Our top team of Pro Pundits and Hall of Famers write about all things Fantasy Premier League (FPL) throughout the season.
Only Premium Members are able to read every single one of these pieces, so sign up today to get full access not just to the editorial content but all of the other benefits, from hundreds of Opta stats to a transfer planner.
Here, former FPL champion Simon March reveals his potential Free Hit team for Blank Gameweek 32.
As I contemplate using a Free Hit in Gameweek 32, there’s good news and bad news. The bad news (well, from my perspective at least) is that, after a fairly extraordinary run of form that averaged over 80 points per week since the Gameweek 17 restart, my rapid progress towards a respectable finish has well and truly stalled due to a combination of misfortune, some 50/50 decisions that I was on the wrong side of and some inarguably poor moves on my part.
Chief among them was my continued belief that Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins (£7.7m) couldn’t possibly keep on scoring, plus my decision not to Wildcard or Bench Boost ahead of Gameweek 29.
In fairness, whether that latter decision turns out to be bad depends on what happens when I do eventually use them – stay tuned for that – but seeing rivals shoot past as they outperformed my score by 40 to 50 points in a single week definitely makes it feel like a mistake.
Oh, the good news? I’m currently in Mauritius. So I have that going for me.
Gameweek 32: To Free Hit or not
Whether I actually do use the Free Hit is still up for debate. I already have nine players for Blank Gameweek 32 and could make it a full XI with a four-point hit. I don’t even hate the look of my current
team, so it’d be nice to keep the chip for later.
However, the first reason why I’ll probably use it now is that I still have a Wildcard and Bench Boost and there are only seven possible Gameweeks to use them all.
Most fixtures look like they’ll be reasonably well-served by my Wildcard. So even spending four points (which, as we all know, is definitely a -2 during a Blank Gameweek) seems like an unnecessary extravagance.
Another reason is that, while I have an okay team for Gameweek 32, I probably don’t have the optimum selection. Having spent the last few weeks suffering as a result of playing the ‘long game’, I’m in dire need of a green arrow and some momentum to take me into the final stretch of the season.
Free Hitting
My ‘philosophy’ when it comes to using the Free Hit is very simple; target the best teams with the best fixtures and recruit players with multiple routes to scoring.
If they’re explosive that’s a bonus but, in a one-off week, you want to maximise your chances of any type of return at all, even just a small one, since the bar for outperforming the competition is lower than normal. While it might not seem that way on FPL Twitter, not everyone will be using a Free Hit.
Then, everywhere else in the squad, seek to minimise costs but fill the bench positions with players who may at least get some minutes.
Goalkeepers
Crystal Palace have had a dramatic resurgence under Roy Hodgson and, while it is primarily the increased scoring that has grabbed headlines, they’ve also looked better defensively. With this in mind, Sam Johnstone (£4.4m) is drafted in, with Leicester’s Daniel Iversen (£3.8m) as back-up.
Defenders
Newcastle’s Kieran Trippier (£6.2m) retains his place for the visit of Spurs. Although the Magpies have looked a little shaky in defence of late, they’re usually reasonably solid at home and it’s hard to ignore Trippier’s eight attacking returns and potential for a big haul.
As always, one of the best things about Liverpool in FPL is that you can target their attack via their defenders and, with this in mind, I’ve brought in Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.3m) and Andrew Robertson (£6.8m).
Liverpool look far from their recent selves defensively but the pair do share 12 attacking returns between them and are facing a Nottingham Forest team who have plenty of fight in them but also the potential to implode defensively.
Everton’s Vitalii Mykolenko (£4.1m) and Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Toti (£3.8m) make up the remaining defensive positions.
Midfielders
