fantasy premier league chip strategy – a few of the FFGeek contributors outline how they plan to use their remaining chips

Fantasy Premier League

With a blank gameweek 31 nearly clear on its contents managers need to think about their fantasy premier league chip strategy for the rest of the season.  Here a few of the FFGeek contributors outline their thoughts

fantasy premier league chip strategy – a few of the FFGeek contributors outline how they plan to use their remaining chips

If you read my fpl blank and double gameweek article you’ll see how I was planning on using my remaining chips but I thought it might be useful if a few of the FFGeek contributors outlined their current thinking for a different perspective




Rob Reid (the FPL Vet)

Rob is currently ranked 177k and has his Wildcard, Free Hit, Triple Captain and Bench Boost intact

I was a bit undecided on my strategy going into GW27 and wanted to wait until the FA Cup last 16 had been played out and the quarter-final draw done before I came to a decision. And do you know what? After everything that has happened I’m still a little bit hazy about what I’m going to do but I think I’ve come to a decision. Sort of. Ish!

I decided to leave my options open at the end of GW27 by banking my transfer leaving me 2 for GW28 and thus giving me 5FTs before the blank GW31. On the basis of the results, it looks like the best option to me is to build a GW31 team taking the blanks into account and then spend my chips over the following weeks. The surprise Man City result, doesn’t really change things to be honest. I wouldn’t have loaded my team with too many City players as they’ll probably have sewn up the league by GW34 and if they’re still in the UCL, they’re likely to rotate their team to focus on this.

I’m not going to be massively chasing GW31 however. The fixtures in GW31 don’t scream big scores, possibly with the exception of Liverpool vs Watford. Of the other fixtures Stoke vs Everton is arguably the next most appealing. Huddersfield vs Palace could be low-scoring affair so might be good for defensive players. Bournemouth vs West Brom could go either way – The Baggies aren’t in good form but will be scrapping for points and will surely target this fixture for a possible win.

I currently own 4 GW31 players: Salah, Wilson, Richarlison and Kenny and 3 of these 4 are likely to play. That leaves me looking at 9 players using free transfers only – this looks to be ample coverage to me. Kenny is a grey area, but he’s a cheap placeholder if nothing else so I’m going to hold him. I’ll definitely be getting 3 Liverpool players and their fixtures are nice for the next fortnight, so they’re high on my ‘transfers in’ list. Richarlison and Wilson are both out of form, but I’ll hold them – again they have chances to return in the games before GW31. I also want to be careful not to neglect players from other teams in the next 3 weeks so I may also take a couple of points hits as I do have some form issues outside my core players.

For my Liverpool players, I’m thinking Salah + Firmino or Mane + a defensive player. For others, Walcott, Sigurdsson, King, Fraser, Stanislas, Miliajovic, Shaqiri and Jese would be the attacking players I’d look at. Defensively – Huddersfield and Crystal Palace would be higher on the hit list.

As for after this, I would then plan to play my Wildcard in GW32 building a Bench Boost team for GW34. I’d use my Free Hit to negotiate the FA Cup semi-final blank GW35 (where Chelsea, Man United, Spurs and Southampton look the more likely to lose their fixtures) then bank my GW36 transfer for the other double in GW37 where I’ll use my last chip – Triple Captain.

Joseph Crilley

Joe is currently ranked 19k and has his Wildcard, Free Hit  and Bench Boost intact.  Joe used his triple captain in GW22

Before I detail my thoughts on the upcoming blank and double gameweeks, I should inform you that I have all the chips available to me besides the triple captain. This was, in hindsight, foolishly played on Harry Kane earlier in the season during DGW22. Prior to the FA cup weekend, I had been leaning towards the following plan of action:

GW32 – wildcard
GW34 – bench boost
GW35 – free hit

The results and draw on the weekend have only served to reassure me that this is the best way to go for my team. The reason for this is that I believe that the GW35 free hit will be extremely powerful as I expect three big teams (Spurs, Man Utd and Chelsea) to blank. The flip side is that all these sides would have a double in 34 and 37; therefore using the free hit in 35 would allow me to attack the doubles without having to worry about the blank week.

Before the fun of the double gameweeks begin, we have the rather sparse GW31 to get through. Almost every transfer I make from now until then will be dictated by this week, i.e. I’m looking to bring in players who have a game that week. I currently have 5 players who will play – Robertson, Shaqiri, Salah, Wilson and Crouch. I have 5 free transfers to use so I’m looking to have 9/10 players for the blank week.

In my opinion, owning three Liverpool players is an absolute must, especially as they have a couple of great imminent fixtures. Hence, I’m looking to add Firmino to my team this week, to protect my rank more than anything with his high ownership. Crouch will be replaced as I worry about his minutes and Son will be the cash sacrifice; a cheap midfielder (Ibe, Mililojevic, Pritchard etc) will be brought in to replace him.

Following this week, I will look to make one transfer over gameweeks 29 and 30 so I have two free transfers to use in 31. At least one of Siggy or Walcott will come in along with a defender and I might take a punt on a striker like Benteke or Mounie.

I should then be well set for the blank week; something I learnt last year is that as long as you have a solid team in these type of weeks with the big players covered, you should be rewarded with a green arrow. It’s then a differential (such as Josh King last year) who can really boost your overall rank so I’m looking to build a side with the high ownership players and 2/3 nice differentials.

I hope that my thoughts can help you with your team and best of luck to everyone for this thoroughly enjoyable time of the year!




Alex Ball

Alex is currently ranked 17k and has his Wildcard, Free Hit  and Bench Boost intact.  Alex used his triple captain in GW22

As soon as I got my head round the chips and various strategies for the upcoming weeks, I set my mind on; wildcard GW32, bench boost 34, free hit 35.

My reasoning for this is I can build up a squad to deal with the blank GW in 31 with my 5 transfer (plus a hit or two 😉). I currently have; Kenny (game time risk), Choupo-Moting (crap), Walcott, Salah and Quaner (game time risk AND crap!). Actually, writing that down is slightly worrying! On a serious note, there really isn’t that much choice for 31 so most people will be in a very similar situation. Don’t hold a player just for the sake of a fixture (Kenny, ECM, Quaner in my team for example). If you have a good plan that removes a poor player, do it and don’t hold for the sake of a fixture!

 I’m looking to gain 2 additional Pool players (so I will have 3 this week) and a player like Shaqiri or even a player who does not play in 31 but has good fixtures such as Vardy, Mahrez or Eriksen. In addition I will get another defender/goalkeeper plus Wilson or Niasse. At this point I would be very happy!

I think this strategy will work for me but I acknowledge that the strategy of free hitting in 31 may work for others. Good luck with your decision. I hope this helps.

Keith Spencer

Keith is currently ranked 6k and has his Free Hit, Triple Captain  and Bench Boost intact.  Keith used his 2nd Wildcard in GW25

My situation is like a lot of managers who were doing damage control or attempting to jump start their team in the second half of the season and they used their Wildcard before this part of the season. This is where we (managers who used their Wildcard) will pay the price without proper planning. We are not in a favourable position at this point in the season.

Most of the decisions I have made are either short term fixes or long term fixes with the Blanks and doubles in mind.

A lot of managers didn’t understand the rationale of keeping Alonso and/or Hazard in my team. I had a different view of this as I did not want to waste transfers on bringing back players (outside of Spurs as they then went to a tough stretch) when this time of the year approached.

So as it looks right now there are 5 teams that will have a DGW in 34 and 37 as of now:

SOU
CHE
Spurs
Lei
MU

As it stands right now I have 4 players that will be the base of my DGW teams and  injury and/or form permitting, will not be taking out of my team.  I think by this time they will be great differentials (Especially Vardy and Hazard)

So the Plan for my remaining chips is to use (Subject to change):

GW34 Bench Boost
GW35 Free Hit
GW37 Triple Captain

I could easily swap my Triple Captain and Bench Boost around as in my opinion, my triple captain chip was always going to be either Aguero or Kane; however in GW34 one of their doubles is against each other. Which I don’t particularly like; however, MU have a nice double against WBA and WHU. I could also triple captain Salah if the fixtures present themselves but they do not at this point.

The blank Gameweeks in 31 and 35 do worry me, however, I plan on escaping this by planning for the blanks in GW31 to do minimal damage and using my Free Hit in 35 to take care of the blanks there.

With regards to Fixture Ease the rest of the way, Arsenal in my opinion has the easiest road to the finish line. They have MC this week at home then have games against Bri, WAT, STO, SOT, (Lei, New DGW 34), and WH (Home games in caps) in that order. That is a pretty good run to GW36 in my opinion. So I will have at least one Arsenal player in the plans.

Another issue that needs to be addressed is if City clinch the title very early as looks likely. If that happens and they are still in the hunt for other trophies, I will probably take out all of the City players as they all will be subject to rotation and preparing future players as it has been somewhat of a priority for Pep since he arrived.

So all on my transfers will be around preparing to minimise loss in 31 while at the same time preparing for the Double Gameweeks in 34 and 37.

For the current gameweek  I’ve already made a transfer of Kane for Aguero . My captain will be Salah and I am hoping that he keeps his form.

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