Fantasy Premier League tips: Gameweek 31

Kai Havertz is in good form
Kai Havertz is in good form / Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
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Start your engines Fantasy Premier League players around the world, Gameweek 31 is finally upon us after the final international break of the season.

There's, unfortunately, only two teams with double gameweek fixtures - desperately struggling Burnley and Everton in case you wanted to know - so it's very much a case of selecting your side to take advantage of favourable upcoming fixtures.

Most players have likely used their wildcards and free hits, meaning the odd transfer made here or there could be decisive in order to climb up league tables across the land.

We all know the obvious staples of most sides, but there's another eight players primed for consideration, specially picked out by 90min...


1. Luis Diaz (8.1)

Luis Diaz
Diaz a certain starter at Liverpool already? Potentially / Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/GettyImages

Team: Liverpool
Fixture: Watford (h)

Nope, Luis Diaz is not Mohamed Salah or Sadio Mane, nor is he Diogo Jota. But he is a wonderfully talented forward who looks to have already forced his way into Jurgen Klopp's regular starting XI thinking.

Jota scored the winner against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup, but that runout could indicate that Diaz is now ahead of him in the Premier League pecking order - having adjusted to the league like a duck to water.

Roy Hodgson's Watford await on 2 April and they've been pretty woeful all season, making Diaz's 8.1 price extremely palatable.


2. Jadon Sancho (8.9)

Jadon Sancho
Sancho is going from strength to strength / Soccrates Images/GettyImages

Team: Manchester United
Fixture: Leicester (h)

You probably (definitely) already know this but Manchester United aren't in the greatest shape right now.

They're not winning enough games, they're not scoring enough goals and they definitely don't have enough points for a team harbouring aspirations of finishing in the Premier League's top four.

United do, however, have an improving Jadon Sancho on their hands, and fresh from being overlooked by England again, he has a point to prove against Leicester, Everton and Norwich in his next three outings.

38 points in his last six games is good going, too.


3. Dejan Kulusevski (6.3)

Dejan Kulusevski
Kulusevski is impressing at Tottenham / Visionhaus/GettyImages

Team: Tottenham
Fixture: Newcastle (h)

Tottenham appear to be finding their stride under Antonio Conte after sampling five wins in their last seven Premier League games, and it's no coincidence that the upturn in form began when Dejan Kulusevski became a regular in the team.

The Swede has delivered 44 points in that time, scoring twice and bagging five assists, and he's fast becoming one of the most in-form players in the division.

Newcastle are next up, followed by games against Aston Villa and Brighton - all winnable for Spurs you'd argue.


4. Rodrigo (6.2)

Rodrigo - Spanish Soccer Striker - Born 1991
Rodrigo was on the mark against Wolves and looked good overall / Visionhaus/GettyImages

Team: Leeds
Fixture: Southampton (h)

When Forrest Gump's mama opened her box of chocolates, she probably found Leeds inside - because you really never know what you're gonna get.

Under Jesse Marsch, the early signs are it could be points - although their 3-2 win over Wolves at Molineux was aided by some hopelessly bad defending from the hosts it must be said.

Nevertheless, low-priced Rodrigo looked a whole lot better for the Whites in that game, and there's a huge opportunity to build on that in back-to-back matches against Southampton and Watford.


5. Kai Havertz (7.9)

Kai Havertz
Kai Havertz is enjoying himself up front for Chelsea / Catherine Steenkeste/GettyImages

Team: Chelsea
Fixture: Brentford (h)

To be successful in FPL, you sometimes have to go with a gut feeling. You have to predict when you think players are going to come into form, and you have to look beyond the gameweek in hand.

But in the case of Kai Havertz, you have a player who not only has a tasty set of fixtures - with two to be rescheduled - coming up over the next few weeks, you have one bang in form.

Brentford are in the immediate firing line (looks good) and Southampton, Leicester and Watford all have to travel to Stamford Bridge before the end of the season (looks great).


6. Benjamin White (4.5)

Ben White
All smiles for White of late / Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/GettyImages

Team: Arsenal
Fixture: Crystal Palace (a)

Arsenal returned to winning ways at Aston Villa after losing to Liverpool at the Emirates, making it six Premier League wins out of seven for Mikel Arteta's boys.

Much of the Gunners' success has actually revolved around a pretty watertight defence rather than anything flashy up front, with Ben White in the side for 13 clean sheets this season.

He's on 103 points for the season and costs just £4.5m, which is an absolute steal compared to the prices of almost every full-back. Palace are a good side, but so were Villa - so don't be surprised if he churns out another six points at Selhurst.


7. Wout Weghorst (6.4)

Wout Weghorst
Weghorst has impressed since arriving in the Premier League / Alex Livesey/GettyImages

Team: Burnley
Fixtures: Man City (h), Everton (h)

It would be remiss of us not to include at least one double-gameweek player in our FPL tips.

So who have we plumped for? Relatively cheap striker, Wout Weghorst, who was included in the Netherlands' squad for the most recent international break but did not feature against Denmark nor Germany.

He'll be fighting fit for games against Man City (very hard) and Everton (not very hard) as a result, and with 180 minutes to find the back of the net, he's got as good a chance as any striker on the game of finding the back of the net.


8. Phil Foden (7.8)

Phil Foden
Foden loves scoring goals away from home / Visionhaus/GettyImages

Team: Man City
Fixture: Burnley (a)


The problem with picking Manchester City players in FPL is you can never really be sure of Pep Guardiola's rotation policy - just when you think somebody is in form, bam, he leaves them out with the Champions League in mind.

However, in the case of Phil Foden, he has started their last eight Premier League games in a row, and now Liverpool are hot on their coattails it's going to become harder and harder to leave out the big boys.

Foden loves scoring away from home, too - indeed, six of his seven goals in the league this season have come away from the Etihad. Potentially a shrewd investment for this week and the remainder of the season.