­FPL Gameweek 34 Scout Picks: Palace triple-up

With seven teams set to play twice, Fantasy managers are braced for the biggest Double Gameweek of the season.

We triple up on Arsenal, Liverpool and Crystal Palace in our Scout Picks, while Bournemouth and Everton both supply us with a player apiece.

As ever, we are limited by certain restrictions:

• An £83.0m budget for our starting XI
• An overall squad limit of £100.0m
• No more than three players per team

GOALKEEPER

Everton’s pair of home matches against Nottingham Forest and Liverpool earn Jordan Pickford (£4.7m) the goalkeeper’s jersey. The Toffees have chalked up five clean sheets in their last 11 attempts at Goodison Park and rank sixth for minutes per expected goal conceded (xGC, 79.7) in front of their own fans. Pickford is the top-scoring player in Sean Dyche’s defence and with save points to fall back on, is a relatively risk-free pick at just £4.7m.

DEFENDERS

Virgil van Dijk’s (£6.6m) security of minutes is a major factor in our thinking as Liverpool prepare for Double Gameweek 34. The Dutchman’s last benching came over a year ago off the back of fitness issues, so he gets the nod over Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.4m) and Andrew Robertson (£6.4m), who are both recently back from injury and could be carefully managed. Although the Reds have conceded in 10 of their last 11 league outings, van Dijk has already found the net twice this term and leads the way among all FPL defenders for efforts inside the box (32).

Gabriel Magalhaes (£5.4m) is drafted in ahead of William Saliba (£5.9m) and Ben White (£6.0m) as our Arsenal defender of choice. The Gunners have toiled in recent matches but domestically they’ve been very reliable, with six clean sheets in nine. Gabriel’s goal threat in the opposition area also keeps him ahead of his fellow Arsenal defenders in our estimations: the Brazilian has had 26 shots in the box this season, 20 more than any other Gunners defender so far.

Daniel Munoz (£4.5m) looks a solid prospect for points at both ends of the pitch ahead of visits from West Ham United and Newcastle United. Crystal Palace are fifth for minutes per xGC (71.9) under Oliver Glasner, while the raiding wing-backs attacking intent further up the pitch delivered an assist in Gameweek 28.

MIDFIELDERS

Mohamed Salah (£13.4m) cannot be ignored for Liverpool’s pair of fixtures. Admittedly, he isn’t in a great moment right now, but he’s still scored two goals in his last four matches and benefits from spot-kick duties. Having racked up 21 points in the reverse fixtures against Fulham and Everton earlier this season, he’s a standout candidate for the armband as Jurgen Klopp looks for a response.

Bukayo Saka (£9.0m) is another nailed-on option for Arsenal’s Double Gameweek 34. Although Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea are anything but easy opponents, the England international has already recorded points against both clubs earlier this season, so will fancy his chances. With penalty duties furthering his appeal, it’s easy to see why the 14-goal midfielder is second only to Salah in this week’s Captain Poll.

Arsenal team-mate Martin Odegaard (£8.6m) also earns the nod. The Norwegian has racked up three goals and three assists in his last nine league outings and is a fundamental part of the Gunners’ attack, potentially reducing the risk of rotation. With their title tilt taking a blow last weekend, Mikel Arteta’s men can afford no more slip-ups and there’s no doubt Odegaard will be key to their hopes of getting the better of Wolves and Chelsea.

Five goals and four assists in 11 appearances highlight Luis Diaz’s (£7.8m) impact for Liverpool. Granted, the Colombian had a hit-and-miss night in Bergamo on Thursday and certainly isn’t guaranteed two starts in Double Gameweek 34, but with Fulham and Everton up next, Diaz has the platform to pick up the points.

Back in the frame after injury, Eberechi Eze (£6.1m) served up a reminder of his talents in Crystal Palace’s previous match with a goal and two bonus at Anfield. The midfielder is now handed the chance to rack up the points in front of his own fans as a potentially leggy West Ham and Newcastle come calling in Double Gameweek 34. Eze is among the top 10 midfielders for non-penalty expected goal involvement (NPxGI) since he made his first start under Oliver Glasner, and owned by less than 6%, could be a deadly differential.

FORWARDS

With 11 attacking returns in 15 away starts, Dominic Solanke (£7.2m) is nailed on for Bournemouth’s Double Gameweek. The former Liverpool man first travels to Aston Villa, who might be physically and mentally tired from playing 120 minutes (plus penalties) on Thursday, before visiting a Wolves backline that he’s already breached back in October. As the Cherries talisman (44% FPL goal involvement), Solanke is a very enticing option.

We once again turn to South London to draft in Jean-Philippe Mateta (£5.0m) for Crystal Palace’s home encounters with West Ham and Newcastle. The Frenchman has five goals and one assist in 10 matches and was a bit unlucky to blank against Liverpool last time out, underperforming his expected goals (xG) by 1.24. Since Glasner came in, Mateta has started every game and has had the most shots (14) and big chances (seven) among team-mates over that period.

THE SUBSTITUTES

• Jose Sa (£5.0m) has kept clean sheets in two of his last six appearances at Molineux. Should Wolves concede, the Portuguese shot-stopper has save points to fall back on, with 24 over the season so far.
• Vitalii Mykolenko (£4.6m) has two goals and one assist in 2023/24 and ranks among the top eight defenders for shots (25).
• Sergio Reguilon (£4.5m) has provided five assists in his last nine appearances for Brentford, with seven bonus points secured in that time. The Bees make the trip to Kenilworth Road in Gameweek 34.
• Oliver McBurnie‘s (£5.4m) partnership with Ben Brereton Diaz (£5.0m) has shown promise in recent weeks. Sheffield United now have two decent match-ups against Burnley and Manchester United.

THE CAPTAIN

We chose the Scout Picks captain using a vote between our Scout Squad panel.

• Marc: Salah, Saka, Solanke
• Tom F: Salah, Saka, Eze
• Neale: Saka, Salah, Solanke

Mohamed Salah is handed the armband this week, with Bukayo Saka as the vice-captain.

COMMUNITY CHAMPION

Each week, a member of the Fantasy Football Scout community takes on the Scout Picks.

The community member who beats our team by the largest margin will win a £100 Amazon voucher. They’ll also get a place in our Moderators and Contributors League for the following season.

The-Red-1’s 64-30 victory in Gameweek 16 gave the community the biggest win (34 points difference) of 2023/24 so far.

Our champion this week is Shuddahaddum, whose selection is as follows:

Raya; White, Alexander-Arnold (c), Mitchell; Saka, Salah, Jota, Eze; Solanke, Mateta, McBurnie

The community are 16.5-15.5 up on the Scout Picks this season.

FOLLOW THE SCOUT’S WEEKLY TRANSFER PLANS

We’re running a Scout community team in FPL this season, with regulars like TopMarx, Tom Freeman, Marc Jobling and more contributing to the weekly decisions.

And we’re not just looking one week ahead like we are with the Scout Picks but instead planning in advance for the weeks and months to come.

You can follow our team via the Premier Fantasy Tools Pro Planner, which you can learn more about here.

After scoring 81 points in Gameweek 33, we’re up to 2.9k in the world.