No more Double Gameweeks – so when should we use our chips? (updated)

So, then, it’s confirmed that we’ll have no more Double Gameweeks.

The lack of doubles is a bit of a blow to those Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers who still have chips remaining.

Taking the top 10k as a sample, here is an overview of who has what left:

With no Double Gameweeks remaining, when should we use our chips?

In this article, refreshed for Gameweek 37, we take a look at the options available to FPL managers.

TRIPLE CAPTAIN

Above, we’ve sorted the remaining Gameweeks by difficulty.

GAMEWEEK 37

There aren’t many stand-out candidates in Gameweek 37. Two of the bottom three face each other and Everton host the other relegated club.

Given the joy FPL managers have had in targeting the three boomeranging Championship-bound sides in 2024/25, that’s not ideal. With the greatest respect to Kamaldeen Sulemana (£5.0m) and Abdoulaye Doucoure (£5.1m), no one is handing the armband to anyone from those fixtures…

In Gameweek 37, then, an alternative approach: opposing the sides whose minds are on Europe.

Morgan Rogers (£5.7m) and Ollie Watkins (£8.9m) therefore have captaincy claims. While the match has been moved forward to help with Spurs’ UEFA Europa League final preparations the following week, Ange Postecoglou may well still manage his regulars’ minutes for what is a meaningless Premier League encounter from their perspective. Even if not, will they be fully committed to the task in hand?

Could Cole Palmer (£10.5m) also be an option at home to Manchester United, who are similarly distracted by continental clashes?

GAMEWEEK 38

The final day is often viewed as a goalfest, and there’s some weight behind that notion.

In Gameweek 38, it’s the turn of Arsenal, Bournemouth and West Ham to face the bottom three.

However, it could be that the Gunners, the Cherries and the Hammers are all involved in dead rubbers by the final weekend. Andoni Iraola’s side may still be involved the race for eighth but Arsenal may have already secured their Champions League place for 2025/26. West Ham have long been stuck in lower-mid-table limbo.

The lack of pressure could have a liberating effect, of course, but the respective managers’ team selections could throw up a few surprises.

Ignoring those caveats, Bukayo Saka (£10.3m) obviously stands out. He delivered a 16-point haul in his last meeting with the Saints, with his non-penalty xGI figure of 1.24 his second-highest of the season.

As for the Cherries, Evanilson (£5.8m) stands out. With injuries to Dango Ouattara (£4.6m) and Alex Scott (£4.7m), there are also fewer game-time concerns over Justin Kluivert (£6.0m) and Antonie Semenyo (£5.7m) now after their recent benchings.

ASSISTANT MANAGER

Below, we’ve put together a colour-coded graphic of when each club has/might have a ‘table bonus’ game in the run-in.

There aren’t too many stand-out runs if it is indeed table bonus that you’re after.

Manchester United will have two cracks at the table bonus in the final two Gameweeks, as might Tottenham Hotspur. Those two clubs are likely to have more than one eye on the UEFA Europa League final, however, so you’d question the value of backing them.

Kieran McKenna (£0.5m) and Ipswich Town are top of our Season Ticker in the final two Gameweeks. With possible one table bonus shot, they have winnable (or at least drawable!) matches against Leicester City and West Ham United to come. McKenna has gained table bonus from Chelsea and Bournemouth in recent weeks.

Graham Potter (£0.5m) will also hope to take advantage of Nottingham Forest’s current malaise in Gameweek 37. A win for the Hammers gets Potter table bonus before that final-day trip to Ipswich.

Fabian Hurzeler (£1.1m) and Oliver Glasner (£0.8m) will be hoping to catch a rotated Liverpool cold in Gameweeks 37 and 38. Both managers will be eligible for table bonus in those games.

FREE HIT

For the same reasons we mentioned in the Triple Captain section above, the lack of stand-out matches in Gameweek 37 perhaps makes Gameweek 38 more appealing for the Free Hit.

With Gameweek 38, there’s the lure of a final-day goals bonanza and being able to cherry-pick an XI when motivation/rotation is at this point unknown. Another advantage of Gameweek 38 is that the likes of Arsenal, Bournemouth and Newcastle have iffy fixtures before then, so they can be avoided until the final day.

Here is a draft we’ve put together for Gameweek 38. Kieran Trippier (£5.7m) can become any other Newcastle defender if he hasn’t recovered from injury by then.

GAMEWEEK 38

BENCH BOOST

Again, this will be dependent on your current set-up. And again, Gameweek 37 has fewer attractive fixtures.

If there is an advantage to Gameweek 38, it’s that you’ll have at least two transfers between now and then to get yourself a competitive squad of 15 for the final day. Some would argue that could be to the detriment of having the most optimal starting XI every week, of course, but funds are likely not an issue for many right now.

If you’ve got the ability to save and roll, stockpiling transfers for the final day and being able to snap up the most appealing Arsenal and Bournemouth players at that point could be beneficial.

WILDCARD

At this point, with no doubles, it’s a ‘whenever your team needs it most’ scenario.

Given that you’d usually give yourself the best chance of a successful Wildcard over a longer period (ie less short-term variance), the advice would typically be the sooner the better.

But there are few real stand-out fixtures to target in Gameweek 37, so you’d have to wonder who exactly you’d target this week. Everton attackers at home to Southampton, perhaps? The trouble is, the Toffees are away at Newcastle on the final day, although they could at least be benched in that scenario.

So, the final option is to think of it like a Free Hit. If you’re squad is actually looking pretty good right now, save till Gameweek 38 and use the unlimited transfers to bring in more/different Arsenal and Bournemouth players on the final day.

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