Our team of Hall of Famers and guest writers are writing about all things Fantasy Premier League (FPL) in 2023/24. Next up, seven-time top 10k finisher Zophar debates the best chip strategies after the confirmation of the Double Gameweek 34 fixtures.
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The announcement of the Double Gameweek 34 fixtures woke many of us from our international break slumber. Many predictors expected Double Gameweek 37 to be bigger but it has turned out to be the opposite. Perhaps the biggest surprise has been the blank for Tottenham Hotspur in Gameweek 34.
We are yet to have the fixture announcements for Gameweeks 35/36/37 but it is reasonable to assume that Chelsea and Spurs, who still have two doubles pending, will likely have one in Gameweek 35/36 as well as Gameweek 37. Apart from this, Manchester City, Brighton and Hove Albion, Manchester United and Newcastle United are the other teams likely to double in Gameweek 37.
So, what does this mean for our chip strategies? Obviously, there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach as by now we have all used different chips. So, let’s look at these one by one.
Again, these are just my initial thoughts. They might change as the days go on and after discussion with my podcast partners Lateriser and Pras but I figured I might as well frame them now. I won’t really cover the Triple Captaincy much, as that’s a more ‘mobile’ chip that you can use in the smaller double if you still have all the chips in hand.
Wildcard: available
Bench Boost: available
Free Hit: used
A large chunk of FPL managers fall into this category, and the announcement hasn’t really come as a setback at all.
The obvious strategy here is to dead-end into Gameweek 34, with the Wildcard to be used in Gameweek 35 to set up for the Gameweek 35/36 double and a Bench Boost in 37.
I’ll use Pras’ team which is on the above strategy as an example:
Most managers that used a Free Hit in Gameweek 29 will likely already have two or three Arsenal players, two or three from Bournemouth, two from Manchester City, some Aston Villa and Son Heung-min (£10.1m). With Arsenal and Bournemouth doubling in 34, that’s well set up.
Cole Palmer (£5.7m) can be benched, Son can be sold before Gameweek 34. Ideally, you want to target Liverpool players going forward, probably by selling Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) and Phil Foden (£8.1m). You will likely have to field some non-doublers in Gameweek 34 but that’s fine. The above team has six Double Gameweek 34 players already and adding four more with just free transfers is quite easy to do. So, it’s a fairly obvious play in my opinion.
What about using the Wildcard in Gameweek 30/31 for those without a Free Hit? I think that becomes tricky with Spurs and Chelsea having two doubles immediately after Gameweek 34. It will be difficult to go from three to a larger number later, although still plausible. It depends on how your team is currently set up, but just on initial thought, I don’t like it. A later Wildcard is the play
Wildcard: available
Bench Boost: available
Free Hit: available
I fall into this camp. My initial thoughts were to Wildcard in Gameweek 31 but I think I might bring it forward to Gameweek 30. Again, I think this perhaps has the most options available. On paper, I would have ideally liked to Free Hit in Gameweek 34 and Wildcard in Gameweek 35 but I don’t think my team is ideally set up for it.
The team looks alright on paper but I don’t have Erling Haaland (£14.3m), Palmer or Mohamed Salah (£13.1m) with the first two single-handedly capable of handing me a massive red arrow. With £7.1m in the bank, I could get any one of the three but more will obviously require a hit.
For the sake of argument, let’s see how I could navigate to Gameweek 33 without using a chip. Jarrod Bowen (£8.0m) to Salah would happen this week but that wouldn’t leave me any money to get Haaland for Watkins the weak after, so that would need another hit as well.
I would still be without Palmer or Darwin Nunez (£7.5m) for Liverpool’s great run. It doesn’t really feel ideal on the back of four red arrows, trying to save the Free Hit. This team only has Gabriel Magalhaes (£5.3m) and Bukayo Saka (£9.1m) who double in Gameweek 34.
If I did indeed end up activating the Wildcard, this is how I would set up:
The Bench Boost in Gameweek 37 has to be kept in mind while building the Wildcard. A Bench Boost in Gameweek 34 is out of the question really because of the Spurs/Chelsea players I will want in Gameweek 35/36, so a Bench Boost in Gameweek 37 is the only other option.
This currently has 11 Double Gameweek 37 players, with Saka, Gabriel, Rodrigo Muniz (£4.6m) and Salah the exceptions.
I do want to keep in mind that before Gameweek 34, when I will Free Hit, there are still four free transfers available. So, I don’t want to plan too far ahead. Arsenal have Luton Town in 31 and Liverpool play Brighton, Sheff. Utd., Manchester Utd. and Palace right after so having just one from there doesn’t feel right either.
I’m not entirely sure about Richarlison (£6.9m) but I want to have the full contingent of Spurs and Chelsea in place with decent fixtures in Gameweeks 30-33 and that way, right after the Free Hit, I can focus on getting the Double Gameweek 37 guys in like Foden.
Wildcard: used
Bench Boost: available
Free Hit: available
I think with this Free Hit in Gameweek 34 has to be the play.
You likely already have a good contingent of Spurs assets you used to navigate Blank Gameweek 29. This way, you can build towards a team for Gameweek 37 and not have to overly focus on the likes of Crystal Palace etc.
These are just my initial thoughts. There’s a lot more coming for us this week over on our Youtube channel and on the Scout. Stay tuned!
