Free Hits + blankers: How ready are FPL managers for Blank Gameweek 34?

The joint-biggest Blank Gameweek of the season is coming up this weekend (and next Thursday!).

Four clubs are without a Premier League fixture in Gameweek 34: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Manchester City.

This quartet are blanking due to the involvement of three of those clubs in the FA Cup semi-finals this weekend.

READ MORE: When are the FPL Blank and Double Gameweeks in 2024/25?

Looking at the figures found on LiveFPL (correct as of last Saturday’s deadline), we check on how well Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers are prepared for this eight-match Gameweek.

We’re using the top 100k as a sample in this article. This should be a better gauge of active managers than the overall ownership figures, as there are fewer dead/ghost teams.

HOW MANY GAMEWEEK 34 ‘BLANKERS’ DOES THE AVERAGE TOP 100K MANAGER OWN?

Immediately, we can see the appeal of the Free Hit – and the challenge facing those without the chip.

The average top 100k manager owns around nine ‘blankers’ for Gameweek 34, which is no real surprise given that those inactive players doubled in the previous Gameweek.

WHO ARE THE MOST-OWNED GAMEWEEK 34 PLAYERS IN THE TOP 100K?

Now, a look at the FPL assets whose teams have a Gameweek 34 fixture.

Here are the most-owned players in the top 100k, again correct as of last Saturday’s deadline:

Player	Ownership	Player	Ownership
Salah	98.1%	Williams	10.1%
Isak	88.2%	Aït-Nouri	10.1%
J.Murphy	49.7%	Konaté	9.4%
Livramento	32.5%	Bradley	8.7%
Areola	24.4%	Virgil	8.2%
Burn	21.7%	Pope	7.5%
Kerkez	20.3%	Robinson	6.8%
Milenković	18.1%	Palmer	6.4%
Sels	18.0%	Wan-Bissaka	6.2%
Bowen	12.8%	Evanilson	6.0%
Mbeumo	11.8%	Fabianski	5.4%

Newcastle United are at home to Ipswich Town in Gameweek 34 so expect their ownership figures to stay high, with perhaps Harvey Barnes (£6.0m) joining the names on the above list. He’s already had 85k+ transfers in as of Tuesday evening.

Matheus Cunha (£6.9m) doesn’t appear but as the most-bought player of Gameweek 34, his ownership figure will soar.

Teammate Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.9m) is also set for a spike in popularity as Wolverhampton Wanderers prepare to face relegated Leicester City.

Bryan Mbeumo (£7.9m) already appears in the above table but as the most-bought midfielder of the round, that 11.8% figure will likely rise considerably. Unlike Newcastle, Wolves and Fulham assets, however, Brentford face a side who have performed well defensively this season in the shape of Nottingham Forest.

MOST-REPRESENTED CLUBS

Again, these above figures reflect the landscape before any Gameweek 34 transfers.

Newcastle are the most well-represented club and that number looks set to rise closer to 3.0 this week. Of the 10 most bought players of the Gameweek, four are on the Magpies’ books.

There continues to be scant interest in Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. Remarkably, these two sides are even less represented than Southampton and Ipswich.

With tricky away fixtures, upcoming Europa League semi-finals and indifferent domestic form, there likely won’t be much change in that. Of the 60 most-purchased players of Gameweek 34, only one – Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) – comes from either club.