Here’s my fantasy premier league team selection DGW30 article. It’s unlimited transfer time and Chip decisions which I go through as well
fantasy premier league team selection DGW30 – the FFGeek team
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Introduction
Firstly if you’re new to the site my last 3 seasons overall ranks are 36k, 17k and 21k.
Current position
Total Points: 1,693 Overall Rank: 31k
Here’s the Current team after GW38 and before any unlimited transfers:
What Chip to use?
I’ve used my Triple Captain Chip and with Unlimited transfers you can’t and there’s no point in using my 2nd Wildcard.
That means I have a choice of the Free Hit Chip or the Bench Boost chip or not to use 1 at all.
The Free Hit Chip
The Free Hit Chip means that your team will revert back to it’s post GW38 team and any unlimited transfers will be negated. That’s not a huge issue for me as the team is well placed for carrying on in GW31+ and after that. The Free Hit does give you a better starting 11 than the Bench Boost as you are basically loading it with the Cheapest possible reserve subs. You can get a £3.9m GK and Defs plus £4.2m mids and a £4.4m Forward as you don’t need guaranteed starters. Especially so if you’re picking all DGW players as you’d expect them to play at least 1 game if there’s no mystery injury hidden.
It would also mean I have the Wildcard and the bench boost available. The wildcard would be useful for injuries later on. More than the Free Hit if you end up saving that, I think, as the Free Hit will sort out injuries for 1 week. The Wildcard allows you to make changes for the the future as well.
The Free Hit Chip means I am pretty well sorted for GW31. It does beg the question though as to where you would use the Bench Boost. Injuries and rotation later on mean that you could use the Bench Boost in the later Gameweeks and find that you don’t get maximum use out of it. Ideally you would use it the week after a wildcard to mitigate that risk but that’s still not infallible that’s for sure
The Bench Boost
The big advantage of using the Bench Boost now is that you would think this week will be the most predictable of lineups before injuries and rotation hit. So in theory you’re maximising the bench being used which you can’t really guarantee later on. It is also handy as Wolves and Chelsea have excellent fixtures vs West Ham and Villa respectively.
It does mean in setting up the Bench Boost team though that in selling players you eventually buy back you buy back at the higher buy price. If I bought the same team back as above it would cost me £1.0m more. For example Alexander Arnold costs £7.8m to buy yet as I’ve owned him forever his sale price for me is £7.4m. That’s a chunky loss to take.
The problem with the Bench Boost is that the DGW teams have tricky fixtures in GW31+ Man City are at Chelsea, Sheffield are at Man Utd, Villa at Newcastle is a tricky attacking fixture. Arsenal at Southampton is probably the best of the 4 but still no gimme.
GW32 then has Man City playing Liverpool, Villa are at Wolves, Sheffield play Spurs, but at least Arsenal play Norwich.
That’s not ideal and I can see the need for an immediate wildcard or Free Hit Chip straight after or even both in succession as Joseph Crilley is doing.
So Bench Boost is the decision.
So what is the Bench Boost team going to be?
I think you have a fundamental decision to make. Do you go all out for double gameweek players or do you mix it up with the idea of playing through subsequent gameweeks without having to burn your Wildcard and or Free Hit Chip afterwards.
Personally I like to go all out on double gameweeks. I’m a conservative FPL player by nature but double gameweeks are the 1 gameweek where I think you can throw caution to the wind. If you’re struggling to plan your team Joe’s transfer planner is an ideal tool which you can use including experimenting with Chips. Only 4 teams having doubles isn’t ideal as you are putting teams against each other so an attacking return wipes out a clean sheet. Villa v Sheffield United is the classic. That’s why I think its best to try attacking defenders in those situations so you hope for an attacking return.
Here’s the team and a brief explanation by team:
Double gameweek teams
Man City
The fixtures are just too good not to go all out on for me so I’ve gone for the big 3 in Aguero, Sterling and De Bruyne and I’ll just take whatever Pep gives me. None of the attacking downgrades have much gametime certainty history and you’d say the same for the defence. Ederson should play 2 and you may get 12 points with 2 clean sheets but it seems a waste of potential for me.
Sheffield United
Fleck would be the only attacker for me. There seems to be some rumours that Fleck and O’Connell are injured but it’s hard to tell if it’s the usual pathetic twitter wind ups that tend to go on. I’m going for the triple Sheffield defence. My pick of the 2 defenders would be O’Connell and Stevens but I’m going to swerve O’Connell for Basham who’s already in my team. It’s a shame as O’Connell is the better attacking CB by some distance. Henderson gets the GK nod.
Aston Villa
Grealish is the obvious one here. I’ve gone for Samatta as a cheapie forward with okish stats for the price and Targett as a cheap attacking defender.
Arsenal
It was Aubameyang or Sterling in effect and I’ve gone for Sterling. Gametime Aubameyang has the edge but I trust Arsenal and Aubameyang far less than I trust Man City and Sterling. I’ve also gone for Leno for hopefully save points. Leno is my other GK. I’ve gone for Saka as a cheap player who I hope gets gametime although Tierney being fit causes problems in this regard.
Single gameweek teams
For me the 3 best fixtures are West Ham v Wolves, Villa v Chelsea and Everton v Liverpool
I had to choose due to funds between Doherty, Alonso and keeping Alexander Arnold for an attacking defender. I’ve kept Alexander Arnold and got Boly as at least clean sheet cover for Doherty. I have money tied up in Alexander Arnold and Everton’s problems at set pieces over the season are hopefully something that Alexander Arnold can exploit.
I’ve then gone for Abraham and the plug at the end to fit in was Mount.
Problems in GW31
As I said above the above team causes me massive GW31 problems so I will have to Free hit or Wildcard in it. I feel like I’m entering into the unknown and throwing away all ways of mitigating the risk straight away.
Captain Choice
You can see my captain choice article here. I’ve gone for De Bruyne over Aguero just because of the gametime risk associated with Aguero.
Other Posts
The most consistent FPL players
FFGeek team thoughts on unlimited transfers
The FFGeek first draft free hit team
FFGeek contributors on the upcoming DGW part 1
FFGeek contributors on the upcoming DGW part 2
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
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