As the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Gameweek 3 deadline approaches, plenty of managers are weighing up using one of their chips.

The Wildcard and Triple Captain are among the options under consideration, but could the Free Hit be right for you?

PROS

Load up on City and Liverpool…

Among the major points in favour of a Gameweek 3 Free Hit is that it gives you the ability to load up on assets from Manchester City, the current Premier League leaders, at home to winless Coventry City, the promoted side with the worst record over the opening two matches.

That includes getting in Erling Haaland (£15.5m), if you chose to start the season without him, with other leading options including in-form playmakers Rayan Cherki (£7.7m) and Phil Foden (£7.0m), 90-minute man Antoine Semenyo (£8.5m) and backline troops like Josko Gvardiol (£5.6m), who has chipped in with a goal and assist already.

The clean sheets odds of the latter are boosted by Coventry’s lack of goals, while at the other end of the pitch no team is projected to score as many goals as City (2.81) this weekend. All of that, and we haven’t even mentioned possible out-of-position defender Nico O’Reilly (£6.5m), defensive contribution (DefCon) magnet Elliot Anderson (6.4m) or new boys on the block Enzo Fernandez (£6.9m) and Iliman Ndiaye (£6.0m)!

Another appealing fixture that could be targeted is Liverpool’s visit to Ipswich on Friday evening.

Sure, the Reds have not been terribly convincing themselves in a pair of 2-2 draws with Newcastle and Nottingham Forest, but Ipswich just conceded five against Manchester United and could find themselves run ragged by the likes of Alexander Isak (£9.0m) and Dominik Szoboszlai (£7.0m), each of whom has scored already this season. 

It is likely that only two of Bradley Barcola (£8.0m), Cody Gakpo (£7.0m) and Victor Munoz (£6.5m) will start, but the former will be keen to make an instant impact for his new side while the latter duo have a goal and assist apiece so far. Virgil van Dijk (£6.5m) brings some set piece threat, while he and his cheaper central defensive partner Jeremy Jacquet (£5.0m) have hit the defensive contribution (DefCon) threshold in one game each.

… but don’t remain burdened with them

However, as is the benefit of the Free Hit chip, you can take advantage of the promising Gameweek 3 fixture for both of these clubs without burdening yourself with their players long term.

City do have more good fixtures on the horizon, but the arrivals of Fernandez and Ndiaye mean there are two more bodies in the rotation mix which will likely impact the minutes and attacking opportunities for the likes of Cherki, Foden, O’Reilly and possibly Gvardiol as well.

As for Liverpool, the medium-term fixtures are more of a mixed bag, which – in addition to the fact that they are yet to properly click under Andoni Iraola – dampens their appeal. There exists some uncertainty at Anfield, too, especially in the wide positions given the aforementioned competition between Gakpo, Barcola, Munoz and even young Rio Ngumoha (£5.9m)

Avoid Arsenal/Chelsea match-up…

Another big ‘plus’ when it comes to a Gameweek 3 Free Hit is that it enables you to avoid Arsenal’s clash with Chelsea.

Gunners defenders are popular for obvious reasons and their attackers like Bukayo Saka (£9.5m) and Martin Odegaard (£6.6m) have gained new backers with their early returns, while Chelsea’s new-look attack is attracting plenty of attention having already netted seven goals in their opening two matches, the most of any Premier League club.

Pitting attackers against defenders within your squad is something that we as FPL managers try to avoid whenever possible, and this match-up is no different.

A Free Hit this weekend, then, offers you an easy way out of having too many – or any – clashes from that battle at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon.

… and focus on other appealing fixtures

Instead, you can focus on picking one-week assets from Man City, Liverpool or any of the other clubs that have more favourable-looking fixtures in Gameweek 3.

For instance, out-of-position FPL defender Maxim De Cuyper (£4.7m) could feast on the left wing – as he did against Aston Villa in Gameweek 1 – at home versus a Leeds side likely to be without injured right-sided centre-back Joe Rodon (£4.5m). Pascal Gross (£5.5m) could profit in that game too, having bagged a double-digit haul last time out.

Villa, meanwhile, visit Hull City, who have won their opening two matches back in the top flight whereas Unai Emery’s men are winless, goalless and indeed without a shot on target so far. You could choose to back the Tigers of course, with their budget-friendly picks including FPL’s top-scoring goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis (£4.6m). However, Villa generally looked much better during their narrow loss to Arsenal on Monday than they did on the opening weekend – and having strengthened further on deadline day, they may now start to kick on.

Other targetable fixtures include Brentford’s home match with Sunderland, with the Black Cats not offering much of promise so far this season after boasting a particularly bad away record last term while the Bees have looked strong so far, bringing the likes of impressive newcomer Mamadou Sangare (£5.7m), tricky winger Kevin Schade (£6.0m), defenders Michael Kayode (£4.6m) and Kristoffer Ajer (£4.5m) and even the as yet goalless Igor Thiago (£8.0m) into our thinking.

Newcastle, who have also hit the ground running under Mattias Jaissle with Yoane WIssa (£6.1m), Anthony Elanga (£6.1m) and full-backs Lewis Hall (£5.1m) and Amar Dedic (£4.5m) particularly impressive, host winless Bournemouth, as Morgan Gibbs-White (£7.9m)-led Nottingham Forest do struggling Spurs.

Let’s you save the Wildcard

Furthermore, a Free Hit now means you’re able to save your Wildcard for a future Gameweek, by which time we’ll have much data and information to rely upon when making the long-term decisions with that chip.

Not that many managers may wait very long to use their first Wildcard, of course; Gameweeks 4 and 6 are two popular options under consideration for that.

CONS

Triple Captain Haaland off the table

Of course, using your Free Hit this weekend takes away the opportunity to slap the Triple Captain chip on Haaland for his enticing home clash with Coventry.

There are other opportunities to use that chip, including with Haaland, but Gameweek 3 does look like a popular opportunity given the two sides’ comparative form.

Tom F has summed up some of the pros and cons of opting for a TC Haaland strategy this week here.

Other opportunities to come

Likewise, there will be other stand-out Free Hit opportunities to come which may suit your team better, depending on players who already own and how you see the matches playing out.

For example, Arsenal’s home meeting with Man City headlines Gameweek 12; much like Arsenal vs Chelsea this weekend, that’s a match many of us will likely be looking to limit our FPL involvement in.

Or, in Gameweek 14, you would have to contend with City visiting Brentford, Chelsea vs Liverpool, the Tyne-Wear derby and the North London derby, all of which could be tough to call (if Tottenham’s plethora of new signings get their act together by then, that is).

So, if you find that you’re already actually reasonably well set up to navigate Gameweek 3 due to shrewd pre-season planning, perhaps it is worth saving your Free Hit after all.

Uses up a potential ‘get out of jail free’ card

The Free Hit can also act as a handy ‘get out of jail free’ card for managers who find themselves staring down the barrel of a particularly nightmarish future Gameweek due to a combination of unexpected injuries, suspensions, rotation, etc.

All of that may be more likely to happen when cup competitions (including Europe) are in full swing over the coming months.

So, just remember that if you use the Free Hit now, you won’t have another in your back pocket until the second set of chips are released in Gameweek 20.

Original team affected by Gameweek 3 price changes

Finally, there’s the point that if you choose to activate your Free Hit ahead of the Gameweek 3 deadline, any price changes that occur to your original team – the one you’ll get back in Gameweek 4 – could affect your team value.

If players you own drop in price, or those you don’t rise, you may find yourself priced out of future moves, and it’s possible that the market could be particularly volatile post-deadline day.

GAMEWEEK 3 FREE HIT TEAM

Our Scout Picks is effectively a Free Hit team, so here’s what we’ve put together for the week ahead.

Explanations on the picks can be found here.