The Gameweek 34 Free Hit is not just about choosing players based on their own strengths – it’s also about targeting the opposition’s weaknesses.
Many of the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers using the chip this week will be backing assets facing Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton.
With that in mind, we thought we’d take a look at where these Championship-bound sides are at their most vulnerable.
In turn, we can hopefully identify players who can prosper in Gameweek 34.
IPSWICH TOWN
LEFT FLANK
The Tractor Boys’ left flank (ie the opposition’s right) has been a particular Achilles heel.
Over the last six matches, no club has allowed more chances to be conceded from their left wing (40) than Ipswich.
Arsenal tore through that side of the pitch last weekend, with Ben White (£6.2m), Martin Odegaard (£8.2m) and Bukayo Saka (£10.5m) all heavily involved.
Above: Ipswich Town’s chances created conceded map in Gameweek 33
How Saka didn’t return is still a mystery: he racked up an effective goal involvement (xGI) of 1.51 despite blanking.
In the previous five Gameweeks, Ismaila Sarr (£5.8m), Anthony Elanga (£5.4m) and Pablo Sarabia (£5.0m) have all produced double-digit hauls from the right flank.
Looking at the open-play goals Ipswich have conceded over the last six Gameweeks, indeed, the shots have mostly come from centre or right-centre:
Gabriel Martinelli (£6.5m) is the only left winger to have netted from open play in that period. That goal for the Brazilian in Arsenal’s 4-0 win in Gameweek 33 was the only open-play shot, of an xG of greater than 0.15, that a left winger has had against Ipswich in the last six Gameweeks.
It’s perhaps no coincidence. Axel Tuanzebe (£3.9m) is a very good one-on-one defender in the Wan-Bissaka mould. He and Dara O’Shea (£3.9m) on the right have been, relatively speaking for a side plummeting back to the Football League, fairly solid.
On the other side, Leif Davis‘ (£4.2m) strengths are going forward. He has often left chasms behind him.
The complicating factor is that Davis is serving a ban in Gameweek 34. Back-up Conor Townsend (£3.8m) may miss out, too. We could see a repeat of Sunday, then, with Jacob Greaves (£3.8m) stepping in. Greaves actually did okay as a makeshift left-back/wing-back against the Gunners but we saw how he got skinned by Saka for Arsenal’s second goal.
Jacob Murphy (£5.2m) and Kieran Trippier (£5.6m) could benefit this weekend, then, providing that Murphy indeed does get the nod on the right wing. Murphy hauled in the reverse fixture, scoring, assisting and creating three big chances.
SET PIECES
