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The Free Hit chip is going to be deployed by a lot of FPL managers in Gameweek 32 with the FA Cup semi-finals resulting in no Premier League fixtures for four teams this weekend: Manchester City, Manchester United, Brighton and Chelsea.
FPL General shares his wisdom on a few things to keep in mind during Free Hit week.
Ignore what other managers are doing
Later this week, it will feel like every man and their dog have the exact same Free Hit team. It always happens. The FPL Twitter bubble converges and conforms to the same picks. It’s important to remind yourself that it is just that, a Twitter bubble, a tiny representation of the 11+ million teams in the game. Don’t fall into the trap of following the crowd.
Compare first and final drafts
Take a screenshot of your first draft or take a note of it. When you think your team is finalised on Friday, refer to the screenshot or notes taken earlier in the week and check how much the ‘final’ draft has changed from the initial tinker. Ask yourself why a player is not in your Friday draft when he was in the Monday one. Our first instincts, before overthinking and over-managing throughout the week kicks in, are often the most logical.
Scrutinise every selection
Another good approach to take on Friday is to go through each of your starting XI, player by player, and ask yourself – is this player my pick or has the player been selected because I’ve seen him in almost every draft on Twitter during the week. It happens subconsciously too. I often find myself putting a new squad together and without any thought whatsoever, a player gets automatically chosen. It’s not until later in the week when I give myself some headspace away from all the FPL noise and question every selection that I realise some players become so-called auto-picks in my mind, not because I think they are great options, but because scrolling through FPL Twitter all week has planted seeds that I had no interest in planting. They need to be dug up and replaced with my choices.
Don’t worry about player ownership percentages
A lot of managers factor ownership and effective ownership into their FPL decisions. It’s something I’ve always tried to avoid doing as much as possible. The terms ‘ownership’ and ‘effective ownership’ are muted from my Twitter timeline for example, along with the one that irks me most, the word ‘template’. The only template that matters is your own one.
What’s worked for me over the years is making my own decisions and not letting fear rule my decisions. Two recent examples of this are Ben Chilwell (£5.9m) and Jack Grealish (£7.2m). Both players were signed in huge numbers by FPL managers and the fear of missing out was strong. On both occasions, I had to fight off the urge to bring them in late in the week. Their effective ownership in those Gameweeks was probably pretty high but that didn’t bother me as they weren’t the right moves for my squad at that time. Never buy a player due to fear. Stay strong and trust your troops!
Being on Free Hit is the only differential you need
Who are the best differentials? A common question asked by managers who have activated the chip. The fact of the matter is that you don’t need low-owned picks to do well in Free Hit week. Rivals who are not using the chip will be struggling to field XI players and may have to take a few hits, so you’re already a few steps ahead of them by just pressing the button. Don’t feel like you have to go against the grain with your player picks and captaincy. There’s no need to be different just for the sake of it. A team made up of 11 highly-owned players and the popular captain can easily achieve a big green arrow this weekend.
Don’t lose players that have served you well
A frustrating aspect of FPL is selling a player that has been delivering the points consistently only to watch him continue doing so after you let him go. I like to remain loyal to players that have done well for me in the current season, otherwise it can lead to a lot of frustration.
Ollie Watkins (£7.7m) is a good example of this for the Gameweek 32 Free Hit. There are quite a few good forward options to choose from this week – Gabriel Jesus (£8.1m), Harry Kane (£11.7m), Ivan Toney (£7.7m), Dominic Solanke (£5.5m), Alexander Isak (£6.7m) and dare I say it, one of the Liverpool forwards for a one-Gameweek punt.
There’s a lot of temptation to go without the Aston Villa man who faces Brentford (away). He’s been in my team for five Gameweeks, scoring five goals. What more can I ask for? I see no reason to lose him for a shiny new toy. What I do foresee is huge frustration and regret if I go without and he scores again. Cutting out as much potential frustration from an already very frustrating game is something I do a lot over the course of a season!
Play the fixtures
When it comes to selecting players for the Free Hit, I take the same approach as I do when building a daily Fantasy line-up (a Fantasy tournament that lasts just one Gameweek). The fixtures are the starting point. Look at the Gameweek 32 fixtures and make your predictions as to which teams are going to win then start with those sides when building the new squad.
Triple up on Arsenal and Liverpool because they have the best fixtures. That’s six picks taken care of straight away. Elsewhere, I fancy Crystal Palace’s upturn in form under Roy Hodgson to continue at home to Everton so there’s a good chance Sam Johnstone (£4.4m) will be my Free Hit goalkeeper. The other fixtures are a little trickier to predict but back your own instinct and factor that into your FPL picks this week.
Best of luck to my fellow Gameweek 32 Free Hitters! May your arrow be green!
