Premier League fantasy football tips: Mohamed Salah, Cole Palmer, Eberechi Eze, Ollie Watkins, Bukayo Saka
Last updated on .From the section Premier League
The biggest dilemma in gameweek 34 is what to do with the in-form players who only have a single fixture, particularly if you're using your Free Hit chip.
Seven teams have a double gameweek - Arsenal, Liverpool, Wolves, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Everton and Sheffield United - so it makes sense to get as many of those players in your squad as possible.
But then Phil Foden, Ollie Watkins, Cole Palmer, Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak could easily outscore the double gameweek players and punish those managers who leave them out on the Free Hit.
Even if you're planning to play your wildcard next week to set you up for the last four gameweeks of the season, I'd be wary of selling any of the above in case they're going to cost you a lot more to get them straight back in - for example, Palmer is worth £5.7m to me if I sell him this week but he would currently cost me £6.2m to buy.
I still think you have to go for the double gameweek players if you're on the Free Hit this week and it could look something like this….
- Goalkeeper: Jordan Pickford
- Defenders: Gabriel, Virgil van Dijk, Daniel Munoz
- Midfielders: Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz, Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Eberechi Eze
- Forwards: Matheus Cunha, Dominic Solanke
There are plenty of variations on the theme, though, depending on how you think the games are going to play out, how many minutes each player might get and whether you need a few differentials in there to make up ground on your rivals.
I've gone for the double Arsenal attack in that line-up rather than the double Arsenal defence. Van Dijk is likely to play both games for Liverpool but you could easily have Trent Alexander-Arnold or Andy Robertson if you wanted to chase some potential attacking returns and, other than Salah and Saka, no one's a nailed-on pick in the front seven positions.
Michael Olise, Jean-Philippe Mateta, Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota, Alexis Mac Allister, Martin Odegaard, Gustavo Hamer and Ben Brereton Diaz should all come into consideration. When making selections, I do like the look of the Crystal Palace fixtures in particular with two home games against West Ham and Newcastle.
That's why Dean Henderson also looks like a good option as your goalkeeper but I have gone with the attacking full-back Daniel Munoz here.
Rayan Ait-Nouri is another one I like but that depends on whether Gary O'Neil passes him fit for Wolves' games against Arsenal and Bournemouth.
The Bench Boost chip could also be an option for you this week if you've got 15 players who have all got a good chance of starting. You might have been planning to save it for gameweek 37 when Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham, Newcastle, Chelsea and Brighton all have a double gameweek, but if you use it this week, you can focus all your remaining transfers on your starting 11 rather than having to make compromises by considering the bench players too.
Captaincy
Salah has not been at his best recently but, with the title on the line for Liverpool, games against Fulham and Everton - and with his well-deserved reputation as one of the greatest fantasy football performers - he still looks like the obvious pick for captaincy this week.
Chris Sutton told us on the Fantasy 606 podcast this week that he's going with Eberechi Eze as a differential choice - I can imagine people might be tempted by Kai Havertz along those lines too, as long as he continues in his role up front rather than the deeper midfield position he occupied in the defeat against Aston Villa.
Fixtures to target
Again it's all about attacking the double gameweek and that's why the Crystal Palace players are so appealing with Eze and Olise back in tandem facing the two home games against West Ham and Newcastle.
A Sheffield United attacker could also be worth a roll of the dice for their games at home to Burnley and away to Manchester United, which is why I mentioned Hamer and Brereton Diaz earlier. You could also consider Oli McBurnie up front.
Differentials
My top differential picks this week would be Olise, Mateta, Jota, Martinelli and Hwang Hee-chan, who are all currently under 5% ownership at the time of writing.
Gamble of the week
The Free Hit - it could send you shooting up the ranks by fielding 11 double gameweek players but those without it are hoping Watkins, Isak and Foden continue to deliver.
