Free Hit or No?

This Gameweek will consist of only 8 fixtures due to the FA cup semifinal that resulted into a blank for City, Arsenal, Palace, Aston Villa. On the other hand, Forrest vs Brentford will be held later in GW34 and won’t be considered a blank for either BRE or NFO.

Blank GW34 is arguably the best chance for activating your Free Hit, as your doublers in DGW33 won’t feature in this weekend and most of us will find it hard to fill 11 starters for the blank! The Free Hit chip gives managers the ability to choose a new team for just one Gameweek. For example, if you utilize the Free Hit chip in BGW34, your squad will return to its double Gameweek 33 configuration for Gameweek 35.

• This will allow you to keep many good assets, such as, Marmoush, ARS DEF, Rogers, Mateta, Eze and Gvardiol in your team for the final 4 weeks after the blank.
• There are some easy fixtures to target and will be huge advantage for free hitters, as they will be able to start 11 assets and target the best fixtures as well!

No Free hit available! What’s the plan?

Many managers have already utilized their chips earlier this season and are in big trouble. I think you should plan for the rest of the season, the final 5 weeks rather than only 1 Gameweek! It’s always a marathon rather than a 1 week competition.

If you still have your Wildcard chip available, it’s a good time to use it. Fill 10/11 starters and keep some good blanking assets for final 4 weeks on the bench.

If no WC available so it’s time for taking -4 hits, A player will receive two points if he plays for at least 60 minutes, effectively making a four-point hit a two-pointer. So in worst case scenario, you will end up losing only 2 points for every extra transfer.

Be careful with your (-4) hits

• There’s no need to fill 11 players, 9 or 10 will be enough, specially if you own the most important picks for the blank and it will be mentioned soon.
• Don’t sell players you need again for the final 4 weeks! You will spend another transfer to get them back in addition to losing team value and the budget.
• Pioritize attackers, (MID, FWD) for higher upsides and higher ceiling than GKs and Defenders.

Who to keep on bench if no FH?

Palace: I’d keep either Eze or Sarr but sell Mateta as the midfielders offer better value (price) and expected minutes. Palace will face NFO and LIV in the final 4 weeks and it’s not advisable to triple up on them.

Villa: Rogers is the only one to keep for his minutes and ability to start both games if they double again in GW36.

City: Marmoush is a hold as City main forward and safest attacker. Gvardiol a hold too.

Arsenal: They will focus on the UCL in upcoming weeks, and they won’t double again this season. No need to keep their assets to be honest.

Free Hit Essentials

Free Hit Principles:

• Once confirmed, it cannot be cancelled.
• You can’t use it if the Assistant Manager chip is active.
• Any rolled free transfers from prior Gameweeks will be available the following week.
• Additionally, you will lose the original transfer you made before playing the Free Hit chip.
• Conversely, managers can use the Free Hit to reverse point deductions if they later change their minds.
• No benefits from any pricing changes made by their new Free Hit team.