Following a Double Gameweek for several clubs last time out, we now return this weekend with round 34 of Fantasy Premier League.
We’ve been locked in throughout the week as Saturday sees us look to bounce back against Newcastle United at Emirates Stadium, with five huge Premier League games now ahead of us.
KAI LEADS GUNNERS IN GW33
Last Sunday may not have ended the way we wanted at Manchester City, but we’re fully focused heading into a quintet of huge remaining league fixtures.
With regards to Fantasy Football, it was Kai Havertz (£7.3m) who delivered the highest Gunners score of Gameweek 33, scoring our first-half equaliser at the Etihad Stadium and scooping a six-point total.
Having started in Manchester and come a lick of paint away from putting us ahead in the second half with a curling strike off the post, Ebere Eze (£7.2m) is now just three away from becoming our tenth FPL centurion this season. The latest Gunner to have reached the milestone is Leandro Trossard (£6.5m), hitting triple figures for points in GW32 against Bournemouth.
Ahead of our final five Premier League showdowns, we have six players in our squad selected by over 10% of managers. Many have become a staple across millions of squads competing for Fantasy glory this term – none more so than Gabriel (£7.1m), owned by 43% of managers and with a gargantuan 177 points to his name.
Just eight points behind Big Gabi is Declan Rice (£7.2m), whose price has risen by a net £0.7m since the start of the campaign due to a high demand which now sees him included in 24.3% of teams. By far the most selected goalkeeper is the league’s leading point-hauler between the sticks, David Raya (£6.0m). With a 34% selection rate despite his status as the game’s most expensive stopper, our No. 1’s current total of 131 has displayed excellent value.
Saturday evening brings Eddie Howe’s Newcastle to N5, with the Magpies looking to recover from a slump of four successive defeats in all competitions. Despite no Newcastle players currently holding an ownership of above 6.6%, there have been numerous FPL success stories throughout their squad.
Chief among these is captain Bruno Guimaraes (£6.8m), having hauled 135 points – the Brazilian remains a solid differential option for the run-in, owned by only just over 4% of competitors. A popular defensive pick at times throughout the campaign has been league debutant Malick Thiaw (£5.1m), a threat in both boxes with 117 points to his name, while budget midfield fillers include Sandro Tonali (£5.3m) and youngster Lewis Miley (£4.4m).
BLANK GAMEWEEK 34
In the same way we covered the rollercoaster Double Gameweek 33 in prospect, the six teams to have played an extra match in the last Gameweek did so because they will now be absentees in GW34.
This is due to commitments of three of these sides in the FA Cup semi-finals, and as such their corresponding league fixtures brought forward by a matter of days – crucially to the other side of the FPL Gameweek fence.
In DGW33, it was very intriguing to discover who would haul for their owners, and the roster of the Gameweek’s biggest successes turned out to be rather differential-heavy.
Having played twice for their respective clubs, Brighton pair Ferdi Kadioglu (£4.4m) and Pascal Gross (£5.5m) alongside Leeds United duo James Justin (£3.9m) and Noah Okafor (£5.5m) grabbed a rare spotlight with a combined 62 points between them. An average of under 1.2% of managers held just one of this quartet, and were handsomely rewarded.
Even more surprising is that two of the Gameweek’s leading performers only had one game to perform in, and were not part of the doubling six. Following a stunning second-half hat-trick against Burnley last Sunday, Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White (£7.5m) became just the eighth player in 2025/26 to score over 20 points in a single Gameweek, while Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins (£8.6m) matched the two Brighton haulers’ score of 16 after his brace against Sunderland.
As a result of the DGW drama, just 14 of the 20 Premier League sides will feature in GW34 – and if you prioritised a squad heavy with doubling players last time out, you will simply have to deploy a chip to cover a depleted squad this week.
Among the most popular picks this season not to feature in the Premier League this Gameweek are Man City’s Erling Haaland (£14.5m) and Antoine Semenyo (£8.2m), Chelsea’s Joao Pedro (£7.7m) and Bournemouth’s Marcos Senesi (£5.2m).
Where chips are concerned, the vast majority of competitors with a Free Hit left to this point will be using it now – and this Gameweek is undoubtedly as good a time as any. Barring any further fixture rearrangements, the only remaining variable Gameweek is an upcoming double – potentially in GW36 but so far unconfirmed – when Man City and Crystal Palace play their outstanding contest.
FREE HIT TARGETS
With just seven Premier League games taking place in FPL’s upcoming Gameweek, it becomes easier to identify a Free Hit squad with a narrower focus towards the players from 14 clubs.
The likes of Gabriel, Rice and Raya will remain hugely popular in red and white – and due to their price rises throughout the season thanks to their form, many will even have kept them through DGW33 to maintain squad value.
Liverpool return to Anfield this weekend from a dramatic late Merseyside derby win at Everton in GW33, hosting a Crystal Palace side juggling their league campaign with an eagerly anticipated Conference League semi-final that lies in wait. As the hosts seek to establish their Champions League hopes, ideal players to include in a Free Hit line-up would be Virgil van Dijk (£6.2m) and Dominik Szoboszlai (£7.1m). If you’ve got funds to spare, Mohamed Salah (£14.0m) simply has to be considered, while third-choice goalkeeper Freddie Woodman (£3.9m) could be in line to start having come on for his league debut for the club last weekend.
Everton themselves will be trying to bounce back in their bid to return to the European stage in some capacity, and head to the capital to take on a survival-hunting West Ham United side whose recent form has turned a corner. Depending on how you predict the game to tilt, James Tarkowski (£5.7m) has been Everton’s top performer with a 146-point total and insatiable appetite for DefCon bonuses, while West Ham’s Crysencio Summerville (£5.5m) has been a driving force in a lot of the Hammers’ attacking play since the turn of the year.
Another clash lower down the table sees now-relegated Wolves host Tottenham Hotspur at Molineux. An interesting budget option to bolster your Free Hit bench could be the lesser-considered Santiago Bueno (£4.4m), the Wolves defender having scored in the reverse fixture in London earlier this season.
However you view your plans for Gameweek 34, be mindful of the earlier transfer and selection deadline, this Friday at 6:30pm UK time!
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