Four clubs have a Double Gameweek 33 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL): Arsenal, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Manchester City.

In this Scouting the Doubles entry, we take a closer look at the Gunners.

Arsenal began this season as title contenders but, like in 2023/24, have slipped into second place – this time behind a dominant Liverpool side that could win the league as soon as next weekend.

Mikel Arteta’s men have their Champions League campaign to focus on now, but also boast perhaps the easiest pair of games among our four doublers.

We’ll take a look at the fixtures, form and a few key Arsenal players which could be worthy of FPL investment for Double Gameweek 33 and indeed the rest of the season.

• READ MORE: Who are the best Man City players to buy in FPL?

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TAKEAWAYS

First, though, let’s dive into Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final second leg, which saw the Gunners triumph 2-1 over Real Madrid at the Bernabeu to beat Los Blancos 5-1 on aggregate and advance to the semi-finals for just the third time in history.

Bukayo Saka (£10.5m) started and largely excelled, making amends for a poor first-half penalty miss to open the scoring with a fine chipped finish after the interval. 

Arsenal’s “starboy” was his side’s most advanced player in his 77 minutes on the pitch, interlinking well with Martin Odegaard (£8.2m) as well as the forward-tracking Jurrien Timber (£5.7m).

Makeshift striker Mikel Merino (£6.1m) dropped deep, often more so even than the increasingly creative Declan Rice (£6.2m), but was still on hand to provide assists both for Saka and Gabriel Martinelli’s (£6.5m) decisive stoppage time effort. 

Stats-wise, Merino, Odegaard and Rice each crafted two key passes, with Saka leading the way for shots (four).

All in all, it was a relatively comfortable night for the Gunners in the Spanish capital, with Madrid having just three shots on target (half of Arsenal’s tally), the first of which came after an hour of play.

Timber also did well to largely contain Vinicius Junior, with William Saliba (£6.5m) instead at fault for the hosts’ consolation goal, having been caught out in possession by the pacey Brazilian.

Leandro Trossard (£6.7m) emerged from the bench to replace Saka with a quarter of an hour to go and offered a few threatening runs, with Arteta’s other three substitutions – Ben White (£6.1m) for Timber, Oleksandr Zinchenko (£4.8m) for Rice and Kieran Tierney (£4.3m) for Martinelli – only coming late in injury time.

We’ll get into the possible implications of all this for FPL a little lower down.

THE FIXTURES

The Gunners have already beaten both of their Double Gameweek 33 opponents this season – they are the only one of this week’s four doublers who can say that.

It was a relatively uneventful affair when Ipswich visited the Emirates, with Arsenal winning by a goal to nil whilst coming to terms with the then-recent loss of their star player to injury. The Tractor Boys’ form has dwindled ever since, resulting in their all-but-confirmed relegation from the top flight. Kieran McKenna’s side have shown some fight in recent weeks, but it ultimately has meant little when they keep leaking goals at the other end.

Palace – who Arsenal beat 5-1 in the reverse fixture – had a woeful time in their first of two back-to-back Double Gameweeks, conceding 10 goals in the space of two matches. All the Eagles really have to play for now is the FA Cup, their semi-final of which falls just three days after their trip to the Emirates. Could we therefore see a rotated and/or unfocused Palace side used as a warm-up match for the Gunners’ own cup ambitions, six days prior to their Champions League semi-final against PSG?

Post-Gameweek 34, in which Arsenal will blank due to opponents Palace’s involvement in the FA Cup, the fixtures are more of a mixed bag for Arteta’s crew.

Bournemouth beat them back in Gameweek 8 but have been on a bit of a downward spiral recently, winning just one of their last seven league matches ahead of Gameweek 33. Liverpool may already have the title wrapped up by then but – especially with no other competitions to focus on – will be unlikely to let off the gas, especially at home to their nearest challengers.

Like the Cherries and Reds, Newcastle have also beaten Arsenal in the league this season – as well as two more times en-route to their EFL Cup victory – and have both the form and fixtures to challenge for Champions League football next season, so may be hard to get past.

It doesn’t get much sweeter in Gameweek 38 than down-and-out Southampton, although that match comes six days before a potential Champions League final – so it could be rotation central or a possible bloodbath, depending on how far the Gunners advance in Europe.

ROTATION RISK?

There’s a strong chance that Arsenal’s UCL ambitions could see Arteta rotate his squad for the matches around their two semi-final ties against PSG, as well as the final should they make it that far. 

Some players could also be given a breather against Ipswich this weekend after two highly charged matches against Real Madrid in each of the last two midweeks.

Here’s how the Gunners’ fixture schedule currently looks:

• Sunday 20 April: Ipswich (a), Gameweek 33
• Wednesday 23 April: Crystal Palace (h), Gameweek 33
• Tuesday 29 April: PSG (h), Champions League semi-final 1
• Saturday 3 May: Bournemouth (h), Gameweek 35
• Wednesday 7 May: PSG (a), Champions League semi-final 2 
• Sunday 11 May: Liverpool (a), Gameweek 36
• Sunday 18 May: Newcastle (h), Gameweek 37
• Sunday 25 May: Southampton (a), Gameweek 38
• *Saturday 31 May: possible Champions League final*

After the first Champions League quarter-final leg on Tuesday 8 April, Arteta rested five of his starting XI – Saka, Timber, Odegaard, Merino and Myles Lewis-Skelly (£4.5m) – against Brentford on Saturday 12 April. All five came on at some stage, with Tierney, Zinchenko, Jorginho (£4.6m), Trossard and Ethan Nwaneri (£4.5m) their replacements from the start that day.

The same starters were named in each leg against Madrid, so there’s a chance a few of those key names could be given a rest from the off against struggling Ipswich, but we’d at least expect to see them all at some point on Sunday afternoon if they don’t start.

There are then six days between the Crystal Palace match to conclude Double Gameweek 33 and the visit of Paris Saint-Germain that begins the Champions League semi-finals. You’d think Arteta would like to send out a full-strength side to face the Eagles in preparation for that huge European tie nearly a week later, though minutes could still be managed – particularly if the Gunners find themselves comfortably in front against Oliver Glasner’s hot-and-cold group that evening.

Rather, more of a possible concern is the Gameweek 35 outing against Bournemouth on 3 May. That’s sandwiched between Arsenal’s two UCL semi legs, with four days on either side of it – the same length of time as was afforded to the Gunners between the first Madrid match and Brentford in Gameweek 32. As such, regardless of the outcome of the first game against PSG, we can probably expect to see some rotation by Arteta to keep his key men fresh and ready to get done whatever is needed against the Parisians on 7 May.

With their upcoming fixtures, especially this appealing Double Gameweek 33, FPL managers will still likely fancy at least two or three Arsenal assets for their squads. As we’ve seen with Saka over the past few weeks, though, there’s always a threat of rotation to be aware of, particularly with European exploits undoubtedly the main focus for Arteta and co at this point.

WHO ARE THE MOST-OWNED ARSENAL PLAYERS IN THE TOP 10K?

David Raya (£5.5m) was Arsenal’s most-owned player among FPL’s top 10k heading into the Double Gameweek 32 deadline, per LiveFPL. The Spanish shot-stopper had a total ownership of 63.54%.

Saka has the next highest ownership among that contingent, at 53.96%, followed by Saliba at 35.95%, the injured – but almost unanimously benched – Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.2m) at 20.61%, Timber at 11.2% and then Merino down at 3.4%. Gabriel’s stand-in, Jakub Kiwior (£4.8m), was selected by 2.21% of the top 10k ahead of Double Gameweek 32.

So, which of the above – and the rest of Arsenal’s troops – are the most worthy of investment heading into Double Gameweek 33 and beyond?

BEST ARSENAL PLAYERS TO BUY IN FPL

MIDFIELD/ATTACK

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