Fantasy Premier League Gameweek 32 review: Watkins’ revenge and injuries to monitor

Gameweek 32 was a high-scoring one in Fantasy Premier League, with 35 goals flying in over the weekend.

Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins (£8.8m), the top points scorer in the game, returned from injury to punish his sellers with a brace and Arsenal again kept a clean sheet in another solid display at both ends of the pitch.

The top three captaincy options, Mohamed Salah (£13.4m), Cole Palmer (£6.1m) and Son Heung-min (£10.1m), returned points but we didn’t see any big swings, with this trio chalking up modest scores of eight, five, and five points respectively.

As ever, there was plenty to talk about from an FPL perspective in Gameweek 32 and we will cover the main talking points here.

Pep roulette in full force once again

Phil Foden (£8.3m) was benched for Manchester City’s win at Crystal Palace after scoring a hat-trick the previous gameweek. This just goes to reiterate that nobody is safe to start every game under Pep Guardiola and this is further backed up by Erling Haaland’s (£14.3m) benching in Gameweek 31.

With a packed fixture schedule for City on the horizon, FPL managers will have to be wary as we are likely to see more rotation with them playing five games in April.

I wouldn’t recommend getting rid of Haaland but their midfielders and defenders are going to be risky. Their match against Luton Town in Gameweek 33 is sandwiched between the two Champions League legs against Real Madrid, so although this may look like a plum fixture, there could be some more rotation happening here.

Josko Gvardiol (£4.8m) came off at half-time with an injury and was looking like a promising prospect at his price, with the fact that Nathan Ake (£5.0m) and Kyle Walker (£5.3m) are also injured.

Guardiola didn’t give us much of an update regarding Gvardiol, so owners should wait until later in the week. If the Croatian is injured, then those who are wildcarding in Gameweek 35 should sell. Otherwise, you may want to keep him for City’s expected double gameweek later in the season (most likely in Gameweek 37).

What to do with Watkins and Toney

Watkins made a swift recovery from his hamstring injury and punished those who opted to sell him before Gameweek 32 with two goals against Brentford and 13 FPL points. More than two million managers sold the Villa forward over the last two gameweeks, so if you were one of the few who kept him, he would have done wonders for your overall rank.

Despite being the highest-scoring player in the game, it’s fine to sell Watkins. In Villa’s remaining six fixtures, they play Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool, and don’t have a double gameweek either.

Darwin Nunez (£7.7m), Alexander Isak (£7.9m) and Dominic Solanke (£7.3m) all have double gameweeks ahead and good fixtures until the end of the season.

Ivan Toney (£8.1m) started on the bench against Villa, which was a huge surprise initially. However, Thomas Frank said that Brentford’s star forward has been struggling with a hip problem and was not dropped due to his goal drought, which now stretches to eight club games.

Toney owners will want to keep an eye on the situation and at this time of the season, won’t want to take any risks by holding on to Toney. If it’s a problem that will be managed over the next few weeks, his minutes will be reduced.

With Bryan Mbeumo (£6.7m) starting his first game since returning from injury and also scoring, Brentford don’t have to rush Toney back.

However, Frank’s side have their most appealing fixture of the season against Sheffield United (h) next, so if there is positive news regarding Toney, he’s a firm keep.

Wolves assets might make a difference

Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.7m) was the most transferred-in defender last gameweek and with good reason. He has two goals and three assists in his last nine games, and has clearly been playing high up the pitch, almost in a front three at times.

He was awarded an FPL assist for winning Wolves’ penalty against West Ham United on Saturday but was taken off injured after 54 minutes. This is a huge blow to his owners as not only is he a great, cheap option but he has two fixtures in Gameweek 34 too.

However, judging by Gary O’Neil’s post-match comments, it doesn’t look too serious. He said: “He’s got a sore calf. He’s got some pain in his calf and it was a big blow but we wanted to take him off before it got any worse and hopefully, he’ll be OK for next week.”

Judging by those comments, keep Ait-Nouri if you own him as it sounds as if he will be fine by Double Gameweek 34.

Wolves’ in-form Rayan Ait-Nouri went off injured in Gameweek 32 (Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)

Pablo Sarabia (£4.7m) is also looking like a great buy. He took and scored Wolves’ penalty and looks nailed in their starting XI. He has started the last nine games and with Pedro Neto (£5.5m) out until mid-May, the Spaniard will carry on getting plenty of minutes.

Sarabia is also on free kicks and corners, and at his price, is the best enabler in the game. He is a good option to buy this week or in Gameweek 34 for Wolves’ double.

Injuries and suspensions to keep an eye on

West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen (£7.9m) came off after 54 minutes of his side’s 2-1 win at Wolves. His manager David Moyes said: “We have to hope he’s OK. It looks like he’s had a knee into his hip, or his back. It’s not a twist or anything like that. He’s really stiff and I’ve had one or two of those myself, and they don’t go away too quick.’’

Bowen has been a great option this season with 15 goals and five assists but if you still own him, you might want to think about selling him soon anyway.

West Ham also don’t have any double gameweeks to play and have to face Liverpool (h), Chelsea (a) and Manchester City (h) in their final six games.

Elsewhere, Malo Gusto (£4.3m) was rested for Chelsea’s draw with Sheffield United following an illness, according to manager Mauricio Pochettino: “Malo was ill before playing two games, so he had to rest.”

If it is only illness that kept the Frenchman out, he should be fine to hold on to and Chelsea have a good fixture against Everton (h) next, and then a double gameweek in 35 against Aston Villa (a) and Spurs (h).

Villa’s Douglas Luiz (£5.6m) will miss his team’s next two league games (Gameweeks 33 and 34) after picking up his 10th booking of the season against Brentford. He is an easy sell if you still own him. It’s the same deal as with Watkins: Villa do not have a double gameweek coming up and their fixtures aren’t great either.

(Top photo: Oli Scarff /AFP via Getty Images)