Gameweek 33 Preview - Fixture Runs, Transfer Tips, & More!

Greetings all, and welcome to your fully-fledged (whatever ‘fledged’ actually means) preview for Gameweek 33. 

Between all the ongoing blanks and doubles and whatnot, it’s an extra big preview this week. Without any beating around the bush whatsoever, then, I (Joe) invite you to join me directly on the latest step in this wonderful, wacky journey we’re all on. 

By which I mean… let’s just get on with the preview, shall we?

Gameweek 33 Talking Points

Fear not, for our regular programming will begin shortly. Before we get on with all that, however, let’s whip through a couple of the main things to consider heading into Gameweek 33. 

It won’t take long, I promise!

Doubles, Blanks, and Chips 

As you very well know, by this point, we’re well into the usual mess of late-season doubles and blanks. 

Gameweek 33 is a double, Gameweek 34 is a blank, and City probably get another double in 36. 

We’ve already covered when and how to use your chips, at great and fascinating length. Rather than regurgitate all that once again (re-regurgitate?), I’d gently prod you towards simply reading James’s excellent article on the subject, right here:

full90fpl.com/fpl-gameweek-32-preview-2026    

What to Do About O’Reilly?

If he is out for the season, then we should be looking straight at Guehi. He should take more of an attacking role as a focal point for headers with O’Reilly out. And, he seems to be pretty much nailed.

Ait-Nouri might be another option, but Ake can play in that position too. Ait-Nouri isn’t really a like-for-like replacement for O’Reilly, but he does have attacking pedigree… I just don’t like the idea that he might not be nailed.

With all this said, the injury didn’t look super-serious at the time, and he’s already back in training – so hopefully all this is moot, and we get to keep him and a transfer!

Best FPL Fixture Runs – Gameweek 33

Usually, we take a look at the next five fixtures and identify the teams with the best attacking and defensive runs using the data from our own fixture ticker.

From now on, we will go to the end of the season. And, because I think most people will free hit in 34 (thus dodging the blanks anyway), I will include a ticker that removes that.

Best Attacking Fixtures

Including Gameweek 34:

Excluding Gameweek 34:

Overall, then:

• Arsenal, Liverpool, and Man City rank highly in both tickers, regardless of whether 34 is included 

Everyone’s already targeting a Man City triple, and you should too if you haven’t got it already. Semenyo picks himself, I like O’Reilly (pending injury news) over Guehi, and I’d still 100% have Haaland even if he’s been a bit rubbish (by his standards) for a while now. If you really, really don’t want the best striker in the league, Cherki is probably the best attacking alternative (but I’d probably take a Guehi+O’Reilly defensive double instead)

I’m not interested in any Arsenal or Liverpool attackers whatsoever… so that’s easy enough!

That being said, if I’d basically given up on the season (which unfortunately I haven’t), I’d definitely take one last ride with Salah for nostalgia’s sake. 

• Newcastle and Chelsea are fine in both cases

I continue not to really fancy any of Newcastle’s actual players, however, which could be a problem. 

With Chelsea, you’re looking at the mercurial/flat track bully JP, and Palmer if you want to gamble on the (pricey) upside. James and I did indeed both take Palmer on our wildcards, but I’d be a little more reluctant to do so with regular transfers 

• If you’re not free hitting in 34, Leeds, Brighton, and Bournemouth become better teams to target

Leeds in particular have a great set of fixtures, with Wolves, Burnley, Spurs, and West Ham all to come. Yummy yummy. DCL has been crap for a while now, but it’s hard to imagine he doesn’t grab at least a handful of returns with those matchups.

I’m not quite as keen on the other two sides, but there’s still obviously enough there to justify at least one double-up in each case.

Best Defensive Fixtures

Including Gameweek 34:

Excluding Gameweek 34:

Accordingly:

• Arsenal top both tickers, despite not doubling… which I think is fine, considering they’re (theoretically, though who knows with their current mentality) the best defence. That said, I obviously wouldn’t bring their defenders in before they play City away – just wait until Newcastle at home in 34
• Depending on your free hit/bench situation to deal with the 34 blank, Man City are arguably the best defence to actually target in FPL right now, with at least one double gameweek upcoming. You can also bring them in straight away – Arsenal isn’t a bad fixture right now, and Burnley is obviously excellent
• If you’re not free hitting, I’d back Liverpool as much as anyone right now, with VVD the top option
• If you are free hitting, then – as with the attacking fixtures – I like Leeds the most for their fixtures. It doesn’t hurt that their defenders are super cheap too.

Hill at Bournemouth continues to be excellent value though, and he’s also got a few tasty defensive matchups. 

I’d rank Brighton more or less the same as Bournemouth, so you could mix and match their keepers/defenders to get a taste of both

Support Independent FPL Content

FPL Gameweek 33 Transfer Tips

You know the drill – we look at the most-bought and sold players among the FPL playing public, and decide whether all those many hundreds of thousands of people are right or wrong. It’s a heavy burden, being quite this judgemental, but someone has to bear it. 

Here’s your latest serving of transfer tips, for Gameweek 33. 

Should I Buy?

• Haaland/Semenyo – Yes, to both. Don’t overreact to a couple of blanks here and there – they’re still the 1st and 2nd best players at their positions this season, play for the actual best team right now, and have the best fixtures
• Cherki – Maybe. He’s a quality player, but you only have three City spots, and I’d prefer to spend them on Haaland, Semenyo, and a defender
• O’Reilly/Guehi – Yes. I prefer O’Reilly if he’s fit, and prefer both over Cherki 
• Senesi/Truffert – No. Just get Hill instead. Same fixtures, same team, very similar output, and far cheaper
• Alex Scott – Maybe, purely as your fifth midfielder for the double gameweek. He had a good gameweek 32, but normally he noodles about in this new 3-5pt zone DefCons have given us this season. 
• Calvert Lewin – Yes. I know his returns have been rubbish, but his fixtures for those blanks have been pretty tricky, for the most part. You know what’s not tricky? Playing Wolves, Burnley, and Spurs within his next four games. A perfect test case for James’s obsession over ‘form’ not being real
• Van Hecke – Yes. Started his nice run with a clean sheet, and the fixtures remain pretty darn favourable going forward
• Verbruggen – Also yes, for the same reasons… with the slight caveat that you should prioritise a defender transfer over a keeper move  
• Thiago – Maybe. He doesn’t double – unlike DCL, JP, and Welbeck – and he’s basically got an on-off rotation of easy-hard fixtures the rest of the way. But – based on his recent form, and season-long stats – you’d be pretty confident in him justifying the transfer in the easier games, even if he blanks in the others
• Joao Pedro – Ugh. Did you know he’s got 9 assists this season on a total xGA of 1.89? How does that even happen?! You can outperform your xG by just… being a good finisher (or getting lucky, but it tends to be the former). But how can you possibly outperform your xGA by that much?! Anyway, he’s a (reluctant, as always) yes – he probably won’t play that well, and I don’t even like the fixtures that much, but he’ll end up stumbling his way to some returns anyway
• Palmer – Maybe. I continue to have no confidence in him whatsoever. I also continue to have loads of money sloshing around, even with Haaland/Gabriel/Bruno/Semenyo. So, if you can afford to take a gamble – which we all can right now – you might as well gamble on one of the highest upsides in the game 
• Welbeck – Maybe. Personally I’d have DCL ahead of him as your cheap forward, since I’m more confident he actually starts the double. I like the fixtures though, and he’s normally pretty reliable when he plays, so I wouldn’t fight you on it
• Cucurella – No. A million times no. Chelsea haven’t cleaned since Gameweek 22, and the defensive fixtures aren’t even good for the double, so you’re almost certainly just getting two poor returns. And he’s expensive!   

Should I Sell?

• Ekitike – Yes. It is long, long past time to sell
• Timber – Yes. You’ve got absolutely no idea if and when he’s playing again
• Mbeumo – Yes, reluctantly. I love the player, but enough is enough
• Rice – Yes. Far too expensive for what he actually gives you – just get Anderson or Alex Scott (this week, at least) instead
• H Wilson – Yes. Fixtures have turned big time now, and I wouldn’t even really want him as a fifth starting mid
• Thiago – No. He’s up there with the best forwards in the game. Selling him just feels like overreacting to the double gameweek, and he has a fine fixture in 33 anyway
• Rogers – Maybe. I’d move him on a wildcard, but if you’re just using regular transfers I’d prefer to keep him and bin someone else for whatever doublers you’re considering. He’s returned in his last two fixtures – both fairly easy matchups – and now gets Sunderland home, Spurs home, and Burnley away within his next four games
• Gabriel – No. He’s almost certainly not cleaning this week, but if you’ve wildcarded recently, but you could just bench him for City away. After that he’s got an excellent run of defensive fixtures, through to the end of the season 
• Raya – Maybe. Yes, I know he gets the same fixtures as Gabriel. But there are other keepers like Verbruggen I do think can get you similar production the rest of the way, for far less money – whereas Gabriel is in an absolute class of his own
• VVD – No. He just cleaned, Liverpool are in that ‘next best’ category after Arsenal and City defensively, and their next couple of fixtures are fine defensively 

Erling Haaland’s Captaincy Corner

There’s been some debate recently (… between me and myself) about renaming this section. Unfortunately, I think we’re just going to have to back our titular hero anyway this week, and hope he remembers he’s Haaland. He’s got a good record against Arsenal in the league, and Burnley away isn’t exactly terrifying. 

If you desperately don’t want to go there, or don’t have him, then Semenyo obviously gets the same fixtures, JP can always steal a goal or two, and DCL would be a risky but somewhat logical alternative. 

Final Thoughts 

Right-o, that’ll wrap things up very neatly indeed for your Gameweek 33 preview.

After this week… well, we’ll still have one more silly week to worry about, with all the blanks in 34. But after that, we’ll mostly be into a nice, normal final stretch to finish out the season. What a novelty that’ll be. 

Any and all feedback is, as always, welcome – preferably on Reddit. Either way, thanks for reading, and best of luck out there in Gameweek 33!