By now, you may have heard about how Blank Gameweek 29 unfolded in Fantasy Premier League (FPL).
Whether managers used their Free Hit chip, took a points hit or neither, totals were devastatingly low.
This season’s official game-wide points averages had ranged from 73 in Double Gameweek 25 to a supposedly measly 32 in Gameweek 11.
However, this infamous set of fixtures averaged just 12 points per team.
| POINTS AVERAGE | GAMEWEEKS | POINTS AVERAGE | GAMEWEEKS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 73 | GW25 | 49 | GW7 |
| 72 | GW4 | 48 | GW22 |
| 68 | GW6 | 47 | GW21 |
| 67 | GW9 | 46 | GW13, GW26 |
| 66 | GW10 | 44 | GW2, GW3, GW5, GW8, GW17, GW28 |
| 64 | GW1, GW12 | 40 | GW16 |
| 63 | GW27 | 38 | GW19 |
| 62 | GW24 | 36 | GW18 |
| 59 | GW20 | 35 | GW15 |
| 57 | GW23 | 32 | GW11 |
| 54 | GW14 | 12 | GW29 |
It’s also confirmed to be the worst-ever Gameweek average on record.
Amongst the popular picks, Sergio Reguilon (£4.4m) received an early red card and ended on minus three points. Team-mate Ivan Toney (£8.2m) missed two shots before his late booking, whilst Luton Town’s Alfie Doughty (£4.7m) was replaced at half-time with a hamstring strain.
Let’s not forget the failures of Son Heung-min (£10.1m), James Maddison (£8.0m), Jarrod Bowen (£8.0m), Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) and Carlton Morris (£5.2m) too.
In fact, every player owned by at least 20% of the top 100k blanked, probably making it the worst FPL Gameweek of all time.
As over 1.7 million managers unluckily wasted their Free Hit on this catastrophe, we’ve gathered horror stories from Fantasy Football Scout’s community in an attempt to help heal us as a group. This two-week international break could either be a blessing or a curse.
THE GAMEWEEK 29 DEBACLE
Scouring through the FFS Mods and Cons mini-league, our editor Neale took two hits to bring in Toney, Bowen and Maddison. With just 16 points from his XI, it meant eight in total.
Yet Spencer Li and TorresMagic both did similar, spending eight points on a trio that accumulated only one, thanks to Reguilon. Post-hits, they ended with paltry scores of five and four respectively.
Meanwhile, when RedLightning collected ‘rough with the smooth’ anecdotes, he began with his own.
“A grand total of 15 points after playing my Free Hit. Apart from zeros in Gameweek 7 of 2022/23 and the Gameweek 30-38 spell of 2019/20 where no games were played, this was my lowest score ever. And I left 21 points on the bench – Areola, Douglas Luiz, Tosin and Robinson.” – RedLightning
Benching Fulham players for their surprise 3-0 win over Spurs soon became a popular theme.
“19 points from the first eleven on a Free Hit, with not a single return from any of them. 25 points on my bench, however.” – Sheffield Wednesday
“Not a single return. Only good thing was choosing Collins ahead of Reguilon. 26 points on my Free Hit bench – Leno, Douglas Luiz, Robinson and Coufal!” – Shirtless
Another common theme was regretful late switches from one player to another. Inevitably on a week like this, guess which one hauled?
“Had Fofana and Roerslev over Morris and Reguilon all week in my Free Hit draft and, at the last minute, I bottled and went with the template. 10-point swing. Nothing major but, relative to the GW, it was substantial. My major rough was burning the chip on this dross of a Gameweek.” – RoyaleBlue
“A 16-point Free Hit, I only had three players so felt it had to be used. It’s kinda funny though – if I had done just one of my planned Gameweek 30 moves – Muniz for Solanke, thus enabling Garnacho to Salah – then I would have had a better score.” – Lugs
X REPLIES
Naturally, we reached out for more on social media, knowing how ‘special’ this Gameweek was.
Have you had an even worse Gameweek 29 than those above? Maybe your team ended on negative points or had a bench that achieved at least 40.
Feel free to comment below, as a theraputic way to deal with such a heartbreaking FPL weekend. We’re here to listen.
1 year, 3 months agoAnd my non FH team with 9 players including Reguilon helped me get into top 10K