Fantasy Premier League tips: The 11 best players to sign for your FPL team in Gameweek 35
Fantasy Premier League managers should prepare themselves for the calm before the inevitable storm with a relatively mundane Gameweek 35 preceding back-to-back doubles followed by the final day of the 2021-22 campaign.
Due to Covid-enforced disruption during the winter, this has been a season of cancellations, rearranged fixtures and, in FPL terms, double gameweeks galore. Some managers have prospered amid the chaos, while others have found adapting to a constantly shifting landscape more difficult to react to.
For any manager patient enough to have held onto their second Wildcard until now, this is the optimal time to use it in order to prepare for a bumper double in 36. As it stands, 10 teams will play twice next week so before clicking “confirm” on your chosen transfers, be sure to peruse the fixture list carefully.
With so little time of the season remaining, transfers are even more precious. Players who have favourable fixtures this week and at least one double gameweek to come later down the line should be the priority and those who tick both boxes form the basis of this week’s starting XI.
Here is this week’s team which costs £81.6m to assemble.
Nick Pope (Burnley)
Burnley’s decision to dispense of Sean Dyche was heavily scrutinised, but so far it is a gamble that appears to be paying off. Since interim boss Mike Jackson and club captain Ben Mee were handed the reins, the Clarets have taken seven points from a possible nine to leapfrog Everton in the table. Burnley’s attacking numbers have improved post-Dyche and they have also tightened up at the back too, keeping back-to-back clean sheets. Nick Pope has impressed in those games, making seven saves in total.
Villa’s 0-0 draw against Leicester was an instantly forgettable affair, but it was an important result for Steven Gerrard inasmuch as it stopped an alarming run of defeats. That clean sheet ended Matty Cash’s four-game wait for an FPL return, dating back to his mammoth 29-point haul in double gameweek 28. With three goals and three assists across the season, Cash has had a direct hand in more goals than any other Villa defender, and a fixture against Norwich presents an opportunity to enhance those numbers.
The threat of rotation has loomed over Marcos Alonso for much of the campaign, but with Ben Chilwell still sidelined and neither Saul Niguez nor Malang Sarr convincing, his position should be relatively secure in the remaining weeks of the campaign. Chelsea laboured to victory against West Ham last weekend and had Alonso to thank for breaking their opponents’ resistance as he picked out Christian Pulisic for a last-minute winner. That was Alonso’s fifth FPL assist of the campaign, a total that only four defenders can better.
The goals have dried up alarmingly for Spurs over the past couple of matches, but at least they are looking solid at the other end of the pitch. Spurs have kept three clean sheets in their last six games, conceding only three times during that run and they face a Leicester side that is struggling to create chances for its strikers, as pointed out by i’s chief football writer Daniel Storey in this week’s The Score. Ben Davies is assured of his starting place under Antonio Conte and has provided some attacking threat this season, chipping in with a goal and two assists.
We probably need to start talking about Leicester’s strikers. The only goal by a Leicester striker in their last 10 games in all competitions was Kelechi Iheanacho’s stooping header against Manchester United.
Patson Daka has had two shots in his last seven league appearances (some of which were off the bench). Kelechi Iheanacho has had two shots on target in his last 11. Even Jamie Vardy, aka the man you cannot keep quiet, has had more than two shots in only two of his last 11 league games.
With Rodgers preferring possession to quick counter-attacks, Leicester’s chances often come from passing moves that create overlaps for advancing attacking midfielders. In this team, to be a striker often involves playing a subservient role in which you busy central defenders without seeing much of the ball. In 90 combined minutes against Villa, Vardy and Daka had 21 touches of the ball in a team that completed 460 passes.
Andy Robertson (Liverpool)
Last week, we presented the case for Trent Alexander-Arnold: this week, it’s Andy Robertson’s turn (cue an Alexander-Arnold haul!). The reasoning behind Alexander-Arnold’s inclusion at Robertson’s expense was that his underlying numbers were superior, albeit only slightly. However, in terms of actual goals, assists and FPL points, Robertson has been superior to Alexander-Arnold for a while now. Since Gameweek 18, Robertson has scored two goals and provided seven assists, to Alexander-Arnold’s zero goals and five assists.
Since making his Aston Villa debut against Manchester United in Gameweek 22, Philippe Coutinho has had more shots (31), shots on target (13), and created more chances (20) than any other Villa player; only Cash has amassed more FPL points than the Brazilian (69 to 66). Coutinho’s record at Villa Park bodes well ahead of this weekend’s fixture against Norwich considering 41 of his 66 FPL points have been scored at home. Four of Villa’s next five games are at home.
Newcastle have been in inspired form since being thumped by Tottenham a few weeks ago, winning four consecutive games to clamber into the top half. Such has been the improvement instigated by Eddie Howe, Bruno Guimaraes and co, this fixture suddenly has the look of a potential banana skin for title-chasing Liverpool. Nevertheless, betting against Mo Salah in FPL is always a recipe for disaster, particularly when there is a league title and individual accolades on the line.
After being given a breather for Saturday’s stroll against Watford, Riyad Mahrez looks primed to be included in Pep Guardiola’s starting line-up this weekend. That Mahrez was named on the bench ahead of this week’s Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid is an indication of his increased standing in Guardiola’s pecking order. Mahrez has an impressive 11 goals and six assists to show for his 25 league appearances and has averaged the fourth-highest number of FPL points per game in City’s squad.
Quite how Crystal Palace – and in particular, Wilfried Zaha – failed to score against Leeds on Monday night is anyone’s guess. The Eagles peppered Illan Meslier’s goal throughout but couldn’t make the breakthrough and nobody summed up their frustration more than Zaha who had a gameweek-leading seven shots without finding the net. Neither Palace nor their upcoming opponents Southampton have an awful lot to play for which could lead to an entertaining, goal-filled contest on the south coast.
Harry Kane hasn’t scored a Premier League goal in over eight hours, while Tottenham have failed to muster a single shot on target in either of their previous two games. Given those stats, the case for signing Kane this week is not as strong as it might have been a few matches ago, but Spurs have to improve if they are to give their faltering top-four hopes a much-needed shot in the arm. Kane has a spectacular record against the Foxes, scoring 18 times in 17 matches, and his chances of boosting that tally could be boosted now that Brendan Rodgers is prioritising the Europa Conference League.
Eddie Nketiah finds himself in the odd position of being simultaneously crucial and expendable to Arsenal’s short-term prospects. Arsenal are relying on him to help spearhead their Champions League charge but are likely to be waving him off one his contract expires in June regardless of whether that target is achieved or not. If this is the end of Nketiah’s Arsenal career, he will want to ensure it ends on a high and his prospects of adding another goal or two this weekend are boosted by West Ham’s chronic shortage of centre-backs.
Price: £5.5m Points: 32 Gameweek 35 fixture: West Ham (a)
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