🚨 GW35: The FPL cheat sheet 🧠

⏰ Gameweek 35’s deadline is Friday 1st May, 18:30 BST.

🚨 Double Gameweek 36 is official. Man City and Crystal Palace will play twice.

⚖️ Barring a freak occurrence, that will be the final double of the season. There will be no more blanks either.

🤝 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.

🤕 Dominic Solanke and Xavi Simons are out for the remainder of the season.

🤞 Mohamed Salah is expected to return before the end of the season after picking up an injury last weekend.

🚫 Burnley have parted ways with Scott Parker. Assistant Manager Mike Jackson - not to be confused with the lesser-known popstar Michael Jackson - will be his temporary replacement.

Alright?

The last blank gameweek of the season is behind us. We’ll allow you three seconds to indulge in this moment…

Okay, now stop indulging immediately. It’s uncouth. Particularly when there’s a deadline to prepare for.

We’d tell you it’s all plain sailing from here, but FPL is a notoriously choppy body of water, even at the best of times. It’s easy to become another piece of the flotsam that floats about aimlessly in the mid-table depths of your mini-leagues.

You’re better than that.

There’s a shadow approaching on the horizon, and it looks an awful lot like Gameweek 35 from where we’re standing. Land ahoy, or something.

There’s a reason we - and all the smart people we know in life (which, admittedly, is fewer than we’d like) subscribe to the 1440 newsletter.

It’s a free, quick, unbiased summary of the news. Told in facts, not stories.

Subscribing is as straightforward as when you subscribed to LazyFPL. Just click the button below and you’ll be supporting us too ⬇️

Man City and Crystal Palace will play twice in Double Gameweek 36.

Man City will play Brentford (H) and Crystal Palace (H).

Crystal Palace will play Everton (H) and Man City (A).

This will be the last double of the season, unless something unprecedented happens.

Yes, every double means a blank has to happen, but Double Gameweek 36 is to make up for Man City and Crystal Palace’s missed fixture back in Blank Gameweek 31 (remember that? Good times.). So we won’t be getting any more blanks this season either.

What does this mean for you?

Well, if you have a chip left - your Bench Boost or, if you’re really hipster, your Triple Captain - you probably ought to be playing it in Double Gameweek 36.

You may have a Free Hit or Wildcard - both of which could be used to maximise the number of Crystal Palace and Man City players you own, too.

🚨Remember, you can’t play two chips in one gameweek, so if you have a Wildcard AND a Bench Boost, for example, you should play your Wildcard this gameweek ahead of a Bench Boost in Double Gameweek 36. We’ll share a sample Wildcard team below.🚨

If, like most people, you’ll be using Free Transfers between now and Double Gameweek 36, you should ensure you have three Man City players for their must-win games at the Etihad. Erling Haaland, Antoine Semenyo and Nico O’Reilly will be the template picks, and Rayan Cherki - the most-transferred-in player this gameweek - is gaining serious traction, too. We’ll talk more about Semenyo vs Cherki shortly.

The trickiest decision is how many, if any, Crystal Palace players to buy. Let’s do a section on that.

Lazy summary: It’s Daniel Muñoz, Maxence Lacroix and Ismaïla Sarr.

Before we discuss the best Crystal Palace players, we should first answer a more fundamental question: Do we even want them?

After all, Everton (H) and Man City (A) is no picnic.

We predict that most top managers will own at least two Crystal Palace players, with many going for three.

Crystal Palace are still competing in the European Conference League, but their two-legged homo sapien of a semi-final against Shakhtar Donetsk will have concluded by Double Gameweek 36. The final, if they make it, won’t be until the season is over.

The Palace players to pick.

Defenders

The stand-out Crystal Palace pick is Daniel Muñoz. He has four goals and three assists this season, including a fresh goal from last gameweek.

For reliable defensive contributions, Maxence Lacroix is your man. He has more DEFCONs than anyone else in the Crystal Palace squad this season, and has registered the two extra points in all of his last six 90-minute outings.

And let’s not forget Dean Henderson. He’s the fourth-highest scoring goalkeeper in the game.

Midfielders

Slim pickings, here, but Ismaïla Sarr catches our eye. He’s prone to phases of excellent form.

His minutes have been managed lately, but without an imminent European tie hovering on the periphery of Double Gameweek 36, that’s less of a concern.

Forwards

It might be Jean-Philippe Mateta, who has also had his minutes managed in recent gameweeks. He’s returning from injury, which might explain it. Still, he’s scored two goals in 155 minutes of football since his return. He’s also on penalties.

But this is probably the trickiest area of the Crystal Palace team to predict, given they spent €50m on Jørgen Strand Larsen in January and he will be sniffing around Mateta’s minutes.

Buyer's discretion is advised.

Our Crystal Palace player ranking.

1) Daniel Muñoz
2) Maxence Lacroix/Dean Henderson
3) Ismaïla Sarr if you’re feeling adventurous.

Lazy summary: If you have a Wildcard, now is probably the week to play it. Otherwise, roll a transfer if you can. If you’re down a Man City player, nobody (not even us) is going to judge you for buying one ahead of Everton (A).

Barring any fires to put out (or if they can’t stomach owning Chelsea assets any longer), most good managers will be rolling a transfer this week.

Whilst it might be tempting to move early on a Crystal Palace player, they still have three fixtures (Shakhtar, Bournemouth, Shakhtar pt. 2) before the first of their Double Gameweek 36 fixtures. Lots could happen to your chosen player - an injury, a suspension, a crap haircut that forces them to stay indoors - better not risk it.

If you’re short of a Man City player, there’s a more compelling case to bring one in this week. They only have Everton away in Gameweek 35 before their double. They also have a history of being unfazed by crap haircuts, as evidenced by Phil Foden.

Like every fixture for Man City, it’s a winnable game with point-scoring opportunities for their players.

Anyone who still has the Wildcard/Bench Boost combination will be Wildcarding this week, ahead of a Bench Boost in Double Gameweek 36. We’ll share a draft in the next section.

Lazy summary: Just look at the team.

Some of you will have played a Free Hit in Double Gameweek 33, which means you might now have a Wildcard and Bench Boost in the proverbial barrel.

Unless you’re going so hipster that your moustache curls up and plaits into your eyebrows, you ought to be playing your Wildcard this gameweek to prepare for a Man City/Crystal Palace-heavy Bench Boost in Double Gameweek 36.

Here’s a passable draft, ready for the Bench Boost. Note: It’s showing Double Gameweek 36 fixtures so you can see doubling players more clearly.

Let’s talk through some of the more eyebrow-raising picks here:

Why Dominic Calvert-Lewin?

Leeds are widely considered to have the best fixtures between now and the end of the season (BUR, tot, BHA, whu). They’re out of the FA Cup and still need points to guarantee safety. That they’ve got Burnley this week is quite nice, too. Calvert-Lewin is their penalty-taking talisman.

Noah Okafor is another interesting attacking option for Leeds, but Daniel Farke has said that he’s a doubt for Gameweek 35.

Rayan Cherki vs Antoine Semenyo.

Some of you might not have the budget to stretch to Semenyo. He’s a full £1.7m more expensive than Cherki, which can buy you nearly half a Sam Byram. We still think Semenyo is the better pick because he’s more likely to play 180 minutes across the double, but Cherki is one of the most efficient FPL points scorers in the game when he starts.

In terms of underlying stats, Cherki edges it over the last six games, registering 3.72 expected goal involvements to Semenyo’s 2.20. There’s a reason he’s the most-transferred-in player this week.

Is Declan Rice the best Arsenal midfielder?

Probably not, but he’s cheap, on a lot of Arsenal’s set pieces, a reliable 90-minute man, and he’ll pick up defensive contributions and goals occasionally. He works in this Wildcard team because he’s affordable with a decent upside.

A final note.

The life purpose of this Wildcard is to score you as many FPL points between now and the end of the season. It’s not to give you the best possible Bench Boost in Double Gameweek 36.

Some managers are stacking three Aston Villa players ahead of their Double Gameweek 36 clash against Burnley. Whilst this might make your Bench Boost look better, it means you then have to deal with Aston Villa players who will play Liverpool and Man City in Gameweeks 37 and 38, respectively.

It’s not the end of the world, but it’s something to be mindful of.

Lazy summary: It’s Erling Haaland.

There are three good options this week.

Igor Thiago is at home against West Ham. He hasn’t been in scintillating form lately, and there’s still fight in West Ham yet. It could be another frustrating game for him.

Bruno Fernandes will host Liverpool. Not the best fixture, but certainly not as daunting for attackers as it has been in recent times. Since Gameweek 28, Liverpool have only kept one clean sheet, and this is also a derby, which adds a pinch of garam masala to the mix.

Erling Haaland travels to Everton. Arguably, it’s the worst of the three fixtures, but Everton’s defence is, according to expected goals conceded, the fifth-worst in the league.

We like Haaland. He’ll certainly be the most popular pick (although he was the most popular pick last gameweek, too, and he didn’t even play), and there’s something hard to resist about Man City’s title chase. With two goals in his last two Premier League outings, it feels like Haaland is rising to the occasion.

Fernandes has been more consistent than the Norse God, and he’s a close second. He’s registered at least one attacking contribution in each of his last seven games, but one assist in each of his last three fixtures is hardly explosive.

Differential hunters should look at Dominic Calvert-Lewin (vs Burnley at home) and João Pedro (vs Nottingham Forest at home).

After two weeks of chip success, the Professor is in a good place with his team.

But given there are only four gameweeks left, he’s looking to spend some of his banked transfers on some minor improvements. Use or lose ‘em, after all.

Some possible moves include:

The Pedro to Thiago move is locked in, but the other two are up in the air. If you want to get his moves as they happen, support the newsletter and become a LazyFPL Premium member.

🚗 Roll a transfer if you already have three Man City players and nothing urgent to deal with. There’s a double on the horizon.

⚖️ Hold off on buying Crystal Palace players yet. Better to wait until as close to the Double Gameweek 36 deadline as you can.

🧢 Erling Haaland is the safe captain. Bruno Fernandes is a good pick. Dominic Calvert-Lewin is our favourite differential.

🚨 Remember, it’s a Friday night deadline. Get your team locked in.

Stop drowning in spam. Proton Mail keeps your inbox clean, private, and focused—without ads or filters.

Take control of your inbox

Double Gameweek 36 has the decency to start on a Saturday, which means we’ll be in your inbox on Friday at 11:00 BST (24h before the deadline, in case you’re still unfamiliar with how this newsletter works).

Stay lazy,

The LazyFPL Team.