FPL Top Picks for Gameweek 34
Gameweek 34 means the Premier League season is quickly wrapping up. This also means that the FPL season is quickly wrapping up as there will be only six weeks to go.
Not much can happen on the global scale in this time, so a lot of managers will be focusing on finishing strong in their various mini-leagues.
The no-show from Arsenal players in gameweek 33 hit many managers hard. As managers prepare to wrap up the season and count their losses, here is our analysis of the coming week as well as our top two picks for the week.
Gameweek Analysis
Gameweek 34 is a double one because many of the teams involved were in FA Cup action some weeks ago. They now have the opportunity to close the gaps to their direct rivals on the league table as they continue to chase their objectives for the season.
Meanwhile, FPL managers are grateful for the opportunity to rack up as many points as they can with less than 10 games to go in the 2023/24 English top-flight football season.
Arsenal (vs Wolves & Chelsea), Wolverhampton Wanderers (vs Arsenal & Bournemouth), Crystal Palace (vs West Ham United & Newcastle United), Everton (vs Nottingham Forest & Liverpool), Bournemouth (vs Aston Villa & Wolves) and Liverpool (vs Fulham & Everton) are the teams that will be playing two games this week. Our FPL experts naturally suggest that managers make players from these six teams the core of their fantasy teams.
Here are the full fixtures for FPL gameweek 34.
Chelsea have Arsenal to contend with and it is no surprise that many managers are choosing to stick with Cole Palmer (£6.2m) or to bring him in. They would be right to do so because the 21-year-old got on the scoresheet in the reverse fixture which ended 2 – 2.
However, with Arsenal playing two games this week, the wiser decision may be to go with either Declan Rice (£5.5m), Martin Ødegard (£8.6m), Kai Havertz (£7.4m) or Bukayo Saka (£9.0m) for midfield selections.
Managers might want to steer clear of Gabriel Magalhães (£5.4m) and William Saliba (£5.9m) for defence, but Arsenal are facing Wolves as well, where they are likely to get a clean sheet and good points.
Newcastle face Crystal Palace. Anthony Gordon (£6.0m) and Alexander Isak (£7.9m) remain viable options for managers looking for a good points haul.
Best FPL Players for Week 34
Dominic Solanke (£7.1m) – Bournemouth
Dominic Solanke and AFC Bournemouth will face Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers in the double game week 34. Both matches are easy pickings for Solanke, who is the fourth-highest goalscorer in the league this season with 17 goals. Only Cole Palmer, Erling Haaland and Ollie Watkins are ahead of him.
Bournemouth are around mid-table in the league based on goals scored alone, while Villa are in the same position based on defensive statistics alone. Villa may be a difficult fish to fry but Solanke has more chances of getting a goal contribution against Wolves, thanks to their ranking in the xGC (expected goals conceded) metric table.
The Cherries forward has started every single game in the league this season and has played the most minutes (2848) among all attackers. Bournemouth rarely win penalties but when they do, Solanke is their man to take them.
With a price of £7.1m, he is also a steal among the high-flying attackers.
Diogo Jota (£7.9m) – Liverpool
Liverpool face Fulham and Everton in gameweek 34 and with Diogo Jota returning to fitness, he is certain to participate in some way.
The Portuguese forward has been one of Klopp’s deadliest weapons this season. Despite spending a lot of time on the sidelines, he is the team’s third-highest goalscorer in all competitions, including the Premier League, where he has nine goals from 20 appearances (13 starts). These numbers make him the most potent attacker at Liverpool this term, even more than FPL legend Mohamed Salah, who is also one of our picks for the week.
Before his first serious injury, Jota averaged 7.5 points per game and during his two returns, he averaged five points per game. For a double game week, the Portugal international is a steal at £7.9m when other high-flying midfielders (except Cole Palmer) are priced at £8m and above.
If you still have your chips, we advise you to use them to bring him in for this double game week.