⚽️ The info you need for GW32 🧠

🚨 The stuff you should know 🚨

⏰ Gameweek 32’s deadline is Saturday 6th April, 11:00 BST.

🤕 Saka to be assessed in Friday’s training session ahead of GW32.

👀 Trent and Jota should be in team training from next week.

Keep reading for a rogue captaincy shout from the Prof.

Alright?

Here we go again. As I write this bit, Gameweek 31 still hasn’t finished. Our rubbish bench players are yet to be subbed in for our pricey non-starters. The post-gameweek malaise still awaits us.

But the unstoppable juggernaut that is the football schedule has no respect for our timetables.

Do you have plans tonight? Tough.

Are you hoping for a proper lie in? Unlucky.

Do the people around you wish you’d stop spending so long on the toilet? Pass them our condolences, because it ain’t gunna happen. Not tonight anyway. You’ve got a team to plan.

Light the post-poo candle and crack the bathroom window: it’s time to FPL.

Spam.

Last week we asked for email replies to circumnavigate spam filters. Thanks to those of you who got in touch: there were hundreds of you. We read ‘em all, and we appreciate you.

One of you even sent us a six-pack of spam, which is equal parts hilarious and bonkers (our kind of cocktail). Unfortunately, the address at the bottom of this newsletter was out of date, which means the poor bastard that lives there now was a little bemused (and entertained). He’s donating them to a food bank.

Anyway, we’ll never ask you to send us anything, but if you feel a burning desire to do so, please use the new address at the bottom of this email.

Gameweek 32’s fixtures.

Three differentials.

The latest batch of differentials is hot out of the oven. Mmm, they smell like freshly baked disappointment. Who’s hungry?

Ben Brereton (£5.0m) | MID, Sheffield United

It takes some gumption to recommend a Sheffield United player in a public forum, but before you start lobbing projectiles at my pillory, consider these four things about Ben Brereton:

1) Sheffield United have decent fixtures, including Burnley at home and Man United away in Double Gameweek 34.

2) They’ve also scored six goals in their last three games.

3) Brereton has started six times for Sheffield United since arriving on loan in January. He’s scored four goals from those starts.

4) He’s a midfielder in FPL but currently playing as a forward in real life (which apparently is more important).

Wouldn’t it just be so FPL for the top scoring player in Double Gameweek 34 to be a Sheffield United midfielder? You heard it here first.

Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.7m) | DEF, Wolves

Wolves also have decent fixtures, including four home games in their next five (WHU, ARS, LUT, mci, CRY) . The fact that Rayan Ait-Nouri has three attacking returns in his last five games is hard to ignore too.

In terms of the nerd-numbers, only Luton’s Reece Burke has better attacking underlying stats amongst defenders over the last six gameweeks. But that barely counts, because apparently Luton’s wingbacks are attacking savants.

Besides, it’s even more marginal than the offside decisions that rob you of FPL points every week.

It wouldn’t shock us to see Ait-Nouri overtake him soon.

Jean-Philippe Mateta (£4.9m) | FWD, Crystal Palace

Fixture-wise, Crystal Palace players are arguably the pick of the bunch for Double Gameweek 34. West Ham (H) and Newcastle (H) are both currently in the top 10 teams for expected goals conceded over the last 10 gameweeks (i.e. they concede a lot of chances) and Jean-Philippe Mateta has three goals in his last five games.

He could be on penalties (he’s taken two this season) and whilst his form is hardly scintillating, it’s enough to be worthy of consideration.

What the top managers are doing this week.

Here’s where most of the best FPL managers want to be by Double Gameweek 34:

• 8-11 doubling players

• a decent enough bench

• the ability to get to that point with free transfers alone

You might be planning to use your Free Hit or Bench Boost in Double Gameweek 34, in which case your preparation will differ. But most of us would be content with:

• 3 Liverpool players

• 2-3 Arsenal players

• 1-2 Wolves players

• 1-2 Bournemouth players

• 1-2 Crystal Palace players

• Ben Brereton.

And depending on what your squad currently looks like, you may not be a million miles off that already.

Transfers this week should be viewed as a stepping stone towards that goal. Top managers will either be rolling a transfer or edging closer to an optimal Double Gameweek 34 squad.

Removing an injured bench player or swapping their second goalkeeper, that sort of thing. A spring clean.

Here’s Ben Crellin’s spreadsheet again:

The best captain for Gameweek 32.

(If you’re too lazy to read this spiel, I end up landing on Cole Palmer, but there’s some meandering to get there.)

Tricky one this week. Thursday night’s Premier League antics have given Gameweek 32’s captaincy debate a strange hue.

Prior to the Chelsea vs Man United game, most managers seemed set on captaining Heung-min Son at home to Nottingham Forest. Son has scored in his last two home games and, whilst he didn’t contribute a great deal in Gameweek 31, he’s shown enough recent form to be worthy of the armband. He led our premium captaincy poll by some distance on Thursday afternoon.

But then Palmer was gifted two penalties and a deflection on Thursday night and, suddenly, the narrative has shifted. Palmer, who will visit Sheffield United on Sunday, now appears to be the favourite for the armband.

Captaincy is always a lottery, and there’s every chance that Palmer is equally as fortuitous against Sheffield United. He’s been performing well for a long time now - indeed, he’s had six double-digit hauls in his last 10 gameweeks, which is quite remarkable. Not to mention that Sheffield United have the worst defence at home in the league.

All which is to say: Palmer is not a bad captaincy pick. He never was.

But suppose, for a second, that he had blanked against Man United. The penalties weren’t given, the deflection shaved the outside of the post. Would you still be captaining the Chelsea man?

It’s one to ponder. Is the presumably sound logic behind the Son captaincy suddenly void because of Palmer’s haul?

The counter to this is that Palmer was not, in fact, fortuitous in Gameweek 31. The fact he’s on penalties - and that Chelsea have a proclivity to win them - is exactly why he deserves to be in contention for the armband this weekend. His confidence and shooting ability is ultimately what won Chelsea the game against Man United, even with the deflection.

It’s hard to get too excited by Man City away at Crystal Palace or Liverpool away at Man United, though it should go without saying that the likes of Haaland, Foden and Salah are all more than capable of returns in those fixtures.

For me, Palmer gets the nod. He has the form, the underlying stats and the best fixture. The big three. The holy trinity. The first triumvirate.

But as you’ll see in the next section, the Professor disagrees.

The Professor’s Team.

After a small green arrow (329k to 297k), the Professor is awaiting team leaks and other team news before making a move.

The rubbish haircut in the room is Phil Foden - he wants him, but Phil doesn’t double in Double Gameweek 34. As the Prof himself asks, “do I yield to temptation and bring him in or just plough on with Double Gameweek 34 planning?”.

He’s even contemplating the likes of Martin Odegaard at Arsenal instead.

It appears a decision will be made with minutes to spare.

He’s also captaining Mohamed Salah. For him, this is a “no brainer”.

If he wants another top 100k finish, now is the time to chase the small differentials, and Palmer will be far more popular than Salah.

This, combined with the number of shots Man United have been conceding (17.53 per game - more than Luton) means, for the Prof, Salah is being overlooked. As you’ll see in the next section, the bookies seem to agree.

His current team below is built with Fantasy Football Hub’s AI-powered MyTeam tool. Try it here and you’ll be helping us out too.

The key stats for Gameweek 32.

Erling Haaland tops the bookies’ scoring odds, with Cole Palmer nowhere to be seen. Look at Chelsea’s recent xG though.

Other stuff we found interesting.

• Cole Palmer’s Gameweek 31 winner was the latest winner in Premier League history.

• He also has more double-digit hauls (9) than any other player this season.

• This week’s top scoring team had Haaland Triple Captained…with Palmer as vice-captain.

• Darwin’s 15 goal involvements in 2024 is the most of any Premier League player this year.

Assuming we manage to avoid casualty, we’ll be back this time next week.

Stay lazy.

The LazyFPL Team.