FPL Gameweek 35 Scout Picks: Palmer among five ‘doublers’

It’s Scout Picks time: we have chosen our best Fantasy Premier League (FPL) players for Gameweek 35 ahead of Saturday’s deadline.

We line up in a 3-5-2 formation this week.

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

Djordje Petrovic (£4.6m) received unanimous support among our Scout Squad panel and is our pick between the posts. Chelsea’s two fixtures look iffy from a clean sheet perspective, with Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur ranked fourth and sixth for goals scored in 2023/24. Petrovic can at least compensate with saves, however, and even four or five points over two starts is likely to beat most other goalkeepers in Gameweek 35.

DEFENDERS

Tottenham have laboured to just two clean sheets in their last 23 Premier League matches, conceding to the likes of Nottingham Forest, Luton Town and Fulham in recent times. However, despite shut-outs being hard to come by, Pedro Porro (£5.8m) still carries appeal in Gameweek 35. Tasked with getting forward in an inverted full-back role, the Spaniard is top among FPL defenders for shots over the season. He’s also partial to a bonus point.

Selecting a Newcastle United defender was an easy decision this week. Fabian Schar (£5.7m) averages 4.1 points per start at St James’ Park this season, while only two FPL defenders have registered more shots. A clean sheet isn’t a given against Sheffield United, who have scored in six of their last seven matches, but Eddie Howe’s side have more home shut-outs than any other team this term. The Blades have also made a habit of conceding from set plays, so Schar gets the nod.

Diogo Dalot (£5.2m) is joint-second among FPL defenders for key passes since Gameweek 30, and now takes on Championship-bound Burnley at Old Trafford. Manchester United failed to shut out Sheffield United in midweek, conceding twice, but the Portuguese should have hauled: he had the ball in the net seconds after the whistle had blown for Bruno Fernandes’ (£8.3m) penalty and created three chances for his team-mates.

MIDFIELDERS

Despite the consensus being that he hasn’t quite looked at his best in 2024, Son Heung-min (£9.8m) has still outscored all of his Tottenham team-mates since returning from the Asian Cup. Furthermore, he is comfortably clear of any Spurs player for expected goal involvement (xGI) over the season. Son plundered 14 points in the reverse fixture of the north London derby and may flourish this time against Arsenal and Chelsea, with more space to counter.

Meanwhile, a second Tottenham attacker was under consideration, but with Richarlison (£6.8m) back in training, you may well have four names – him, Timo Werner (£6.3m), Dejan Kulusevski (£6.7m) and Brennan Johnson (£5.8m) – competing for two slots.

Bruno Fernandes, Phil Foden (£8.2m) and Anthony Gordon (£6.2m) might only have one match in Gameweek 35, but given their form, could quite conceivably outscore them.

Fernandes is averaging 9.0 points per start over his last eight matches. During that period (from Gameweek 26 onwards), he’s third for shots, top for key passes and third for xGI among FPL midfielders. Not only that, but Burnley have conceded in their last 16 league fixtures.

Foden has eight attacking returns in six matches from Gameweek 26 onwards, averaging 11.2 points per start in the process. Manchester City are a team in form, too, scoring 17 in their last four.

As for Gordon, he continues to offer excellent value. A remarkable 20 attacking returns have arrived in his 16 home starts this season. He has also been filling in on corners in Kieran Trippier’s (£6.6m) absence, further boosting his appeal.

Finally, Cole Palmer (£6.2m) was given a clean bill of health by Mauricio Pochettino in Friday’s presser, so obviously makes the Scout Picks. 208 points, 30 attacking returns, 10 double digit-hauls and a Double Gameweek… we won’t waste much more of your time trying to justify the England international’s selection here.

FORWARDS

Top for transfers in ahead of Gameweek 34, Alexander Isak’s (£8.1m) ownership is on the rise after scoring seven goals in his last seven appearances, taking him to 17 throughout the whole campaign. His underlying numbers are encouraging, too, as he ranks top amongst all forwards for xGI from Gameweek 27 onwards.

Joining Isak up front is notorious xG underachiever Nicolas Jackson (£6.8m). Yes, we should know better, but lured in by Chelsea’s Double Gameweek, we’ve taken the bait. The Senegalese not only plays twice but opponents Aston Villa and Spurs are both bottom-half material for expected goals conceded (xGC) over the season. Jackson was excellent against Everton last week, taking his total to 15 attacking returns in 2023/24. Let’s just forget about the Arsenal display on Tuesday…

THE SUBSTITUTES

• Jordan Pickford (£4.7m): Only Arsenal have registered more clean sheets than Everton this season and seven of their 11 shutouts have come at Goodison Park.
• Kyle Walker (£5.3m): Provided two assists at the Amex on Thursday and was often the furthest man forward.
• Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.8m): The Algerian has scored or assisted in three of his last seven matches and has the underlying numbers to back that up.
• Ollie Watkins (£9.0m): The Aston Villa man can’t be beaten by any player for attacking returns over the season and will be up against a poor Chelsea backline on Saturday evening.

THE CAPTAIN

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

• Sam: Son, Palmer, Isak
• Marc: Palmer, Son, Isak
• Tom: Palmer, Son, Isak
• Neale: Palmer, Son, Gordon

Cole Palmer is handed the armband this week, with Son Heung–min as the vice-captain.

COMMUNITY CHAMPION

Each week, a Fantasy Football Scout community member 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 Jairzinho, whose selection is as follows:

Petrovic; Schar, Burn, Porro; Salah, Son, Palmer (c), Fernandes; Werner, Jackson, Isak

The community are 17.5-15.5 up on the Scout Picks this season, after Shuddahaddum’s 145-128 win in Gameweek 34.

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 94 points in Gameweek 34, we’re 6.5k in the world.