players last weekend are owned by less than 3% of all managers. Out of the template fantasy picks, only Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka made the Team of the Week with 13 points, sharing the first spot with Newcastle’s Jacob Murphy and Alexander Isak, and Liverpool’s Diogo Jota. The biggest differential to stand out in gameweek 32 was Morgan Gibbs-White, who at an ownership of just 0.5% managed a goal and an assist at Anfield for 12 FPL points.
Gameweek 33 will be a regular gameweek and can serve for a bit of a breather before the doubles in gameweeks 34, 36 and 37, though more than a few managers will be considering the activation of any remaining chips over the coming rounds including a Wild Card in GW 33 and Bench Boost in GW34. Looking at gameweek 33 in isolation though, there are a few juicy fixtures coming up once again, both from a fantasy and a real-life point of view. Aston Villa hosting Fulham, Brighton visiting Nottingham Forest and Newcastle going to Goodison Park fit in the former category, while the games between Manchester City and Arsenal on Wednesday and between Spurs and Manchester United on Thursday clearly belong to the latter category as well.
Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 33 is set at 18h00 (UK time) on Tuesday, April 25th, 2023.
Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per April 24th, 2023)
| TRANSFERS OUT | TRANSFERS IN | POSSIBLE REASONS | |
| GK | Ward (LEI), Martinez (AST), Raya (BRE) | Ederson (MCI), De Gea (MUN), Iversen (LEI) | |
| DEF | Mee (BRE), Gabriel (ARS), White (ARS) | Alexander-Arnold (LIV), Estupiñan (BRI), Dunk (BRI) | TAA in midfield, Brighton upcoming doubles |
| MID | Saka (ARS), Maddison (LEI), Odegaard (ARS) | Rashford (MUN), Grealish (MCI), Mitoma (BRI) | Rashford fit again, Brighton upcoming doubles |
| FOR | Kane (TOT), Toney (BRE), Jesus (ARS) | Haaland (MCI), Jota (LIV), Isak (NEW) | City upcoming doubles, Jota form, Isak form |
Premium pick
Looking at the available premium fantasy picks for gameweek 33, the fixtures this mid-week and the recent goal-scoring form of Mo Salah (£12.9m), we see very little reason to look further than the Egyptian magician. While Liverpool have been hot and cold, with a tendency towards cold, this season, their talisman has kept scoring and assisting. From thirty starts in the league this campaign, Salah managed an impressive 16 goals and 8 assists for a total of 187 FPL points, making him the fourth highest-scoring player in the official, just behind Gabriel Martinelli, Harry Kane and Erling Haaland. The Egyptian has been in excellent form for the Reds as well, scoring 8 goals and giving 2 assists in his last seven league starts, including an ongoing run of three consecutive games with at least one goal. Liverpool are traveling to West Ham on Wednesday and this one might just offer us a few goals, especially after West Ham’s recent 0-4 thrashing of Bournemouth. On top of that, for those who value individual historic performances, Salah blanked in his last two home games against the Hammers, but returned in each of his last three visits to the London Stadium.
Non-premium pick
Like for our premium fantasy pick for gameweek 33, we’re betting on a combination of a good fixture and excellent form for our non-premium fantasy pick. Ollie Watkins (£7.7m) has been nothing short of spectacular since the arrival of manager Unai Emery back in gameweek 15, both for fantasy managers and for everything Aston Villa in real life. Under the wings of the Spanish manager, Watkins has scored an incredible 12 goals in 17 league starts, whilst also providing 4 assists over that same run. His blank at Brentford last weekend was a bit of a disappointment for the roughly 24% of managers who own the Villa forward at the moment, but he had his chances and just came off a run of four consecutive games with at least 1 goal, so we’re confident in including him in our picks for gameweek 33. It’s Fulham at home up next for Villa and while the Cottagers are having a great season, we don’t immediately see them end the home side’s ongoing run of nine games unbeaten. No team in the league has a higher expected goals conceded ratio than Fulham and on top of that, they might be slowly headed for the beach soon. Villa, on the other hand, are fighting for European football and will be looking at Watkins to help them past the Londoners on Tuesday.
The budget enabler
When this season’s Brighton are playing away at Nottingham Forest while you’re looking for a good budget enabler, the question becomes not so much whether or not to pick a Brighton midfielder, but rather which Brighton midfielder to pick. It has been a discussion for much of the season now amongst fantasy managers: who out of Alexis Mac Allister, Kaoru Mitoma and Solly March (£5.2m) are to go for? Considering the upcoming schedule, we would recommend selecting at least two out of these three, but seeing as we can only pick one for the sake of this article, we’ve gone with March. Brighton have nine games spread out over the remaining six gameweeks of the 2022-23 season, which translates to three double gameweeks over the next six. While each of the mentioned three midfielders are excellent picks for the run-in, we have gone with March, thanks to his constant involvement in attack, his absolute security of starts (remember that he was rested during the last international break) and his blistering form. True, he did miss the decisive penalty in the FA Cup semi-final against United last night, but we don’t think this will affect his coming performances. If anything, manager Roberto de Zerbi will use it to fire him up even more for the Seagull’s quest for Europe and an even more fired up March against Forest this Wednesday… you probably want to get in on that.
The differential
After beating Spurs 6-1 at St. James Park, it’s perhaps no surprise that we’ve picked at least one Newcastle asset for our FPL gameweek 33 preview. Purely from a fantasy point of view, Jacob Murphy stole the show with his 2 goals against Tottenham, his resulting 13 FPL points, his £4.1m price tag and his current 2.7% ownership, and while he is an interesting pick for the run-in as well, we have instead gone with Joe Willock (£4.7m). The former Arsenal youngster scored a modest 5 FPL points versus Spurs, courtesy of what will surely be amongst the assists of the season, which ended a series of three league games without an attacking return. Between gameweeks 27 and 29, Willock went on a bit of streak though, scoring 1 goal and providing 2 assists, which shows that his return last weekend was not just a fluke. What’s more, since GW27, only the previously mentioned Momo Salah has created more big chances for his teammates than the Newcastle midfielder. Our hope is that more of those big chances will be converted over the next two games, when the Magpies play Everton at Goodison Park before hosting Southampton in gameweek 34.
The (vice-)captaincy
Gameweek 33 offers a few interesting captaincy candidates and in our opinion, the most interesting of them all is, surprise surprise, the inevitable Mo Salah. As we’ve explained earlier in this article, the Egyptian talisman is offering a juicy combination of good personal form, a promising fixture and a historic performance against West Ham that goes very much in his favour. It’s captain Mo for us in gameweek 33.
Alternatively, Ollie Watkins at home to Fulham could represent real good use of the armband, as could Diogo Jota away at West Ham and Alexander Isak for Newcastle’s visit to Everton. Dominic Solanke away against Southampton, Solly March at the Forest Ground and Ivan Toney for his visit to Stamford Bridge are options for those willing to take the more differential route this mid-week.