If you’re in a rush and need some last-minute Fantasy Premier League (FPL) advice, here’s a quick round-up of what you need to know about Gameweek 36.
WHEN’S THE FPL GAMEWEEK 36 DEADLINE?
All transfers and team selections need to be done by 18:30 (BST) on Friday 3 May.
WHO TO BENCH?
Such a Friday deadline means there are less than 24 hours between the final match of Double Gameweek 35 and the start of Gameweek 36.
It’s a quick turnaround, with usual decisions made tough for those managers about to activate a Gameweek 37 Bench Boost.
You see, having good squad depth comes with the downside of regular benching dilemmas.
For example, Anthony Gordon (£6.3m) leads the way for attacking returns at home (22) but only has three when away. Newcastle United travel to 19th-placed Burnley.
Meanwhile, FPL legend Son Heung-min (£9.9m) visits leaky Liverpool but his last five matches have accumulated a very low non-penalty expected goals (NPxG) tally of 0.52.
Nicolas Jackson (£6.9m) gets a lot of big chances but misses plenty and in-form Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) has picked up a slight knock ahead of Monday’s difficult trip to Crystal Palace.
MORE INJURIES
As well as Fernandes, Virgil van Dijk (£6.7m) is a doubt, following recent problems for still-out defenders Malo Gusto (£4.3m), Destiny Udogie (£5.0m) and Jan Paul van Hecke (£4.1m)
Worsening the situation is last Sunday’s half-time removal of Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson (£5.5m), whose status is currently unknown. Approximately 750,000 have bought Newcastle’s Fabian Schar (£5.7m) in the past fortnight, only to see him ruled out for the season with a hamstring injury.
On a positive note, it sounds like Phil Foden (£8.4m) is ready to make a return from illness.
POPULAR MAN CITY ASSETS
Sticking with the reigning champions, they possess three of this week’s four most-bought players.
Kevin De Bruyne (£10.5m) has one goal and two assists from his latest pair of outings, with a history of Gameweek 36 hauls versus Wolverhampton Wanderers.
His fruitful partnership with Erling Haaland (£14.1m) brought the latter a cameo goal at Nottingham Forest, whilst Josko Gvardiol (£5.0m) opened proceedings. The defender has scored three times and assisted once during his last five appearances, including the Champions League.
BEST FPL GAMEWEEK 36 CAPTAIN
Both Captain Sensible and our Rate My Team (RMT) algorithm have a tight armband race between Erling Haaland and Cole Palmer (£6.2m).
They’re the top two recommendations, with Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka (£9.0m) backed as the next best.
TEAM REVEALS
SCOUT PICKS + DIFFERENTIALS
Our weekly selection – which is essentially a Free Hit in all but name – places faith in Arsenal and Man City home wins, as they fight for Premier League glory.
Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) bagged 23 points when last against Brighton and Hove Albion, joined up front by Chris Wood (£4.8m).
The latter’s Forest team-mate Morgan Gibbs-White (£5.7m) is named in our trio of differential picks.
PREDICTED LINE-UPS
We’ve predicted the starting XIs of all 20 Premier League teams.
Whatever you decide to do, good luck with FPL Gameweek 36!
