***GAMEWEEK 26 DEADLINE: SATURDAY - 13:30 GMT***
Was this Double Gameweek cursed? Yes, Liverpool still have their better game vs Luton tonight, but most of the popular FPL players have already been stretchered off last time out. As for City - the hugely popular decision to Triple Captain Haaland ended in relief that he got a single return - a goal late on vs Brentford. KDB and Ake both benched, too. It was your regular FPL nightmare. The good news is - as we have to say - we go again this week.
PS: No game for Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs and Luton this week. It’s a small Blank Gameweek.
Have Double Gameweek regrets? Got a dilemma? Email me: fplislife@substack.com
Unluckiest Double Gameweek ever?
I don’t usually linger on the week before, but wow - even with two of the best teams involved, that was not a great Double Gameweek. The below was after the first games only - City players got a few returns last night, but Liverpool managed to get a load of injuries. At least Darwin and Jota returned before limping off. Anyone who went for Diaz is suddenly feeling pretty smug. More below.
Liverpool injuries - we were selling them anyway
As we’ve just discussed, it’s been a mad Double Gameweek, and Liverpool injuries have been a big part of that. Here’s what we know from Klopp - Jota has been ruled for “months”. Trent, Szoboszlai, Alisson, and Jones are all out of tonight’s game. Salah and Nunez is “day by day” monitoring. Not good.
The silver lining for FPL manages was that Liverpool don’t play this week anyway - so you should have been planning to remove at least one of them this week. It sounds like Jota is the priority sell. Here are some options - this takes into account some players that we already know will have a game in the big Blank Gameweek* in Gameweek 29. (*some teams will not have a game). eg, Douglas Luiz.
Gameweek 29 is now on the horizon
You need to know now that Gameweek 29 is a big Blank Gameweek. The number of games we’ll have will be down to how the FA Cup goes. For now, we have three games, but it could be more. We’ll know for sure before the deadline after this one - so more on that next week. For now, have a think about whether you’ll want to use your Free Hit chip* (*pick any players you want for on week) in that week. You’ll see Villa players are popular transfers this week (Pau Torres, Douglas Luiz). That’s because they are currently the best side who play this week AND play in Gameweek 29. The chart below is very useful.
B Pr = Blank Probability (how likely it is for the game NOT to happen).
Predicted point for the next three Gameweeks
A lovely little graphic here that uses predicted points from one of the big FPL models. Arsenal’s insane recent run - both huge defensive and attacking output - means their players are right up there. Gabriel, Saka look great. If you’re wondering why Bournemouth players are so high, they have a very easy-looking Double Gameweek soon in Gameweek 28. This table is especially handy if you’re planning to use your Free Hit chip in the big Blank Gameweek in Gameweek 29. In that case, you can attack, attack, attack. There will be good times to use that chip later in the season (a big Double Gameweek, for example), but I imagine the chip will be popular in Gameweek 29.
Here are two good chip strategies
We haven’t really talked about “chip strategy” much, so here’s a nice graphic from the FPL Harry YouTube channel. It shows the Blank and Double Gameweeks, and two possible strategies. Basically, after this week, your first job is to decide if you’re using the Free Hit in GW29 or not. If you are, teams like Man Utd (Garnacho/Højlund) with good fixtures now become an option.
FH = Free Hit (change your team for one week)
BB = Bench Boost (bench points count towards your score)
WC = Wildcard (change your whole squad for free)
A Wildcard for this week
Here’s a draft from @FPL__Fran, a manager who is currently in the top 600 managers in the world - so worth listening to! Notice he only has six players who definitely play in Gameweek 29, so he hasn’t gone overboard there. Wolves midfielders will be popular this week vs Sheffield United. I prefer Hwang over Neto for his goal threat, but it’s close. Hwang also on penalties, as far as we know.
Toney vs Solanke is the debate upfront
I’ve seen a lot of people talking about bringing in Solanke this week. That’s because he is pretty much essential in a couple of weeks’ time, when he has Luton and Sheffield Untied in a Double Gameweek. Bringing him in this week vs Man City obviously isn’t great though, so if you have other priorities you can wait a week. Toney is the other strong option - he plays in both the Blank Gameweeks, so is a useful guy to have. The below show how the players do against other forwards (the Toney data is thin this season given his ban). eg, Solanke beats 86% on xG (Expected Goals). If you got rid of Watkins, he’s in the conversation, too. Another brace at the weekend.
The famous face plant celebration
A lovely little run, not so sure about the celebration. Who put a pole there, anyway?
Please get in touch with any FPL dilemmas or general football internet gold. PS - I’m on Twitter here. Please help me grow FPL Is Life by sharing… thanks! Typos entirely deliberate, but thanks for noticing.