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Who are the best under-the-radar players to add to your Fantasy Premier League team for Gameweek 36 of 2025-26?We assess the Opta data to reveal our top picks.
It’s a big gameweek for Manchester City and Crystal Palace. They play twice as they face off at the Etihad Stadium next Wednesday in their game in hand. Should you therefore select their players for their extra point-gathering opportunities?
We’ve crunched the Opta data to identify five players you should consider owning, despite them currently being picked by fewer than 10% of FPL managers.
GK – Antonín Kinsky | 3.9m | 1.7% Ownership
It’s such a difficult time to pick players. If you want a goalkeeper who is facing poor attacking teams, and you do, then Nick Pope is your man. But both Nottingham Forest and (especially) West Ham, his next two opponents, need points whereas Newcastle do not.
Aston Villa are at Burnley on Sunday, which should be as easy an afternoon as they come. It’s feasible that Unai Emery rests Emiliano Martínez if Villa have a UEFA Europa League final on the horizon, though.
In a move that would’ve been utterly unthinkable less than a month ago, our goalkeeper selection this week is Antonín Kinsky. Yep, that Antonín Kinsky. The man who was so bad in a Champions League match against Atlético Madrid that he was substituted in just the 17th minute.
Tottenham have started to improve under Roberto De Zerbi. Granted, they only beat Wolves and a Europe-distracted Villa, but as they hadn’t won this year, that’s a serious upturn.
Spurs host Leeds on Monday night. The visitors may be fully safe from relegation worries by the time they kick off. What’s more, they’ve only averaged 1.12 goals per away game this season.
De Zerbi’s men then head to Stamford Bridge next weekend. While it’s a tough derby, Chelsea’s season looks all but over already and they’re below average for goals at home in 2025-26, too. Kinsky could complete his redemption arc before the season is out.
DEF – Michael Keane | 4.5m | 2.6% Ownership
Everton’s hopes of securing European football for 2026-27 are looking slim. But they’re only four points off sixth, which may yet bring qualification for the UEFA Champions League. With the fixtures they have remaining, a charge into Europe should not be ruled out.
They are at Crystal Palace this weekend. The Eagles will likely be looking forward to the UEFA Conference League final. Everton then host Sunderland, who have achieved their goal of staying up and rank as the second-lowest-scoring away team in the Premier League this season.
This is all good news for Michael Keane, who has been one of the FPL bargains of the season. He has earned 122 points, the third most by any player costing a maximum of £4.5m. Joachim Andersen (125) and Chris Richards (124), the men above him, average fewer points-per-start, too.
With Jarrad Branthwaite out for the rest of the season, we can be confident Keane will be in David Moyes’ starting XI. Against teams with nothing at stake, clean sheets look likely.
Our man could deliver in attack as well. The teams with the worst records for set-piece goals conceded this season (Bournemouth, Liverpool and West Ham) have let in 17 goals. Palace are on 15 with Sunderland having allowed 13, so while they’re not at the bottom of the barrel, they’re floating just above it.
Keane has had 22 shots this season, the joint-eighth most among centre-backs. It’s six more than James Tarkowski despite playing 740 fewer minutes, so the season could end very well for Keane.
MID – Bukayo Saka | 9.9m | 8.5% Ownership
The title is so close Arsenal can touch it. The Opta supercomputer gives them an 85.3% chance of winning the Premier League at the time of writing,
With the fixtures they have remaining, you can see why. The hardest of them is on Sunday, at West Ham. While the Hammers are fighting for their lives, the Gunners won 5-2 there last season and 6-0 in 2023-24.
Arsenal then host relegated, managerless Burnley in their final home game before finishing up at Crystal Palace. All very winnable games for a team that is this close to claiming a first league title for 22 years.
Kind fixtures or not, Mikel Arteta will pick strong teams to get the job done. Players in form will be key, which is why Bukayo Saka should be in the starting XI. He assisted the opening goal of Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Fulham last weekend before netting the second to make the points all-but safe before half time. Even more importantly, Saka scored the goal that won the Champions League semi-final in midweek.
He is Arsenal’s top shot-taker in the Premier League, with 66, while Viktor Gyökeres is their only man who has amassed more non-penalty expected goals (with 9.8 to Saka’s 6.5). The England international has usually been in too many FPL teams to feature in this column, making this our time to pounce.
MID – Florian Wirtz | 8.3m | 9.0% Ownership
To say Florian Wirtz’s first season in England has been a disappointment would be an understatement. The £100m man has only delivered seven goals and eight assists. His strikes have included scoring against Burnley, Barnsley, Wolves and Qarabag.
Wirtz has created goals against slightly better teams like Eintracht Frankfurt and Galatasaray but his only goal contribution against a club in England’s established big six came at Tottenham. Another team deep in relegation trouble would be a far better description of Spurs’ standing in 2025-26.
This could change this weekend. Liverpool host Chelsea, whose form is abysmal. Their current six-game losing streak has only been topped by Wolves (11) and Burnley (seven) at any point this Premier League season. The 14 goals they have conceded in these defeats is the most of any side in the division in the previous six gameweeks.
And Wirtz has been unlucky, too. He has scored 1.3 league goals fewer than his xG and has seen 2.1 of the expected assists he has laid on go unconverted. Only Yeremy Pino (with 2.1 and 4.7 respectively), Enzo Fernández (2.9 and 3.7) and Daichi Kamada (1.4 and 2.4) have underachieved by more on both fronts.
Wirtz was under expectation by 1.2 for xG and 0.8 on xA in the Champions League, too. Something close to even average finishing from him and his teammates might have seen him hit double figures for goals and assists which would make his campaign look a lot better.
With Hugo Ekitiké and Mohamed Salah out and Alexander Isak having struggled for fitness all season, Liverpool need Wirtz to drop some numbers on Chelsea on Saturday.
FWD – Richarlison | 6.3m | 5.8% Ownership
If you set arbitrary bars of more than 107 FPL points with an average of 4.9 across a minimum of 17 starts this season, you’ll find there are 28 men who meet the criteria. These players understandably tend to be popular in the game though, which is kryptonite to the 10% Club.
Quite a few of those that are eligible have featured in these articles recently, not least Saka above. Someone who was last selected back in gameweek 21 is Richarlison, who could be worth a look once again.
Injuries to the likes of Dominic Solanke and Xavi Simons make it incredibly likely that he will remain in De Zerbi’s line-up. In Leeds, Richarlison will face a team at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with the fourth-worst defensive record on the road. Spurs then travel to Chelsea, who are joint-sixth in the corresponding home standings.
The Brazilian has been getting chances recently, too. Across the last six gameweeks he has had 11 efforts from inside the box despite missing one of the matches. Only Erling Haaland (20), Rayan Cherki (14), Adam Armstrong and Beto (both 12) have had more while also playing five of six in that period. Richarlison can fire in the goals to keep Spurs in the Premier League.
*FPL player values and ownership data accurate as of 7 May 2026
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