FPL Gameweek 35: Why Newcastle, Arsenal & Palace players must go ahead of potential double gameweek

We’ve only got to make our transfers and pick our teams four more times before the end of the season – but that just means that the stakes in the Fantasy Premier League are only getting higher as mini-leagues get decided and bragging rights are dished out.

Happily, our resident FPL expert Matthew Gregory is back once again to guide you through your decisions in Gameweek 35 and offer some advice to help you stay ahead of the competition.

Before we hand over, it’s our duty to remind you that there’s a Friday night game between Manchester City and Wolves this weekend, which means an early deadline of 18:30 BST on 2 May. Don’t miss it…

Beating the post-free hit blues and planning for one last double gameweek

For most players, the big decisions now centre around how to shuffle your team around to make the most of the remaining fixtures after a slew of double and blank gameweeks that saw most players using their chips to navigate a tricky few weeks – and that means a lot of players staring blankly at their post-free hit teams wondering exactly what they’re meant to do.

It’s all made more complicated by the fact that many of this season’s more successful teams are set to play each other over the coming weeks, with sides like Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle all having to work through much tougher fixtures than normal.

That’s part of the reason that players like Bukayo Saka, who are usually auto-includes, are suddenly less desirable buys than usual – indeed, with his game-time under question due to Arsenal’s Champions League, I just dedicated an entire separate column to working out whether you should sell Saka, and who you should replace him with.

But you can’t get rid of every player you signed for recent double gameweeks unless you’ve done a remarkable job of hoarding free transfers, so which should you prioritise getting rid of, and who should you keep? That’s part one of figuring out your transfers ahead of Gameweek 35.

To start at the top, I do back getting rid of Saka, but he isn’t the only asset I want to move on after all those double and blanks. The long and short of it is that it’s probably time to start selling Newcastle players.

Picking our Newcastle over Crystal Palace, another side with a bunch of tougher games coming up, may raise some eyebrows, but there’s a catch – Palace are one of several teams who may end up with another double gameweek in Gameweek 36. Here’s where things get really complicated.

Thanks to the FA Cup final and a request from Tottenham Hotspur to have their game against Aston Villa moved to help them prepare for a potential Europa League final, it’s possible that three games get shunted from Gameweek 37 to Gameweek 36. And that would change absolutely everything about our transfer decisions this week.

The good news is that we expect an announcement about rescheduled fixtures before the Gameweek 35 deadline on Friday night, which means that we should know for sure before we have to make our moves, but we still need to plan transfers out in case the announcement doesn’t come quick enough.

If Crystal Palace get a double next week, then they’ll face Spurs and Wolves in quick succession and all those Eberechi Ezes and Jean-Phillippe Matetas become immediate holds – and we’d want to keep free transfers wherever possible to transfer them out again immediately afterwards so as not to lose out on value for Gameweek 37. Ensuring you have enough transfers to have 11 starters in 37 will be crucial if doubles are announced.

Either way, however, I still back selling Newcastle players for the most part (and Saka) – firstly, they definitely don’t have another double on the way, and secondly their fixtures are extremely rough. But which specific players should you sell, which should you keep, and which players should be on your shortlist to sign?

Which Newcastle and Crystal Palace players you should sell in Gameweek 35

If they don’t then I’m fine moving any of their players on but would still view Newcastle players as priorities – other than Alexander Isak. Some players are largely fixture-proof and score enough that you have to keep them against even the toughest opposition, and he’s one such player.

But Newcastle defenders should be on their way out, and I’m not wild about any of their midfielder either – I’d only keep Jacob Murphy for budgetary purposes, for instance, and I don’t want any Newcastle starters other than Isak over the coming weeks. They may well win games, but there are surely easier, more likely points elsewhere.

The other sides which could get double gameweeks for FA Cup reasons are Wolves, Manchester City and Bournemouth. I’m largely out on the Cherries as their form has fallen away, but the other teams offer interesting options.

If Wolves get a double, then Matheus Cunha goes from a probably-have to a must-have instantly, and their fixture difficulty (middling) and form (outstanding) means that I like their defenders, too.

With City, there’s one big question – when will Erling Haaland return? He’s back in training and whether City double or not, the Norwegian becomes a potentially back-breaking differential.

He also really damages Omar Marmoush’s value going forward, although I’m not selling until I’m sure that his minutes are about to dwindle badly. It doesn’t sound as though Haaland will be involved this weekend against Wolves, but for Gameweek 36, a potential double? It’s worth debating it and planning accordingly. If you’re selling Saka anyway, then that’s a direction you could move the funds in.

Aston Villa players are another obvious direction to head in, with their game against Spurs the most likely to be moved. Ollie Watkins, Marco Asensio and Morgan Rogers are all good pick-ups ahead of that double. For obvious reasons, I’m a little less keen on Spurs players, but Brennan Johnson isn’t the worst gamble.

What happens if Villa and Spurs are the only teams to get double – or if none do? Then it’s a little more straightforward. Newcastle and Saka are out, as are any spare Palace players than I can afford to shift. Rolling free transfers for Gameweek 37 is no longer relevant, and with doubles out of the equation, I’m looking at players from Villa, Brentford, Everton, Nottingham Forest and Manchester City to fill the gaps – and I really will consider planning transfers such that I can switch Marmoush for Haaland next week.

I’ll still keep the big-name, big-value players around, as discussed in the case of Isak, and there’s no argument for selling Mohamed Salah, for instance, even with Liverpool already crowned champions. Don’t be surprised if they’re hungover when they face Chelsea this weekend, mind you – but not Salah, of course, given that he doesn’t drink…

As for the captaincy this week, I don’t trust Liverpool to be at full blast and that’s making me debate moving away from Salah for once, there’s no chance I’m taking Saka when I doubt he starts, Cole Palmer is out… It’s probably either Alexander Isak or Bryan Mbeumo, if you have him. Certainly, this is one of those occasions when taking a punt is not only reasonable but can actually be an excellent differential with a high floor and ceiling.

That’s all for this week… Best of luck to all of you, and here’s hoping that the powers that be at FPL Towers have the grace to confirm the doubles in time for Friday’s deadline, but not so quickly that it invalidates this article within minutes of publication…