Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah is on course to break the all-time points record in the popular Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game.

Previously most famous in fantasy football circles for inspiring some of the best fantasy football teams names, Salah has already set a new record for the most points (320) in a single FPL season and still has another five games to add to his tally.

He broke his own record that was set in 2017/18 when he finished the campaign on 303 points and he could feasibly break the 350-points barrier this term.

Salah’s efforts during 2024/25 have made him the top performing Liverpool player in FPL, overtaking midfielder Steven Gerrard who previously held third place.

Only Wayne Rooney (2,338 points) and Frank Lampard (2,318 points) are ahead of Salah in the all-time standings and he will likely overhaul both of them next season.

He is 243 points behind the former Manchester United striker heading into Gameweek 34 and looks nailed on to reduce that deficit between now and the end of the season.

Salah has totalled 211 points or more in each of the last eight seasons, so should claim top spot in 2025/26 if he continues his stellar form and steers clear of major injuries.

Only three other current players feature alongside Salah in the all-time FPL top 10 – James Milner, Raheem Sterling and Heung-min Son.

However, Son is the only one of that group to garner more than 100 points this season, meaning Salah has no competition in the race to claim top spot.

All-time FPL points top 10

Haaland could be a long-term threat to Salah

Salah’s rise up the FPL rankings is particularly impressive when considering he has broken through the 2,000-points barrier in less than 300 games.

Lampard garnered his tally of 2,318 points in 424 appearances, while Rooney amassed his 2,338 points in 491 matches.

If Salah maintains his average of around seven points per game over the next couple of seasons, his FPL tally would be somewhere around 2,560 points.

Of the current crop of Premier League players, only Manchester City striker Erling Braut Haaland has a realistic chance of getting anywhere near Salah’s mark.

The Norwegian star racked up 489 points in his first two seasons in the English top flight and added another 171 this term before picking up an ankle injury.

Man City expect Haaland to return to action before the end of the campaign and he could add to his overall tally of 660 points if he hits the ground running.

If Salah decides to leave Liverpool when his contract expires in 2027, the pathway would be clear for Haaland to try and catch him in the FPL points standings.

Based on his current FPL points average, it would take Haaland another nine seasons to pass the mark Salah is currently on course to set.

However, given that the Man City striker has made no secret of his desire to play in La Liga one day, he may ultimately have to settle for a place in the all-time top 10.

With an average score of 56 FPL points and a highest score of 158 FPL points, Double Gameweek 33 did not disappoint. Especially if you were among the roughly 3% of fantasy managers who included Arsenal’s Leandro Trossard in their squads prior to the DGW33 deadline. The Belgian looked primed for a main role during the Double Gameweek and he delivered in a big way. A brace during the visit to Ipswich Town followed by a goal in the 2-2 draw at home to Crystal Palace meant no less than 24 FPL points for the Arsenal forward, who is listed as a midfielder in the official fantasy game. No player did better than him, though Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo made a great effort by scoring two goals and providing an assist against Brighton for 18 FPL points.

On to Gameweek 34, which is going to be a blank and a serious one at that. After doubles in GW33 for Arsenal, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Manchester City, those same four teams now have a blank to deal with in GW34. This is the result of the FA Cup semi-finals, which are taking place this weekend. You can therefore expect plenty of chips to be activated in the build-up to the Blank Gameweek 34 deadline, especially Free Hits. That is not only because the same four teams that doubled last week are blanking this week, but also because there is very likely another big double gameweek coming up in GW36, followed by another blank gameweek in GW37

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 34 is set at 11h00 (UK time) on Saturday, April 26^th, 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 April 24^th, 2025)

Premium pick

When it comes to big names disappointing this season, much of the spotlights have been on Manchester United (and with good reason). As a side effect though, Tottenham Hotspur’s abominable performance has been snowed under a little bit. Sure, the London outfit has been on the receiving end of plenty of criticism this season, but are you aware that they currently find themselves, after 33 Premier League games, in 16^th place? They sit on a mere 37 points as we speak and the numbers only become worse when we look at their away games so far: 16 away games, 5 victories, 1 draw, 10 defeats for a total of 16 points. All this to say that Mohamed Salah (£13.8m) is our premium fantasy pick for Blank Gameweek 34, as Liverpool prepare for a visit of Spurs on Sunday. We don’t need to repeat how good the Egyptian superstar is (27 goals and 18 assists in 33 league starts!), so before we move on, we just want to mention that the upcoming encounter at Anfield is not just any encounter. If the Reds manage a draw against Spurs at the very least, they will officially crown themselves champions of England for the twentieth time in history. Do you think this current Spurs side is going to spoil that occasion?

Non-premium pick

From Anfield to Molineux, where we have high hopes for our non-premium fantasy pick for Blank Gameweek 34. On Sunday, Matheus Cunha (£6.9m) and his teammates welcome Leicester City, whose relegation to the Championship was recently confirmed after their latest 0-1 defeat at the hands of Liverpool. A 4-match suspension kept the Brazilian out of Premier League action between Gameweek 28 and 31, but that barely seems to have had any effect on the excellent form he has been displaying so far this season. In 25 league starts, Cunha has amassed 14 goals and 5 assists, which is outstanding for a forward who started the 2024-2025 FPL campaign with a £6.5m price tag. Since his return to action, he scored a goal in GW32 against Spurs and provided an assist for the only goal of the game in GW33 against Manchester United. Next up for Cunha and Wolves are Leicester City, who have shipped 73 goals in 33 league games. Only Southampton have conceded more often, with 78 goals. Even though Leicester have already been relegated and Wolves have little to play for until the end of the season, we see good chances for Cunha here to build on his current tallies and further shoot himself up the radars of the English and international top clubs before the summer transfer window opens.

The budget enabler

The resurgence of Ryan Sessegnon (£4.1m) as a valid consideration in the official fantasy game could not come at a better time for many managers. The Fulham defender conquered a spot in the starting eleven back in GW31, in which he immediately scored against Liverpool, and he has been starting ever since. What’s more, in GW33 he got an assist on top of a clean sheet against Chelsea for a very nice 11-point haul. What we’ve got now is an absolute bargain defender, playing as a winger for a decent team, and facing the Premier League’s worst defence in Blank Gameweek 34. Like we said, a dream for fantasy managers as many prepare for to deploy their Free Hit chips. Fulham are visiting Southampton on Saturday and we see potential at both ends of the pitch for Sessegnon in that game. Apart from the fact that the Saints have conceded more goals than any other side in the league (78 goals conceded in 33 games), they are also far from prolific in front of the opposition’s goal. They have scored just 24 goals so far, the least of all teams in the league, and just 11 of those goals were scored in front of their own fans. Despite Fulham not really having anything left to play for this season, we are absolutely recommending including Ryan Sessegnon on your scouting lists, especially if you are in need of a bargain defender.

The differential

To be honest, we are quite excited about Blank Gameweek 34, as it’s offering us plenty of interesting fantasy options, despite a few of the major teams missing out. It took us a while to decide on our differential fantasy pick for GW34, but we have eventually gone with Harvey Barnes (£6.0m). The Newcastle winger, who is listed as a midfielder in the official fantasy game, got back in manager Eddie Howe’s starting eleven back in Gameweek 28, due to an injury to Anthony Gordon. In the six league games Newcastle played since then, Barnes recorded an incredible 4 goals and 4 assists for a total of 51 FPL points. Despite those impressive numbers and his price tag of just £6.0m, the Magpie winger is still sitting in just over 5% of all squads in the official fantasy game, at the moment of writing. That form makes him a stand-out differential option for Blank Gameweek 34, when Newcastle are hosting Ipswich Town. The Tractor Boys’ relegation to the Championship has already been confirmed, while Newcastle are still very much in the race for Champions League football next season, so we are expecting a rather one-sided affair at Saint James’ Park on Saturday. Hopefully, Barnes can benefit from that with another attacking return or two.

The (vice-)captaincy

We are seeing a few very good candidates for the armband in Blank Gameweek 34, but we have gone with the predictable choice. Mo Salah, this season’s best player, is preparing for a home game against an unreliable Spurs that could bring Liverpool the twentieth league title in their history. He is our captain for Blank Gameweek 34.

Blank Gameweek 34 is offering plenty of good alternatives for the Egyptian though, in case you don’t trust him with the armband for some obscure reason. On the Newcastle roster, you’ve got Alexander Isak and Harvey Barnes for their home game against Ipswich Town. At Wolves, you’ve got Matheus Cunha for the home game against Leicester City. And there is always Cole Palmer, of course, who is facing Everton at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

For further thoughts and discussions (including minleagues and side games) on the FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

If you went all in on Newcastle for Double Gameweek 33, hats off to you, because the Magpies dominated practically all of the FPL-related rankings this past week. An impressive 4-1 victory over Manchester United was followed up with a 5-0 thrashing of Crystal Palace, which resulted in a Team of the Week with no less than five Newcastle players. Stand-out performer by far was Harvey Barnes, who got 3 goals, an assist and 27 FPL points over two games, followed by budget gem (and our DGW32 Budget Enabler) Jacob Murphy with 19 FPL points, courtesy of a goal and 2 assists.

No rest for the wicked though, as we are moving straight into another Double Gameweek on Saturday. This time four teams have a double (see overview below) and the ultimate goal here is to identify “this double gameweek’s Newcastle”. Unfortunately, none of the doubles look as enticing as Newcastle’s did in DGW32, but that doesn’t mean there is not a lot of potential. In that sense, we are particularly looking at Arsenal, who come off a heroic elimination of Real Madrid in the Champions League and who are now set to face Ipswich away and Palace at home. The other doubling side we’d punt on are Manchester City, with a visit to Everton followed by a home game against Aston Villa.

As far as single-fixture teams are concerned, you should probably not sleep on Liverpool. The Reds are visiting leaky Leicester City on Sunday and it feels like there will be goals in this one.

The doubling teams and their fixtures in Double Gameweek 33:

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 33 is set at 15h00 (UK time) on Saturday, April 19^th, 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 April 17^th, 2025)

Premium pick

Now, before we continue, we have to mention that this premium fantasy pick comes with some risk, in the sense that Bukayo Saka (£10.5m) only relatively recently returned from injury. He was brought in from the bench back in Gameweek 30 (and immediately scored) and played no longer than 45 minutes in a league game since then. It should be noted though, that this minute management in the league also had to do with Arsenal’s Champions League quarterfinal clash with Real Madrid, in which Saka completed 74 minutes (in the first leg) and 77 minutes (in the second leg), scoring one goal in the second leg. Now that Los Blancos have been dispatched of and the Gunners find themselves in the Champions League semifinals for the first time since the 2020-2021 campaign, the focus can go back on the Prem for a bit. Saka is obviously an integral part of manager Mikel Arteta’s side and while we are fully aware of the risks surrounding his playing time (rotation, recent injury history, fatigue), he looks like a must-have to us for DGW33. The Gunners are facing Ipswich Town away first, followed by a home encounter with Crystal Palace. We are convinced that Saka will get sufficient playing time, at least 120 minutes of action over both games, which makes him a shoo-in for us as the stand-out premium fantasy pick for Double Gameweek 33.

Non-premium pick

We considered Gabriel Martinelli for this category, Ollie Watkins, William Saliba, but we have been playing FPL for some time now and one of the things we have learned over those many years is this: when Kevin de Bruyne (£9.3m) doubles, you pick Kevin de Bruyne. Rumours of increasing bad blood between the Belgian midfield maestro and Manchester City have surfaced over the past few days, as a result of the club’s decision to not extend the player’s contract at the end of this season, and if you know the player Kevin de Bruyne a little, those are the kind of circumstances in which he can rise to unrivalled heights. Combine that possibility with his many extraordinary qualities, add to that a double against Everton (away) and Aston Villa (home), and what you get is pure, raw, double-digit-haul potential. He absolutely bossed City’s last game against Palace, which resulted in a goal and an assist for 12 FPL points, and that’s not even all. He also fired six shots in that game and he created two big chances, making him Manchester City’s creator in chief by some distance. We all know Pep Guardiola’s love for rotation, but considering his side’s position at the moment and the fact that they only have the Premier League left to play for, we are pretty certain that KDB will play a majority of the minutes available during City’s Double Gameweek 33.

The budget enabler

In Double Gameweek 32, budget fantasy pick Jacob Murphy stood out with a wonderful 19-point haul. In Double Gameweek 33, we have a feeling that Morgan Rogers (£5.6m) might take on that role as Aston Villa prepare for a home game against Newcastle and an away game Manchester City. Granted, opponent-wise Rogers’ double is considerably harder than Murphy’s was last week, so we’re not expecting 19 FPL points here, but we can definitely see a return or two for the young winger. Villa did just get eliminated by Paris Saint Germain in the Champions League, so rotation might be a factor here, but our confidence in Rogers’ minutes is strengthened by the fact that he is the third-most used player under manager Unai Emery, right behind midfielder Youri Tielemans and goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez. That’s not that surprising if you look at his attacking returns in the Premier League up to this point: 31 starts, 8 goals, 8 assists, 7 clean sheets and 14 bonus points for a total of 138 FPL points. Only striker Ollie Watkins has more at this point amongst all players on the Villa roster (156 points).

The differential

With the likes of Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus out injured, and the likelihood of rotation for players like Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka due to Champions League exertions, Leandro Trossard (£6.7m) has all the makings of a great differential fantasy pick for Double Gameweek 33. He featured only 29 minutes spread over two legs against Real Madrid, but completed the 90 minutes in six of the last seven Premier League games, which makes it clear for us how Arteta sees the Belgian’s role at the moment. With a double against Ipswich away and Palace away, it could be a perfect coming-together of circumstances for the player and for the roughly 3% of fantasy managers who currently have them in their squads. Trossard has started in 23 games so far, in which he amassed 2,092 playing minutes, and got 5 goals and 6 assists for a total of 112 FPL points. That is actually just a few points behind goalkeeper David Raya (123), central defenders William Saliba (120) and Gabriel (117) and winger Bukayo Saka (117), who are all undisputed starters under Arteta. It just shows how effective Trossard can be, even when he gets less minutes than he would like, and what an interesting differential fantasy pick he currently is for Double Gameweek 33.

The (vice-)captaincy

The armband decision is not an easy one in Double Gameweek 33. We are very much divided between Kevin de Bruyne, thanks to his practically guaranteed minutes in squad full of exceptional players that needs the points, and Bukayo Saka, who has good fixtures in the double but who is at risk of some minute management by his coach. We ended up slapping the armband on KDB.

Outside of De Bruyne and Saka, we like the look of Gabriel Martinelli and Ollie Watkins as well, despite the latter’s challenging Double Gameweek fixtures. Leandro Trossard is out stand-out differential captain, while Mohamed Salah (away at Leicester) is always there for those managers who prefer security (the man has just broken the record for total goals + assists in a 38-game Premier League season) over Double Gameweek anxiety.

For further thoughts and discussions (including minleagues and side games) on the FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

One of the most interesting periods of the ongoing Fantasy Premier League season is upon and that is not just because we are nearing the end of the 2024-2025 campaign. It’s also because we have got a Double Gameweek 32 up next, followed by an even larger Double Gameweek 33, followed by a large Blank Gameweek 34, followed by likely Double Gameweeks in both 35 and 36. That’s right, so we hope you have saved up your chips.

The doubling teams and their fixtures in Double Gameweek 32:

As you can see, on paper, Newcastle’s Double is considerably better than Palace’s. As a matter of fact, Newcastle’s Double Gameweek 32 is excellent, while Palace’s Double Gameweek 32 could hardly be more difficult. That’s why we also recommend keeping the single gameweek teams with a favourable fixture in mind when planning your transfers and possibly the deployment of a chip. These include Brighton’s home game against leaky Leicester City, Aston Villa’s visit to Southampton, Chelsea’s home game against Ipswich Town and Liverpool’s visit to West Ham United. After their impressive 3-0 victory over Real Madrid in the Champions League, we would also include Arsenal at home versus Brentford, though managers should be prepared for some rotation by Gunners manager Mikel Arteta.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 32 is set at 11h00 (UK time) on Saturday, April12^th, 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 April 10^th, 2025)

Premium pick

With Liverpool facing West Ham United, who have already conceded 22 goals in 15 away games this season, and with Mo Salah on the verge of signing a brand-new 2-year contract at Anfield, choosing the Egyptian superstar as your premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 32 makes all the sense in the world. Considering the fact that it’s a Double Gameweek though, in which Newcastle have a nice pair of fixtures. Therefore, we are exceptionally lowering the minimum price threshold for our premium fantasy pick category a little bit, as this allows us to include Alexander Isak (£9.5m) here. The Sweden international already has 20 goals and 5 assists to his name (from 27 league starts), and he is up against Manchester United and Crystal Palace next, both at home. With a current total of 179 FPL points, Isak is having the best Premier League season in his career. If he can keep up his average of 66 FPL points per game for DGW32, the Newcastle striker (who is on penalties) should net you a double-digit haul.

Non-premium pick

“We can be real about it, 12 points with eight games to play… It’s a very big difference, too much. We have to focus game to game and on presenting ourselves in the best possible way. That is the main target now”. That’s what Leicester manager Ruud van Nistelrooy answered when asked about his side’s current situation in the relegation zone. Obviously, that’s not what you want to hear as a Fox, in whatever capacity, but it does perhaps represent a healthy dose of realism. Because Leicester City have simply not been good enough this season, a fact confirmed by their current 17 points from 31 league games. Over that run, they also conceded 70 goals (only Southampton have conceded more, 74) while finding the net themselves just 22 times. Taking all of this into account and adding the fact that Brighton still has all to play for in terms of European football, our non-premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 32 is Kaoru Mitoma (£6.5m). The Japanese winger, who has 7 goals and 4 assists to this name in the ongoing PL campaign, is one of side’s stars and despite not finding an attacking return in the last five league games, we feel like he could be a shrewd pick here. Mitoma has all the makings of a true nightmare for Leicester wing-back on the right side, James Justin.

The budget enabler

A price tag of just £5.1m, excellent form and a Double Gameweek that looks tasty, on paper at least. Jacob Murphy (£5.1m) is bringing together all of these positives for Double Gameweek 32, when Newcastle are facing Manchester United and Crystal Palace at Saint James’ Park. At his current price, the Newcastle attacker has offered great value so far this season and we expect him to continue doing so until the end of the season. He has already scored an impressive 7 goals and provided 9 assists in 23 league starts, and 2 of those goals were scored against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium last weekend. Murphy is actually the second-highest-scoring player on the entire Magpie roster, well behind only Alexander Isak. He is averaging 5.3 FPL points per game so far and if he can keep that up over the upcoming Double Gameweek, he will deliver around 10 FPL points. Not bad at all for a true budget enabler, especially if you are opting for a Wildcard or a Free Hit in DGW32, for example.

The differential

After a season with a goal, 10 assists and 111 FPL, which followed a season with 1 goals, 9 assists and 198 FPL points, Kieran Trippier’s (£5.6m) current campaign can be considered underwhelming. Injury troubles and strong competition for starting spot at right-back from Lewis Hall, resulted in just nine league starts so far. With the latter out with injury for the foreseeable future though, Trippier has now returned to the Newcastle starting lineup and the return has gone pretty smoothly. The former England international replaced Hall in the starting eleven back in GW28 and the Magpies have won all three of their league games since then. Over that run, Trips did not record an attacking return, but he did collect 16 FPL points, courtesy of two clean sheets. In other words, Newcastle’s are in good form both defensively and offensively, and with home games against Man United and Crystal Palace up next in Double Gameweek 32, our differential sense is tingling here. Bar exceptional circumstances, Trippier will start both of those games and we all know how that can turn out when he has finds a bit of extra form. Especially when he has some set-piece duties in his locker as well. The Magpie defender is not cheap at £5.6m, but his ownership of just 4.4% makes us think he could be a fantastic differential fantasy pick for Double Gameweek 32.

The (vice-)captaincy

Considering Newcastle’s Double Gameweek 32, we didn’t really feel like we had any other choice apart from Alexander Isak for the armband. The forward is simply marvellous this season and we can absolutely see him add a few notches to his 2024-2025 Premier League belt over the coming days.

As far as we are concerned, the perfect alternative for Isak is, of course, Mohamed Salah, despite Liverpool’s single gameweek fixture (at home against West Ham). Other interesting alternatives for the captaincy include Ollie Watkins for Aston Villa’s visit to Saint Mary’s and Cole Palmer for Chelsea’s home game against Ipswich Town.

For further thoughts and discussions (including minleagues and side games) on the FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

It’s not Christmas, but the current Premier League schedule certainly makes it feel like it is. Gameweek 30 is almost behind us (Chelsea vs Spurs is still to be played on Thursday night) and Gameweek 31 is already around the corner. There are about 36 hours between the final whistle of GW30 and the opening match of GW31 between Everton and Arsenal at Goodison Park.

That’s not all though, because GW31 ends on Monday night, April 7^th, after which fantasy managers have about four days to get their squads in order for Double Gameweek 32. As a result of this scheduling, you can expect more than a few Chips to be activated over the coming days and months. It depends on the strategy you have chosen for your own squad, but the Free Hit chip and the Wildcard can be of great help when trying to navigate the upcoming period.

As far as Gameweek 31 is concerned, the Manchester Derby at Old Trafford on Sunday evening obviously stands out. For FPL managers though, Liverpool’s visit to Craven Cottage and Spurs’ home game against Southampton are the fixture to stand out, most likely. Newcastle on Monday evening for their visit to Leicester City also has plenty of fantasy potential, for those managers who can wait so long know their Gameweek 31 score.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 31 is set at 11h00 (UK time) on Saturday, April 5^th, 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 April 3^rd, 2025)

Premium pick

Normally, we were going to go with Mohamed Salah here for Liverpool’s visit to Fulham, but we have decided to mix it up a bit. Instead of the best player of the 2024-2025 Premier League season, we have gone with Son Heung-Min (£9.7m). The general opinion is that the South Korean is not reaching the levels we are used to from him this season, but in reality, he is having a more than decent season, at least numbers-wise. After all, 7 goals and 11 assists from 21 league starts is an excellent return, even at his current price of £9.7m. That is also why we have decided on Son as our premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 31, also keeping in mind the many Chips that will be deployed in preparation for the coming Gameweeks. Spurs are playing Southampton this weekend, who have already let in 71 goals overall in the league this season, more than any other team. We feel Son has big potential here, but do not forget that he is part of one of the most up-and-down unreliable Spurs sides in recent memory, which is saying something…

Non-premium pick

We recommended Savinho as an interesting fantasy pick for Gameweek 30 and the Brazilian delivered with an assist during Man City’s visit to Leicester City and 9 FPL points. This has given us the courage to include another Manchester City asset this week, in the non-premium fantasy pick category this time. On top of that, Omar Marmoush (£7.5m) might just be at the start of a nice run of form, at least in terms of delivering FPL points for the roughly 24% of managers who currently own him. He has played 85 minutes in GW29 (1 goal, 1 assist, 12 FPL points at home to Brighton) and 90 minutes in GW30 (1 goal, 9 FPL points, at home to Leicester), and looks set for an extended run in the starting eleven after Erling Haaland was confirmed to be out with an injury for the foreseeable future. The Cityzens are currently preparing for a visit to Old Trafford, but that is not necessarily bad for Marmoush. The Red Devils are a mess this season and Old Trafford has not been a fortress in years now, which makes us think that City could win here, possibly (and hopefully) with Marmoush as protagonist. Oh, and the cherry on top? Manchester City have a double in Gameweek 33 against Everton (away) and Aston Villa (home).

The budget enabler

Ismaila Sarr (£5.7m) failed to find the net or any other path to attacking returns in Gameweek 30, which was a bit disappointing after back-to-back double-digit hauls. The Crystal Palace winger, who is listed as a midfielder in the official fantasy game, scored a brace in the home game against Aston Villa in GW27 and then followed that up by scoring the only goal of the game at home against Ipswich Town in GW28 (Palace blanked in GW29). Those two hauls were amongst his highest single gameweek scores of the season, but do you know when he recorded his highest score of the season so far? Exactly, back in Gameweek 16, at the AmEx Stadium against Brighton, coincidentally the reverse fixture of Palace’s upcoming game. On Saturday afternoon, the Eagles welcome the Seagulls to Selhurst Park and while we are not sure what the end result will be here, we definitely see an opportunity for goals on both sides. And if that happens, we are obviously hoping for our budget enabler fantasy pick for Gameweek 31 to get in on the action, so he can build on the 7 goals and 4 assists he already has to his name at the moment.

The differential

Our differential fantasy pick for Gameweek 31 is currently flagged in the official fantasy game, with a 75% of playing, so keep that in mind. Comments by Newcastle manager Eddie Howe made us include Anthony Gordon (£7.4m) though, as we feel he has some serious differential potential in Gameweek 31. “He has some nasty bruising around his thigh, but he’s up and running and feeling quite good. He’s not trained with the group yet, so we anticipate he’ll do that within the next few days”, is what Howe said about his winger earlier this week, which sounds pretty good to us. As for Gordon’s performances so far, even though he is not performing at the same level as last season, at least in terms of goals and assists, he still managed 6 of each in 25 league starts. As a matter of fact, Newcastle currently find themselves in fifth place and the England international is the second-highest-scoring Magpie, behind the phenom called Alexander Isak. And like our non-premium fantasy pick Omar Marmoush (in GW33), Gordon also has a Double Gameweek coming up, in Gameweek 32 to be exact, against Manchester United and Crystal Palace (both at home).

The (vice-)captaincy

As far as we are concerned, the captaincy debate this gameweek will be between two usual suspects: Mohamed Salah and Alexander Isak. Considering Salah’s completely fixture proof and Isak is currently flagged, we have gone with, surprise surprise, the Egyptian as our captain in Gameweek 31.

If we are completely honest though, we are actually considering Heung-Min Son as our captain as well, for Spurs’s home game against leaky Southampton. We probably won’t pick him over Salah in the end, but the South Korean is an extremely interesting differential alternative for the armband in Gameweek 31.

For further thoughts and discussions (including minleagues and side games) on the FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

With Gameweek 30 around the corner, we are now well into the final quarter of the 2024-2025 Fantasy Premier League season and as it looks at the moment, it has all the makings of a big one. Enjoy the relative calm of the traditional, single gameweek, because based on the most recent FA Cup results, things are going to be heating up from Gameweek 32 onwards. We’ve got a small Double in Gameweek 32 and a major Blank in Gameweek 34, and gameweek planning guru Ben Crellin (@BenCrellin on X) sees a big Double Gameweek sandwiched right between those two Gameweeks. Gameweek 35 could also become a small Double, while Gameweek 36 is set to be the biggest Double Gameweek of the season, right before what could possibly be the biggest Blank in Gameweek 37.

Anyway, for now, we are focusing on Gameweek 30 and there’s plenty to look forward to for FPL managers. Apart from a few interesting games fixture-wise, like Bournemouth at home to Ipswich Town and Manchester City at home to Leicester City, the mid-week round is also offering not one but TWO city derbies. On Wednesday evening, it’s time for the Merseyside Derby between Liverpool and Everton at Anfield. A day later, Chelsea welcome Spurs to Stamford Bridge for a real London derby.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 30 is set at 18h15 (UK time) on Tuesday, April 1^st, 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 March 31^st, 2025)

Premium pick

With Liverpool facing Everton at home and Manchester City welcoming Leicester, both Mohamed Salah (£13.7m) and Erling Haaland (£14.8m) look like fantastic options in Gameweek 30. The only problem is that Haaland, at the moment of writing, is flagged in the official game and when asked about the possible injury on Sunday, Man City manager Pep Guardiola said he “doesn’t know yet, we will see”. Although, that might be such a big problem after all, at least not for fantasy managers, because it makes the premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 30 considerably easier. Especially when you consider that Cole Palmer is currently flagged as well for Chelsea’s home encounter with Spurs. In any case, Mo Salah is the premium fantasy pick of the week for us. He has 27 goals and 17 assists from 29 league starts to his name already, and he is just coming off a brace against Southampton in Gameweek 28 (Liverpool blanked in GW29). On top of that, he’s fit, in form and getting ready for a Merseyside Derby in which Liverpool are the runaway favourites. Yes, Mo is wearing our armband as well in Gameweek 30.

Non-premium pick

As far as goals scored at home go, only Chris Wood and Erling Haaland have scored more than Alexander Isak (£9.3m) so far this season. The Newcastle forward has already scored 19 league goals in total this season (plus 5 assists) and 9 of those goals were scored in front of the St. James’ Park faithful. That comes down to an average of 7.5 FPL points per home game, an average only bettered by the previously mentioned other two forwards. Upcoming opponents Brentford are no pushovers and we are not saying that their visit will be a walk in the park for the Magpies. What we ARE saying though, is that Brentford have conceded an alarming number of shots in away games, 269 so far, to be precise. Only bottom-ranked Southampton have performed worse in that area so far, with 270 shots… what we are trying to say here is that Isak should get at least a few opportunities on Wednesday to get back to his scoring ways, after two Gameweeks without an attacking return.

The budget enabler

With Bournemouth facing Ipswich Town at home in Gameweek 30, followed by a visit to West Ham in Gameweek 31, it should be no surprise that their assets are in demand right now. The Cherries are having a great season, as they currently find themselves in 10^th place and just four points off 5^th, and their upcoming game could prove more than helpful in their unlikely hunt for the top six. That’s why we are including Justin Kluivert (£6.3m) as our budget fantasy pick for Gameweek 30, even though his price tag is flirting with this category’s upper limit. The Dutchman is having one of the very best seasons of his career, having scored 12 goals and assisted 6 in 24 league starts, and with a recent return to the Dutch national team as a cherry on top. He assisted in the first leg of the Nations League thriller with European champions Spain last week and is now back on the English south coast to prepare for the visit of Ipswich. The Tractor Boys look just about set for relegation by now, which in great is due to the fact they have already let in 62 goals this season. Our hope is that Kluivert can add one or two more to that total on Wednesday.

The differential

Our differential fantasy pick for Gameweek 30 is a differential because of his current ownership (2.8%) and also because he is an attacker in Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, and we all know what that means: rotation risk. At the same time, the reigning champions are playing Leicester “65 goals conceded in 29 games” City at home, which kind of makes it hard to ignore them, no matter how unreliable their form may be. We did not go for Man City in the Premium or Non-Premium categories, so we are going with Savinho (£6.2m) in our differential fantasy pick category. The Brazilian winger already has 10 assists to his name, plus a goal, and that goal was scored back in December 2024 against… Leicester. As a matter of fact, Savinho scored and assisted for 14 FPL points that day, which is still his best score of the season so far. Perhaps even more important though, is the fact that the Brazilian has started the last six league games for City. Of course, picking Savinho (or any Man City attacking asset) remains as risky as ever, but we feel he could be a shrewd differential move this week.

The (vice-)captaincy

Our captain for Gameweek 30 is Mohamed Salah, as you will have seen from our premium fantasy pick category this week.

The perfect alternative for the Egyptian would be Erling Haaland at home to Leicester, but the Norwegian is an injury doubt at the moment. Had he not been, then he would have probably been both our premium fantasy pick and our captain for Gameweek 30.

Besides the two very usual suspects, we like the look of Alexander Isak at home against Ipswich Town and the same goes for Jean-Philippe Mateta, for Palace’s visit to Southampton. Justin Kluivert could be an interesting differential captain as well, especially with penalties in his locker.

For further thoughts and discussions (including minleagues and side games) on the FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

Congrats to all those managers who backed Mo Salah for a haul against Southampton, as the Egyptian superstar added 2 goals and 15 FPL points to his already impressive totals. And to those managers who went with Cole Palmer instead, who had a fantastic fixture on paper with Leicester at home: better luck next time! The England international came away with just a single point after missing a penalty in what ended up being a stingy 1-0 victory for the Blues.

On to Gameweek 29 though, because it’s promising to be big one for fantasy managers. A total of four teams have a blank this gameweek and their absence will have a considerable impact on FPL standings. That is because the four teams with a blank in Gameweek 29 are Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, Liverpool and Newcastle. As a result, the (hugely) popular likes of Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak and Ollie Watkins will not be available for selection this week. That complicates things, naturally, but it also provides an opportunity for fantasy managers to put their knowledge and skills to the test. We expect a peak in chip usage this gameweek, particularly of the Free Hit, so keep that in the back of your mind.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 29 is set at 13h30 (UK time) on Saturday, March 15^th, 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 March 13^th, 2025)

Premium pick

With Alexander Isak and Mohamed Salah blanking, Cole Palmer playing away at Arsenal and Bukayo Saka injured, our premium fantasy pick for the week has rarely been more straight forward. Especially because Erling Haaland (£14.7m) has a home game coming up against Brighton, who are definitely having a great 2024-2025 season, but whose defence is not always as solid as it should be. The Seagulls have already conceded 40 goals in 28 league games this season, of which 24 were conceded away from home. Then again, Man City have been far from prolific in front of goal of late as well, with a 0-2 loss to Liverpool, a 0-1 victory at Spurs and a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest in the last three. We nevertheless expect Haaland to feature heavily in Blank Gameweek 29, partly because of expected Free Chip usage and partly because of the fact that he still sits in just over 30% of all squads. Let’s see if the Norwegian forward can work on his current totals of 20 goals and 3 assists when Brighton visit the Etihad on Saturday.

Non-premium pick

With an ownership of 47.8%, Chris Wood (£7.3m) is not exactly a very differential kind of non-premium fantasy pick, but one we believe may pay off handsomely in Blank Gameweek 29. On top of that, the New Zealand international also looks like a great and relatively budget-friendly option until the very end of the season. First of all, this weekend’s game, because we see possibilities for Wood and the rest of the Tricky Trees when they visit Ipswich Town on Saturday. The Tractor Boys are fighting against relegation and have already conceded 58 goals in 28 league games this season, which must sound like sweet music to the ears of Wood, who already sits on 18 goals and 3 assists. Second of all, Forest gave got a good-looking fixture on paper coming up after that, which includes home games against Manchester United, Everton, Brentford and Leicester plus visits to Crystal Palace and West Ham, among others. Our opinion: if you are using the Free Hit Chip in Blank Gameweek 29, Wood should be part of your squad and if you are not using the Free Hit chip… as well.

The budget enabler

From one of the major surprises of the season to another, as we move from non-premium fantasy pick Chris Wood from Nottingham Forest to budget fantasy pick Antoine Semenyo (£5.7m) from Bournemouth. The Cherries currently find themselves in 9^th place, five points off fourth place. With 12 goals and 6 assists, Justin Kluivert has been taking up much of the spotlight at Bournemouth and the Dutchman is an excellent inclusion for any Blank Gameweek 29 squad, but we have opted for Semenyo instead, as the Ghana international comes in £0.5m cheaper. At the same time, he can also show more than decent stats with 7 goals and 5 assists from 27 Premier League starts. His direct goal involvement has dropped off a bit in past weeks, but with a home game against Brentford coming up, we hope that he will get at least a few opportunities to continue building on his current totals.

The differential

For our differential fantasy pick for Blank Gameweek 29, we are sticking with Bournemouth. Or better said, with the Bournemouth attack, as the Cherries are expected by the bookmakers to be the highest-scoring team behind Manchester City (at home to Brighton). Enter Evanilson (£5.6m), who was brought in for about £35 million from Porto last summer. The Brazilian got off to a decent start on the English South Coast, with 5 goals and 4 assists in his first 18 league starts, but he then suffered a broken foot that kept him out of action between Gameweeks 21 and 26. Evanilson returned to the pitch for 13 minutes in GW27 against Brighton and returned to the starting eleven last weekend for the visit to Spurs. Bournemouth got a 2-2 draw in London and their Brazilian striker got on the scoresheet for 8 FPL points. Up next are Brentford at home on Saturday, followed by Ipswich Town at home in GW30, West Ham away in GW31, Fulham at home in GW32 and a visit to Crystal Palace in GW33. In other words, plenty of opportunities on the short and medium term for Evanilson, who is currently part of just 2.2% of all squads in the official fantasy fame, to get some attacking returns.

The (vice-)captaincy

In Blank Gameweek 28, we are captaining Erling Haaland for Manchester City’s home clash with Brighton.

Good alternatives to the Norwegian goal machine include Chris Wood for Forest’s visit to Ipswich Town, Bruno Fernandes for Manchester United’s visit to Leicester on Sunday, and Justin Kluivert for Bournemouth’s home encounter with Brentford.

Out of sorts Cole Palmer should not be disregarded for the armband neither, though Chelsea are playing Arsenal at the Emirates on Sunday.

For further thoughts and discussions (including minleagues and side games) on the FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

Well, Jarrod Bowen at least returned with an assist against Leicester for us last weekend, because the rest of our picks were disappointing to say the least. Cole Palmer could have and should have a double-digit haul, but came off with a 3-pointer in the 4-0 victory over Southampton. Matheus Cunha blanked against Fulham, but that wasn’t the worst of it as he scored a direct red card against Bournemouth in the FA Cup a few days later. Result? A 3-match ban, meaning Wolves’ absolute talisman this season will miss the favourable fixtures against Everton (home), Southampton (away) and West Ham (home). And finally, our differential fantasy pick Matt Doherty, with a 1-pointer in Gameweek 27 at home against Fulham.

Anyway, on to FPL Gameweek 28, which kicks off with a top-six clash between number three Nottingham Forest and number four Manchester City. For sure that is not a sentence you were expecting to read this season, but it’s true nonetheless. Other games that should attract plenty of (fantasy) attention are Crystal Palace at home to Ipswich Town (though Jean-Phillipe Mateta will likely miss out), Chelsea at home to Leicester and, of course, Liverpool at home to Southampton. You probably already know who our captain for Gameweek 28 will be…

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 28 is set at 11h00 (UK time) on Saturday, March 8^th, 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 March 6^th, 2025) with Cunha & Mateta most sold and most bought!

Premium pick

In all honesty, with Chelsea playing at home against leaky Leicester City and with Liverpool facing leaky Southampton at Anfield, we did ponder our decision for a moment. Both out-of-sorts Cole Palmer and in-form Mohamed Salah (£13.8m) are excellent shouts as stand-out premium fantasy picks for Gameweek 28, and for the armband as well, but in the end, we still went with the Liverpool man. Salah is simply unstoppable this season with an incredible 25 goals and 17 assists from 28 league starts so far. He has returned in his last seven Premier League games, a run during which he managed 7 goals and 4 assists to be exact. The Reds are now facing Southampton and despite their gruelling (and lucky) mid-week Champions League visit to PSG, we still see lots of goals in that one. Lots of goals for Liverpool, that is, because with 65 conceded goals so far, the Saints boast the league’s worst defence. We feel a seventeenth (17^th!) double-digit haul of the season might be on the cards for Salah at Anfield on Sunday.

Non-premium pick

Picking Salah over Palmer as our premium fantasy pick doesn’t mean that we don’t rate the Chelsea home game at all. Far from it, actually, because like the Saints, the Foxes are far from a solid defensive set-up and Chelsea might just run riot on Sunday. Therefore, we decided to get in on the Blues attack with Pedro Neto (£6.2m) as our way in. The Portuguese forward, who is listed as a midfielder in the official fantasy game, got a goal and an assist for 11 FPL points against Southampton last weekend, and even though that seemed slightly lucky considering his Expected Goal Involvement of just 0.30, we can imagine a similar performance against a similarly faulty backline. After Southampton, they have let in the most goals so far this season (61 conceded goals in 27 league games), while Chelsea are fully immersed in the fight for Champions League football at the moment. In other words, the Blues are big favourites for this one and we feel Neto might be one of the major benefactors from this, FPL-wise at least.

The budget enabler

Our budget fantasy pick for Gameweek 28 is a teammate of Neto’s, Christopher Nkunku (£5.7m). In part due to injuries, the 2024-2025 season has not yet really become what the former RB Leipzig forward would have expected, but he’s been in decent form of late. Manager Enzo Maresca had him on the pitch for at least 75 minutes in each of his last three Premier League matches and he recorded 12 FPL points last weekend, courtesy of a goal, an assist and a bonus point against Southampton. On top of his FPL points, Nkunku’s underlying numbers were promising as well, with four shots, two created chances and an Expected Goal Involvement of 0.57. At his current price of £5.7m, we can see few other budget options with a ceiling as high as Nkunku’s in Gameweek 28. It should be noted though, in case you are tempted by what seems to be a perfect coming-together of form and fixture, that Chelsea have got a challenging run of fixtures after the Leicester game: Arsenal away, Spurs at home and Brentford away. That doesn’t mean they won’t take points and FPL hauls from those games, but on paper those are far from easy opponents.

The differential

This might come as a surprise to some, but over the last six gameweeks, Crystal Palace have actually been top of the league in terms of Expected Goals. That’s right, over the last six games, statistically speaking, no other team was expected to make as many goals as the Eagles. Much of that was obviously thanks to the on-fire Jean Phillippe Mateta, but the Frenchman will likely not feature this weekend after suffering a horror challenge from Millwall goalkeeper Liam Roberts in the FA Cup. The Palace attack is more than just Mateta though, which is why our differential fantasy pick for Gameweek 28 is Eberechi Eze (£6.7m). Compared to last season, when the playmaker scored 11 goals and provided 5 assists, his 2024-2025 campaign has been underwhelming so far, but we feel there might be a haul waiting for him in the upcoming home game against Ipswich Town. The Tractor Boys are currently 18^th in the Premier League with 57 goals conceded, which includes a top-two ranking for attempts conceded from set-pieces. Eze is in charge of most set-pieces at Palace and with Mateta most likely missing the Ipswich game, he will be on penalties as well. Keep in mind that Crystal Palace blank in Gameweek 29, but if your squad and strategy allow for bringing in Eze, you’ve probably got one of the best differentials in the official at the moment.

The (vice-)captaincy

Our captain is Mohamed “25 goals 17 assists” Salah.

The perfect alternative to the Egyptian is Cole Palmer, for Chelsea’s home game against Leicester City.

More daring armband picks include Justin Kluivert away at Spurs, Alexander Isak away at West Ham and Kaoru Mitoma for Brighton’s home game against Fulham.

For further thoughts and discussions (including minleagues and side games) on the FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.