We are now at the business end of the Fantasy Premier League season. We have had the 1st of the blank FPL gameweeks, but there are more to come along with double gameweeks. Below we will look at who is blanking when and also when the potential double gameweeks will be.
Gameweek 30
During gameweek 30, the FA Cup 6th round fixtures will also be in progress, causing teams to blank:
Everton vs Chelsea
Manchester United vs West Ham
Reading vs Crystal Palace
Arsenal or Hull vs Watford
With Arsenal more or less out of the Champions League, it is likely that they will field a much stronger team against Hull and therefore they are most likely to progress into the next round. If this does happen, the following fixtures have (apart from Arsenal) been confirmed to be postponed:
Man United vs Crystal Palace
West Ham vs Watford
Liverpool vs Chelsea
Sunderland vs Everton
Arsenal vs West Brom (to be confirmed)
Which leaves the following games to be played gameweek 30:
Bournemouth vs Swansea
Aston Villa vs Tottenham
Leicester vs Newcastle
Stoke vs Southampton
Norwich vs Man City
Therefore it is clear that transfers need to be planned to avoid you taking extra point hits just to be able to have 11 starting players! To enable you having the best possibility of having a full starting XI, there are a few tactics that can be used. Firstly, only buy those players who are not blanking in gameweek 30 and only sell those players that are blanking in gameweek 30. Remember not to ignore future GWs too; when buying or selling players also consider the weeks beyond GW30.
Gameweek 34
Gameweek 34 is one of the first opportunities for a double gameweek, and it is likely that Liverpool will feature with 2 fixtures, due to their League Cup participation, with them needing to carch up on fixtures against Everton and Chelsea. Manchester United and West Ham could also feature this gameweek, as their fixture in gameweek 35 is not happening due to them facing each other in the FA Cup. The other option for this fixture would be gameweek 37.
Current games in gameweek 34:
Arsenal vs Crystal Palace
Bournemouth vs Liverpool
Chelsea vs Man City
Everton vs Southampton
Leicester vs West Ham
Man United vs Aston Villa
Newcastle vs Swansea
Norwich vs Sunderland
Stoke vs Tottenham
West Brom vs Watford
Gameweek 34 will be a normal gameweek for; Aston Villa, Tottenham, Swansea, Leicester, Stoke and Southampton.
Gameweek 35
Gameweek 35 see’s the FA Cup Semi-finals take place, thus those teams that do feature will be subject to a blank gameweek, of which is likely to be replayed in gameweek 37. Those fixtures at risk of blanking are:
Manchester United vs West Ham (confirmed as they play each other in the FA Cup)
Crystal Palace vs Everton
Bournemouth vs Chelsea
Sunderland vs Arsenal
Norwich vs Watford
Therefore it will be a normal gameweek for the following teams; Aston Villa, Tottenham, Swansea, Leicester, Stoke and Southampton.
Currently the odds on favourites to progress through the FA Cup 6th round are Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Crystal Palace. This would mean that the following fixtures would blank:
Manchester United vs West Ham
Crystal Palace vs Everton
Bournemouth vs Chelsea
Sunderland vs Arsenal
These games would most likely be replayed in gameweek 37.
Gameweek 37
Gameweek 37 is another opportunity for a double gameweek and is likely to see Liverpool, West Ham, Manchester City and Manchester United play twice.
Wildcard and other chips
As mentioned in my previous article ‘the final sprint’, managing the use of your wildcard and any remaining chips is essential!
Remember you can only use one chip per GW, so essentially you need to WC a week before DGW then use TC or BB in that week.
Watch outs
2 games suspension; players who get 10 yellow cards up to and including April 10th will miss 2 games. Essentially this is between now and end of GW34, that is 6 GWs. Below is a list of players close to 10 YC
Defenders
9 Yellow cards; Dier (TOT)
8 Yellow cards; Jones (SUN)
7 Yellow cards; Huth (LEI), Bacuna (AVL) & Pieters (STK)
6 Yellow cards; Smalling, Darmian ( MUN), Mangala (MCI), Bertrand (SOU) and Nyom (WAT)
Midfielders
9 Yellow cards; Colback (NEW)
8 Yellow cards; Lucas (LIV), Yacob (WBA)
7 Yellow cards; Shelvey (NEW), Brunt (WBA), Lamela (TOT) & Cabaye (CRY)
6 Yellow cards; Alli (TOT), Can (LIV), Milner (LIV), Fernandinho (MCI), Arter (BOU), McClean (WBA), Romeu (SOU) & Gueye (AVL)
Forwards
8 Yellow cards; Costa (CHE)
Rotation
Every manager’s headache! But it’s a reality. Hiddink showed us in Chelsea’s latest match against Stoke that rotation is something to consider at this late stage of the season with Costa being benched.
City have a good advantage in this round of the Champions League and they are still in touch with the title race (just about) so they can’t afford to rest key players, but can any one guess between Kolarov, Sagna, Clichy and Zabaleta?
United, Liverpool and Spurs, depending on who continues to progress in the Europa League, could also start ‘resting players’ on a frequent basis.
Playing for something – this is more difficult to judge as it’s based on opinions but we are lucky as there is plenty to play for at both ends of the table. Avoid Villa players at all cost, there is really no point in having any of them! The popular approach is top 6 bottom 6; picking players from these clubs fighting at both ends as they have the most to play for. Having said that, you can make a case for haging any from the top 10 rather than the top 6 this year and bottom 5 when excluding Villa! Think how many goals Defoe and Siggy have scored in last few weeks as an example.
Euros – All players in contention for international football will be hungry to impress their national coach. Will some be extra careful to ensure they avoid injury and ultimately missing out on the Euros?
I hope this helps with your plans, remember now is the time to plan in blocks rather than individual weeks. Watch out for our gameweek reviews so you know which players are putting in those all important performances!
Written by Marz
