AZ From FPL Blackbox Gives His Squad And Bench Boost Tips Ahead Of Gameweek 32

AZ from FPL Blackbox returns with his latest set of tips ahead of Gameweek 32, with one eye on activating his bench boost. 

Hopefully, you all had a good week last week. I’m off the bank of one of my highest GW ranks of the season, with Jacob Murphy and Tino Livramento both doing the business for me on Monday night.

My attention now turns to my Bench Boost this week and below are the options that I’m considering bringing into my own squad to stick on the bench and activate the chip.

AZ FPL Tips For Gameweek 32

Brighton Defence

You’ve probably heard already that Brighton’s next opponent, Leicester City, has just set an unwanted record for failing to score in their last 10 home games – and their last 8 in the league.

As a Brighton fan, I’m dreading us being the team where Leicester suddenly find their scoring boots, but having watched them over the last few months, I simply don’t know where the goals are going to come from.

They look completely out of ideas and seem to be playing with their heads down, misplacing es and trying to hit the ball over the top for Jamie Vardy to make something of it. I’m hoping that Brighton can nullify this attack and extend their scoreless run to 9 games.

I have Bart Verbruggen on the bench ready to come in on the Bench Boost and am seriously considering adding another Brighton defender to my ranks, with Pervis Estupinan (who I tipped in a recent article or Sportscasting) top of my wish list.

However, it is worth noting that it’s no clean sheet in 5 for Brighton in the league and Jan Paul Van Hecke is suspended for the match – adding to a whole raft of injured/suspended players. Eiran Cashin will likely make his debut, untested in the Premier League and this may work in Leicester’s favour.

Estupinan reminded us of his attacking threat with a superb goal against Man City a few weeks ago, but his attacking numbers remain quite poor. He’s also not the cheapest at £4.9m, but we do have a good run of games that make him a viable selection in the short-medium term.

Aston Villa Midfield

On paper, Villa have a great set of Gameweeks coming up, with Southampton and then a Double Gameweek vs. Man City and Arsenal.

I’d love to be able to bring a Villa attacker into my team, but of course it’s difficult to know who will start as they are still involved in matches in both the league, Champions League and FA Cup.

Morgan Rogers seems the logical choice, given that he has started all but one game for Villa so far this season. He is clearly one of the fittest players in the squad and Emery has no concerns with rolling him out in as many matches as possible. The same can’t be said for the likes of Marcus Rashford, Marco Asensio and Ollie Watkins, all of which are having their minutes managed in the league as they chase cup success.

With Asensio playing 70’ against Nottingham Forest and Rashford being benched, I would guess that the Manchester United loanee would start against Southampton, with an early sub likely. I’d then expect him to start one of the two matches in the Double Gameweek. This isn’t bad – and if you have the funds to back Rashford, it could be a great punt – especially as he has just 7% ownership compared to Rogers 19%.

Liverpool Defence

It’s fair to say that Liverpool didn’t have the best of times against Fulham, with the Cottagers inflicting Arne Slot’s first away loss in the league this season.

One could argue that Liverpool have taken their foot off the gas with the league all but secure but certainly have the fixtures in the short term to get back to winning ways.

Next up is West Ham, who are struggling to create chances. They’ve only won 3 out of 11 games since Graham Potter took over and sit in the bottom 4 for goal attempts (just above the relegation-bound teams) and the lowest conversion rate in the league (27.5%).

They might not have a Double Gameweek, but over the same period, Liverpool have conceded fewer chances than everyone in the league bar Arsenal.

In fact, over the last 6 Gameweeks they are top of the defensive stats. Then it’s Leicester and, well, we’ve covered them already.

This makes the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate very tempting. Konate is more of a differential, with much lower ownership than his centre-back partner.

Not much separates them in an attacking sense, and both have one goal and an assist this season. I do still favour Van Dijk and am a little put off by Konate’s early sub in the last game, so I’ll probably opt for him if I do go down this route.