Our team of Hall of Famers and guest writers are writing about all things Fantasy Premier League (FPL) in 2023/24. Next up, The Wire co-host Pras discusses his current ideas for navigating Double Gameweek 25 and Blank Gameweek 26.
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With a lot of information in the books, FPL managers can finally start planning. We now know the finalists of the Carabao Cup (hence the blankers for Gameweek 26) and we also know the FA Cup fifth-round draw, helping calculate probabilities for reaching the quarter-finals that coincide with Blank Gameweek 29.
THE LONG-TERM VIEW
As ever, we start with this season-long view from Legomane. In summary, the volume of expected Gameweek 29 blanks – with most big Premier League teams having avoided each other – means there are going to be a lot of fixtures that can fit into Double Gameweeks 34 and 37.
It should be noted that nothing has been confirmed for these rounds but this is an educated guess based on probabilities of teams reaching the semi-finals.
Also note that since this graphic was produced, Liverpool v Luton Town is now confirmed as being in Double Gameweek 25.
Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea almost certainly won’t fall in this Gameweek, however.
Why is this important now? For me, it’s mainly to show that I’d probably want to hold my Free Hit for Blank Gameweek 29, or more likely either Double Gameweek 34 or 37. In turn, it means I need to navigate the tricky Gameweeks 25 to 26 period without this chip. Team dependant caveats apply, of course.
GAMEWEEKS 25 AND 26
Liverpool, Luton Town, Manchester City and Brentford are now confirmed as ‘doublers’ in Gameweek 25.
There are so many ways to play this. You could go gung-ho and try to jam in Erling Haaland (£13.9m), Kevin De Bruyne (£10.6m) and, if fit, Mohamed Salah (£13.1m) in the hope of massive gains in Gameweek 25, offset by putting out nine or 10 players in the following round when Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs and Luton blank.
Alternatively, you could sacrifice one of these elite doublers in order to have a good team on both occasions. As things stand, I am in the latter camp.
THE THREE PREMIUMS
It’s ironic that, once the two probable best teams get a tasty double, none of their big hitters are 100% fit and firing. De Bruyne is the closest of them but, for me, it’s the other two who offer the bigger upside in a week where a lot of Triple Captain chips will be activated.
At the time of writing, even though Egypt has bowed out of AFCON, the timeline for Salah’s injury remains at three to four weeks, putting Gameweek 24 and part of (possibly) Double Gameweek 25 into question.
Therefore, until this prognosis changes, I’m planning to go without the Egyptian. I know it’s risky but I feel that, unlike Man City, his team has three or four very good alternatives that allow a deeper squad, fit for navigating Blank 26.
Not only that, I have it in the back of my mind that Liverpool’s cup final is going to occur a few days after the rearranged Luton outing. Even if Salah is fit by then, it would be hard to imagine minutes not being managed in at least one of the Double Gameweek 25 games. Of course, this could just be building a narrative for my confirmation bias.
MY TEAM PLAN
I and fellow Pro Pundit Lateriser discussed this and a lot more on our The FPL Wire podcast. If you’d like to understand some of the decision-making further, I’d encourage you to check it out.
Happy planning!
