What you need to know for Gameweek 35
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Hello and welcome to Fantasy Gameweek. This is our round-up of everything you need to know for Gameweek 35 in Fantasy Premier League. It includes the news that matters, the key data from Impect, our data partner, and the risers and fallers. This is a big week, as you will see below…
The deadline for transfers and changes to your team for Gameweek 35 is 11am UK time on Saturday April 27.
Here are some key news stories this week:
-Eberechi Eze is a doubt for Crystal Palace this weekend after playing a vital role in their recent victories. More here
-Erik ten Hag refused to answer questions from three media outlets following criticism about Manchester United’s performances. More here
-Chelsea’s Enzo Fernández is out injured for the rest of the season. More here
These are the fixtures for Gameweek 35…
These are the most transferred-in players this week so far:
And these are the transfers-out:
Now for the key data from Impect, our data partner. This is what has happened in the last ten gameweeks…
These are the top-five and bottom-five teams for xG per game - in other words, the best and worst attacks. As a reminder, xG measures the quality of chances that a team creates by attributing a score to each chance based on the likelihood of it being a goal. For example, if the chance was certain to be a goal then it would get an xG score of 1.
Best
Liverpool - 2.7
Man City - 2.25
Chelsea - 2.09
Arsenal - 2.04
Fulham - 1.98
Worst
Sheffield United - 0.96
Luton - 1.02
Burnley - 1.19
Crystal Palace - 1.22
Brighton - 1.26
And here are the best and worst for xG per game conceded - in other words, the best and worst defences:
Best
Arsenal - 0.56
Man City - 1.09
Liverpool - 1.29
Nottingham Forest - 1.29
Crystal Palace - 1.31
Worst
Man United - 2.33
Burnley - 2.18
Luton - 2.18
West Ham - 2.11
Sheffield United - 1.97
Moving on to the players, these are the top-10 for Offensive Impect, which measures the attacking effectiveness of a player for their team when they are on the pitch:
Cole Palmer - 100
Kai Havertz - 99.5
Ollie Watkins - 99.1
Bruno Fernandes - 98.6
Phil Foden - 98.2
Jean-Philippe Mateta - 97.7
Cody Gakpo - 97.2
Alexander Isak - 96.8
Eberechi Eze - 96.3
Nicolas Jackson - 95.9
And these are the players with the highest xG:
Rodridgo Muniz - 7.05
Cole Palmer - 6.66
Erling Haaland - 6.12
Dominic Solanke - 5.81
Luis Diaz - 5.59
Alexander Isak - 5.56
Mo Salah - 5.06
Kai Havertz - 4.89
Jean-Philippe Mateta - 4.82
Ollie Watkins - 4.59
Next, these are the post-shot xG rankings. As a reminder, post-shot xG measures the quality of a chance after the shot has been taken, so it also takes into account the quality of the shot:
Kai Havertz - 6.93
Cole Palmer - 6.7
Jean Philippe Mateta - 6.48
Rodrigo Muniz - 6.35
Ollie Watkins - 6.18
Alexander Isak - 5.12
Mo Salah - 4.92
Bruno Fernandes - 4.85
Yoane Wissa - 4.72
Nicolas Jackson - 4.66
These are the top-10 players for bypassed defenders, which measures how many opposition defenders a player takes out of the game with their passing or dribbling. It is a way to track a player’s attacking influence in a game:
Enzo Fernandez - 13
Alex Iwobi - 13
Kevin De Bruyne - 13
Eberechi Eze - 12
Cole Palmer - 12
Casemiro - 11
Amadou Onana - 11
Bruno Fernandes - 11
Morgan Rogers - 11
James Maddison - 11
Martin Odegaard - 11
Now let’s see the top-10 players for bypassed defenders receiving, which measures how many opposition defenders were taken out of the game when a player receives the ball. It measures the quality of the attacking positions that a player gets themselves in with the ball:
Ollie Watkins - 21.4
Nicolas Jackson - 20.6
Jean-Philippe Mateta - 19.9
Erling Haaland - 19.5
Rodrigo Muniz - 19.4
Beto - 18.9
Dominic Calvert-Lewin - 18.4
Kai Havertz - 18.1
Ivan Toney - 17.9
Rasmus Hojlund - 17.9
Darwin Nunez - 17.9
Lastly, these are the top defenders for Offensive Impect, which shows the defenders who are contributing to attacks, which is really useful to know for FPL:
Ben White - 100
Lewis Dunk - 98.2
Andy Robertson - 96.4
Joachim Andersen - 94.6
Fabian Schar - 92.9
Harry Maguire - 91.1
Axel Disasi - 89.3
Timothy Castagne - 87.5
Diogo Dalot - 85.7
Nelson Semedo - 83.9
Risers
Ben White (DEF, £6m)
Mea culpa. Having placed White in our fallers column due to a lack of attacking output and Arsenal’s apparent defensive weakness in the last couple of games, the attacking right-back responded with a brace in Arsenal’s 5-0 thumping of Chelsea in Gameweek 34. There are no double gameweeks on the slate for Arsenal between now and the end of the campaign, but with the Gunners appearing to have settled after a minor wobble, White is back on our radar.
Jean-Philippe Mateta (FWD, £5.1m)
Who saw that coming? Plenty of FPL managers judging by some of the triple-figure scores recorded in Gameweek 34. Mateta bagged a brace in each of Crystal Palace’s Gameweek 34 fixtures, recording an incredible 29 points for those who backed him. There are no more doubles for the Eagles but that shouldn’t stop you targeting the £5.1m Frenchman, who is likely to continue to benefit from the service provided by hyper-talented midfielders Eberiche Eze and Michael Olise.
Bruno Fernandes (MID, £8.4m)
Manchester United continue to look all over the place, particularly in defence, but Fernandes is now delivering week-in, week-out. The midfielder has six goals in his last four starts, with an improving but relegation-threatened Burnley up next at Old Trafford. United also have a home double fixture against Arsenal and Newcastle in Gameweek 37, making the Portuguese international a prime target in FPL.
Fallers
Erling Haaland (FWD, £14.1m)
Low on form and now injured, Haaland has gone from must pick to a £14.1m liability in FPL. City have also looked excellent without him, meaning Pep Guardiola is unlikely to rush him back into action at Nottingham Forest in Gameweek 35.
Mo Salah (MID, £13.6m)
FPL managers who backed Salah with the captain’s armband for their double fixture in Gameweek 34 were rewarded with a grand total of 3 points. The Egyptian was dropped at Fulham and anonymous in the 2-0 defeat against Everton on Wednesday evening. There are no double fixtures left for Liverpool and while Salah’s obvious pedigree means he can’t be dismissed altogether, it’s hard to justify his £13.6m price tag on recent showings.
Virgil Van Dijk (DEF, £6.7m)
Liverpool haven’t kept a clean sheet in their last seven fixtures and, more worryingly, look increasingly shaky defensively. Van Dijk’s threat from set pieces is simply not enough to justify a £6.7m outlay in FPL, particularly as Liverpool have no double fixtures in the remaining gameweeks.
That’s it for this edition. Thanks for reading and good luck in Gameweek 35.
Graham and Tom
