FPL Gameweek 31 Transfer tips and trends from Nima Kafai (overall rank 1,102 in the 19/20 season). Nima reviews the FPL transfer trends each Gameweek and uses the Hub’s OPTA, Prediction, Comparison and Fixture tools to help you identify the best FPL transfers and top tips for Gameweek 31.

FPL Transfers Gameweek 31

We are entering the business end of the season now with just eight Gameweeks to go. Many FPL managers will have activated their Wildcard already in the lead up to Gameweek 31. As such, you will see that the transfer trends this week are trending towards players being bought in on many wildcards. Leeds and Aston Villa assets are being sold in abundance for players from Liverpool, Leicester, Wolves, Arsenal and Chelsea.

Tottenham Hotspur has had their Double Gameweek 32 confirmed now vs both Everton and Southampton. They are then going to have a Blank Gameweek 33 alongside Manchester City, Fulham and Southampton who all blank for the EFL cup final.

There are lots of possible outcomes for the DGW schedule after GW34.

I've created a couple of potential schedules to show what's likely to happen at the end of the season if the favorites reach the FA Cup Final (LEI & MCI) and get Blanks in GW36 due to the schedule being changed pic.twitter.com/7qUJNNNRgQ

— Ben Crellin (@BenCrellin) March 30, 2021

Ben Crellin is the go-to for all things Blank and Double Gameweek. He has now shown us a couple of potential schedules for the end of the season with a Double Gameweek 35 and Blank Gameweek 36. Some FPL managers will be holding off using their Wildcard yet as they wait for further clarity regarding the potential Double Gameweek 35.

It is highly recommended to wait till as close to the deadline, as possible, before making your moves.

FPL Transfers Gameweek 31 Deadline – Friday 9th April at 18:30 BST

This Transfer Trends series focuses on analysing a popular or interesting transfer combination within the top most transferred IN and OUT players.

Top transfers in and out this Gameweek

In the forward position, the most popular purchase has been Iheanacho with 112k transfers in. Kane has also attracted another 92k buyers, taking him up to 48% total ownership. Finally, Lacazette’s 52k transfers in ahead of the fixture vs Sheffield United makes him the third most popular new forward signing.

Iheanacho is being purchased at the expense of Bamford- 127k sales (37% of Iheanacho transfers), Watkins– 79k sales (35% of Iheanacho transfers), Antonio- 90k sales (11% of Iheanacho transfers) and Calvert-Lewin– 57k sales (8% of Iheanacho transfers).

In the midfield position, the most popular moves are Jota with 244k buys, Lingard with 202k buys and Salah with 85k buys.

Jota is being purchased at the expense of Raphinha- 106k sales (26% of Jota transfers), Bale- 230k sales (25% of Jota transfers) and Gundogan- 189k sales (17% of Jota transfers).

Our focus will be on Bamford (£6.7m) making way for Iheanacho (£5.8m) – which accounts for 37% of all Iheanacho sales this Gameweek.

I’d like to also break down Bamford’s 127k sales before starting our comparison and player review. 45% of sales were to Iheanacho, 12% to Lacazette, 10% to Vardy and 9% to Kane.

Without further ado, onto the FPL Transfers Gameweek 31 tips (Fixture Ticker for Gameweeks 31-36 is at the end to help navigate the medium-term when analysing popular transfer combinations).

Iheanacho v Bamford Comparison of Gameweeks 25-30

We can see both a comparison of his stats over the last six Gameweeks in the Hub’s Comparison Tool screenshots below and over the course of the full season too (please note Iheanacho has only been a regular starter since Gameweek 26).

The picture painted by the last six Gameweeks shows that Iheanacho has been outperforming Bamford on both the goalscoring and creativity fronts. He has a higher xG, Big Chances, Shots in the Box, Shots and Touches in the Box.

Bamford also has lower xA, Big Chances Created, Key Passes, Crosses and Final 3rd Passes than Iheanacho.

Iheanacho vs Bamford Opta Stats for last six Gameweeks (25-30)

Iheanacho v Bamford Comparison of Gameweeks 1-30

Over the course of the full season, the comparison of the underlying statistics for both players is far more in favour of Bamford on the goalscoring front. He has taken more Shots in the Box, Shots on Target, Shots and Touches in the Box. For example, Bamford has 147 Touches in the Box vs 36 for Iheanacho.

The only real noticeable difference is that Iheanacho has more Big Chances and xG on average per game than Bamford. However, due to his limited minutes, it is a much smaller sample size than Bamford who has very much been the talisman of his team.

Iheanacho vs Bamford Opta Stats for the season (1-30)

Deep Dive into Iheanacho

FPL Transfers Gameweek 31 – Top transfers in

These are the six most transferred IN players in the lead up to Gameweek 31:

Most transferred in players list on 07.04.21 (focus on Iheanacho being brought in as an Bamford replacement)

Kelechi Iheanacho (£5.6m) – Leicester City

Fixtures: West Ham (a), West Bromich Albion (H), Crystal Palace (H), Southampton (a)
Ownership: 5%

Iheanacho blanked vs Manchester City in Gameweek 30 and was subbed in the 71st minute. However, he does seem to have nailed down his starting spot whilst Barnes and Maddison have been injured. The common theory now is that when Maddison returns this will impact Perez rather than Iheahancho. Barnes does not appear to be returning very soon.

Underlying stats this season:

796 mins (17 appearances/ 9 starts)
36 touches in the penalty box
27 shots (10 on target)
20 shots inside the box
11 big chances
14 chances created (3 big chances created)
6 goals (5.52 xG)
0 assists (2.48 xA)

Iheanacho has been on fire recently for the Foxes

Leicester are third in the Hub’s fixture ticker over the next six Gameweeks. West Ham will be their toughest opponent over the coming weeks but with the loss of Declan Rice, they do not appear as defensively sound. Despite their decent defensive stats this season, they regularly concede a large number of shots and shots in the box.

Iheanacho since starting regularly is outperforming Vardy at a fraction of the price. I like the idea of owning him in addition to Vardy as a way to differentiate from the masses. If I had to only pick one, I would currently save the money on Vardy and stick with Iheanacho.

Leicester’s attacking stats away from home are very promising with 28 goals (3rd). They are also 4th for Big Chances (32). Combine this with the fact that Iheanacho himself has six goals in his last seven starts for a team in the Top 4 of the Premier League makes him a very attractive transfer target. West Ham has the 8th best defensive stats at home in comparison to Leicester’s 4th best-attacking stats away from home.

Predicted Points and Opta Stats

Iheanacho Opta Stats

The Predicted Points Tool is projecting 3.5 points for Iheanacho in Gameweek 31. He does have some decent fixtures between Gameweek 32 and 35 though so should hopefully continue to impress whilst he is in the form of his career.

Transfer rating

Iheanacho is a great option that could exploit West Ham’s defence this week and can act as a great value enabler to afford key Liverpool assets in other positions.

Some other forwards that I really like if you already own Iheanacho are Lacazette, Vardy, Ings and Wood.

Considering that many are bringing him in for Bamford, it is only fair that we move onto analysing Bamford.

Deep Dive into Bamford

FPL Transfers Gameweek 31 – Top transfers out

These are the six most transferred OUT players in the lead up to Gameweek 31:

Most transferred out players list on 07.04.21 (focus on Bamford being sold for Iheanacho)

Patrick Bamford (£6.7m) – Leeds United

Fixtures: Manchester City (a), Liverpool (H), Manchester United (H), Brighton (a)
Ownership: 48%

Bamford has proved many doubters wrong who said he wouldn’t be able to do it at the Premier League level in the preseason. Starting at just £5.5m he has risen to close to £7m whilst netting 14 goals and 9 assists. He has been in poor form lately with four blanks in his last five games. Leeds fixtures are about to enter a very difficult stretch facing some of the best teams in the Premier League.

Underlying stats this season:

1,934 mins (24 appearances / 21 starts)
147 touches in the penalty box
49 shots (21 on target)
41 shots inside the box
11 big chances
15 chances created (2 big chances created)
9 goals (7.83 xG)
1 assist (2.82 xA)

Is it time to sell Bamford?

Many FPL managers will own both Raphinha and Bamford and with the tough fixtures to come, it does not make much sense to be so heavily invested in the Leeds attack. Bamford himself has gone from 28.12 mins per Shot in the Box to 44.75 mins (Gameweek 1-24 vs Gameweek 25-30). Interestingly Iheanacho is averaging a Shot in the Box every 40.8 minutes between Gameweek 25-30 but has been far more clinical with 5 Goals from 7 Big Chances in this time. Bamford only had 2 Goals from 5 Big Chances in this stretch.

Leeds face Manchester City in Gameweek 31 which should be a very interesting game as Pep is likely to heavily rotate his team to priorities the Champion’s League second leg vs Borussia Dortmund in the midweek. We’d still expect a rotated City team to dominate Leeds and win this match.

Leeds have one of the best fixture runs of any team going into the end of the season. This begs the question of whether we should just bench our Leeds assets through this tough run or buy a replacement and then cross that bridge closer to the time?

I like the idea of benching a Raphinha type but with Bamford, I can definitely see the appeal in moving him on to maximise the fixture swings. Raphinha has continued to perform well and his underlying attacking numbers are brilliant during this same period where Bamford’s numbers have declined.

Predicted Points and Opta Stats

Bamford Opta Stats

The Predicted Points Tool is projecting 3.3 points for Bamford in Gameweek 31 vs Manchester City but he has tasty fixtures for the final stretch of the season vs Burnley, Southampton and West Bromwich Albion.

Transfer rating

Bamford has been one of the value assets of the entire season. Many of us have value tied up in him but it seems like he will be rotting on our benches until his fixtures improve. As such it would be more powerful to take advantage of the fixture swing and sell him for the time being with a plan to potentially buy back at the end of the season.

Iheanacho is a great option that could exploit West Ham’s defence this week and can act as a great value enabler to afford key Liverpool assets in other positions.

Some other forwards that I really like if you already own Iheanacho are Lacazette, Vardy, Ings and Wood.

Fixture Ticker schedule for best FPL transfers Gameweek 31 (Attack)

Here is a view of the upcoming six Gameweeks where teams are ordered based on the leakiness of the defences they face. You can access this on the Hub’s Fixture Ticker to play around and adjust filters if you want to get inspiration for which teams to be targeting in the medium term with your transfers.

*Please note the main thing to know is that High numbers are good for attack and bad for the defence in the next two photos. Also, note that the Double and Blank Gameweeks mess with the ordering. The ticker order is not accurate so check the number values.

Fixture Ticker for Gameweek 31 to Gameweek 36 (Best Attack)

Fixture Ticker schedule for best FPL transfers Gameweek 31 (Defence)

Here is a view of the upcoming six Gameweeks where teams are ordered based on the potency of the attacks they face.

Fixture Ticker for Gameweek 31 to Gameweek 36 (Best Defence)

l look forward to hearing your thoughts and discussing your transfers in the lead up to the Gameweek 31 deadline at 18:30 BST on Friday 9th April.

If you are looking to follow more of my content or interact on all things FPL, follow me on Twitter.

You can also tune in to my new podcast #NetThatHaul on YouTube. I’ve set the video below to start at 29 minutes in so you can see my 10 minute segment regarding Transfer Trends for GW31 in more depth.

Good luck with Gameweek 30!

Become a Hub member for free

What do members get access to?

New app

Become a member!

Follow the Hub

Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | Tiktok
And view all our latest fantasy football tips on our Homepage

Gameweek 31 Transfer Tips | Fantasy Premier League 2020/21

Save your FPL Season

Community & tools