Here’s an article where myself, Joe, Mikael, FPL Word and Rob Reid show their first draft fantasy premier league GW35 free hit teams. There’s still along way to go in DGW34 but this may give you some ideas if you’re free hitting in the blank week of GW35.
fantasy premier league GW35 free hit teams – FFGeek contributors show their first draft
These are all first drafts and could change drastically over the course of the week so please take the article in this context. Hopefully it will still be food for thought. Here’s the GW35 fixtures:
What is the free hit chip?
Here’s it’s definition on the FPL site if you’re not aware:
Make unlimited free transfers for a single Gameweek. At the next deadline your squad is returned to how it was at the start of the Gameweek. The Free Hit chip can be used once a season, is played when confirming your transfers and can’t be cancelled after confirmed. When playing your Free Hit chip, any saved free transfers will be lost. You will be back to the usual 1 free transfer the following Gameweek.
A few general issues about GW35
Probably the most difficult thing about this week is the uncertainty facing the lineups of the 3 top 6 teams in Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal.
Man City won the league on the back of Man Utd’s loss to WBA at the weekend. Will Pep play a full team to celebrate with the fans or will he take the opportunity to rest 1 or 2 or even multiple players? Will he give us any useful information in his press conference on Thursday/Friday? I doubt it. Is there anyone injured which could make it easier to predict? Aguero looks doubtful which could mean Jesus starting again.
So who knows what Pep will do in summary. People can try and 2nd guess him and roll the dice on that basis but no one really knows
Liverpool play Roma in the midweek UCL after GW35. How will Klopp play that match given that he rested Firmino and Salah (injury) v Everton with a pretty unsuccessful outcome is impossible to predict. Liverpool are on 70 points with 4 games to go 1 is against 5th place Chelsea. Chelsea have 5 games to go so if they win the game in hand and were to beat Liverpool that could reduce the gap to 4 points. Can Klopp therefore take chances after Ings and Solanke showed they are questionable premier league standard let alone Liverpool standard? Chelsea playing their game in hand at Burnley this week will be crucial. Not winning that could make Klopp more relaxed about changes.
Arsenal play v A Madrid on the Thursday after GW35. Arsenal are focused on this competition to get Champions League football and have sacrificed premier league lineups as a result. So your typical targets of Ramsey and Ozil seem off limits. In defence Mustafi seems to have continued playing and Chambers at £4.7m has started the last 3. Aubameyang is ineligible for the Europa League so is a natural target. The one complication is that Wenger looks like he wants to improve Lacazette’s match sharpness so Aubameyang played in a wide position against Newcastle which was unhelpful.
The Geeks first draft free hit
By the way you can see how my teams are doing so far this week in my early thoughts article
The free hit gives you the opportunity to minimise your bench costs as it’s for 1 game only. However given the uncertainties above I’ve opted for a strong bench in order that there are points available if players from the above teams are rested.
As far as Man City and Liverpool and to a lesser extent Arsenal are concerned this is an evolving picture but for the moment I’m just going with the players I want and will review it during the week.
Here’s my first draft:
So dealing with City in defence I’ve gambled that Laporte will get the nod. He can either play at LB or CB. It seems hard to think that Kompany won’t play given he’s captain. So that means either Otamendi will get more rest or Laporte will play left back instead of Delph, or Zinchenko. At the moment it’s a gamble and I’m going to monitor it. I have enough in the bank for Kompany so if it seems certain he will play I’ll switch.
Aguero looks like he’s struggling to be fit so Jesus surely will play? Sterling to me is a big risk due to the minutes he’s played but I’m a huge fan and he seems due a decent haul.
For Liverpool it seems like Clyne and Gomez are doubtful so that means there should be no choice except for TAA to play. Then I’ve gone for Salah and Firmino as the best 2 targets and will review as the week goes on.
Chambers looks like a good cheap option for defence. Zaha and Arnautovic are both midfielders playing as strikers and Aubameyang seems a natural captain option if only for perceived certainty.
I’m confident Hennessey will play so I’ve gone for saving money at the 2nd GK position. Long, Jagielka and Kenedy make up the bench of playing reserves unless Mee makes some miracle recovery.
Joseph Crilleys FH team first draft
As someone who has activated their Free Hit chip for this gameweek, I’ll be taking a keen interest in this article to see the opinions of Geek and Rob regarding the best options. I imagine that the general consensus will be that there are three key teams to choose from – Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal.
Man City have wrapped up the title now and I expect them to turn on the style for their home fixture against Swansea so I have elected to bring in three of their attackers. The difficulty is choosing which three to select and, for now, I have elected against Sané due to his wide positioning and Jesus due to a lack of explosiveness. For Liverpool, Firmino and Salah are obvious picks, unless we hear any worrying news about rotation, with the Egyptian currently taking the armband. Attacking full back Robertson is also selected though Alexander-Arnold could be an option to save some cash if required.
It’s a little trickier to choose Arsenal players because of their participation in the Europa League which makes it difficult to know who is line to start. The exception to this is Aubameyang who is cup-tied and has also been in great form recently, especially at home. Therefore, he’ll be joining Firmino in my strike force. I don’t particularly trust the Arsenal defence, but I’m finding it tough to predict many clean sheets in GW35, so Mustafi comes in as a sure starter in recent weeks.
The 7th attacker slot is an intriguing one and will likely be a differential pick from one of the ‘lesser’ sides. I have currently gone for Zaha following his brace at the weekend and Palace have a promising fixture away to Watford. Other options for this slot include Arnautovic, Tosun and Shaqiri. I could also look to an Arsenal attacker who appears to be in position to start such as Iwobi or even Welbeck if I’m feeling particularly brave.
That leaves one defender and the goalkeeper to pick in my starting XI – I’d like to take a punt on Coleman if cash allows it with his history of attacking returns and a decent fixture at home to Newcastle. Then in goal, I’ve gone for Nick Pope who has proved the best value keeper over the season and has kept up his form to ensure that he keeps his place over the returning Heaton. My bench players include Long and Crouch who should at least get some points in case of unexpected rotation.
Looking at the final team, the core will be formed of the three Man City attackers, the Liverpool duo and Aubameyang. That means that the main tinkering will revolve around the defence and choosing the final attacker; hopefully, some of the thoughts in this article will help to decide my final team!
Rob Reid’s first draft Free Hit Team
Here’s Rob Reids first draft team
Mikael L Danielsen’s first draft free hit team
First draft. Don’t know if I want Cech. Maybe Pickford instead. Also in doubt about City and Liverpool. I think Liverpool will have a strong team but City may rotate?!
VVD over Robertson perhaps?
FPL WORD’s first draft free hit team
Early days so this will probably change many times, but this is what I’m currently looking at
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