⚽ FPL Gameweek 32 Tips

👋 Hello 👋

Welcome to the Gameweek 32 Newsletter! It feels like Free Hit City this week, lots of Chips have been activated, my own included.

I'll aim to cover key talking points for those using a Chip this week, and those not, but be warned - it's likely to be Free Hit heavy!

Don't forget - Gameweek 32 deadline - Friday 21 April, 18:30 UK ⏰

 🔥 Gameweek 32 - Hot Topics 🔥

Liverpool resurgence

After a loss to Bournemouth followed by a hammering by Man City, things were looking bleak for Liverpool. They seem to have turned a bit of a corner however. They drew with Arsenal in a game many think they should have won, and have just destroyed Leeds 6-1.

There's a bit of consistency about the team as well, Mohamed Salah (£12.8m), Cody Gakpo (£7.6m) and Diogo Jota (£8.7m) have all started the last two matches, with Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.4m) playing an inverted role, moving into midfield.

For those on Free Hit I think Salah and Alexander-Arnold are a bit of a no brainer. I also think non-Free Hitters should be strongly considering bringing one or both into their teams. Their fixture run looks like this:

• GW32: Nottingham Forest (h)

• GW33: West Ham (a)

• GW34: Spurs (h), Fulham (h)

• GW35: Brentford (h)

• GW36: Leicester (a)

• GW37: Aston Villa (h)

• GW38: Southampton (a)

If you're on Free Hit the big question is who should the 3rd Liverpool player be. The more fun pick is probably Gakpo. There's a good chance that both he and Jota will start again, but I feel like Jota has more competition on the left than Gakpo has centrally. Roberto Firmino (£8.0m) is leaving at the end of the season so Gakpo is the future. I won't be surprised to see Firmino start Liverpool's last home game, but before that he will mostly be on the bench.

The other option is to just pick a second defender, especially with the lack of options this week. Andrew Robertson (£6.8m) should start again, but Alexander-Arnold playing in midfield does somewhat hamper Robertson who often formed a back three as left centre back against Leeds. There's always a chance Kostas Tsimikas (£4.3m) could start as well, although I think that's unlikely this week. If you really want to play it safe go for Virgil Van Dijk (£6.6m).

Backing against Kane and Trippier on Free Hit

One thing that's tempting on Free Hit is to back against some of the popular picks.

I'm likely to go without Harry Kane (£11.7m) because there's a number of great forwards this week. My order of preference is something like this (although definitely subject to change!)

• Ivan Toney

• Ollie Watkins

• Gabriel Jesus

• Dominic Solanke

• Alexander Isak

If Kane had a fixture like Everton (h) he'd definitely be in, but Newcastle (a) is tough, and it feels like an okay time to back against him on a Free Hit. It's certainly not because I think he's a bad pick or anything.

With Kieran Trippier (£6.2m) it's a lot tougher because of the lack of defender options. I prefer Liverpool and Arsenal defenders over Trippier, but outside of that there's not really any I'm hugely confident with. They all either have a poor fixture, don't play for teams that are good defensively, or lack attacking potential.

I've looked at a punt on Timothy Castagne (£4.3m). Despite Leicester's poor defence, Wolves don't score a huge amount of goals. Alternatively there's Joachim Andersen (£4.5m) at Palace who play a goal shy Everton. But neither screams huge potential, and so I may just default back to Trippier.

Rashford and Shaw

Manchester United blank this week so no-one is buying Marcus Rashford (£7.1) or Luke Shaw (£5.1m), but some of you might be considering selling them.

It's worth noting that they are both included in the matchday squad for the Europa League game against Sevilla.

I'm writing this before that game has started, but it seems very positive all round. For FPL they're not necessarily needed until Gameweek 34 anyway which is when Man United double. Before that there's opportunities for minutes against Sevilla, Brighton in the FA Cup, and Spurs in Gameweek 33.

In most cases I'd look to hold both players, especially if Man United go out of the Europa League as that would ease fixture congestion a little bit later on.

📈 Transfer Activity 📉

Seemingly nothing can stop Ollie Watkins (£7.7m) scoring at the moment. His 3 attacking returns against Newcastle in Gameweek 31 have earned him 324,910 new owners.

The fixtures from Gameweek 34 onwards for Aston Villa are going to get a little trickier:

• Man United (a)

• Wolves (a)

• Spurs (h)

• Liverpool (a)

• Brighton (h)

That being said, for £7.7m or below, it's difficult to find a forward that can offer more than Watkins in terms of starts, minutes and penalties. Isak is an alternative, but I'm still not 100% confident of a start every week. The positive of Isak is that he's likely to have a Double in Gameweek 36. Either way, if you're thinking about Watkins, he's a great option.

Last week it was Michael Olise (£5.5m) being brought in after his 3 assists against Leeds, now it's the turn of Eberechi Eze (£5.5m) after two goals against Southampton.

Roy Hodgson has definitely improved things at Palace. They've had 57 shots in their last 3 matches! They also have great fixtures from now until the end of the season. If you need a cheap midfielder that plays in Gameweek 32 you can't go wrong with either. I do think from Gameweek 33 onwards there are better ways to fill your midfield spots though. If you're going for one of them, I don't think there's much to split Olise and Eze, but I'd probably lean slightly towards Eze because his goal threat looks a little higher.

👑 Captaincy 👑

The top choice this week has to be Salah. You could argue that Arsenal have the slightly better fixture given where Southampton lie in the Premier League table, but there's really nothing in it.

All season Salah's underlying numbers have looked great, and they currently stand at 0.50xG and 0.20 xA per 90 minutes. These stats have also started to produce attacking returns in recent weeks. Since Gameweek 23 he has 8 goals and 3 assists.

With a 6-1 victory at Leeds in Gameweek 31, perhaps Jürgen Klopp has finally found the personnel and system to get Liverpool regularly firing again, and if they do, you know Salah will be heavily involved.

Arsenal attackers are certainly part of the conversation as well. Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Saka will remain first choice penalty taker so he's a great alternative to Salah. Despite two draws in their previous two games, I'm not concerned about Arsenal. They still have plenty of quality that the team bottom of the table is unlikely to be able to cope with. Their 1.35 xG conceded per match leaves them as the 13th worse defence in the league. But it's still not as bad as Nottingham Forest who sit 15th at 1.45 xG conceded. This, coupled with Salah's personal numbers is why I prefer him.

Outside of Saka a lot of people will be looking at Martinelli who has 10 attacking returns in his last nine matches. As good as he's been, I just find it hard to ignore penalty takers.

💪 My Team 💪

Gameweek 31 gave me my 8th green arrow in a row! I'm currently up to 78,625th in the world and very happy with how things have gone recently.

The team above is my current Free Hit Draft. I'm getting there, but still not fully committed.

The players who I'm 99.99% sure will make the final team are:

• Sam Johnstone

• Trent Alexander-Arnold

• Gabriel Martinelli

• Bukayo Saka

There's three players who I'm almost certain will make the team:

• Ollie Watkins

• Ivan Toney

• Kieran Trippier

I think I want to go for at least four Liverpool/Arsenal attackers which leaves one defender spot open and I'm finding it hard to look past Trippier.

Gakpo feels like a fun punt that won't be too highly owned. My only concern is Liverpool play again on Wednesday and there's plenty of players who could sub in for him so his minutes might be limited.

Similarly Gabriel Jesus (£8.2) is very likely to start, but with a huge game against Man City midweek, his minutes may be reduced. We haven't seen him play 90 minutes since he returned from injury.

Castagne is purely a punt, but I'm not that happy with the pick. I think I'm likely to put a Liverpool defender in and punt on a midfielder like Eze instead by the time Friday's deadline arrives.

The only thing that's 100% confirmed is Salah as captain - just as long as Klopp doesn't put doubts in my mind over a start in tomorrow's press conference.

📽️ My YouTube Content 📽️

If you want some more thoughts about my team including future plans then you can check out this video.

The Gameweek 32 Deadline Stream should start at 17:00 UK time on Friday evening.

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