Gameweek 35 Sleepers XI: Draft EPL

Our Gameweek 35 Sleepers XI article provides Draft managers with a lineup of Fantasy EPL hidden gems. Our starting eleven of Draft Premier League differential picks will help you find a golden ticket to a big score this weekend! These hints and tips will give you a better chance of picking up an all-important victory, as any one of these under-the-radar picks could make the difference in a head-to-head game!

Michail Antonio shooting the ball for West Ham

We'll be focusing on players that will bring us not only attacking returns or clean sheets, but also those players that score Ghost Points in the sophisticated and statistics based Fantrax Scoring System!

Fantasy EPL Gameweek 35 Sleepers XI

For this article, we use the percentage rostered calculation from Fantrax and Sleeper. Our only rule is that each player we highlight is rostered in 60% of leagues or fewer at the time of writing. Therefore, there's a good chance some of these players will be free agents in your Draft league! As always, we'll take form, fixtures, projected points, and a healthy dose of intuition into account to make our selections.

Our GW34 Sleepers XI didn't quite hit our desired heights but we'll take the respectable 76.75 FPts score. There were some good aspects, some bad ones and definitely some ugly scores! The good stuff really came from our defence. Although we had 3 DEFs with clean sheets, Agbadou (16.25 FPts), Chalobah (11 FPts) and Sepp van den Berg (13 FPts), our highest score actually came from Joachim Andersen (19.25 FPts). Andersen's haul was fuelled by a gameweek high 13 clearances and 10 aerials against a Southampton team, who took a surprisingly early lead against the Cottagers. The combination of our goalkeeper, Leno (4 FPts) and midfielders, Dominguez (2.75 FPts), Garner (1.75 FPts) and Munetsi (6 FPts) was definitely underwhelming but it didn't help that Dominguez did not even start his game! Finally our FWD line combined for a whimpering total of 2.75 FPts from Beto (2.75 FPts), Keane Lewis-Potter's 45 minute start (-1 FPts) and Sancho's 11 minute sub appearance (1 FPts). Good thing DEF is the easiest position to stream! Maybe we go a back-5 next? Keep reading to find out what we'll do for GW35!

The Sleepers XI table below includes a full team of Starters, as well as 5 Reserves - high-upside players with some question marks around whether or not they'll start in Gameweek 35. So, keep an eye out when lineups are announced and pick them up if you see them starting, especially if you need to fill a spot on your roster. Read below for the rationale behind each of the Starter selections.

Kepa (G, Bournemouth)

Over the past 3 gameweeks, Kepa has scored the 2nd most fantasy points of all goalkeepers in the game (44.25 FPts, 14.75 PPS). Even though Bournemouth have lost a bit of their form with only 1 win in their last 8 games, Kepa has still been a pretty reliable option between the sticks. Although facing Arsenal this weekend doesn't seem like a great fixture on paper, the Cherries will probably fancy their chances against the Gunners given the North London club have a must-win 2nd leg away tie in a few days against PSG, for which they are probably going to rest some of their best attacking players. This bodes well for Kepa to possibly rack up lots of saves without conceding many goals. Who knows, you could even fluke a clean sheet!

Chris Richards (D, Crystal Palace)

After Crystal Palace conceded 10 goals in their first double gameweek, Chris Richards doubled down on the pain for owners and got sent off in the1st game of his second double gameweek, leaving managers absolutely frustrated as he was basically a dead spot in their roster for the remainder of the gameweek. On top of that, Richards didn't even have a fixture in GW34, so it would come as no surprise if he was available in your league right now. Lest we forget, Richards was basically performing like a DEF-2/3 at one point, scoring around 12 PPS since the start of the year. So I think he's still worth a spot on any roster, especially against a Nottingham Forest team who seem to be running out of steam in their final push for a Champions League spot with only 1 win, 3 losses and 3 goals scored in their last 4 games.

Luke Shaw (D, Man Utd)

Due to Manchester United's multiple injuries to their defensive players, Luke Shaw seems to have found a spot in the starting XI again. Shaw started his first game of the season against Bournemouth in GW34 and put up a memorable 11.75 ghost point game. What's impressive is the fact that he managed to get 3 key passes while playing as one of the 3 CBs. It should be noted that he took 4 of 10 corners as well. In his appearance before this game, he got 5 FPts in 11 minutes and got 2 key passes then as well! It's clear that there is some attacking upside with Shaw, which is the main reason as to why we're taking a chance with him as there's very little hope in Man Utd keeping a clean sheet these days.

Ryan Sessegnon (D, Fulham)

Believe it or not, Sessegnon is scoring around 17.5 PPS this season. Sure, he's only started 5 games this season but in those 5 starts, he's scored 3 goals and gotten 1 assist. The best part is that 4 of those starts have come in the last 4 gameweeks for Fulham, so now is definitely the time to be rostering the English DEF who has been playing in a more attacking role. Fulham are in a great position to push for a European spot, and with their attacking players like Harry Wilson returning to fitness, there's a chance that Sessegnon's ceiling could potentially be even higher than it already is.

Sepp van den Berg (D, Brentford)

Although we might have lost an absolute treasure in Ethan Pinnock this season, Sepp van den Berg has taken over the mantle with ease. The ex-Liverpool DEF has slotted in perfectly into the Bees' backline. Sepp vdB has been averaging just over 8 gPPS over his last 5 games and now has one of the best fixture runs for the remainder of the season. Amorim has already said that there's a chance of heavy rotation of his Man Utd squad before their 2nd Europa League SF leg, which bodes well for a possible clean sheet for the Brentford defence. A set and forget DEF-2/3 for any roster.

Abdoulaye Doucoure (M, Everton)

Despite Doucoure's absolute stinker of a score in GW34 of 1.75 FPts against Chelsea in GW34, we're still going to suggest him as a pick for GW35, mainly because he's up against an already relegated Ipswich team. Doucoure has made it very clear that he would like to stay at Everton for the next couple of seasons and has been very vocal about wanting to sign a new contract, so he's doing his best on the pitch to make it happen! His last few games have somewhat improved (6 PPS over his last 5 games) compared to his early season performances, which isn't saying a lot, but the Frenchman isn't shy to shoot and did net a goal against one of the best defences in the league only a couple of games ago. With Southampton also on the horizon of fixtures for Everton, it's not a bad time to stash a few of their guys from now.

Bilal El Khannnouss (M, Leicester City)

Even with Leicester only scoring 2 goals in their last 10 games, we're still going to suggest an attacking player from their ranks given they are facing the worst team in the league this weekend. Over the past 4 games, El Khannouss has been averaging just over 8 PPS. It's probably helped by the fact that he managed to get an assist in the last game Leicester actually scored a goal. On that day he managed to put up a whopping 17.5 FPts. So it's evident that Bilal's ceiling can be pretty high if Leicester can actually put the ball in the back of the net. So this is purely a gamble for a MID-4/5 slot and nothing higher.

Ethan Nwaneri (M, Arsenal)

After losing 0-1 at the Emirates in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal tie against PSG, there's a strong chance that Arteta rotates most of his regular starting XI to give the Gunners the best chance possible to qualify for the final during the coming week. One possible beneficiary of said rotation is Ethan Nwaneri. While Saka was out injured, Nwaneri more than stepped up to the plate and delivered for both Arsenal fans and Fantrax managers alike. His 8.5 PPS and 17.5 FPts ceiling should not be taken lightly and he could be a genuine difference-maker for your gameweek. Bournemouth have only won 1 of their last 8 games and have conceded 11 goals in the process. The Cherries are also still trying to earn a European spot so they will most likely be on the attack, which could leave space in behind for Nwaneri and his teammates to exploit. A gamble definitely worth taking.

Mateus Fernandes (M, Southampton)

Even though we suggested Bilal against Southampton as a possible pick, we're going to also suggest an attacking player from the Saints. We basically think that both teams will score given they're both already relegated and have nothing to play for. Over the last 8 games, only Ipswich and Spurs have conceded more goals the either Southampton or Leicester City, so chances are there could be some goals in this game. Fernandes has a goal and an assist over his last 5 appearances and during that period, he has shown that he could potentially score nearly 20 FPts in any given gameweek.

Mathys Tel (F, Tottenham)

According to our fixture difficulty tracker, Spurs FWDs have the 3rd best rated fixture in GW35, as they come up against a struggling West Ham side. Given their successful first leg win against Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League Semifinal, Spurs are most likely to put all their eggs in that basket and rotate heavily in the Premier League. Mathys Tel is most likely going to benefit from said rotation. Despite a slow and very mixed start to his Spurs career, the French FWD seems to have picked up some form over his last few appearances, with 2 goals in his last 4 games, including a 13.5 ghost point game against Nottingham Forest, where he registered 5 key passes! After West Ham's collapse against Brighton in GW34, it seems unlikely that the Hammers will be able to keep out Tel and his teammates. So assuming he starts, Tel could be a nice FWD-3 pick for this weekend.

Rasmus Hojlund (F, Man Utd)

After looking at Hojlund's last 5 appearances, you must be wondering why in the hell are we even suggesting him as an option. From GW30 to GW33, Hojlund was averaging just over 1 PPG, which is absolutely shocking form. However, during this run, he only started 2 of the 4 games because he was rotating with the likes of Zirkzee, who is now ruled out for the foreseeable future. This means that Hojlund should be the main man up-top for the Red Devils. Last season, Hojlund was definitely an asset worth rostering, having scored 10 goals and 2 assists while averaging around 7.5 PPG. The reason why we're suggesting to pick him up now is that he finally scored again in GW34 and that would have massively boosted his confidence, which is vital to any struggling striker. Brentford are by no means a walk in the park but if you need a FWD-3 this gameweek, Hojlund is worth a try.