Fantasy Premier League tips: Gameweek 24 review

It was a good weekend for the top three teams in the Premier League as Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal all won comfortably.

Son Heung-min (£9.6m) helped Tottenham Hotspur beat Brighton at the death, Brentford kept their first clean sheet since Gameweek 11 in their 2-0 win over Wolves and, towards the bottom of the table, Sheffield United recorded their first away win of the season against Luton.

Gameweek 24 isn’t over yet, with Chelsea facing Crystal Palace tonight (8pm UK time) but there has already been plenty to digest from a Fantasy Premier League perspective, particularly with Double Gameweek 25 on the horizon.

We run through the main talking points below.

Pep roulette is in full flow

With a Champions League last-16 first leg at Copenhagen for Manchester City on Tuesday, Pep Guardiola made a few changes against Everton.

Kevin De Bruyne (£10.8m), Kyle Walker (£5.5m), Bernardo Silva (£6.4m) and Josko Gvardiol (£4.8m) were among the names who started on the bench.

City have a good double gameweek next against Chelsea (H) and Brentford (H), but it’s going to be difficult to nail down which players will play in both games.

Of City’s attackers, Erling Haaland (£14.3m) is the most likely to feature twice, followed by Phil Foden (£8.0m), but their trip to Denmark will give us further clues. It’s worth waiting if you are looking to bring in City players.

GO DEEPER

FPL tips: The double-gameweek traps and single-gameweek players to avoid selling

There are three and a half days between City’s match against Copenhagen and their first Gameweek 25 fixture against Chelsea, then a further three days to when they play Brentford.

With such a short turnaround between the Double Gameweek 25 fixtures, there’s always going to be an element of risk bringing in City players. Ederson (£5.5m) will probably play both games but from the outfielders, Haaland, Foden and Walker are our best bets.

We should have at least two players from Guardiola’s side heading into this double.

Alexander-Arnold’s injury scare is one to monitor

He created Liverpool’s first goal for Diogo Jota (£8.2m) during Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Burnley but Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.6m) was taken off at half-time due to a reoccurrence of his knee injury.

From Jurgen Klopp’s comments, Alexander-Arnold’s knock doesn’t seem too serious but we’ll need to wait for later in the week for a further update. Alexander-Arnold is a popular FPL asset and, with a double gameweek for Liverpool next, many players will be keeping an eye on his injury status.

If he is going to be a doubt, then his FPL owners will have a real decision to make. If Alexander-Arnold is out for a while, Conor Bradley (£4.1m) could be the perfect replacement. Bradley has missed the last two games due to personal reasons but if he is back in time for Double Gameweek 25, he could be a fantastic pick.

Alexander-Arnold was taken off at half-time against Burnley (John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Bradley has one goal and three assists in his two league starts when deputising for Alexander-Arnold at right-back this season. Aside from Bradley, a move to team-mate Virgil van Dijk (£6.4m), Andrew Robertson (£6.4m) or a City defender could be the play.

Klopp’s press conference at the end of the week is going to be pivotal.

An instant impact from Son

That didn’t take long. Son was back among the FPL points, providing the assist for Brennan Johnson’s (£5.8m) stoppage-time winner in Tottenham’s 2-1 victory over Brighton.

The South Korean played 28 minutes after coming off the bench and will no doubt be reinstated into Spurs’ starting XI from the next gameweek.

Meanwhile, Richarlison (£7.2m) played the full game despite Spurs having all their attackers back. He has now played 90 minutes in Spurs’ last four league games, ratifying his status as a first-team regular.

However, Spurs have a blank in Gameweek 26, so their assets are a no-go until Gameweek 27, when they have a great run of fixtures. They also have a confirmed fixture in Blank Gameweek 29.

Toney and the value of other Brentford assets

Since his return from a long-term ban, Ivan Toney (£8.2m) has netted three goals and recorded one assist in four games. His latest goalscoring return came during a 2-0 win at Wolves, with Brentford keeping their first clean sheet since Gameweek 11.

Thomas Frank’s team have a double gameweek next but it’s almost as tough as it comes — Liverpool (H) and Manchester City (H). However, they have the advantage of guaranteed fixtures in the blank gameweeks coming up in 26 and 29.

I wouldn’t be against getting in Toney this gameweek due to him being so talismanic for his team. He scored 20 league goals in 33 games for Brentford last season. He is nailed on to play 90 minutes and is his team’s penalty taker. He has a lot of avenues to points and is a great long-term option.

The only two other Brentford players we should consider are goalkeeper Mark Flekken (£4.5m) and defender Sergio Reguilon (£4.4m). Any goalkeeper can rack up points in any fixture due to save points and Reguilon is cheap, creates chances on the overlap and is on corners, too.

Brentford’s Mark Flekken could be a bargain goalkeeper for your FPL team  (John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images)

Arsenal assets remain some of the best around

Arsenal ran out 6-0 winners against West Ham on Sunday and they have been great at both ends of the pitch.

Statistically, they have the best defence in the league, conceding the fewest goals (22) and registering the lowest expected goals (xG) against (18.1). They have also scored the third-most goals (53) with an xG of 48.7 (second-best).

Despite no double gameweek and a very likely blank in Gameweek 29, keep their assets if you have them.

Bukayo Saka (£9.0m), Gabriel (£5.1m), and William Saliba (£5.6m) are the most popular options and although it may be tempting to move them on for double gameweek players from Manchester City and Liverpool, we should hold fire.

Arsenal’s next four league fixtures are against Burnley (A), Newcastle United (H), Sheffield United (A) and Brentford (H). They can easily outscore any double-gameweek players during this period.

(Top photo: Naomi Baker/Getty Images)