This week’s FPL Challenge continues with the "Race for Europe" theme. This week, players from the match between Nottingham Forest and Brentford will score DOUBLE points, with managers selecting a 5-a-side team using an unlimited budget.
Here, FPL expert Tom Johnson reveals how he’s tackling Gameweek 34.
It's another week of tricky decisions in the latest FPL Challenge. There are some very favourable fixtures for the likes of Newcastle, Wolves, Liverpool and Fulham who face Ipswich Town, Leicester City, Spurs and Southampton respectively.
Therefore managers will need to decide between investing in these players or opting for Nottingham Forest and Brentford assets, who will have their points doubled.
Goalkeeper and defence
Having chosen a 1-1-2 formation, I’ve opted to double up on the Wolves defence, in line with my commitment to chasing the upside in my Blank Gameweek 34 (BGW34) Fantasy Challenge line-up.
Vitor Pereira’s side are on a run of five consecutive wins, keeping two clean sheets in that time. Over the last six Gameweeks, only Liverpool have conceded fewer shots on target.
In goal, Jose Sa (£4.4m) gets the nod despite being an injury doubt. One of the benefits of Fantasy Challenge is the ability to swap players in-and-out until their match kicks off. So if Sa is not in the Wolves side, I will simply transfer in whoever starts, either Sam Johnstone (£4.1m) or Daniel Bentley (£3.9m).
I think Wolves have the best chance of a clean sheet this week. Opponents Leicester have only found the back of the net in two of their last 13 matches and have scored just 27 goals in 33 matches this season.
As well as clean-sheet potential, Rayan Ait-Nouri (£5.0m) provides a strong chance of an attacking return. The Algerian wing-back has picked up 10 attacking returns across the season so far, joint-top among defenders.
I strongly considered doubling up on the Newcastle defence in the form of Nick Pope (£4.9m) and Kieran Trippier (£5.6m), but Wolves' more favourable fixture swung my decision towards Sa and Ait-Nouri.
Newcastle's opponents Ipswich Town have scored in nine of their last 11 matches and have created more than double the number of big chances of Leicester over the last six Gameweeks.
Midfield
Perhaps controversially, I've selected Bryan Mbeumo (£8.0m) over the top-scoring Fantasy player Mohamed Salah (£13.8m) to fill my one midfield slot.
After Mbeumo's 18-point haul in Gameweek 33 against Brighton, I can't ignore the double points on offer in this week's Fantasy Challenge, while Salah is not in the blistering form he was at the start of the season.
Encouragingly for Mbeumo, the Nottingham Forest defence has shown signs of weakness over the last four Gameweeks. Only three teams have a worse Expected Goals Against (xGA) than Forest's 8.16 and only two clubs have conceded more big chances.
Mbeumo, who ranks third for Expected Goal Involvement (xGI) among midfielders in 2024/25, will be my captain because he's on penalties and gets an extra point for a goal compared to forwards.
Forwards
Completing my 1-1-2 formation are Alexander Isak (£9.6m) and Chris Wood (£7.0m), with the latter qualifying for double points in this week's Fantasy Challenge.
Like Mbeumo, Isak is also enjoying the best Fantasy season of his career, picking up 192 points so far thanks to 21 goals and six assists. The Swede scored a hat-trick against Ipswich in the reverse fixture, while no forward has picked up more points at home than the 105 that Isak has delivered at St James' Park.
Isak edges out Yoane Wissa (£6.5m) for the final place in my 5-a-side team due to Newcastle's home record and the fact he is on penalties.
Wood scored his first goal since Gameweek 25 against Spurs last week, with the New Zealand international also picking up a couple of bonus points. No forward has picked up more bonus points in Fantasy this season.
Only the three teams currently in the relegation zone, Southampton, Leicester and Ipswich, have conceded more shots on target than Brentford in 2024/25. Encouragingly, Wood doesn't need many shots to score. His conversion rate of 35.2 per cent is the best among all forwards.