Newcastle United’s progression to the EFL Cup final means that Magpies and Crystal Palace will both blank in Gameweek 29.
Those two sides had been due to meet at St James’ Park in that Gameweek but Eddie Howe’s troops are Wembley-bound on the same weekend.
Newcastle’s superb semi-final victory also means that Arsenal and Chelsea won’t now have a Double Gameweek 25.
The clash between the two London rivals stays in Gameweek 29 as originally scheduled.
WHEN IS THE NEW DATE FOR NEWCASTLE V CRYSTAL PALACE?
The two sides will now meet in Gameweek 32, making it a double for both sides.
PALACE AND NEWCASTLE’S RUNS TO GAMEWEEK 29
What you do with Palace and Newcastle players in FPL will – partly – depend on whether you’re Free Hitting or not in Gameweek 29.
For those managers who do decide to ‘dead-end’ into Gameweek 29 (ie not using a Free Hit, Wildcarding in Gameweek 30), then Palace and Newcastle players will ultimately be on the chopping block.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
The Magpies have a tricky-ish run between now and Blank Gameweek 29 anyway, so some FPL managers will want to reduce the numbers of Newcastle players in their sides regardless. You can’t see too many clean sheets for Lewis Hall (£5.1m), for example.
The attacking assets are not quite as easy to sell. Howe’s rabble, as seen again on Wednesday, tend to raise their game against the big guns. Newcastle scored seven goals against Man City, Forest and Liverpool in the reverse fixtures!
Nevertheless, Anthony Gordon (£7.6m) is going to be the makeweight for many a Bournemouth midfielder this week. He’s already the most-sold player of Gameweek 25.
As for Alexander Isak (£9.5m), he could theoretically become a Double Gameweek 25 forward. Will any be worth buying though? Ollie Watkins (£8.9m) might be injured even if Aston Villa do ‘double’. Spurs don’t really have a convincing fit forward if it’s them. Rodrigo Muniz (£5.6m) and Raul Jimenez (£5.5m) could easily get a game each if Fulham play twice. Most of us are already tripled up on Liverpool.
Free Hit or no Free Hit in Gameweek 29, Isak may end up staying with a big chunk of his FPL owners.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Not as many FPL managers own players from Oliver Glasner’s squad but they’re still semi-popular options.
Their fixture run is more favourable up until Gameweek 29, so even ‘dead-enders’ may want to retain Daniel Munoz (£4.8m) and co until the last minute.
Three of Palace’s next four fixtures are at home and fairly appealing, especially the visit of Ipswich Town in Gameweek 28 – right before the blank.
Southampton away follows in Gameweek 30, so Gameweek 29 Free Hitters may want to keep a tight hold of their Eagles assets, too.
