Eight-time top 10k finisher Zophar hosts his weekly Q&A where, unsurprisingly, deciding on the best chip strategy for Wildcard, Bench Boost and Free Hit usage is the hot Fantasy Premier League (FPL) topic.
You can read his own Gameweek 32 team reveal here.
Q: The big question on everyone’s mind: What is the best chip strategy if you have all of them remaining?
(via NZ REDS)
A: Yes, this is what everyone is currently mulling over, now that Double Gameweek 33 is on the horizon, before a likely Double Gameweek 36 too.
Because only seven Gameweeks remain, there’s not much time to make gains, and we need to maximise each one. That’s why I’m not keen on the idea of a Gameweek 32 Wildcard.
Doing this will maximise the Gameweek 33 Bench Boost. There are only 15 available picks from the five non-Burnley teams and, in the draft below, I’ve ignored Chelsea’s defence and included Bruno Fernandes (£10.3m).
For the majority, this gives a much weaker Gameweek 32 team than your existing lot. You could also choose to include Gabriel Magalhaes (£7.2m).
But this would give a Bench Boost of two doublers (likely Bart Verbruggen (£4.5m) and Jan Paul van Hecke (£4.5m), who I don’t particularly back to keep out Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea), plus two singles. So what’s even the point of that? You’re restricting Gameweek 33, and may not even get a Gabriel clean sheet. I just don’t like it.
Additionally, I’m not liking the Gameweek 35 Wildcard and Gameweek 36 Bench Boost combination, which invests in Crystal Palace.
As seen above, loading up on Brighton and Hove Albion, Chelsea, Leeds United and Manchester City assets will still carry over into some decent Gameweek 35 fixtures. But then there needs to be some Arsenal, and perhaps Newcastle United.
Interestingly, Palace are bottom of our Fixture Ticker between Gameweeks 35 and 38. The eventual insertion of their trip to Man City won’t change that by much. Their Double Gameweek 36 just doesn’t look great.
Of course, the biggest advantage of waiting until Gameweek 35 to Wildcard is obtaining new information.
We will know by then which teams are ‘on the beach’, which are chasing European qualification and whether there’s still a title race. That could potentially be huge. But it could also mean very little, as at least three of the aforementioned teams – Leeds, Chelsea and Man City – may still have something to play for.
On our latest episode of ‘The FPL Wire’, the pros and cons of several strategies were discussed, summarising most of these issues.
To me, the third option is intriguing. It should be of interest to anyone who has each of their Wildcard, Free Hit, Bench Boost and Triple Captain chips remaining, using the latter in Gameweek 36.
It works well if you have a good Gameweek 32 lineup that’s not-so-good in Gameweek 34. For example, where there’s some Brentford and Palace, alongside the Verbruggen and Martin Dubravka (£4.0m) combo in goal.
For me, this is what a Gameweek 33 Wildcard draft would look like:
The main difference here is the lack of Brighton, as these will be Bench Boosted in Gameweek 35. That’s when the Seagulls fly to Newcastle, while Bournemouth host Palace – a fixture that could be sandwiched between Conference League semi-finals.
You also get to have Gabriel and David Raya (£6.0m) in place for Arsenal’s outstanding late fixture run. On paper, Palace’s Chris Richards (£4.4m) won’t have a great double, but he’s still good for defensive contributions (DefCon).
Free Hitting in Gameweek 34, the following Bench Boost would look like this:
Double Leeds defence at home to Burnley, as Richards and Rayan (£5.6m) face each other. Basically, I don’t think this is significantly worse than Bench Boosting Verbruggen, van Hecke, Gabriel and Fernandes in Gameweek 33.
This path allows a good Gameweek 32 team, while stocking up on Arsenal and Palace for later.
So, if you still have all four chips, use them between Gameweeks 33 and 36, in this order: Wildcard, Free Hit, Bench Boost, Triple Captain.
Don’t have a Wildcard? Then opt for a Gameweek 33 Free Hit. No Bench Boost? Activate a Gameweek 33 Wildcard.
Q: What would your Gameweek 33 Free Hit draft look like?
(via FPL Virgin)
A: Normally, there would be some difference between using a Bench Boost and Free Hit at that moment, as the latter places cheap players on the bench and funnels more funds into some starting XI premiums.
However, with Arsenal and Newcastle not doubling, money isn’t an issue. The individuals of Bournemouth, Leeds and Brighton don’t cost much. That’s why my Gameweek 33 Free Hit is identical to the above Wildcard’s first XI.
I’d rather avoid Brighton completely, as they’re a team I never really trust in FPL. Not only that, their Saturday-to-Tuesday turnaround is tough, which might cause some rotation in the attacking spots. So, I prefer selecting three from Bournemouth, Leeds and Man City, plus double Chelsea.
Q: Excluding the highly owned key players like Fernandes, Gabriel and Igor Thiago (£7.3m), which non-Double Gameweek 33 players do you consider to be better picks that week than Pascal Gross (£5.5m), Wesley Fofana (£4.4m), Joe Rodon (£3.9m) and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.6m)?
(via Pompel)
A: Back to Crystal Palace, they face West Ham United in Gameweek 33, straight after hosting Newcastle. Outside of doublers and those popular singles, that’s where I’d look. Ismaila Sarr (£6.3m), Daniel Munoz (£5.8m), Maxence Lacroix (£5.1m), Dean Henderson (£5.1m) and Richards.
As a bonus, this also sets you up for their likely Double Gameweek 36.
Q: Is it viable to triple up on Man City’s attack on a Gameweek 32 Wildcard? I want Erling Haaland (£14.4m), Antoine Semenyo (£8.2m) and Rayan Cherki (£6.3m) but, apart from Nico O’Reilly (£5.0m), their defensive picks look very thin.
(via parampapamm)
A: It’s viable, but I would argue that O’Reilly is really an attacker. I wouldn’t compromise on either him or Haaland but, if looking to differentiate, you could maybe grab Cherki over Semenyo.
Pep Guardiola has changed his system in these two latest cup games, and Semenyo isn’t playing next to Haaland like before. He’s wider, whereas Cherki is located behind the Norwegian. Although I think Semenyo is still an outstanding pick, his stock has fallen a little bit, and Cherki could match or better him.
We did a monster two-hour episode of ‘The FPL Wire’ the other day, discussing all chip strategy ideas ahead of Gameweek 32. Top picks from all six doublers, too.
It’s timestamped, so you can skip to the sections that are relevant to you.
