In our weekly chip poll, nearly 10% of responders say that they are planning to use their Bench Boost in Gameweek 11.
That makes it the most popular chip of the week.
In this article, we ask: is it the best time to Bench Boost if you haven’t already?
Many of those who intend to Bench Boost have likely already made their decision and adjusted their squads accordingly.
However, for those who remain undecided, we look at the considerations. This is a revised version of an article we published in Gameweek 9, but due to the Bench Boost’s popularity this week, we felt it was necessary to refresh and revisit it for Gameweek 11.
GAMEWEEK 11 BENCH BOOST V OTHER WEEKS
Looking at other possible windows in which you could use the Bench Boost, we’ve included the fixtures of Burnley, Leeds United and Sunderland above.
The reason is that many of our squads will contain one, two or possibly three £4.0m-ish goalkeepers and defenders. Typically, it is these types of players that we ‘boost’ when using the chip.
And most of these players come from the newly-promoted teams, with those at the back likely to account for 75% of your Bench Boost.
The cheapest starting players in Gameweek 10
Goalkeepers: Martin Dubravka (£4.0m)
Defenders: Axel Tuanzebe (£3.9m), Maxime Esteve (£4.0m), Quilindschy Hartman (£4.0m), Jaka Bijol (£3.9m), Gabriel Gudmundsson (£4.0m), Joe Rodon (£4.1m), Reinildo (£4.0m), Nordi Mukiele (4.2m), Ki-Jana Hoever (£3.9m)
Midfielders: Amadou Onana (£4.8m), Boubacar Kamara (£4.9m), Tyler Adams (£5.0m), David Brooks (£5.0m), Alex Scott (£5.0m), Jordan Henderson (£5.0m), Yehor Yarmoliuk (£5.0m), Carlos Baleba (£4.7m), Yasin Ayari (£4.9m), Diego Gomez (£4.9m), Mats Wieffer (£4.9m), Josh Laurent (£4.9m), Josh Cullen (£5.0m), Florentino Luis (£5.0m), Lesley Ugochukwu (£5.0m), Jefferson Lerma (£4.9m), Daichi Kamada (£5.0m), Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£4.9m), James Garner (£5.0m), Josh King (£4.5m), Sander Berge (£4.9m), Ao Tanaka (£4.8m), Ethan Ampadu (£4.9m), Sean Longstaff (£4.9m), Douglas Luiz (£5.0m), Enzo Le Fee (£4.9m), Noah Sadiki (£5.0m), Granit Xhaka (£5.1m), Pape Sarr (£4.9m), Freddie Potts (£4.4m), Jhon Arias (£5.2m)
Forwards: Eli Kroupi (£4.6m), Zian Flemming (£5.3m), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.5m)
Here is a quick overview of the pros and cons of Gameweeks 11 and 18, which is when the fixtures look favourable-ish for at least two of Burnley, Leeds and Sunderland.
GAMEWEEK 11
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Decent-ish fixtures for Leeds and Burnley Leeds and Burnley have reasonable fixtures this week, as their opponents, Nottingham Forest and West Ham, are both in the bottom three. | No favourable game for Sunderland Sunderland are at home to Arsenal in Gameweek 11, the toughest opponent you could face right now. |
| West Ham at home to Burnley There’s another favourable fixture – probably the best all season – for West Ham’s cheap defenders and Freddie Potts. | Forest/West Ham on the up? This Bench Boost would have been significantly more attractive a few weeks back, i.e. when Ange Postecoglou and Graham Potter were in charge. Additionally, both Leeds and Burnley are playing on the road, where they have mostly struggled this season, winning just one of their five matches. |
| Anderson at home to Leeds If Elliot Anderson is your ‘eighth attacker’, the Nottingham Forest midfielder has an attractive fixture at home to Leeds. |
GAMEWEEK 18
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Favourable fixtures for all three promoted clubs This is the only remaining week in which all three new boys have decent fixtures. Two of them face each other. Burnley, meanwhile, are at home to Everton. | Gameweek 18 is way off It’s a long way to go before we get to Gameweek 18! While the three promoted sides have started well this time around, will they still be a force come Christmas time? |
| Transfer top-up The transfer top-up in Gameweek 16 allows managers extra legroom to stock up on players to boost in advance of Gameweek 18. | Rotation Gameweek 18 is the Boxing Day round of games, which could see rotation and minute management in operation. As it’s the first (rather than middle) game in a three-match week, the carnage might not be so widespread as in previous years, at least. |
| Better week for some budget midfielders Whether your budget midfielder (if you have one) is Granit Xhaka, Kiernan Dewsbury–Hall, Sean Longstaff or even Josh King, there are favourable fixtures in Gameweek 18. The one exception is Elliot Anderson. | Lack of team news information? Perhaps more pertinent to the seasonal round of games is the unreliability of press conferences around this time of year. Any that will take place (and it should be most managers facing the media) will be done well before the Gameweek 18 deadline, perhaps as long as 3-4 days before the game – so there’s always the chance of undisclosed/late-developing injuries occurring in the interim. As with the above point, we want a full squad of 15 players out when using our Bench Boost. |
| Suspension tightrope There’s no chance of any Burnley, Leeds or Sunderland players missing out with a suspension for yellow card accumulation in Gameweek 11. That will likely not be the case come Gameweek 18, as the bookings steadily rack up throughout the season. Players might have already reached five bookings and be out of the other end by Christmas, of course, but there’s a greater risk of some of your picks – from not just the promoted clubs but elsewhere – being on the suspension tightrope going into Gameweek 17. |
PLAYERS TO CONSIDER IF YOU’RE PLAYING THE BENCH BOOST IN GAMEWEEK 11
Again, as we mentioned in the introduction, many of you playing a Gameweek 11 Bench Boost will already have your boostable budget picks in place.
For those in the market for a new name or two, however, here are the leading picks.
BURNLEY/LEEDS
| Team | Player | Position | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burnley | Martin Dubravka | G | £4.0m | The only secure £4.0m goalkeeper at present. |
| Axel Tuanzebe | D | £3.9m | FPL’s joint-cheapest starting defender. Has registered defensive contribution (DefCon) points in two of his four starts. | |
| Maxime Esteve | D | £4.0m | The Frenchman has gained DefCon points in four of his 10 outings and wasn’t far away on another three occasions. | |
| Quilindschy Hartman | D | £4.0m | The budget defender has banked four assists in 10 appearances, the joint-most of any FPL defender. He also ranks joint-eighth in his position for chances created (10). | |
| Florentino Luis | M | £5.0m | Has banked DefCon in four of his six starts. He admittedly offers very little goal threat, with only three shots in 572 minutes of football, but a floor of three/four points is more than acceptable for a £5.0m midfielder. | |
| Leeds | Joe Rodon | D | £4.1m | Rodon only has six DefCon points to his name, but he averages 8.7 clearances, blocks, interceptions and tackles (CBITs) per game, so he’s always there or thereabouts the threshold. He’s also demonstrated an attacking threat recently, racking up eight shots in the last five Gameweeks, scoring against Bournemouth and West Ham. |
| Gabriel Gudmundsson | D | £4.0m | The left-back ranks second for crosses and joint-third for chances created among teammates. | |
| Sean Longstaff | M | £4.9m | Eight shots and 17 chances created in the last five Gameweeks boost the corner-taking midfielders’ appeal. | |
| Dominic Calvert-Lewin | F | £5.5m | With Zian Flemming and Lyle Foster competing for minutes up top at Burnley, Calvert-Lewin is one of the better budget forwards to ‘boost’. He hasn’t scored since Gameweek 5 but has racked up 11 shots in the five matches since, the most of any sub-£6.0m forward over that period. |
BEST CHEAP OPTIONS FROM OTHER CLUBS
| Team | Player | Position | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bournemouth | Eli Kroupi | F | £4.6m | The budget forward has scored four goals in his last four matches, but positional rival Evanilson is now back on the scene following injury, so a start at Villa Park isn’t guaranteed. Keep an ear out for the press conferences later in the week, which may give more of an indication of whether he is likely to start this weekend. |
| Crystal Palace | Chris Richards | D | £4.5m | Has banked DefCon in four of his last six matches. |
| Everton | Michael Keane | D | £4.5m | Already on 10 DefCons for the season, just four behind James Tarkowski. |
| Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall | M | £4.9m | The Everton midfielder ranks third among teammates for shots and key passes combined. Also has a share of set-pieces. | |
| James Garner | M | £5.0m | Another option in the Everton midfield ranks is Garner, who has registered more shots than any other teammate. Like Dewsbury-Hall, he also has a share of set-pieces. | |
| Fulham | Josh King | M | £4.5m | Returned to the starting XI in Gameweek 10. He isn’t completely nailed to start but has shown glimpses of his potential in a No 10 role throughout the campaign. Keep an ear out for the press conferences later in the week, which may give more of an indication of whether he is likely to start this weekend. |
| Nottingham Forest | Elliot Anderson | M | £5.3m | The DefCon magnet was superb against Manchester United on Saturday, recording two shots and three chances created. He has also resumed taking corners recently. |
| West Ham | El Hadji Malick Diouf | D | £4.4m | Has been involved in 14 chances (seven created, seven shots) over the season. |
| Aaron Wan-Bissaka | D | £4.3m | Claimed an assist in Gameweek 10 and looked back to his best. | |
| Max Kilman | D | £4.3m | The centre-back has banked DefCon in three of his last six starts and wasn’t far away on another two occasions. | |
| Freddie Potts | M | £4.4m | Had a goal ruled out for offside, took five of West Ham’s seven corners and very nearly hit the DefCon threshold on his first Premier League start in Gameweek 10 |
