Captain Poll – Gameweek 31

Poor DGW fixtures make the 34 DGW not so appealing.

Who's to say the 11 are nailed for gw37

Filling your bench with double gameweekers doesnt mean you get 8 extra games. It means you are a bench w***** and actually only have 4 extra games from those 4 players in your outfield you wouldnt have played otherwise.

I made the same argument a couple of weeks ago.
I plan to have what would normally be bench fodder having DGW's Gw 34.

Yoshida Chambers Gestede Valdez etc. On top of Ibra Zaha Valencia

You are correct - and you need to be prepared that you probably won't get 15 doublers if you do attempt it. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't necessarily do it in GW37. Your strategy of 11 'nailed' players for GW37 is also still likely to suffer from the same rotation issues as a bench boosted 15.

I'm going 37 because I plan to more or less ignore gw34, with just Ibra and maybe Valencia and Zaha (who have form anyway regardless).

I do like your reasoning​ though and in particular a streamlined gw37 squad appeals to me. My TV is ok but not great so I'm concerned about trying to put together a squad of 15 un-rotatable players without missing out on big hitters. Would be nice to have the best 11 for dgw37 and go budget on the bench.

Prefectly reasonable thinking. I always need to remind myself that BB is only an extra keeper, 2 defs and an attacker.

34 vs 37 debate is really about the quality of the games presented. Boro/Palace/Utd games vs the ones in 37. I do think 37 got more rotation risks than 34.

Thanks for the feedback 824545201, William Prunier, Smeggs11, Pasqualinho , Dr. Mantis and Bearhug. I am now a wiser man than I was 40 minutes ago.

I'm considering doing the same as I've no WC left.

I'm doing exactly this. Otherwise I'm benching grant yoshida ali and deeny... which all have great fixtures!

It's not jus looking at the extra u get for the double game weeks... but what u elf lose from those u have to bench....

37 we can have bench warmers that have terrible fixtures.

Its a very viable strategy that I'm considering too, although I'm probably landing 70-30 in favour of the 37 bench boost at present. One thing to be aware of is that mourinho said today that if Man Utd drop points v Everton and Sunderland then he will rotate players in GW34.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/apr/02/jose-mourinho-manchester-united-europa-league-premier-league

I think you make a good point though. If I go for bb in 34 I will most likely have something like:

Valdes (bou, SUN), Pickford (mid)

Alonso (SOU), Valencia (bur, mci), PVA if fit (liv, TOT), Maguire (WAT), Gibson (bou, SUN)

Sanchez (LEI), Alli (pal), Zaha (liv, TOT), Sigurdsson (STO), Sterling (MNU)

Lukaku (whm), Vardy (ars), Llorente (STO)

I think it all depends what your mind set is and there are many ways to play the game.

But in my view, the whole point to a GW37 BB is that you don't care about your your team being unbalanced for the future (this year it is much easier to plan for without a WC because so many top teams have doubles in 37)

In that respect the plan is to get good nailed players from good teams with good fixtures so your bench hopefully will have good DGW players that play 2 games (maybe a SG player like Sunderland v Swansea if either are chasing survival), you spread the TV a bit and not worry about wasted value on the bench because there is just one week to go.

I really don't want Valdes Sakho Gibson Zaha after GW34, have never owned them so far and would not really consider owning them in the future and don't want to be taking hits or using free transfers to get them out.

I still carry the scars from using Bench Boost in gw34 last season! Messrs Klopp, Benitez and van Gaal did their utmost to deprive me of pointage. I think I'll keep it til gw37 this time around.

Really interesting thought. It's not either-or though. If you have a wildcard left you could still fill up on (as near as you can safely predict) guaranteed starters by going for a GW 37 team almost entirely made up of teams who have something to play for, and then try and hope that this team is still good for 38, which is a lottery anyway.

For example:

Strong teams

Arsenal will be battling to the end. Sanchez will almost certainly play 37x2 and 38
Man City should still have everything to play for and you have a load of options there

OK teams

Spurs - confirming CL participation; maybe challenging for the title

Risky teams:

Chelsea (if they have won the title by then or are likely to have won in one of the three 37/38 fixtures)
Man United (depending on Europa league progress)

Very risky teams
Leicester - on the beach league-wise
West Brom - on the beach
Sunderland - will probably be relegated by then
Southampton - on the beach

So you could have a team including

Arsenal defender (Bellerin?)
City Defender (Stones?)
Eriksen
Alli
Kane
Sanchez
Sterling/Sané
Jesus/Aguero

And be fairly confident that all will play. If any of the risky teams have a wobble or a strong run-in they could come into contention too. So GW37 BB is very viable as an option without too much risk.

GW34 BB was appealing until Watford lost a DGW, while City ended up playing Manchester United instead of WBA. Essentially Chelsea(SOU instead of WAT), City(UTD instead of WBA), WBA(No fixture instead of MCI), United(mci instead of sou), Southampton(che instead of UTD) and Watford(no fixture instead of che DGW) got much worse fixtures for GW34 just because the Manchester derby was put into that GW.

WC should be played in GW36 in my opinion, so that you can either get in Arsenal and Southampton players for their DGW36, or get rid of them after their DGW35. Arsenal will either have a terrible GW35(tot) or GW36(UTD). Southampton will have a bad GW36(liv) if they don't have a DGW.

Man Utd(ars), Middlesbrough(che) and Crystal Palace(mci) also have bad fixtures in GW36, so it's the perfect GW to refresh your squad. If the optimal time to WC is in GW36, then why not just BB in GW37 anyway?

Great debate and something I've been considering. One factor not mentioned is the TC chip. For those of us holding TC, none of the GW34 doubles look too appealing, and Arsenal and Southamptons doubles look risky too. However there are likely to be tasty options for Alexis and Aguero / Jesus in 37. For those sitting on the fence at the moment this issue should also come into your consideration

I've argued at length as to the merits of an early bench boost. Especially if Arsenal/Saints are in Gameweek 35. You make some good points but I'll add my two main ones barely covered here.

Firstly I have my triple left, and the fixtures in 37 are miles better. A triple Kane or Hazard if fighting for title could be enormous.

Secondly, planning for 11 double headers not 15 on a 36 wildcard means I can essentially have the dirtiest bench imaginable to max out on the best 11 with doubles. Many looking to play all 15 will spread the cash around more.

You're never guaranteed a player plays in a game. Not in GW1, 17 or 37. So why not maximise your chances of getting an extra game out of all 15 instead of just 9 at most? Careful planning combined with paying attention and you'll be fine.

I used mine in 37 last time and was fine. Two Liverpool players only playing one game didn't hurt when I got 193 total.

Neither Gameweek is appealing to those who still have tc and bb. That's the sad truth. I'm currently hunting for a perfect storm SGW for my tc which will allow an uncomplicated bb 37

Regarding the DGW34 vs DGW37 levels of rotation you may be remembering this hot topic: http://www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk/comment/12856431

The secondary analysis part way down the discussion is probably the most useful: http://www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk/comment/12857864

Long story short, rotation generally is greater in DGW37, although if you can target those players with something left to play for in DGW37 you can mitigate the risk. Teams with nothing left to play for are not to be trusted to provide good DGW options though.

I read your post a while back and have been contemplating this tactic ever since - still am!

My question to you now is are you sticking by your plan or have the goalposts changed somewhat given Kane back and Boro not as likely to keep clean sheets?