What you need to know for Gameweek 36
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Hello and welcome to Fantasy Gameweek. This is our round-up of everything you need to know for Gameweek 36 in Fantasy Premier League. It includes the news that matters, the key data from Impect, our data partner, and the risers and fallers.
The deadline for transfers and changes to your team for Gameweek 36 is 6.30pm UK time on Friday May 3 - that’s tonight!
Here are some key news stories this week:
-Jurgen Klopp says a row with Mo Salah has been "completely resolved". More here
-Phil Foden has been named the men’s footballer of the year by the Football Writers' Association. More here
-Newcastle’s Fabian Schar, one of the most-owned defenders in FPL, is out for the rest of the season. More here
These are the fixtures for Gameweek 36…
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 - 2.67
Man City - 2.08
Chelsea - 2
Fulham - 1.95
Newcastle - 1.83
Worst
Luton - 0.79
Sheffield United - 1.01
Brighton - 1.03
Wolves - 1.26
Everton - 1.33
And here are the best and worst for xG per game conceded - in other words, the best and worst defences:
Best
Arsenal - 0.79
Bournemouth - 1.06
Liverpool - 1.06
Man City - 1.1
Crystal Palace - 1.23
Worst
Man United - 2.34
Luton - 2.12
Burnley - 2.11
West Ham - 2.02
Sheffield United - 2
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:
Phil Foden - 100
Cole Palmer - 99.6
Kai Havertz - 99.1
Bruno Fernandes - 98.7
Ollie Watkins - 98.2
Jean-Philippe Mateta - 97.8
Alexander Isak - 97.3
Erling Haaland - 96.9
Kevin De Bruyne - 96.4
Jarrod Bowen - 96
And these are the players with the highest xG per game:
Cole Palmer - 1.01
Mo Salah - 0.85
Erling Haaland - 0.84
Alexander Isak - 0.79
Rodridgo Muniz - 0.74
Darwin Nunez - 0.71
Timo Werner - 0.62
Luis Diaz - 0.61
Brennan Johnson - 0.59
Jean-Philippe Mateta - 0.56
Next, these are the post-shot xG per game 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:
Cole Palmer - 0.93
Mo Salah - 0.82
Phil Foden - 0.79
Alexander Isak - 0.77
Dominic Calvert-Lewin - 0.77
Kai Havertz - 0.75
Jean-Philippe Mateta - 0.72
Rodrigo Muniz - 0.7
Ollie Watkins - 0.69
Erling Haaland - 0.66
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
Alexis Mac Allister - 12
Bruno Fernandes - 12
Eberechi Eze - 12
Kevin De Bruyne - 12
Cole Palmer - 11
Casemiro - 10
Amadou Onana - 10
Rodri - 10
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:
Erling Haaland - 20.8
Ollie Watkins - 20.6
Jean-Philippe Mateta - 20.4
Rodrigo Muniz - 20
Joao Pedro - 19
Nicolas Jackson - 19
Darwin Nunez - 17.8
Dominic Calvert-Lewin - 17.1
Michail Antonio - 16.9
Kai Havertz - 16.9
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:
Andy Robertson - 100
Ben White - 98.5
Lewis Dunk - 96.9
Joachim Andersen - 95.4
Manuel Akanji - 93.8
Timothy Castagne - 92.3
Fabian Schar - 90.8
Lucas Digne - 89.2
Pedro Porro - 87.7
Harry Maguire - 86.2
Finally, let’s look at the risers and fallers…
Risers
Conor Gallagher (MID, £5.4m)
Chelsea remain unreliable but they were excellent in a 2-0 win against Spurs on Thursday evening and have arguably the easiest run-in of any team in the league. Gallagher is captain, has delivered attacking returns in his last two fixtures and has previously shown his goalscoring pedigree, albeit while on loan at Crystal Palace in the 2021/22 campaign.
Noni Madueke (MID, £5.3m)
If you’re buying into that Chelsea run-in, Madueke is also worth a look. He’s available at a bargain £5.3m and has started the last five fixtures on the wing for Mauricio Pocchettino’s side. He bagged a goal and assist in Gameweek 35 against Aston Villa and has serious differential appeal.
Alexander Isak (FWD, £8.3m)
Isak is red-hot, particularly at home, and Newcastle’s soft final fixtures – including a double in Gameweek 37 against Brighton (H) and Man United (A) – mean he’s pretty much a must-pick in FPL.
Fallers
Mo Salah (MID, £13.5m)
Salah’s glorious time at Liverpool is at risk of ending on a sour note. The Egyptian was benched again versus West Ham and appears to be in open warfare with departing manager Jurgen Klopp. You can’t rule out an angry Salah going big against Tottenham in Gameweek 36, but that would be a pure gamble based on his track record rather than his recent form.
James Maddison (MID, £7.8m)
Maddison has been a reliable FPL asset throughout his career and looked a decent FPL bet with Spurs having double fixtures in Gameweek 35 and 37. But a poor showing against Arsenal was followed by a surprise benching at Chelsea. He has to get a downgrade.
Lewis Dunk (DEF, £5.2m)
Brighton appear to have downed tools. They are without a win in six games and have conceded seven in their last two without reply. Dunk generally offers goalscoring upside but it’s hard to make a case for picking him at the moment, even with a double fixture on the horizon in Gameweek 37.
That’s it for this edition. Thanks for reading and good luck in Gameweek 36.
Graham and Tom
