Question Time – Free Hit in Blank Gameweek 33 and future planning

Fantasy Premier League managers are making the final touches to their future plans ahead of Blank Gameweek 33.

With Wildcards set to be deployed very soon we’ve had plenty of questions come in this week about how to select the best options for the season run-in.

That means any queries about this weekend’s depleted round of fixtures have largely been short-term ones, involving the Free Hit chip.

We’ve put your questions to our panel to see what they had to say.

Who’s on the panel this week?

FPL Family – Lee and Sam are the well-known married couple who play Fantasy football together and run a YouTube channel documenting their thoughts. They have appeared on the Official FPL show this season.

Ben Crabtree – A former winner of Fantasy Premier League, Ben finished first in the overall rankings in the 2016/17 season.

Adam Hopcroft – A well-known name on Twitter, Adam was ranked 35th in our Live Hall of Fame going into Double Gameweek 32 and has two top 1,000 finishes to his name already.

Question 1 – Sam

RingWraith: I’m playing my Free Hit chip this week and wanted an opinion on which teams assets are best for defence and attack?

Sam: “Leicester haven’t kept many clean sheets of late but a trip to already-relegated Huddersfield, who have failed to score in eight of their last 11 Premier League matches, seems a good bet for clean sheet potential.

“Therefore, players such as Schmeichel, Chilwell or Ricardo Pereira all look like good picks.

“Equally, Chelsea off the back of a 3-0 victory over Brighton have a nice fixture against West Ham.

“The Hammers have failed to score in five of their last six away games and look to already be on the beach, especially after the way they played against Everton.

“In terms of attacking players, there is an abundance of options this week.

“Liverpool, Leicester and Newcastle all have fixtures against teams that haven’t kept many clean sheets and they have assets who are in good form.

“Firmino (vs Southampton) Vardy (vs Huddersfield) Rondon (vs Palace), as well as both the Arsenal strikers, look like very good picks outside of the obvious Salah, Mané and Hazard.

“For me, with three goals and two assists in the last six Gameweeks, Rondon looks like a nice option.

“Vardy too has shown a change in form under the management of Brendon Rodgers and having had a rest over the international break I’m expecting good things from him in Blank Gameweek 33.

“It’s also worth noting that Arsenal are still without a clean sheet away from home this season, so Everton’s attacking players are worth investigating too.”

Question 2 – Ben

Ajax Amsterdam: In view of a tough away fixture at Everton and also because of uncertainty due to rotation, is it best to avoid Arsenal attacking options on a Free Hit team for Blank Gameweek 33?

Ben: “Normally there are at least one or two stand-out Arsenal players to own in spite of the team’s unpredictable spells of form.

“This season, from an FPL point of view, their players have been very ‘Arsenal’.

“Mkhitaryan started it all off with 12 points away at Chelsea, making him look a bargain, to playing just one minute against Cardiff two games later.

“Lacazette followed with strong scores proving him to be the pick over Aubameyang, only to fade when people were shuffling money around their teams to enable another forward over £9.5m.

“Then finally Aubameyang, who has scored a lot of goals and amassed a lot of points but has managed to do this in between the periods where managers saw him as a great option.

“Their defence, as usual, has not looked strong regardless of the fixtures but Bellerin and Kolasinac’s attacking potential has seen them enjoy spells of decent value.

“If I was using a Free Hit I’d be thinking this game away against an in-form Everton side, and an in-form Everton crowd, could well end up in a frustrating result for Arsenal.

“Straight away I’d ignore their defence.

“The midfield could have options in Ramsey, Ozil or Mkhitaryan but selection and ‘turning up’ issues would have me seeing midfielders from other teams (Richarlison, Sigurdsson, Fraser, Maddison, Tielemans, Hazard, Mane, Salah, McNeil), as better choices.

“This leaves the forwards in a Gameweeek where there aren’t many stand-out premium options to pick from.

“After Vardy, you’re looking at Rondon, Firmino, Barnes, Zaha. All of the better options are towards the cheaper end of the scale.

“Admittedly, Lacazette or Aubameyeng could prove a great route to a double-figure score in that might be a low scoring week.

“Despite his benching in midweek, I’d go Aubameyang but only if the money’s there.

“I fancy him to start and would say he’s the most likely scorer.

“If I didn’t have quite enough money, I’d still look to get Lacazette due to the shortage of strikers capable of hauling this week but respect that 3-5-2 could be a successful tactic and Lacazette may not get the nod to play alongside Vardy in your team.”

Question 3 – Adam

Captain Kakaroto: Should we ditch Salah for Mane?

Adam: “With a lot of managers yet to play their Wildcard I think this will be a common dilemma and if I am honest it’s a really tough one to solve.

“On paper, it seems glaringly obvious to ditch a player who is £3.0m more expensive and scoring fewer points.

“However, it ultimately depends on what you expect to happen over the final stretch of the season.

“Personally, I think Salah will have a resurgence and I wouldn’t be surprised if it started at Southampton.

“I also think he will go on to outscore Mane over the remainder of the season and the points difference will ultimately depend on the number of times you captain either player.

“At this point, you should note that Liverpool face Southampton (away), Cardiff (away), Huddersfield (home), Newcastle (away) and Wolves (home) in five of their last six matches – all fixtures with armband potential.

“That said, I think the price difference is extremely significant.

“With a number of managers yet to play their Bench Boost, an extra £3.0m could come in very handy indeed.

“You also have to bear in mind that Harry Kane (and other premium players) are likely to eat up our budgets for these upcoming fixtures.

“So the choice isn’t simply ‘Mane v Salah’ but ‘Mane + the money v Salah’.

“My plan is to watch the Southampton and Porto games closely before making a final decision.

“Unless Salah shows signs of his festive form then I’m very likely to go for Mane and £3.0m worth of upgrades in my Gameweek 34 Wildcard team.”

Question 4 – Sam

Jedi_Reed: Going into Gameweek 34 onwards, what players and teams are we likely to overlook because of Double Gameweek fever, despite good upcoming fixtures and form?

Sam: “The obvious answer to this question is Liverpool.

“The Premier League top spot has changed hands multiple times in recent weeks and if Liverpool want to be crowned champions they can not afford to drop any more points this season.

“From an FPL point of view because they don’t have any Double Gameweeks there is a real risk of managers forgetting about their assets.

“That was proven by Robertson’s eight points at the weekend which many Fantasy managers missed out on by Free Hitting him out of their teams in favour of Double Gameweek players.

“On the flip side, there are also teams like Brighton who might be overlooked because of form but still have the benefit of four fixtures across Double Gameweeks 34 and 35.

“Players such as Knockaert in midfield and Dunk or Duffy in defence could offer decent differential potential especially if you don’t fancy the more popular move of having Ryan in goal.

“It’s at the point of the season where I start to really focus on the teams that have something left to play for – those who aren’t safe from relegation (Cardiff, Burnley) as well as those still in contention for European spots (Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, Wolves, Watford) as these teams should be less at risk from rotation and will continue to play at their best until the end of the season.“

Question 5 – Adam

Jules L: How many Manchester City players should we have in Double Gameweek 35?

Adam: “There are a lot of factors to take into consideration so I will start with their schedule.

“If Manchester City are to progress to the Champion’s League semi-final they will have 11 matches between now and the 12th May.

“That is nearly a match every three days.

“Unlike previous periods of congestion, they do not have the luxury of so-called easy fixtures as each match will be critical to their hunt for the quadruple.

“The fixtures surrounding the Double Gameweek are especially challenging as Manchester City will face Spurs at home twice in three days followed by trips to Old Trafford and Turf Moor.

“Given that we have recently witnessed of Pep roulette, I think the whole squad will be utilised over this period, making it difficult to pin your hopes on any particular player.

“The second factor is that the Citizens face four of their final six matches away from home.

“Whilst they are still scoring almost two goals per game on their travels, this is significantly lower than the 3.23 they have averaged at the Etihad Stadium.

“It is also worth noting that key players Aguero and Sterling have been less profitable away, averaging 4.0 and 4.9 points respectively both at least two points lower than their overall average per match.

“Meanwhile, Bernardo Silva is outperforming both players away from home averaging 5.1 points per appearance.

“Manchester City have been defensively solid, conceding just nine goals in 15 away matches.

“Therefore, both Laporte and Ederson could be good options.

“The Frenchman has registered 5.1 points per match away from home and is one of a few players that may actually play in every match.

“Given the tough fixture schedule, I think there is a strong argument to avoid Manchester City until the final two weeks of the season.

“Personally, I think they are unlikely to thrash any of their next four opponents (Crystal Palace, Spurs, Manchester United and Burnley) and will take the opportunity to rest players when they feel the game is won.

“Then you also have to conquer Pep Roulette. FPL is about trying to predict the future points potential and that task becomes very difficult when you don’t know which players will be playing.”