What you need to know for Gameweek 33
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Hello and welcome to Fantasy Gameweek. This is our round-up of everything you need to know for Gameweek 33 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 33 is 11am UK time on Saturday April 13.
Here are three key news stories this week:
-Phil Foden went off injured in the final minutes of Manchester City’s midweek match against Real Madrid. However, Pep Guardiola has refused to rule him out of the Gameweek 33 clash with Luton, saying it was only a “knock”. More here
-Jurgen Klopp is concerned about fatigue for his Liverpool team after their shock 3-0 defeat in the Europa League at home to Atlanta. More here
-Jarrod Bowen is among the Premier League players likely to miss this weekend’s matches due to injury. More here
These are the fixtures for Gameweek 33:
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 - 2.55
Man City - 2.09
Chelsea - 2.06
Arsenal - 2
Newcastle - 1.82
Worst
Burnley - 1.03
Sheffield United - 1.05
Crystal Palace - 1.07
Brighton - 1.24
Nottingham Forest - 1.28
And here are the best and worst for xG per game conceded - in other words, the best and worst defences:
Best
Arsenal - 0.45
Man City - 1.12
Bournemouth - 1.29
Crystal Palace - 1.31
Nottingham Forest - 1.37
Worst
Man United - 2.4
Burnley - 2.24
Luton - 2.01
West Ham - 2.01
Sheffield United - 2.01
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:
Ollie Watkins - 100
Cole Palmer - 99.4
Phil Foden - 98.9
Bukayo Saka - 98.3
Kai Havertz - 97.7
Rodrigo Muniz - 97.2
Darwin Nunez - 96.6
Rasmus Hojlund - 96
Kevin De Bruyne - 95.5
Alexander Isak - 94.9
And these are the players with the highest xG:
Rodridgo Muniz - 6.23
Dominic Solanke - 5.78
Luis Diaz - 5.68
Erling Haaland - 5.41
Cole Palmer - 5.01
Ollie Watkins - 4.88
Bukayo Saka - 4.73
Darwin Nunez - 4.33
Alexander Isak - 4.29
Phil Foden - 4.2
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:
Rodrigo Muniz - 7.35
Ollie Watkins - 6.96
Phil Foden - 6.05
Cole Palmer - 5.42
Luis Diaz - 5.11
Bukayo Saka - 4.8
Carlton Morris - 4.37
Mo Salah - 4.14
Kai Havertz - 4.12
Alexander Isak - 4.08
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:
Alex Iwobi - 13
Kevin De Bruyne - 13
Enzo Fernandez - 12
James Maddison - 12
Casemiro - 11
Bruno Guimaraes - 11
Jorginho - 11
Cole Palmer - 11
Martin Odegaard - 11
Bruno Fernandes - 10
Sergio Reguilon - 10
Morgan Gibbs-White - 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:
Nicolas Jackson - 22.1
Dominic Calvert-Lewin - 20.8
Ollie Watkins - 20.3
Darwin Nunez - 19.7
Rodrigo Muniz - 19.6
Rasmus Hojlund - 18.4
Erling Haaland - 18.1
Ivan Toney - 17.6
Jean-Philippe Mateta - 15.9
David Datro Fofana - 15.7
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:
Lewis Dunk - 100
Sergio Reguilon - 98.7
Malo Gusto - 97.4
Andy Robertson - 96.1
Ben White - 94.8
Pedro Porro - 93.5
Axel Disasi - 92.2
Nathan Ake - 90.9
Jakub Kiwor - 89.6
Rayan Ait-Nouri - 88.3
Finally, let’s look at the risers and fallers…
Risers
Kai Havertz (MID, £7.3m)
Havertz is THE form player in FPL right now, delivering double-digits points in four of his last seven Premier League outings and attacking returns in all but one of those fixtures. He was at it again against Brighton in Gameweek 32, bagging a goal, assist and three bonus points in a comfortable 3-0 win for the Gunners. Despite this, Havertz is in just 5.2 per cent of FPL teams – something which surely has to change ahead of a home match-up against a shaky Aston Villa defence followed by a double gameweek versus Wolves (A) and Chelsea (H). There is rotation risk, particularly with Arsenal in Champions League action during the week, but Havertz has done more than enough to prove his doubters wrong.
Ollie Watkins (FWD, £8.8m)
FPL top scorer Watkins passed the 200-point mark in the 2023/24 season with another brace as Aston Villa were held to a frustrating 3-3 draw at home to Brentford in Gameweek 32. Villa aren’t the unstoppable force they looked earlier in the season, with defensive frailties proving problematic in recent weeks. Watkins remains ever-reliable, however, and now has 18 goals and 15 assists this campaign. No double fixture in Gameweek 34 may give you pause for thought before adding him to your team now, but the England forward is as reliable as they come when he does play.
Kevin de Bruyne (MID, £10.3m)
De Bruyne appeared in Fallers last week after finding himself on the Manchester City bench too often, but he proved why he remains elite with a stunning two-goal salvo as the champions swept Crystal Palace aside 4-2 at Selhurst Park in Gameweek 32. The Belgian missed City’s dramatic 3-2 win in the Champions League at Real Madrid with an illness, but with Phil Foden a doubt, he should be in line for another start and more points at home against Luton Town in Gameweek 33.
Fallers
Erling Haaland (FWD, £14.3m)
Haaland was back on the scoresheet in Gameweek 32 against Palace but still looks a pale imitation of the striker who has taken the Premier League by storm in his first 18 months at the Etihad. The Norwegian was anonymous at the Bernabeu during the week and is a strong candidate for rotation by Pep Guardiola in Gameweek 33.
Emiliano Martinez (GK, £5.3m)
Martinez is a regular in Fallers at this stage, primarily because over 12% of FPL managers continue to stand by him despite his relatively high price point and Villa’s dodgy defensive performances. One clean sheet in nine appearances, another three goals conceded in Gameweek 32 and Arsenal up next means there are better, cheaper goalkeeper options for your side. Martinez also doesn’t have a double fixture in Gameweek 34, further depressing his potential for positive returns versus other goalkeepers.
Axel Disasi (DEF, £4.9m)
Chelsea’s defence are all name and no game, conceding at least two goals in each of their last five Premier League fixtures. The fact that run included Brentford, Burnley and Sheffield United means even targeting lower teams in the league – such as Everton at home in Gameweek 33 – is a risky strategy. After that, trips to Arsenal and Aston Villa await, with no double gameweeks on the slate either. Avoid.
That’s it for this edition. Thanks for reading and good luck in Gameweek 33.
Graham and Tom
