A long time ago, Fantasy Premier League (FPL) introduced some chips to make the game more interesting and strategic, with the Free Hit now being one of FPL’s funnest parts.
Every manager gets two of these per season.
What is an FPL Free Hit?
The Free Hit offers managers unlimited free transfers to form a one-Gameweek-only squad. However, it’s less transformative than the longer-term Wildcard chip, as the squad then returns to its previous state.
One Free Hit can be used before Gameweek 19’s deadline, and another at some point afterwards.
How to activate a Free Hit
Via a computer, select the ‘Transfers’ tab. Right at the top of the page, under the Free Hit icon, there is a ‘Play’ button you can hit to activate the chip (highlighted in red here).
Meanwhile, using the official FPL app, make changes to your team as normal under ‘Transfers’ and hit ‘Next’ to get the image below.
Select ‘Free Hit Available’ and confirm it, though be aware that, once activated, the chip cannot be cancelled.
Between this point and the Gameweek deadline, you can make as many transfers as you want.
The best times to Free Hit
The Free Hit comes in very handy when you are largely happy with your team but aren’t well equipped for an upcoming deadline. For example, a Blank Gameweek that’s caused by several FA Cup-related postponements.
The advantage of a Blank Gameweek Free Hit is that you can field 11 players at a time when many managers are short by a few. Combining that with some clever differential picks can fire you up the rankings.
But chips can be used in a variety of situations – that’s the beauty of them. Perhaps it’s to attack a Double Gameweek instead, where players have multiple matches between deadlines.
Another occasion would be during a regular Gameweek with either terrible fixtures or a huge number of injuries and bans.
Will you lose your saved-up transfers?
No. If you’ve accumulated up to five free transfers and choose to Free Hit, you’ll still have that number for the following Gameweek.
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