Fantasy Premier League: Seven players to transfer in ahead of GW31

The Football Faithful

·5 April 2025

Fantasy Premier League: Seven players to transfer in ahead of GW31

Fantasy Premier League managers face a busy few weeks, with the fixtures coming thick and fast and double gameweeks on the horizon, so we’ve picked out seven players that we believe you should be targeting for your team.

Fantasy Premier League GW31 deadline: Saturday, 5 April, 11:00 BST

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Bukayo Saka – Arsenal

MID – £10.3m – 14.8%

Next 3: EVE (A) – BRE (H) – IPS (A) + CRY (H)

Arsenal’s starboy is back and already proving why he should be a priority pickup for all FPL managers. Saka came off the bench to score for the Gunners against Fulham on Tuesday and should now be in contention to start this weekend.

He’s got a great set of fixtures coming up and could even be a triple captaincy option for the double in GW33.

Saka is Arsenal’s talisman and one of the league’s best creators. Despite being out for over two months, only Mohamed Salah has bettered him for assists this season.

Mikel Merino – Arsenal

MID – £6.0M – 1.3%

Next 3: EVE (A) – BRE (H) – IPS (A) + CRY (H)

If you can’t afford Saka or even fancy a double up on Arsenal attack for this run, Merino could be your man.

Usually, a midfielder being shoehorned in up front would be a bad sign, but in FPL it’s a blessing. With Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus out for the rest of the season, Merino should continue to fill in at striker for the foreseeable future.

19 points across the last two gameweeks suggests that the Spaniard is only getting more comfortable with his new role, and with Arsenal desperate to win every game in the run-in, I don’t see the goals drying up.

Alexander Isak – Newcastle United

FWD – £9.5m – 58.8%

Next 3: LEI (A) – MUN (H) + CRY (H) – AVL (A)

There’s a strong chance that most of you already own Isak, but if you don’t, then now is the time to jump on.

The Swedish striker is playing the best football of his career right now and is the highest scoring forward in the game.

Leicester away up next, followed by two home fixtures in the double is just too good to turn down. He’ll likely be heavily captained in DGW32 and is certainly worth consideration for those of you that still have the triple captain chip.

It’s worth mentioning that he did get substituted early against Brentford on Wednesday night, but Eddie Howe said it was just precautionary and nothing too serious.

“We’ll wait and see today. I’ll see them for the first time. Hopefully they are feeling okay. We don’t think we’ve got any big injuries from Wednesday, just a couple of niggles. Let’s wait and see.”

Ismaila Sarr – Crystal Palace

MID – £5.7m – 9.5%

Next 3: BHA (H) – MCI (A) + NEW (A) – BOU (H) + ARS (A)

Crystal Palace had a surprising slip-up against Southampton midweek but had been building momentum and playing their best football of the season before that.

With back-to-back double gameweeks coming up, you’d be brave to go without any Palace coverage, and Sarr looks to be the standout option to me.

He’s looked extremely dangerous in recent weeks, racking up six big chances across the last five gameweeks; no other midfielder has had more. He also has the most xG in the entire league in that period (3.43 xG).

Sarr has been a big reason for Palace’s upturn in form, and I see no reason why they wouldn’t continue to look to him in the coming weeks.

Dan Burn – Newcastle United

DEF – £4.4m – 9.2%

Next 3: LEI (A) – MUN (H) + CRY (H) – AVL (A)

Leicester are the main side that we should be looking to target for defenders right now; they’ve scored in just one of their last ten games and look to have lost all hope in the relegation battle.

So, with Leicester and then a nice-looking double up next, this feels like the perfect time to move to Newcastle defence.

Only the top three have kept more than Newcastle’s nine clean sheets this season, and we’ve seen in recent weeks just how dangerous Dan Burn can be from set pieces.

Tino Livramento (£4.5m) and Kieran Trippier (£5.6m) are also worth consideration, but my preference is with Burn for his cheap price and aerial threat.

Omar Marmoush – Manchester City

FWD – £7.5m – 25.3%

Next 3: MUN (A) – CRY (H) – EVE (A) + AVL (H)

City’s newest star has had a bright start to life in Manchester, and with Erling Haaland now out injured, Marmoush should be more secure of his minutes and be City’s main man up front.

The Egyptian has five goals and one assist in his last five starts for City, and his 20 shots over the last six gameweeks is more than any other forward in the league.

You’d want some Man City attacking coverage for this run, and with Foden and De Bruyne in and out of the team and an inconsistency of returns plaguing the other City midfielders , Marmoush looks the safest bet.

Marco Asensio – Aston Villa

MID – £6.1m – 3%

Next 3: NFO (H) – SOU (A) – NEW (H) + MCI (A)

Another inspired January signing who’s hit the ground running is Villa’s Marco Asensio. The Spaniard has eight goals in his last seven appearances in all competitions.

The underlying numbers back up Asensio’s performances as well; his xG of 0.7 per 90 is better than that of teammate Ollie Watkins (0.59), and his 6.2 points per game is bettered by only Salah, Palmer and Saka amongst midfielders.

The fixtures look good for Villa, and they will be fighting for every point as they look to finish in one of those invaluable Champions League spots.

Morgan Rodgers (£5.5m) and Marcus Rashford (£6.6m) are also strong options for Aston Villa coverage.

Read – Top FPL tips to help you master Fantasy Premier League