Here's a great Free Hit cheat sheet
Stay for Danny Welbeck winning Twitter this week
GAMEWEEK 37 DEADLINE: SUNDAY, 10:30 GMT
Some really good news to the many people who (so far) have had a disaster in the season’s biggest Double Gameweek - the season’s nearly over and we can all return to our normal lives. At least you’re not playing the game in Ligue 1, where one player really is having a stinker.
This week: a GREAT Free Hit shortlist for the week, how many single Gameweek players to have on a Free Hit, some Free Hit drafts, a look at Villa players, Everton’s improvement and two great games for Spurs. Oh, and Danny Welbeck winning Twitter. There’s a WEIRD DEADLINE of 10.30am SUNDAY MORNING. Please help me share this thing - otherwise it’s just really odd that I write it.
It’s a strategy nightmare - Doublers vs Fixtures
Whether you are using a Free Hit chip this week or just selecting your transfer, this week is… tricky. Five teams have a Double Gameweek (Everton, Leicester, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Burnley). But then the best teams have a good single fixture. Of the teams with two games, three stand out:
Everton (Brentford (H), Palace(H))
Villa (Palace (H), Burnley (H))
Palace (Villa (a), Everton (a))
Of the single Gameweek team, Spurs face a (probably) depleted Burnley, Liverpool play a porous Southampton, and Man City are away to West Ham.
A great cheat sheet for Free Hit teams
This from the great @Legomane_FPL is a superb crib sheet for making you Free Hit team for the weekend. Adding three more *if I had to* - Trossard (51 points in the last 6 Gameweeks), Diaz and Cornet.
How many single gameweek players to have in a Free Hit
Loads of people playing their final Free Hit chip. It’s all about figuring out the balance between expensive single gameweek players, and the Double fixture players. Below are two examples - one that goes for Son and Kane, who probably have the best fixture of the week. It has 6 single Gameweek players. The other just goes with Son, and has 4.
With Son and Kane:
I like this one from allaboutfpl.com. About 4 single Gameweek players looks about right - this one has Son, KDB, Alexander Arnold and Salah. Decent.
Villa full-backs should be an option
They have a great-looking Double this week. They have nothing to play for, but were good against Liverpool. They’re pretty much mid-table for big chances conceded and attacking, but the full-backs - Cash and Digne - look good. Digne has let managers down all season, but is fit again and has looked good in the last two.
The big curve ball is Coutinho - looked great when he fist came in, but he’s had his minutes managed recently and hasn’t had an FPL return since Gameweek 28. A gamble. Still he’ll be popular. Watkins and Ings both looks good options - Watkins will be more popular, but an injury risk. CHECK BEFORE BRINGING HIM IN.
Sick note corner - Man City defenders
Stones, Dias and Walker all out for the rest of the season. So Zinchenko and Ake look good to play. Some other good Dias replacements in the tweet below.
Everton have two games at home…
They are an obvious team to target - a team with something to play for and two home games against Brentford and Crystal Palace. Everton have improved, yes, and are a bit better at home, yes, but they’re not world beaters now. Over the last 6 matches, their minutes per expected goal is 63 (10th in the league), and minutes per expected goals conceded - how often they are conceding an expected goal - was 63.5 (11th).
According to the FPL Review site (an AI system for FPL), the top Everton players for this Gameweek are Richarlison (8.5), Gordon (8.5) and Gray (7.3). Richarlison is the clear pick for me. A good Everton thread here:
Welbeck wins Twitter
Decent content here. The little fella looks really chuffed, too! What a way to treat your side’s full-back, though.
Spurs finish with two great fixtures
If you have no Free Hit, Spurs might well be the team to target, even though they have no Double - they have two great fixtures left, with Burnley then Norwich on the last day. Burnley have lost both their big central defenders Mee and Tarkowski are both likely to be out (check injury news on Friday). The below %s are taken from the Drafthound FPL website (the Tweeter means Gameweek 37):
Some low ownership players to punt on
“Effective ownership (EO)” is a big deal in FPL - if you own a player that isn’t owned by many managers and they do well, you’re pretty much on your way to a Green Arrow. Here are a selection of great options for Free Hitters and non-free Hitters alike of players owned by less than 10% of FPL managers. Sorted by “expected goal involvement” (expected goals and assists (xGi)) over the season so far. And Zaha is on penalties…
Jesse Lasso isn’t doing himself any favours
Message for Jesse Marsch - you can’t complain about comparisons to Ted Lasso *and* tell your players to draw inspiration from Gandhi and Mother Theresa. It’s one or the other. Or maybe he channelled David Brent to be more British?
Please get in touch with any FPL dilemmas or general football internet gold. If you find this remotely enjoyable, please help me spread the word. Remember the DEADLINES and see you next week! I’m on Twitter here. Please help me grow FPL Is Life by sharing… thanks!