Our team of Hall of Famers and guest writers are writing about all things Fantasy Premier League (FPL) in 2023/24. Next up, The Wire co-host Pras discusses the pros and cons of three chip strategies.
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Finally, the fifth round of the FA Cup is out of the way. We now know that only four games will go ahead in Gameweek 29, which are as follows:
- Burnley v Brentford
- Fulham v Spurs
- West Ham v Aston Villa
- Luton v Nottingham Forest
This means that the blanking teams will all double between Gameweeks 34-37.
Furthermore, from the FA Cup quarter-final draw, we can also start to draw logical predictions on who reaches the semi-final of the FA Cup. Whoever does cannot double in Gameweek 34, when the semis take place.
Here’s the draw:
- Man Utd v Liverpool
- Man City v Newcastle
- Wolves v Coventry
- Chelsea v Leicester
The draw is quite helpful for forward planning, in a sense that you can reasonably assume (yes, emphasis on “reasonably”) that Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Wolves make it through to the semi-final.
On this basis then, I wanted to discuss the pros and cons for three of the popular chip strategies, and where I am leaning for my own team.
Free Hit in Gameweek 29
Wildcard in Gameweek 35
Bench Boost in Gameweek 37
A lot of teams aren’t set up well for Gameweek 29. Rightly, there has been emphasis on Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool and even Chelsea/Man Utd to an extent recently.
When you add to this the fact a Gameweek 29 blanking team, Bournemouth, have such a good double in Gameweek 28, it is understandable why some teams will find it hard to navigate these four fixtures without a chip.
One way is to Free Hit and avoid these teams altogether.
Strategy
- Free Hit in the big blank and thus delay the Wildcard to later on, i.e. closer to the Gameweek 34/37 doubles.
- Can dead–end the team to Double Gameweek 34 that could involve “bad” teams like Crystal Palace, Newcastle, Man Utd, Everton, Bournemouth etc (note – we will not know the exact teams that double until Gameweek 30/31).
Pros
- Ability to maximize on Double Gameweek 28, by focusing on Bournemouth players with better fixtures instead of Luton players.
- Limit the number of hits required around this period.
- Only bring the fringe players from Nottingham Forest, Luton, Brentford and West Ham for one week and not get “stuck” with them.
- Wildcard close to the Bench Boost to maximize the latter’s potential and insure against late change in motivations (“on the beach”/teams focused in Europe) or injuries.
Cons
- Wildcard in Gameweek 35 shouldn’t be drastically different from doing it in Gameweek 30/31 + three/four free transfers as no new information on doubles or blanks will come after Gameweek 30/31.
- Limited upside in the actual Free Hit week. The upside comes from avoiding hits, and upside in Gameweek 28, as above.
- May need to hold players through tougher fixtures eg. Watkins vs Man City/Arsenal, Saka v Man City, Haaland v Liverpool/Arsenal.
- Possibly go without one of the big hitters (Son, Salah, Haaland, Saka) between Gameweek 30-34.
- Your end-goal team gets more and more expensive to afford, especially the key bench players for Double Gameweek 37, the longer one waits to Wildcard.
Important teams
- Bournemouth would be key since not only do they double in Gameweek 28 but they have good fixtures after Gameweek 29 and could even double in Gameweek 34.
- Newcastle – a team not in form but good fixtures before and after Gamewek 29 and a likely double in Gameweek 34 means they are one to hold/target.
Wildcard in Gameweek 31
Free Hit in Gameweek 34
Bench Boost in Gameweek 37
Lateriser12, Zophar and I discussed this and a lot more on our The FPL Wire podcast earlier.
If you’d like to understand some of the decision-making further, I’d encourage you to check it out.
Good luck!
