30 weeks down and eight more to go!
The Premier League and consequently the Fantasy Premier League season is drawing to a close. But before it does, there will be a few twists and turns to offer a bit of excitement for fantasy managers.
At the moment, the majority of managers in the top 10K are yet to use their Free Hit chip.
The graph above shows that at least 70% of managers in the top 10K have yet to cash in their Free Hit chip. Currently, their are only two game weeks that can offer any tangible gains on a Free Hit. That is 32 and 34.
Blank Game Week 32
Manchester United, Manchester City, Brighton and Chelsea will all blank. Unfortunately, many managers have either two or three United and Brighton players, Haaland and maybe one other City assets and probably a Chelsea defender or striker.
If you haven't planned properly and are without a Free Hit chip, you will need to take a massive points hit just to put out a decent team.
However, with the chip you will most likely end up with a template team, meaning most managers will have many if not all of the players you choose in their own teams. So don't expect massive gains in rank.
Double Game Week 34
Managers Free Hitting in GW34 have probably had a terrible GW30 and are on their knees praying GW31 doesn't punish them further.
Why?
Over 90% of these managers decided to go without Haaland and other city assets like Jack Grealish in GW30 and got hit hard. Two goals from Haaland saw him haul in a massive 24 points on captaincy, while Grealish supplemented this return with 12 points from a goal and an assist.
Unfortunately, this duo will play a very poor Leicester side in GW31 yet they cannot afford to bring them in since they both blank in 32.
Essentially, a Free Hit in 34 assumes Manchester United and Manchester City assets will blank or get very few points which can be recovered in GW34 by having the perfect team of 11 doublers.
In my opinion, managers who have planned correctly and are Free Hitting in 32 will probably only need to take a -4 or -8 hit to get a perfect 11 in GW34.
My Recommendation
In my honest opinion, I feel like FH32 is the perfect choice. You have the opportunity to take advantage of the amazing fixtures in GW30 and GW31 and then Free Hit in GW32 to get the best assets for maximum points. You can then manage GW33 and 34 with free transfers to get a full team of doublers.
Managers who Free Hit in GW34 will lose a lot of valuable points between now and then.
Unfortunately, this advice might not be useful to some managers. Planning for GW 34 should have begun two or three weeks back. However, if you have the opportunity to implement either of these strategies, feel free to do so.
Let me know what you go with and if you have a unique strategy share it below. Sharing is caring.
Good luck, FPL managers!