Premier League 2020/21: FPL Gameweek 34 Fantasy Forecast

Ahead of each Gameweek in the Premier League, The Hype Train's team, Robert Austin, Sam Austin and Phil Jones, duel for FPL and league supremacy in predicting Premier League scores, as well as going head to head in picking a Scout Picks squad for each round of games. With the 2020/21 Premier League season starting tomorrow, we provide our Gameweek Forecast predictions, speculating how we think the latest round of games will be played out. Welcome to the Forecast. All aboard.

Premier League 2020/21: Gameweek 34 Fixtures

Premier League 2020/21: FPL Gameweek 34 Forecast

Enjoy our FPL Forecast article, with each of our team forecasting how we think the Premier League will shape up this upcoming Gameweek. If you agree or want to challenge us on our point of view, get in touch with us on our main Twitter account, @RealHypeTrain.

Fixture Predictions: Gameweek 34

Southampton 0-2 Leicester

Crystal Palace 0-3 Man City

Brighton 1-3 Leeds

Chelsea 2-0 Fulham

Everton 2-1 Aston Villa

Newcastle 0-2 Arsenal

Man United 1-1 Liverpool

Spurs 2-0 Sheffield United

West Brom 1-1 Wolves

Burnley 1-2 West Ham

FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 34

Gameweek 34 – FPL Differential Picks:

SOU/LEI: Timothy Castagne (LEI, DEF, £5.8mil, 6.7% ownership)

CRY/MCI: Riyad Mahrez (MCI, MID, £8.0mil, 5.8% ownership)

BHA/LEE: Jack Harrison (LEE, MID, £5.4mil, 3.3% ownership)

CHE/FUL: Thiago Silva (CHE, DEF, £5.6mil, 2.6% ownership)

EVE/AVL: John McGinn (AVL, MID, £5.5mil, 1.1% ownership)

NEW/ARS: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (ARS, MID, £11.3mil, 6.6% ownership)

MUN/LIV: Edison Cavani (MUN, FWD, £7.9mil, 4.0% ownership)

TOT/SHU: Gareth Bale (TOT, MID, £9.1mil, 3.1% ownership)

WBA/WOL: Willian José (WOL, FWD, £6.8mil, 0.4% ownership)

BUR/WHU: Chris Wood (BUR, FWD, £6.3mil, 3.0% ownership)

Differential Captain: Chris Wood (Burnley)

Occasionally, I keep going back to the Chris Wood well for a differential captain, as he is an interesting player in the Premier League tapestry. The New Zealander has been in amazing form in the last run of games, amassing six goals and three assists in his last six league games. Most recently Burnley completely ran riot at Wolves with Wood scoring a hattrick and chipping in an assist. The form is too good to ignore, and up next is a game where the Clarets can get more goals when they host West Ham at Turf Moor. Wood is playing in such a way that it doesn’t matter the opposition, and was the clear differential from the above ten.

FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 34

Formation: 3-4-3

Starting 11

GK: Edouard Mendy (CHE)

DEF: Timothy Castagne (LEI)

DEF: Ben Chilwell (CHE)

DEF: Ruben Dias (MCI)

MID: Ilkay Gundogan (MCI)

MID: Hueng Min-Son (TOT)

MID: Jesse Lingard (WHU)

MID: Mohamad Salah (LIV)

FOR: Chris Wood (BUR) - (VC)

FOR: Kelechi Iheanacho (LEI)

FOR: Harry Kane (TOT) - (C)

Substitutes

GK: Berndt Leno (ARS)

MID: Mason Mount (CHE)

DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV)

DEF: Rob Holding (ARS)

Fixture Predictions: Gameweek 34

Southampton 0-2 Leicester

Crystal Palace 0-1 Man City

Brighton 1-1 Leeds

Chelsea 2-1 Fulham

Everton 2-0 Aston Villa

Newcastle 2-1 Arsenal

Man United 0-0 Liverpool

Spurs 3-0 Sheffield United

West Brom 1-2 Wolves

Burnley 1-3 West Ham

FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 34

On the recently announced Double Gameweek 35:

Right before the Gameweek 34 deadline, the Premier League announced DGW35, giving Manager’s with a second wildcard left just hours to prepare for the deadline.

Double Gameweek Teams (8):

Arsenal: West Brom (H), Chelsea (A)

Aston Villa: Man United (H), Everton (H)

Chelsea: Man City (A), Arsenal (H)

Crystal Palace: Sheffield United (H), Southampton (A)

Everton: West Ham (A), Aston Villa (A)

Leicester: Newcastle (H), Man United (A)

Man United: Aston Villa (A), Leicester (H)

Southampton: Liverpool (A), Crystal Palace (H)

Gameweek 36 Implications:

The FA Cup final between Chelsea and Leicester is being played during GW36 meaning there is a blank for 4 teams – Arsenal, Chelsea, Leicester and Man United. All 4 of these teams are involved in Double Gameweek 35.

The other half of the DGW35 fixture list have some good fixtures to lean on:

Crystal Palace vs. Aston Villa

Everton vs. Sheffield United

Southampton vs. Fulham

Top FPL player targets ahead of the upcoming Gameweek:

I’ll speak directly to those, like myself, who have their second wildcard to play and few little time to action a wildcard team.

Everton are the at the top of my considerations as you’ll need their players to fill your squad as they play Sheffield United at home in Gameweek 35. Any combination of DCL, James, Holgate, Glyfi or Pickford will be fine.

Wilfried Zaha will also be a necessity due to Palace’s fixtures, whilst Leicester are good value even if they miss Gameweek 36 due to the Cup Final.

I’m avoiding Chelsea during this period and I’ll be dumping the remainder of my Man City players.

A few good teams have Single Gameweek considerations: Wolves host Brighton, Liverpool welcome Southampton, whilst Spurs travel to Leeds.

In reality though, DGW35 is all a little bit dead, with most teams having awful fixtures apart from a few teams. I might hold my Wildcard, Bench Boost and Triple Captain for the final three Gameweek’s of the season.

Who are the teams to look out for and avoid?:

Chelsea & Man City (Avoid): This one should be quite obvious, but with the second legs of the Champions League semi-finals taking place next week (City play Tuesday, Chelsea on Wednesday), I’m not sure I’m all too comfortable with City and Chelsea assets, even with favourable fixtures. Rotation will do a number on everyone, meaning we might have to have numbers on the bench to make it by.

Leicester (Watch): I said a few weeks ago that Leicester’s fixture run-in was comfortable enough for them to seal Champions League football before they take on Man United (GW36), and against a stuttering Saints team, I see nothing but a Leicester win. Kelechi’s form reminds of Papiss Cisse’s debut campaign for Newcastle – half a campaign littered with fantastic goals – and I’m hoping the Nigerian keeps up the output until the end of the season.

Man United & Liverpool (Avoid): This fixture in recent years is notorious for being low-scoring and of little quality. With United beating Roma 6-2 on Thursday in the Europa League, and battling Liverpool for a spot in the Champions League, I can’t see weakened teams on either part in what could be a tense affair.

Burnley (Hate): I’m still seething for having Chris Wood and his glorious 20 points remain on my bench last week. Given how form works, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Champions League chasing West Ham win big here to balance the books.

Wolves (Watch): Looking forward to Wolves making a statement against West Brom after failing to play football against Burnley of all teams. I’m also keen to see the icing on a relegation cake for West Brom – they’ve offered virtually nothing all season apart from a few half-decent games away at Man City and Liverpool.

Brighton (Be Aware): It there’s one club to suck the fun out of owning Stuart Dallas or Patrick Bamford, it’s Brighton. I’m just not expecting a lot from this game on either end as their seasons are already over. No chance Brighton are being caught by West Brom or Fulham, even if they lose their final five games.

Gameweek 34 - FPL Captaincy Picks:

Essential: Harry Kane (TOT)

Alternative: Kelechi Iheanacho (LEI)

Differential: Gylfi Sigurdsson (EVE)

Other Gameweek Comments:

On the social media boycotts this weekend, I’m all for social justice and accountability on social platforms, but I am certain that this will only serve to divide people further if anyone tweets or writes anything during the hours of this boycott. Moreover, I cannot shake the reality that this will be a big empty gesture in a month, two, three and then a year. Real change happens with lobbying governments to change laws to force these social media companies and their empowered lawyers to shape up.

I, like many have suffered online abuse but am thick skinned and can take the heat and just let it roll over my body, but there’s a large world of people out there that are wired differently, who are born into a world where people of all colours, race, religion and identity are discriminated against.

In order to combat social media companies and those who exploit its platforms, like anything in a functioning society this needs to be caught in classrooms and workplaces across the country. More importantly, government legislation needs to be passed across the world. Even more importantly, the issue needs to be policed effectively or anything the public and these institutions do won’t matter anyway.

The major issue with safeguarding good-natured people online though is at its core a privacy and freedom of speech concern, so everyone has to tread carefully before you even consider handing over sensitive data. The last thing anyone needs is even more ‘big brother’ style Black Mirror realities coming true.

In the ‘FPL Community’, I’m not one of these faceless, racist, ill-informed accounts that I’ve seen come and go over the years, but they exist and I’ve seen a lot forms of discrimination. Maybe it is time to drop the cringy monikers, cheesy names and take the initiative, to educate and empower where the government and these companies fail us.

Also on a sidenote…

Politics has dominated the football landscape recently. Online discrimination and racism is the hot topic this week, the European Super League last week, VAR the week before that - all whilst living in the shadow of Covid-19 for over a year now. It’s been a bleak, depressing time for football and with the upcoming, debilitating formats of the Champions League and World Cups, we might be nearing an endgame for how far football can go.

FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 34

Formation: 3-4-3

Starting 11

GK: Rui Patricio (WOL)

DEF: Ruben Dias (MCI)

DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV)

DEF: Timothy Castagne (LEI)

MID: Adama Traore (WOL)

MID: Jesse Lingard (WHU)

MID: Heung-Min Son (TOT)

MID: Gylfi Sigurdsson (EVE)

FOR: Patrick Bamford (LEE)

FOR: Harry Kane (TOT) – (C)

FOR: Kelechi Iheanacho (LEI) – (VC)

Substitutes

GK: Jordan Pickford (EVE)

MID: Jack Harrison (LEE)

DEF: Vladimir Coufal (WHU)

DEF: Stuart Dallas (LEE)

Want to know more about The Hype Train?

The Hype Train is an entertainment website founded in 2015, specialising in Fantasy sports reporting, starting with Fantasy Premier League (FPL), before expanding to MLS Fantasy coverage in 2018.

We pride ourselves in providing beautiful graphics, statistics, in-depth analytical reporting and free weekly insight for hopeful players attempting to climb rankings tables. We are also occasional media reviewers, with a keen interest to review games, live sport, and professional wrestling.

In 2019, Hype Train Football Club was formed, becoming the first Fantasy Football website to take to the field. HTFC is a socially active team across social and web channels, providing regular match highlights, match reports, comprehensive player statistics and unique player profiles. We won both Goal of the Season Awards in the Berkshire and County FA regions, with Callum Parr-Jones winning the Berks & Bucks FA award, whilst Martin King won the PlaySport UK award.

The Hype Train were nominated and shortlisted for the 'Best Football Blog' in 2016 by the Football Bloggers Association at their annual Football Blogging Awards (The FBA's), and were again shortlisted as a finalist in 2019 in the 'Best Fantasy Football Blog' category.

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All aboard.