Here’s our Fantasy Premier League DGWs where 2 FFGeek contributors outline their initial plans for the double gameweek first up on the FPL site. In this article Kris O and Andrew Whitfield talk about their teams and how they are planning to deal with it
Fantasy Premier League DGWs – 2 FFGeek Contributors outline their plans
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Background
The Premier League has said that on the 17 June the 19/20 season will restart if the safety requirements are in place. The Fantasy Premier League site’s plan is to resume FPL with additional multiple Gameweeks for the remaining 92 fixtures.
Aston Villa v Sheffield United and Manchester City v Arsenal, were postponed due to the Carabao Cup final and will now take place on Wednesday 17 June, 2 days before a full gameweek commences on Friday 19 June.
That will mean a double gameweek for the 4 clubs above:
The doubles are as follows:
Aston Villa ( Sheffield United H) and (Chelsea H)
Sheffield United (Aston Villa A) and (Newcastle A)
Manchester City (Arsenal H) and (Burnley H)
Arsenal (Man City A) and Arsenal (Brighton A)
The games in that gameweek then assuming it is as GW30 was are then:
Aston Villa v Sheffield United
Man City v Arsenal
Watford v Leicester
Bournemouth v C Palace
Brighton v Arsenal
Man City v Burnley
Newcastle v Sheffield Utd
Norwich v Southampton
Aston Villa v Chelsea
West Ham v Wolves
Spurs v Man Utd
Everton v Liverpool
Kris O
Kris’s last 3 seasons overall rank were 44k, 46k and 23k
Total points 1,637, Overall Rank: 162k, Team Value: £104.1m
Kris has only used his triple captain of his Chips
These are my initial thoughts for GW39……..
Current team
0.6m ITB and 2FTs, plus chips still to play:
· Wildcard
· Bench boost
· Free hit
Chips options for GW39 It appears GW39 will be the only double, with the following eight gameweeks (40-47) being singles. On that basis GW39 will be the best week to maximise one of the remaining chips. I plan to play either bench boost or free hit. I’ve ruled out using my wildcard as my team looks ok.
Double gameweek players
The main players I’m considering are:
Aston Villa (SHU, CHE)
Gk Reina (£4.5m)
Mid Grealish (£6.4m)
Arsenal (mcy, bha)
Gk Leno (£5.0m)
Mid Saka (£4.7m)
Fwd Aubameyang (£11.1m)
Man City (ARS, BUR)
GK Ederson (£6.0m)
Mid De Bruyne (£10.6m)
Mid D Silva (£7.3m)
Mid B Silva (£7.7m)
FwdAguero (£11.8m)
Sheffield (avl, new)
Any defenders or goalkeeper
(£4.6m – £5.3m) Fleck (£5.0m)
Benchboost (‘BB’) option
I’d use my two frees to increase my double gameweek player quota to five:
· Robertson to O’Connell
· McTominay to Grealish
Leaves £1.4m itb
Free hit (‘FH’) team
Heavy on doubles, keeping pool cover (Mane, Arnold) and Wolves (Jota).
£1.4m itb, which I’ll probably use to improve/tweak my bench (currently Martin, Simpson, Kilman, Guendouzi).
Comparing the options
I’ve looked at five factors to compare BB vs FH:
1. Additional ‘games’ (BB wins)
Ignoring Leno/Ederson, O’Connell, De Bruyne, Grealish, Aubameyang who are covered in both teams:
· BB creates four ‘extra games’: McCarthy, Lascelles, Boly and Mooy.
· FH creates three ‘extra games’ for: Egan, Saka, Aguero.
2. Fixtures (FH wins)
The fixtures are stronger in the FH team. Notably:
· Three city players in FH vs one in BB
· My three outfield BB players have tough fixtures Mooy (ars), Lascelles (SHU) and Calvert-Lewin (LIV); with two playing against my double gameweek players.
3. Lack of news (FH wins)
The press conferences for the weekend games is after the first two matches; so, there is a big risk that some of my bench players don’t play and I can’t react. Additionally, we will have a clearer view of the fitness of the double gameweek players which again favours my FH team.
4. Gw40 (BB wins)
My BB team rebalances money from defence into midfield ready for gw40.
I understand I will only have one free transfer after a FH, if I had two that would have been a factor in favour of the FH.
5. Value of BB/FH in future gameweek (BB wins)
The BB will be tough to deploy as getting all fifteen players in the team will be a challenge; as illustrated by the injuries and rotation in the Bundesliga. I’d favour using my FH in a future gameweek, for example:
· The final gameweek (47) which usually springs a few surprises.
· To minimise Man City and Liverpool players when they meet in GW41.
· A gameweek with good fixtures for top teams e.g. GW43: Liverpool (Newcastle), Man City (Brighton), Man Utd (Villa) and Chelsea (Palace).
Overall I’d like to Bench boost for GW39 but my instinct is that the uncertainty in player fitness will force my hand to Free hit.
Spanner in the works. As I write this the FPL website has not updated for the new gameweeks – I’m assuming we have one or two FTs. There is still a chance everyone gets a ‘free’ wildcard.
If that were the situation my plan would be to treat the free wildcard as a free hit and then play my BB chip, using my actual wildcard in GW40.
Andrew Whitfield
Andrew finished with an overall rank of 6k last season and 19k in 17/18
Total points 1,620, Overall Rank: 241k, Team Value: £104.2m
Andrew has used his triple captain and 2nd wildcard of his Chips
Well it looks like the Premier League is on it’s way back !! And we have confirmation that FPL is coming back too. After a three and a half month break, we are set for up to four games a day, a feast of football, and back to the highs and lows of those goals, assists, clean sheets won and lost, blanks, green and red arrows, as well as the forgotten agony of VAR- plus we now have five substitutes and empty stadiums !! After the partial lifting of lockdown, it’s time to swap unlimited daily exercise with weekends in front of the tv !!
– It’s worth remembering that there is about a quarter of the season still to be played. That’s a lot of points to play for and a lot of potential ranking ground to be gained. A lot of people had long since retired their FPL teams, and plenty more wont be coming back until next season. The more casual players will probably miss a few of the many hectic deadlines. Real opportunity lies ahead for the more serious and active managers, particularly with “chips” in hand.
– Some managers have not touched their team, some have been active, with the game left open for free weekly transfers. I have actually made EIGHT squad changes during the long break. Some would argue it’s been an unfair bonus to have had that “slow extra wildcard” when I had already played both my two wildcards, but they have had the same opportunity too, and significantly they still have their extra wildcard up their sleeve as well. There is some talk about everyone been given unlimited transfers before the restart. We will see. If that did happen, those sitting on their saved second wildcard would have that luxury too, and STILL have the advantage of their saved one too..
– Assuming the teams are not re set back to GW29, I am very happy with the changes, with my team set up nicely based on the remaining fixtures, including a triple up on Man Utd who play five of the bottom seven. Welcome to Bruno Fernandes, Rashford, Maguire, Calvert Lewin and Doherty to name just five. Here is how my team is now looking:
– Whilst I can’t wait to unleash my new shiny team in to the brave new world, the announcement of the opening double gameweek has NOT worked in my favour. I have only potentially three double gameweek players. Ironically, I sold Aubamayang, Grealish and Henderson !! I am very happy with the changes that I made but my new team is just not set up ideally for the opening double gameweek, which means that my plans are now very focused on a FREE hit for the opening “GW39”. There is a big difference between the team I want for the rest of the season and the team I want for the opening double gameweek. So my shiny new team can wait and it’s a bold one off free hit team that is going to kickstart my season when we get going.
So which chip to play ??
– It’s looking likely that the opening round of FPL could be the ONLY double gameweek, with any games postponed for the rearranged weekend FA cup ties likely to remain within the same gameweeks, midweek, just before the quarters and just after the semis. So with triple captains, free hits and bench boosts all ideal for double gameweeks, we are going to be forced to choose which one and play the other chips in a single week, which dilutes their value and is a blow to those who had played it “textbook” in keeping them for what are usually a real rank booster in the end of season multiple double gameweeks. But this is not a normal season !!
Free hit
For anyone ( including me ) who has only 2/3 double players, and they have no second wildcard, it’s a very easy decision to free hit. I have a team I am very happy with for the run in but it’s not set well for this double gameweek. So I can attack the double gameweek with loading up on double players, knowing my shiny dream team can come back in for the following weeks. I love the idea of tripling up on Man City’s attack and the Blades defence and putting in 8/9 doublers. But they are not players I want beyond this double gameweek as they upset the balance of my team. A free hit for me is perfect.
Bench boost
I think if you already have 5/6 doublers, including a couple on your bench, and can add another one or two, then a bench boost could work well as you can keep your other premium single gameweek players. Particularly so if you have your second wildcard. You can have extra doublers, plus count your four bench players too, that’s a lot of potential points. The benches are likely to get thinner as the weeks progress and injuries plus rotation hit hard. You can then wildcard out of it the following week to set your team up for the remaining fixtures.
Triple captain
If it’s the only double gameweek, it’s definitely your best chance to play triple captain. What about triple captain on Aguero with two home games v leaky Arsenal, plus Burnley. However, with rotation expected to be widespread, will you even get two games out of your captain. And if you have free hit and bench boost left, they are probably more priority in the double week. But a triple captain does have great potential.
Wildcard
Personally, I don’t see too much benefit in wildcarding unless your dormant team is in very bad shape. If you wildcard to set yourself up for the double gameweek, you are then stuck with all those doublers and what is probably an unbalanced team lacking vital players from other teams. It’s going to be difficult to transition back on to a balanced team with key players if your wildcard is already used. Personally, I think it’s much better to free hit or bench boost and then wildcard out of it the week after. I wouldn’t play it immediately.
So here is my possible free hit team:
– Remember that with a free hit team, if you are tapping into players with two games, provided they feature at any time during just one of the games, you simply won’t need your bench, so it’s best to put all your funds into your starting line up and make sure your other squad players are as cheap as chips.
So let’s look at the four teams with a double gameweek.
Man City – I am going for the jugular with triple City attack for the double gameweek opportunity. De Bruyne, Aguero and Sterling is an explosive cocktail as a one off. It’s unlikely they are all going to play two full games but with Arsenal and Burnley at home, I am going to enjoy watching City on the attack !!!
Sheff Utd – I just don’t fancy any midfielders or strikers from the Blades. But with Sheffield Utd having Villa and Newcastle, I am tripling up on their solid defence which represent good value. I don’t like tripling any defence and it makes for a nervous watch, but I would be hopeful of one triple clean sheet from those fixtures. They have the second best defence in the league with only 25 goals conceded from 29 games.
Aston Villa – They have Sheff Utd and Newcastle. Grealish is the only player that interests me. I don’t trust their defence who have leaked 56 goals, the worst in the league.
Arsenal – the only player I want is Aubamayang. A trip to Man City is not ideal and not one for their defenders, but they also have Brighton.
So that’s EIGHT double gameweek players and allows me to hang on to Alexander Arnold and Bruno Fernandes in my starting eleven. I would play a 442 as follows:
Henderson
Alexander-Arnold , Egan, O’Connell and Lascelles
De Bruyne, Sterling, Bruno Fernandes and Grealish
Aguero and Aubamayang
– If I am free hitting with the intention of capitalising on double players with two fixtures, I have to accept that I will have to watch on nervously as many quality players within my usual team only have one game and sit it out. My key players like Salah, Calvert Lewin, Jimenez, Rashford and Doherty all NOT playing is a scary thought, but you have to balance that worry with the fact that their free hit replacements are playing TWICE and with eight doublers, I potentially have NINETEEN players in the gameweek !!
– For example – Rashford has one tricky game at Spurs but his replacement Aguero has two tasty home games, Jimenez has one game at Watford but the potentially explosive Aubamayang has two games. Salah has a tense derby at Everton but a dangerous Sterling has two tasty home games, Mount has one game but Grealish has two, Doherty has only one game at Watford but O’Connell has two, Maguire plays at Spurs, but Egan plays twice, my keepers both have one game but Henderson has two. On balance with all the extra games, you would expect to win more of those than you lose. That’s the hope !!!!
– So my shiny new team can wait for a week. It’s over to that triple Man City attack and my free hit team to cut loose !!!
Good luck with whichever chip you choose. And best wishes for the rest of the season and may your arrows be green !!!
Other Posts
Fixture ease schedule for attacking players
Fixture ease schedule for defensive players
Double gameweek confirmed by the FPL site
10 top FPL Managers teams post GW38
Best fixtures until the end of the season attackers
Best fixtures to the end of the season defenders
Each teams top PPM player – Arsenal and Aston Villa
Each Teams top PPM player – Bournemouth and Brighton
Each teams top PPM player – Burnley and Chelsea
Each teams top PPM player – Palace and Everton
Each teams top PPM player – Leicester and Liverpool
Each teams top PPM player – Man Utd and Man City
Each teams top PPM player – Norwich and Newcastle
Each teams top PPM player – Southampton and Sheffield
Each teams top PPM player – Watford and Spurs
Latest news on the premier league restart
A deep dive on the 10 top FPL managers stats
Andrew Whitfield gradual wildcard
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