The stuff you should know.
⏰ Double Gameweek 36’s deadline is Saturday, 9th May, 11:00 BST.
😍 Man City and Crystal Palace will play twice.
🤝 Thanks to the legends who have done our survey. For those who haven’t, please take a minute to fill it out. It dictates how we run this newsletter.
🤦♂️ Oliver Glasner confirmed that Crystal Palace are actively managing player minutes due to European congestion, while also dealing with a ‘few injury issues’.
🏆 Arsenal (UCL), Aston Villa (Europa League) and Crystal Palace (Conference League) reach the finals of their respective European competitions.
Alright?
In 1880, French philosopher Paul Lafargue wrote an essay titled “The Right to be Lazy”. The central thesis was simple: idleness is essential for creativity, joy, and true self-understanding. Far from seeing laziness as an ailment, we should instead regard it as an aspiration.
Lafargue probably didn’t play fantasy football. After all, the first football clubs in France wouldn't spring up for another ~10 years after his essay was published.
But if he did, we can only assume he’d have arrived at a similar conclusion about FPL. The best managers - the ones with sharp, independent FPL brains - tend to be the laziest. It is precisely the lack of effort, the avoidance of constant content consumption, that allows for the best ideas to form.
It’s very easy to overthink these final gameweeks, but as we approach the final double gameweek of the season, we’d encourage you to embrace your laziness with renewed enthusiasm. Go for a walk. Touch grass. Make your decisions quickly and stick to them. As the German philosopher Gotthold Laphraim Lessing pleads,
“Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy.”
Here’s a lazy-friendly breakdown of everything you need to know ahead of Double Gameweek 36.
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Double Gameweek 36’s fixtures.
A reminder of the double.
Lazy summary: Man City will play Brentford (H) and Crystal Palace (H). Crystal Palace will play Everton (H) and Man City (A).
It’s not the meatiest of doubles. In fact, if Linda McCartney did double gameweeks, this would probably be a best seller.
But it’s the double we’ve got.
Three Man City players are about as important as three players can be this gameweek. Rayan Cherki will be the most-transferred-in player for the second gameweek in a row, but Jérémy Doku will catch the eye of those needing a differential.
Antoine Semenyo is almost 50% owned, and is clearly still capable of scoring FPL points despite five consecutive blanks. He finds himself on the most-transferred-out list, but in our view, it’s wasteful to use a transfer to swap him for a different Man City midfielder.
As for Crystal Palace, it’s much harder. Glasner has done us the dignity of admitting that he’s managing player minutes and, whilst the Conference League final won’t happen until after the season has concluded, it’s not a huge stretch to imagine that players will continue to be rested ahead of arguably the biggest game in the club’s history.
With that in mind, every Crystal Palace player is a risk. It’s a risk that some top managers - including the Professor - are avoiding altogether.
Still, if you’re the sort that just can’t resist a juicy double, here’s a section about the safest Palace picks.
Crystal Palace’s least-risky picks.
Lazy summary: Henderson, Lacroix, Canvot.
Crystal Palace have been selfish and made it to the final of the UEFA Conference League. The bastards. It means the risk of rotation looms over all of their players, particularly given Oliver Glasner's recent comments about managing player minutes. Rarely has a manager been so unashamedly disinterested in the league.
No Crystal Palace players - not even Dean Henderson - have played every minute this season. Still, the stock of those players most likely to play 180 minutes across Double Gameweek 36 is rising sharply.
The players most likely to play 180 minutes in Double Gameweek 36.
1) Dean Henderson
He’s missed one game due to illness. Highly likely to play both games in Double Gameweek 36.
2) Maxence Lacroix
He’s only missed two full games all season (one through injury and one through suspension). He’s also very reliable for defensive contributions.
3) Jaydee Canvot
The 19-year-old has become a bit of a staple in Crystal Palace’s backline. Whilst he was slow to get going, he’s started every game since Gameweek 27, and played 90 minutes in all but one of those.
The danger zone.
The following players are certified dangerous. The sort of players that Kardinal Offishall and Akon sang about back in 2008.
But they’re probably the best. In a world in which every Crystal Palace player plays the same amount (one can dream), these are the guys you’d want. It’s high-risk, high-reward.
Ismaïla Sarr
Palace’s most dependable attacking outlet at the moment, he’s registered 0.68 expected goal involvements per 90 minutes over his last four games. Even if he only plays ~100 minutes in Double Gameweek 36, his expected output is arguably better than any other Palace attacker.
Daniel Muñoz
Certainly your best chance of getting attacking returns from a Crystal Palace defender, although, unlike Sarr, if Muñoz is hooked early, it’s going to be more damaging for his points-scoring potential (because of clean sheets).
Incidentally, both players notched an attacking return (a goal for Sarr, an assist for Muñoz) in the Conference League semi-final on Thursday. Yet more evidence, if you needed it, that these two are probably Palace’s two most important players at the moment.
What should you do this week?
Lazy summary: Play your chip if you have one. Get Man City players, be cautious of Crystal Palace players.
We’ve already talked about ensuring you have a trio of Man City players.
If we haven’t made it obvious yet, if you’re backing Crystal Palace, you should pick your players carefully. Given the risk involved, nobody is blaming you if you swerve them altogether.
To reiterate, some of the world’s best managers, including most of our own punditry team, are avoiding them.
Those who still have the Bench Boost or Triple Captain should play it this week.
And that’s about that. See, FPL is a piece of piss.
The extracurricular fixtures to know about.
Lazy summary: Here’s a calendar of the big footballing dates in May. The teams involved may be more likely to rotate in the Premier League.
We have referenced, and will continue to reference, various upcoming finals in these newsletters. Unless you’ve got a wall chart, it might feel a little bit overwhelming.
So here’s a very clear list of dates:
Sat 9th - Weds 13th May: Double Gameweek 36
Saturday 16th May: FA Cup Final (Man City vs Chelsea)
Sun 17th May - Tues 19th May: Gameweek 37
Wednesday 20th May: Europa League Final (Aston Villa)
Sunday 24th May: Gameweek 38
Wednesday 27th May: Conference League final (Crystal Palace)
Saturday 30th May: Champions League final (Arsenal)
It means teams like Aston Villa, Man City, Chelsea and Crystal Palace may all be forced to rotate in the Premier League ahead of their respective finals. Arsenal may well rotate in Gameweek 38 too, but it depends on whether the league is in the bag by then.
Differentials, for those who want them.
Lazy summary: Saka, Doku, Kroupi Jr., and Ndiaye.
Who doesn’t love a differential?
Well, us, actually. We barely even like them, let alone love. Our relationship with differentials is similar to our relationship with an ombudsman, or the bank’s fraud prevention team. We only think about them when they’re absolutely necessary.
Still, given we only have three gameweeks left, one or several differentials might be required to bridge an otherwise unbridgeable gap between you and your mini-league rivals. The risks are obvious - differentials usually make your gameweek worse. Here are three that might not:
Bukayo Saka - 8.9% owned
Saka is Backa. Return of the Sak. And, for Arsenal fans, the timing couldn’t be better.
Three must-win fixtures to go - West Ham (A), Burnley (H), Crystal Palace (A). It doesn’t really get better than that at the moment, particularly given that Crystal Palace will be on the precipice of their Conference League final in Gameweek 38.
He notched a remarkable 1.16 expected goal involvements in Gameweek 35 and, if you’ve got the cash, is probably the best midfielder to own for the run-in.
Jérémy Doku - 3.5% owned
Doku is an obvious differential this week, but those are often the best kind. It’s hard to imagine Pep Guardiola resting him after his point-saving performance in Gameweek 35. His underlying stats are very average, but clearly, this is not an average player. If you’ve got a spare Man City slot, you could do worse.
Eli Junior Kroupi - 6.1% owned
Is it Kroupi Junior? Is it Eli Kroupi? Is it Junior Kroupi? Nobody - not even he - knows, but we do know that he’s currently amongst the very best for expected goal involvements over the last six gameweeks. For a £4.6m forward, that’s unprecedented.
Don’t expect him to play 90 minutes every week - he hasn’t managed that since - *checks notes* - ever. But with four goals in his last five games, he’ll get starts. Fulham (A), Man City (H) and Nottingham Forest (A) await. Not the easiest, not the hardest.
Iliman Ndiaye - 4.4% owned
If you’re looking for a 90-minute man with great fixtures and penalty duties, Ndiaye is your guy.
He notched 0.89xG against Man City in Gameweek 35, and is due to play Crystal Palace (A), Sunderland (H) and Spurs (A). He’s hardly prolific, but as it gets harder and harder to find reliable starters, Ndiaye is as dependable as it gets.
The best captain for Double Gameweek 36.
Lazy summary: It’s Erling Haaland.
The Norse God is the obvious pick this week. Any other Man City player will make for a decent differential, in case you need one. We wouldn’t be looking anywhere else.
The Professor is thinking of going with zero Crystal Palace players this week. Have we mentioned they’re a risk? We might’ve done.
Here’s his team before transfers:
Erling Haaland gets the armband.
There are two moves he’s looking to make before the deadline. Between you and us, they’re as good as locked in, barring any sensational news from the press conferences:
Marcos Senesi → Gabriel
Cole Palmer → Bukayo Saka
Player form (Last 6)
Team form (Last 6)
Your Double Gameweek 36 checklist.
🔵 Make sure you have three Man City players. Erling Haaland, Antoine Semenyo, Nico O’Reilly, Rayan Cherki and Marc Guéhi will all be popular picks. Jérémy Doku is an interesting differential who should get plenty of minutes.
👀 Be careful with Crystal Palace players. Prioritise 90-minute men who have the highest chance of playing 180 minutes across the two fixtures.
🪑If you have a Bench Boost or Triple Captain, now is the time to play it.
🧢 Erling Haaland is the obvious captain. If you need a differential, look to your other Man City players.
Curiously, Gameweek 37 starts on a Sunday, which means we’ll be back in your inbox next Saturday. Weird. Is your inbox even open on Saturdays? Guess we’ll find out.
Stay lazy,
The LazyFPL Team.