Here’s our latest FPL blanks and doubles article now the FA Cup quarter final draw has been made. We make some assumptions as to results and postponements and see how that plays out for the various options to use your chips.
FPL blanks and doubles – simulating results and reviewing the different chip options
I’m trying to write this as a fairly standalone article so apologies for repetition from other previous articles of mine.
The basics explained
Here’s the background to blanks and doubles in 4 sentences
The FA Cup quarter finals and semi finals will be played on the weekends of the premier league gameweeks of GW31 and GW33. The FPL site already shows postponements in GW31. They will therefore require postponements outside of the current gameweeks. With UEFA rules requiring no clashes with European fixtures the only options as GW32 and GW35 which on historical precedent has been followed.
Where are we now?
Here’s the FA Cup quarter final draw:
Swansea City v Man City
Watford v C Palace
Wolves v Man Utd
Milwall v Brighton
Here are my latest schedules for the blank weeks of GW31 and GW33. Green are the fixtures guaranteed to stay. Orange are the fixtures that will be postponed. There could be more in GW33 depending on quarter final results.
GW31
GW33
Those with guaranteed fixtures in GW31 and GW33 as of now before any quarter final results are
Bournemouth, Burnley, Leicester, Everton, Chelsea, Liverpool, West Ham and Huddersfield.
Results Simulation
Assumptions
That Man City, Watford, Man Utd and Brighton win their respective quarter finals.
The other assumption is that the GW31 postponements go into GW32 and the GW33 postponements go into GW35. I’ve written about this previously. My view is that unless the quarter final postponements are made before the GW27 deadline then I can for see a situation when the fixture postponements are tailored towards the TV companies and could go into anyone of 32 and 35.
I have ignored the Chelsea v Brighton postponement which still needs to be fitted in somewhere. Under my simulation Brighton win over Millwall which means Brighton have doubles in 32 and 35 so a place still needs to be found. That could result in an unexpected double for Chelsea as there won’t be room in 32 or 35.
So given those assumptions, however correctable they are, here are how the fixtures would look. Italics are postponed fixtures. Below them show how you would transition from one fixture to another.
So what does the schedule tell us?
In essence GW31 and GW31 blanks have alot of cross over.
GW32 and GW35 also have alot of cross over of teams that have doubles.
A transition of doubles in 32 to teams with a fixture in 33 involves less teams than you would like and not Man City, Man Utd and Spurs. Transitioning from 33 to teams with doubles in 35 with no cross overs.
The Chip options
All these options assumes you have a Wildcard, a free hit chip and a bench boost. Not necessarily a TC.
Dean left a couple of additional options in the comments recently so I’ve included those.
None of the options come without some challenges. It’s just a case of weighing up which of the challenges suits you and your team best. If I outline the positives and the challenges then it’s not meant to be a criticism of one option as it’s all about personal choice and your team.
Option 1
The challenge is having to prepare in advance for GW31 through free transfers. Given the similarities between GW31 and GW33 it also seems a bit of a less than optimal place to use your wildcard and free hit. Also can’t use your BB in what will possibly be the biggest double.
Has the advantage that you will get full visibility of postponements before committing to a chip.
Option 2
The challenge is having to prepare in advance for GW31 and GW33 effectively through free transfers. Also can’t use your BB in what will possibly be the biggest double.
Has the advantage that you will get full visibility of postponements before committing to a chip. Also you use your chips to maximise the doubles although the BB is used in what could be the smallest set of doubles
Option 3 (Yaniv)
The transition between 32 and 33 is the main challenge here and that you may use your wildcard before you know where the doubles will be postponed to. That’s unless they are announced prior to GW27 or soon after.
Has the advantage that you are able to use your BB and TC if you still have it in the doubles. Also you can play as normal up to 32 with no thought as to GW31.
Option 4
The challenge here is preparing for the teams with doubles in GW32 with free transfers without knowing what doubles will be placed there unless they are announced prior to GW27 or soon after. You also have to transition between 32 and 33.
It does allow you to use the TC and the BB in the doubles. Also I imagine preparing in advance for GW32 with no thought as to GW31 will be easier than preparing for GW31.
Option 5
Here you wildcard for the blanks in GW31 and 33. You free hit for the doubles in GW32.
The challenge in this strategy will be getting from GW33 to GW35 with an optimal amount of DGW players as in my scenario there are none.
Option 6 Dean
A similar strategy to option 4 with the TC and BB in a different order with the same challenges and advantages
Option 7 Dean
The main challenge would be transitioning between 32 and 33.
Has the advantage of chip use when the postponed fixtures will definitely be out and you use the wildcard to maximise the 2 doubles potential.
The Poll
Remember the strategies are for those with a Free Hit, Wildcard and Bench Boost
What other articles on this are coming?
Unfortunately with it being a Friday gameweek time isn’t a great factor but I’m hoping to do today an article today where some of the contributors outline how they will deal with the doubles and blanks.
I will also be doing an article hopefully on navigating the blanks and doubles without a free hit chip as I’ve used it for that purpose on one of my previous alternate strategy teams.
Joseph Crilleys team planner
Here’s the link to Joe’s really excellent team planner which will help you navigate through the blanks and doubles. There’s also an explanation sheet. I’ve found it best to make a copy of the google spreadsheet.
Feedback please!
I don’t pretend to be an expert on this I just try and think it through logically. Any corrections, views and thoughts are all greatly received in the comments section below.
See underlying stats on players from GW26 the early FFGeek team article and the 10 top FPL managers we follow
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