Stick the armband on Palmer - fantasy football tips
Whatever chips you might have left to play this season, you will be focusing your transfers on the teams with double gameweeks still to come.
Chelsea and Tottenham both double up in gameweeks 35 and 37 while Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle and Brighton all double in 37.
A popular strategy now we have reached gameweek 35 will be to play the wildcard to set you up for a bench boost in gameweek 37, but Statman Dave said on the Fantasy 606 podcast that it might actually be better to save the wildcard for gameweek 36.
That way you can keep your Arsenal and Liverpool players for another week for their games against Tottenham and West Ham, as well as Ollie Watkins who has a home fixture as Aston Villa face Chelsea.
That depends on how you think Liverpool will respond to their 2-0 defeat in the Merseyside derby on Wednesday night, but it does feel slightly uncomfortable taking Arsenal defenders or Watkins out of your team to replace them with the likes of Pedro Porro and Nicolas Jackson.
The question as always is: do you go with the player who has two fixtures or the in-form player in a better team who only has one?
I think I would actually try and go with a bit of a balance – I would definitely keep one Arsenal defender on the wildcard and I would even contemplate the idea of an Arsenal midfielder as well, even though they don’t double in gameweek 37.
There is no such thing as an essential player in FPL but I think six names you will want in your squad for the rest of the season are Cole Palmer, Son Heung-min, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland, Bruno Fernandes and Alexander Isak.
Then it’s whether you want to double up on the Chelsea or Tottenham attacks, who gets that fifth spot in midfield, and if you’re going for a Manchester City rearguard asset should that be Ederson or one of the defenders?
I like Anthony Gordon as the fifth midfielder, but that prevents you from going for the double Tottenham attack unless you want to take a risk on Timo Werner up front, and it would also rule out an Arsenal midfielder and they all look capable of scoring big points whoever they play against at the moment.
I think Ederson is the safest defensive pick for Manchester City in terms of minutes, but if the title race finishes before the last day of the season then anything goes in terms of Pep roulette.
I definitely want a Newcastle defender in my team and I think Tottenham's Porro is a good choice at the back if he’s passed fit. Diogo Dalot or Harry Maguire could also be a useful pick.
Captaincy
Palmer is my choice as captain for Chelsea’s two games against Aston Villa and Tottenham if he has overcome the illness that kept him out of the humiliating defeat at Arsenal.
Son would be my back-up selection as he also has the double gameweek, but if you’re really looking for a differential choice then it’s Nicolas Jackson, James Maddison or Brennan Johnson.
Fixtures to target
Away from the double gameweek for Chelsea and Tottenham, it’s the home games for Newcastle and Manchester United against Sheffield United and Burnley that catch the eye.
Rasmus Hojlund is a viable contender for one of the striker slots in our squads for the rest of the season, as is Joao Pedro who has an away game against Bournemouth this weekend and comes up against the Newcastle and Chelsea defences for Brighton’s double in gameweek 37.
He’s scored 19 goals in 35 appearances this season and is 10 out of 10 from the penalty spot, but the only worry there is Roberto de Zerbi’s constant chopping and changing of his line-ups.
Having watched Arsenal take Chelsea apart on Tuesday night I also think there’s more goals for them at Tottenham on Sunday, which is why I keep coming back to trying to get Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard or Kai Havertz in on the wildcard.
Differentials
If you want to have a dabble on a double gameweek player this week I would point you towards Noni Madueke or Brennan Johnson, but the man in form with seven goals in his last seven games and a monster haul of 29 points in gameweek 34 is Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta – he’s still under 5% ownership and is up against Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday.
Gamble of the week
I want to finish by highlighting one of the best gambles we’ve ever had on the Fantasy 606 podcast last week, which was our listener Euan Bruce opting to captain Ben White for the listeners’ team in gameweek 34 – those 52 points helping them to a whopping total of 148.
Well played Euan, and if you want to have a go at managing that listeners’ team then please e-mail us on fantasy606@bbc.co.uk
Alistair Bruce-Ball presents the Fantasy 606 podcast alongside former Premier League winner Chris Sutton and Statman Dave. Just search for 'Fantasy 606' on the BBC Sounds app and click subscribe.
