⚽ FPL Gameweek 34 Tips

👋 Hello 👋

Welcome to the Gameweek 34 Newsletter!

What is it they say? Better late than never...

The quick turnaround from Gameweek 33 to 34 means I'm only getting around to sending this now, back to normal next week hopefully!

Don't forget - Gameweek 34 deadline - Saturday 29 April, 11:00 UK  ⏰

 🔥 Gameweek 34 - Hot Topics 🔥

Free Hit 34

Time is running out to use your Chips this season. If you still have the Free Hit left, chances are you're planning on using it this week.

For anyone that's unsure, don't feel pressured into using it. If you can get out a good Gameweek 34 team for just a hit or two, you could delay the Free Hit longer, maybe until Double Gameweek 36 or 37 as a backup, or even Gameweek 38 as a last week differential option.

For those using it in Gameweek 34, there's six players that I would definitely include:

• Mohamed Salah

• Trent Alexander-Arnold

• Marcus Rashford

• Erling Haaland

• Solly March

• Kaoru Mitoma

If you prefer Alexis Mac Allister (£5.5m) to either of the Brighton mids feel free to add him in.

After that you're really filling the final five spots with players from Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal and Brighton.

Kevin De Bruyne (£12.1m) is a big differential this week, it will be difficult for non-Free Hitters to bring him in. He seems to be fit and available and has started all of the last four matches.

I still think Bruno Fernandes (£9.4m) could be a better option with more guaranteed minutes and penalties, but he's not as much of a differential.

The hardest spot to fill is probably the second forward spot if playing 3-5-2 alongside Erling Haaland (£12.3m). Diogo Jota (£8.9m) is currently yellow flagged but you'd expect him to start at least one game. Likewise Darwin Núñez (£8.6m) and Anthony Martial (£6.3m) should get at least one start, maybe an outside shot at two. Michail Antonio (£7.0m) is getting regular starts and may start twice, but one of the fixtures is Man City (a) and his underlying numbers are way down on previous seasons.

It might even be an option to play 4-5-1 instead. There's lots of defenders to choose from this week, my favourites being Pervis Estupiñán (£4.8m), Luke Shaw (£5.1), Rúben Dias (£6.0m), Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.5m) and Andrew Robertson (£6.8m).

Bringing Salah in

Lots of people are in a position where they have five Double Gameweek midfielders, usually consisting of Fernandes, Jack Grealish (£7.3m), Marcus Rashford (£7.1m) and two Brighton midfielders and are wondering who to bring Mohamed Salah (£13.0m) in for.

Because most people are going to captain Haaland, Salah is slightly less valuable and with a full compliment of Double Gameweekers, you could make a case to ignore him, especially if it's for a hit.

I do think that Salah is the best midfielder from now until the end of the season, so if you're looking to bring him in, let's talk about who to remove.

For me it would come down to Fernandes or Grealish. I think Rashford's goal threat and value is too high to remove him, his minutes are also very good. With the Brighton midfielders they have an extra Double Gameweek over the others so they would stay.

My preference is to sell Grealish ahead of Fernandes. There's not much in it, but I do think Grealish could miss one game at least before the end of the season. That's a lot less likely to happen with Fernandes, plus he's on penalties. With Casemiro (£4.9m) and Christian Eriksen (£6.2m) both fit and available, Fernandes should play in an attacking role pretty consistently. 

📈 Transfer Activity 📉

John Stones (£5.5m) is the most popular defender transfer this week with 274,699 new owners. In general I really like the upcoming Man City fixtures and they're certainly due some clean sheets. My only concern about him is he's been substituted before 60 minutes twice in the last four fixtures. I think Pep Guardiola is being careful with any potential injuries as he's had issues in the past, so when they're able to rest him they will. If you have the money for Dias I would pay the extra £0.5m.

Despite 11 points in Gameweek 33, it probably is time to cash in on Harry Kane (£11.5m). Over 260,000 managers have removed him this week. He actually has some decent fixtures before the end of the season - Liverpool (a), Crystal Palace (h), Aston Villa (a), Brentford (h) and Leeds (a). He's also only blanked once in his last seven games. Going forward though, with no Double Gameweeks and cash needed elsewhere, I'd be perfectly comfortable selling him.

Ben Chilwell (£5.8m) has been very disappointing since a lot of us brought him in Gameweek 28. Since then there's been six matches which have included one benching and five blanks...

Chelsea do have Bournemouth (a) and Nottingham Forest (h) in Gameweek 35 and 36, but I have no confidence in how they'll perform right now under Frank Lampard. If you're selling him for a Double Gameweek defender, that looks like a great move to me.

👑 Captaincy 👑

Surprise surprise - the best option is........Haaland! When isn't it?

I think at the start of the season we were expecting him to be rotated a little more but it just hasn't happened at all in the league when he's been fit. I'm expecting him to start both games in Gameweek 34 with him *possibly* missing a game in Gameweek 35 or 36 but we'll worry about that later.

For those looking for a differential to climb the ranks, I wouldn't completely discount Salah. Liverpool have two home fixtures against Spurs and Fulham, two teams I'm not backing for clean sheets right now.

The issue for me is it feels like Haaland will almost start with 12 points - one goal in each game, and that's the bare minimum we should expect. Salah is fully capable of similar of course, we've seen it plenty of times, but I'm just not confident he will outscore Haaland by 5 or more, and that feels like a small amount to put such a large bet on against the crowd.

Let's not forget people did similar last week with the Salah differential option against West Ham (a) and he blanked. 

I don't want to put people off doing it, I'm pushing for the top 10k myself and have considered it, I just don't think there's enough upside for me.

💪 My Team 💪

I'm now at 10 green arrows in a row - just waiting for the luck to run out at this stage!

Two of my moves are easy, the rest is a bit more complicated.

I'm definitely doing Kane and Martin Ødegaard (£6.6m) to Sam Greenwood (£4.0m) and Salah with my two free transfers.

After that I could just play Ollie Watkins (£7.8m) or Sven Botman (£4.5m) instead of Chilwell, but that feels a little passive in a Double Gameweek.

I originally intended to get Alexander-Arnold for a 4 point hit, but have been priced out of that move. So I can either get Robertson or Dias instead, or take an 8 point hit.

I think I'm in favour of the latter, bringing in Alexander-Arnold and funding it by Watkins to Alexander Isak (£6.9m) who I will want for the Double in Gameweek 36 anyway.

Either way I'm taking a hit this week!

Haaland captain because I'm too afraid to do anything else.

📽️ My YouTube Content 📽️

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

The Gameweek 34 Deadline Stream should start at 9:30am UK time on Saturday morning.

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