Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Blank Gameweek 29 is almost upon us, so let the Free Hit drafts commence!
Some FPL bosses have chosen to navigate the blank without activating a chip but plenty of others have decided Blank Gameweek 29 is the best time for them to deploy their Free Hit.
For those in the latter group, we’ve put together three different possible Gameweek 29 Free Hit drafts in this article.
Gameweek 29 Free Hit Draft 1: Fairly template
Starting off in goal, David Raya (£5.5m) is the highest-owned ‘keeper in FPL. He offers a safe, if perhaps unexciting, route into the league’s meanest defence for goals conceded. Arsenal have lost just once at home this season, and in Blank Gameweek 29 face an off-colour Chelsea side who have failed to win any of their last six on the road, with an out-of-sorts star and a familiar problem to the Gunners’ own in having no fit out-and-out striker.
At the back, Rayan Aït-Nouri (£4.8m) gets ready to face struggling opposition. Southampton, who are battling to avoid the mantle of ‘worst-ever Premier League team’, will be relieved not to have to deal with Wolves’ main attacking threat but the Algerian wing-back could cause them problems having delivered eight attacking returns (three goals, five assists) already this season. Aït-Nouri also kept a clean sheet the last time he faced Saints, and has two shut-outs in his last five matches.
We’ve also shown love to Joško Gvardiol (£5.9m), who with five goals – one of which came against Brighton – this season is the Premier League’s highest-scoring defender. Manchester City’s marauding left-back is rarely absent from Pep Guardiola’s line-up, and leads all FPL defenders for penalty area touches (84) this season as well as having twice as many Opta-defined ‘big chances’ (six) since Gameweek 17 as his next-closest challenger. The Croatian shouldn’t just be relying on clean sheets against an in-form Seagulls side.
The third defensive starter here is admittedly a bit of a toss-up, with any one of Nottingham Forest’s backline – including the popular Ola Aina (£5.3m) and more recent goal scorers Nikola Milenković (£4.8m) and Neco Williams (£4.4m) – offering decent value ahead of their trip to Ipswich. The Tractor Boys haven’t won since Gameweek 19, while Forest are joint-top for clean sheets this season.
Despite United’s hot and cold season, Bruno Fernandes (£8.3m) is another shoo-in in these drafts. The Red Devils captain has delivered 29 points over the last three Gameweeks, while he also raked in a huge 17-point return against Leicester in November. The Foxes haven’t exactly improved since then, having lost 12 of their last 13 league outings.
Bryan Mbeumo (£8.1m) and Justin Kluivert (£6.1m) are the third and fourth-most owned midfielders in the game. They will be heavily backed by Free Hit and non-Free Hit teams alike this weekend. For FPL bosses looking for a ‘template’ draft, then, these two penalty takers could be worth sticking with. Not that doing so would be out of the question anyway, given Mbeumo has eight attacking returns in his last 10 matches while Kluivert has 10 in his last eight. Both players returned in Bournemouth’s 3-2 loss to the Bees in the reverse of this fixture.
On paper, the greatest variety of promising picks seem to be available in the middle of the park. Accordingly, the remaining spots in our five-man ‘template’ midfield are populated by Jarrod Bowen (£7.4m) and Morgan Gibbs-White (£6.5m).
Bowen faces an Everton side who are unbeaten in eight league matches under David Moyes, but West Ham’s captain has also been enjoying life under new manager Graham Potter, delivering two goals – against Chelsea and Arsenal – and an assist in his four appearances since returning from injury. The Toffees have also conceded in each of their last five fixtures.
As for Gibbs-White, the Forest man has been going under the radar lately. Averaging 6.4 points per match over the last 14 Gameweeks, he’s right up there with the best of the ‘form’ players:
Above: Players sorted by attacking returns over the last 14 Gameweeks
The absence of Mohamed Salah (£13.8m), and indeed Cole Palmer (£11.0m), from this particular draft mean there are more than enough funds to splash on Erling Haaland (£14.7m).
City’s frontman has blanked just twice in his last nine appearances, delivering seven goals and two assists in that time.
The last spot in this draft’s starting XI goes to Chris Wood (£7.3m). Similar to the likes of Mbeumo and Kluivert, Wood will be highly owned by non-Fee-Hitters so this is partly a bit of damage limitation.
But Forest’s Kiwi striker is also having the season of his life, having delivered 21 attacking returns (18 goals, three assists) so far. Indeed, he netted and secured maximum bonus points the last time he faced Ipswich.
Gameweek 29 Free Hit Draft 2: Keeping Faith in Palmer
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