There has been a lot of discussion on when the best time to use the free hit chip is. Initially everyone seemed to agree that the Gameweek with the fewest fixtures (Gameweek 31) would be the best time. With just four matches then this makes sense as you can forfeit having to drip-feed in players who don’t blank in the preceding Gameweeks.
Then the consensus shifted to Gameweek 35, which is sandwiched inbetween the two likely double Gameweeks. The idea here being that you don’t have to worry about having to ditch or bench double Gameweek assets who miss a fixture – you can simply free hit in Gameweek 35 and play this reduced set of fixtures in complete isolation, leaving time to focus on the doubles.
But could we see the consensus change for a third time? Is there an argument for playing the free hit in double Gameweek 37?
The Case For Gameweek 37 Free Hit
There are 12 teams that may have a double Gameweek 34.
1) Arsenal
2) Brighton
3) Burnley
4) Chelsea
5) Leicester
6) Man City
7) Man United
8) Newcastle
9) Southampton
10) Swansea
11) Tottenham
12) West Ham
Six of these 12 have a strong chance of a blank in Gameweek 35, which means they are likely to have another double in Gameweek 37. Manchester City and Swansea have a 20% chance of blanking in Gameweek 35 so they are not included in this list.
1) Brighton
2) Chelsea
3) Leicester
4) Man United
5) Southampton
6) Tottenham
If you are planning to free hit in Gameweek 35, then during your second wildcard you will need to stock up on double gameweek players for Gameweek 34 and – crucially – for Gameweek 37 also at the same time.
The means you have to try to accommodate two double Gameweek fixture lists with just the one wildcard.
This makes things difficult because you are trying to build one team of 15 players that accommodates two rounds of fixtures three weeks apart. You are trying to maximise your double Gameweek 34 allocation, while at the same time having one eye on the teams with a double in Gameweek 37. Do you bring in more Brighton, Chelsea, Leicester, Man United, Spurs and Southampton players in early and have them in place and ready for Gameweek 37? If so, then this may mean you have to reduce your allocation for players with just one double in Gameweek 34.
In contrast, you can wildcard before double Gameweek in 34 and, essentially have another wildcard and another fresh team before the second double by using your free hit in Gameweek 37. There is no need to move out the players from the seven teams who have a double in 34 but don’t have a double in 37 in the intervening weeks. With the use of your free hit as a de facto third wildcard, you can tackle double Gameweek 34 full on with a clean slate and then tackle double Gameweek 37 with yet another clean slate (minus the double Gameweek 34 players whose double has been and gone).
Conclusion
In summary, the argument for saving your free hit beyond Gameweek 35 is that two wildcards are better than one – and the free hit chip can effectively be another wildcard for Gameweek 37. With just 3.25 projected blanks in Gameweek 35 and with Burnley, Manchester City, Newcastle, Swansea, Spurs and West Ham having a double in Gameweek 34 and a fixture in Gameweek 35, it is possible to get a reasonably strong 11 players out in Gameweek 35 without a free hit.
Of course, you won’t have the freedom to completely maximise the reduced fixture list in Gameweek 35, but you will be able to have 11 double Gameweek players in Gameweek 37 with ease and you won’t have to use transfers to move on your players with just one double between 34 and 37. What’s more, all five of those teams that double in Gameweek 37 look to have something to play for towards the end of the season whether it be a European place, avoiding relegation or securing a top half finish in the league.
Crucially, however, free hitting in Gameweek 37 does mean that the triple captain chip cannot be played in the same week.
Obviously this won’t be a problem for those who used the chip on Harry Kane during the double in Gameweek 22, but, for those who still have the chip, then a surprise deployment in Gameweek 31 could really propel you up the ranks in a gameweek were fixtures – and therefore points – are likely to be very scarce, indeed.
Ultimately the use of the free hit in Gameweek 37 boils down to this question: if you can get an adequately strong 11 out in Gameweek 35 without a free hit, wouldn’t you rather have a 15-player bench boost during double Gameweek 34 followed by an 11-player semi-bench boost in double Gameweek 37?
6 years, 1 month agoTriple captain LIV asset in gw31? Are you stark raving... waaaaait a minute... nevermind 😀