One of the more popular use of chips was to keep the bones of the GW31 team and use the Free Hit chip in GW34, Wildcard in GW36 and then bench boost in GW37. It’s a strategy that was particularly used by those who had already used their triple captain. Here myself, Joe and Rob provide an imaginary Free Hit team for DGW34 while Alex, who is doing it for real, provides his first draft
fantasy premier league DGW34 free hit – the FFGeek contributors imaginary free hit teams
Remember you can only use 1 chip at a time and the free hit is for 1 gameweek only. So this team will be a focus on 11 players for the double gameweek.
Here’s a reminder of the fixtures for DGW34:
Alex Ball
As a man who has activated my free hit this week I shall be reading this article with interest! On my team:
All subs are as cheap as possible I could go to maximise money on the pitch.
Ddg– United cover a must at the back with the fixtures.
Chilwell or Morgan– not sold on foxes back line but cheap and 2 nice fixtures. Chilwell more attacking but more of a rotation risk.
Alonso – big debate here. He constantly looks like scoring but isn’t. And Chelsea can’t keep clean sheets. I will certainly be looking at how his money can be better spent.
Lowton – cheap, attacking intent and reasonable fixtures.
Willian – good price and fixtures.
Alli – spurs look good and talking to resident Spurs expert Joe, it’s a toss up between Alli and Eric.
Sanchez (captain)– his stats have been good recently and suddenly that is coming to fruition.
Mahrez – struggled lately but good stats and has been excellent this season. Good fixtures.
Lingard – great fixtures and seems to be trusted by Jose now.
Kane – looked rusty against Stoke but worth the risk as ‘shoulder-gate’ shows his keenness for the golden boot.
Vardy – good price and fixtures.
Debates for me are Lukaku; not looking great but high ownership. I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts on my team.
Here it is:
Joseph Crilley
Defence
De Gea is the obvious pick in goal and I still like the potential of Alonso in a double gameweek, especially with fixtures against Southampton and Burnley. I have then selected the Lowton from Burnley who have two home fixtures and have shown great defensive form all season at Turf Moor. I had a bit of cash left over so I decided to splash out on Maguire in the hope that he can provide an attacking return or two during his side’s double.
Midfield
My preferred Spurs midfielder is Alli who has the security of minutes that Son doesn’t unfortunately and he comes in a slightly cheaper price than Eriksen with similar points potential. Despite successive blanks, I still believe in Mahrez with his season-long form while I also like the value that Willian presents in a top 6 side.I avoided the double-up on the United defence due to the fear of rotation which allows me to select Lingard as the budget midfielder who will be looking to secure a place in the England starting XI.
Forwards
The pair of Lukaku and Kane may have looked slightly sluggish in GW32, but they are still the key components of a free hit side in my opinion. As history tells us, the United man often performs strongly against the weaker sides so games against West Brom and Bournemouth look very promising. My third striker is Vardy who has provided consistent returns recently and is part of the 3rd attacking double-up in this team.
Here’s the team:
Rob Reid
Here’s my attempt at a Free Hit team for DGW 34. I’ve called it ‘Go Big or Go Home!’ The budget is around £104.5m. The team is of course based on players with 2 fixtures and I’ve put the focus on certain teams when spending the cash.
First up Man U. I reckon they’ve got the best chance of 2 clean sheets so I’ve picked their most secure option in this regard- David De Gea. I also think they will score well across both fixtures. I’ve therefore opted for 2 big guns in Sanchez and Lukaku. The former is starting to hit form again and looked his old self in the second half at The Ethiad. The latter hasn’t been as explosive this season, but I can see him scoring at least a goal in both fixtures. He’s in.
Next up Spurs. They’re the form team of the top 6 so their attack needs covered. Alli has come into good form and Kane, well he’s Kane. I’ve not covered their defence though – it’s difficult to see them keeping City out and I’m looking for 2 cleanies from a premium so the money goes elsewhere.
3rd striker time and I’ve gone for Vardy. He’s also in good form, steady returns over the last few weeks. Speaking of The Foxes I’ve also gone with their 2 cheap defenders – Morgan and Chilwell. If start them both and hope for at least one clean sheet.
Now it’s about filling the gaps. Lowton is in and super cheap Long is the filler. Duffy is the final defender and he gives you a guaranteed game time option if someone unexpectedly misses both fixtures.
The other cheap fillers are a super cheap goalie who shouldn’t be needed and the cheapest playing double gameweek mid in Lewis Cook.
This leaves £13.2m for the remaining 2 mids who will both start. The best remaining double options in this price range I reckon are Willian and Gross. They’ve not been as convincing of late but can return well.
For captain – Kane or Sanchez I reckon but I’ll give a cheeky mention to De Gea as well – keepers often do well in doubles. Hope this helps anyone who’s Free Hitting this week – good luck!
Geek
I did this and managed to avoid seeing everyone elses teams so not be swayed. I’ll be using my free hit in 35 btw having wildcarded in 33 so this is purely imaginary. My TV is just under £102m
So I started unusually from the subs bench. I decided that I didn’t need a GK who could be a reserve so in goes what must be the Brighton 3rd choice GK at £3.9m.
Bournemouths Lewis Cook at £4.3m fills the 5th midfielder spot and the same priced Francis from Bournemouth in defence for the subs bench. The last sub for an already decided 3-4-3 formation was Kevin Long of Burnley who may even start for Burnley if Ben Mee continues to be injured.
The next thing I had to do was decide about Salah. It’s a bit early in the week to be making that decision in it’s finality. I just found it a little hard to move away from the fact that Sanchez or Hazard will surely get more points over 2 games than Salah over 1 and this is a one off game and not a permanent sale impacting price or future gameweeks. Even against one of the 3 worst defences in the league and up against one of the worst defensive LBs it didn’t make sense to keep Salah in this 1 off situation with the UCL in focus for Liverpool.
Then it was on to looking at it by club looking at the teams that could do the most damage. I started with Man Utd and De Gea for safety in defence, Lukaku as my captain option and Lingard for value and attacking positioning even though he represents a gametime risk over 2 fixtures. I swerved Sanchez as 2 United players at that cost with 1 as captain, even with the fixtures, is just too much of a leap for me and putting myself in a position to pick 1 I chose Lukaku.
The Chelsea. I’m definitely going for Alonso. It would seem tempting fate in the extreme to ignore him the 3rd time this season.
Then Willian, it wasn’t the most convincing finishing performance v West Ham and he’s not exactly an over performer with his finishing but for a guy in a Chelsea team playing in an advanced position, whatever their current limitations are, at this price he’s great value.
I settled on Hazard to replace Salah. Sanchez gave me a few price problems anyway. The one thing I’m wary of is whether Hazard plays 2 games with the FA Cup semi although that is also an issue for Sanchez.
Next up was Leicester. A cheap defender in Chilwell and Mahrez for me here. I’m swerving Vardy. I am in the sceptical camp anyway but there’s something not quite right at Leicester. Their performance at Brighton, despite winning, and their performance losing to Newcastle were both troubling. Add that to a manager who probably hasn’t put the same team out twice all season, despite not being in any domestic or European cup competitions, and it doesn’t warrant an attacking double up for me
That just left the gaps to fill in. Charlie Austin is my cheap striker. Hughes said the decision to put to start with Long was tactical but I can’t believe Hughes thinks they have any chance of staying up without Austin. He is a 2 game starting risk after being out so long is the issue plus Hughes may want to repeat his “tactics” v Chelsea and play Long.
The last gap to fill is in defence and I’ve gone for Burnley’s Lowton despite a pretty ordinary clean sheet record of late. They have some chance of a clean sheet and Lowton of an assist
That’s it. If you’re free hitting this week I hope you found it useful and good luck
Follow us on twitter and facebook for article updates and news.
GEEK LEAGUES
Fantasy Premier League: 5379-1967
Sun: FantasyFootballGeek SGDKX9Y3
TFF: FantasyFootballGeek PIN 8000919 Passcode 1159
Sky: FFGeek 8310511
