As Fantasy Premier League managers, it’s easy to be seduced by the fixture schedule, especially when it’s littered with sides who have double gameweeks.

However, this past weekend, title contenders Manchester City and Arsenal prospered and assets from Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur (who were beginning doubles) faltered — although the latter teams’ players can rectify their paltry scores so far when they face off at Stamford Bridge tonight (Thursday).

So, with just three gameweeks to go until the end of the season, should we be tripling up on the two sides going for the champions’ trophy?

Manchester City’s must-haves

It’s been a challenging few weeks for those FPL managers who own City attackers, with injury and illness costing them minutes for both Erling Haaland (£14.1m) and Phil Foden (£8.4m).

However, with City now out of the Champions League, they have a free midweek either side of their league game against Wolves on Saturday before they face Fulham, Tottenham and West Ham in the span of eight days to finish their top-flight campaign.

Since the March international break, City have scored 19 goals in six league games — the best record in the division, despite seven of the other 19 clubs having played an additional game.

Of their remaining opponents, only Fulham managed to keep a clean sheet in that period, which bodes well for City’s attacking prospects as we enter May. West Ham sit third for goals conceded in this time with 15.

Both Haaland and Foden are highly owned in the game and are great investments for the end of the season. Haaland remains a must-have as he looks to secure a second straight Premier League Golden Boot, with a leading 47 big chances and 21 goals this season.

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Foden has the joint-best goal-involvement-per-90 metric (2.12) of any player in that six-game spell, with five goals from two big chances demonstrating his sensational form.

One way of gaining a differential edge on this settled City attack is by investing in Kevin De Bruyne (£10.5m), who has three goals and three assists in his last four starts.

In the past six gameweeks, De Bruyne leads the way for big chances created with eight. In my own fantasy team, I’ve tripled up on City attackers, which could prove fruitful in their remaining games.

Pep Guardiola’s defence also has to be considered after their good run of form, keeping three clean sheets in six since the international break. That takes them up to 11 for the campaign.

We are still waiting for news on goalkeeper Ederson (£5.5m), who was substituted at half-time against Nottingham Forest last weekend with a shoulder injury. If he’s out, Stefan Ortega (£3.7m) becomes a budget gift for those managers looking to free up funds for a bench boost.

Ortega is a budget City option if Ederson’s injury is long-term (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Picking a City defender who starts all of their final four games will be a challenge, with Guardiola’s (infamous) love of rotation. This isn’t helped by the fact that all his back line are currently fit and available.

Josko Gvardiol (£5.0m) waited until April to score his first goal for the club after signing last summer and ended up with three in all competitions for the month. He has started all of City’s last six Premier League games and looks to be the safest route into their defence.

Arsenal’s go-to guys

Managers who sold Kai Havertz (£7.5m) and Bukayo Saka (£9.0m) last time out for double gameweek assets were punished, with the pair both posting double-digit hauls in the north London derby on Sunday.

They haven’t seen significant numbers of transfers back in either — assets who double again, such as Anthony Gordon (£6.3m) of Newcastle and Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m), have been more popular acquisitions for the run-in.

Havertz has three double-digit hauls in seven games since the March international break, with four goals and three assists in this time. He’s the first choice in Mikel Arteta’s attack, with the bonus of being listed as a midfielder in the game but playing as the main striker.

Despite not doubling between now and the campaign’s end, Arsenal face three sides, Bournemouth (H), Manchester United (A) and Everton (H), who struggle defensively in central areas. It may work to Havertz’s advantage, and he remains a differential in FPL: the German was in less than 10 per cent of squads at time of writing.

Havertz has been one of the Gunners’ main sources of firepower in attack (Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)

An attacking double-up alongside Saka is the most attractive option here, with the Englishman the highest-scoring midfielder in the game this season (214 points).

Saka ranks second among midfielders for shots on goal with 99, scoring 15 goals (nine of them big chances). He also ranks fourth for key passes with 83 and remains Arsenal’s first-choice penalty taker. Best of all: he rarely misses a minute of action.

In the reverse fixtures of Arsenal’s remaining three matches, they scored eight goals and kept two clean sheets. Their defensive powers show no sign of waning too, with a league-best five clean sheets in seven since the last international break and just four goals conceded.

With this in mind, remaining doubled up on that defence could be key for the run-in, as they look to grind out results.

Gabriel Magalhaes (£5.4m) remains the best route into their back line. With a tally of six big chances, the threat of a goal from a set piece is never far away. Manchester United, Bournemouth and Everton have each conceded a minimum of 10 goals from set pieces this season.

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But it’s Ben White (£6.0m) who has the recent form, scoring twice in the 5-0 win against Chelsea to move up to nine goal involvements for the season.

White is often susceptible to an early substitution but this did work to his advantage against Aston Villa in Gameweek 33, where he banked the clean sheet points before Arsenal conceded two late goals. And, like City, with Arsenal no longer involved in Europe, the need to rotate should be lower.

I own just Gabriel in my squad, with no immediate plans to bring in a second or third Arsenal asset as I remain focused on those sides who double in Gameweek 37 — a list that includes City.

But if the title race is still on come Gameweek 38, it’s players from Arteta’s team who will be the focus of my transfers.

(Top photos: Kevin De Bruyne and Ben White; Getty Images)