The Scout on whether to use your Bench Boost, Free Hit, Wildcard or Triple Captain chip

The Scout provides advice on which chip to use in Double Gameweek 33 (DGW33) of Fantasy Premier League.

At this point of the season, the best strategy to help you navigate the run-in is down to a number of factors.

As always, any decisions you make should be based on the players in your 15-man squad. 

However, the number of free transfers you will have for Blank Gameweek 34 (BGW34) AND the number of chips you have left to play also need to be considered.

This is because the same six clubs who have a DGW33 – AFC Bournemouth, Brighton & Hove Albion, Burnley, Chelsea, Leeds United and Manchester City – DON’T play in BGW34, with only seven matches taking place in the reduced round of fixtures.

As a reminder, a “Double Gameweek” is when a club play TWO Premier League fixtures in a round of matches, and their players get two chances to score points.

A Blank Gameweek occurs when at least two top-flight clubs DON’T have a Premier League fixture in a particular Gameweek.

DGW33 schedule

Club
DGW33

Bournemouth
Newcastle (A), Leeds (H)

Brighton
Spurs (A), Chelsea (H)

Burnley
Nott’m Forest (A), Man City (H)

Chelsea
Man Utd (H), Brighton (A)

Leeds
Wolves (H), Bournemouth (A)

Man City
Arsenal (H), Burnley (A)

Bench Boost

DGW33 will be the biggest Double Gameweek of the season and playing the Bench Boost chip gives you the chance to collect points from all 15 of your players.

More than 499,000 managers played their Wildcard in Gameweek 32, selecting a brand new squad in order to play their Bench Boost chip in DGW33  – potentially earning points from up to 30 matches (15 players with two matches) – as opposed to the usual 11 in a typical single Gameweek.

This is part of a strategy which also involves playing the Free Hit chip in BGW34, allowing you the chance to temporarily replace your squad for a single Gameweek. 

If you don’t have the Free Hit chip remaining, though, you need to be wary of overloading your squad with players who have a DGW33, because they won’t have a match in BGW34.

This ultimately comes down to the number of free transfers you have at your disposal.

For example, if you have five free transfers, you can go bigger on the DGW33 sides before swapping some of them back out for players who have a match in BGW34.

Free Hit

The recent FA Cup exit of Arsenal, in particular, has left many managers’ squads far better-equipped to deal with BGW34.

By playing your Free Hit chip in DGW33, you can temporarily bring in assets you may not want as long-term investments and whose main allure lies in the Double Gameweek itself.

This allows you to hold onto a host of hugely popular players across all positions for BGW34 and beyond.

For example, Arsenal’s David Raya (£6.0m) is the most-owned goalkeeper in Fantasy. Three of the four most-owned defenders – Gunners’ pair Gabriel (£7.2m) and Jurrien Timber (£6.2m), along with Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk (£6.3m), also have a match in BGW34.

The same applies to five of the six most-owned midfielders – Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes (£10.3m) and Bryan Mbeumo (£8.5m), Arsenal’s Declan Rice (£7.3m), Fulham’s Harry Wilson (£6.1m) and Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers (£7.4m). Meanwhile, Brentford’s Igor Thiago (£7.3m) and Liverpool’s Hugo Ekitike (£9.2m) are the third and fourth most-selected forwards respectively and also have a match in BGW34.

BGW34 schedule

Sunderland v Nott’m Forest
Fulham v Aston Villa
Liverpool v Crystal Palace
West Ham v Everton
Wolves v Spurs
Arsenal v Newcastle
Man Utd v Brentford

By monitoring the injury news later in the week, a Free Hit chip could allow you to temporarily replace Man City’s Nico O’Reilly (£5.0m) if he fails to recover from the knock that forced him off against Chelsea last weekend.

Many of the managers who Wildcarded in Gameweek 32 ahead of Bench Boosting in DGW33 have tripled-up on Man City, bringing in O’Reilly along with Erling Haaland (£14.4m) and Antoine Semenyo (£8.2m) for their matches against Arsenal and Burnley.

Should O’Reilly be ruled out of both matches, those managers would have to use a transfer to replace him, with one eye on their Bench Boost strategy. 

There’a also an argument that Rayan Cherki (£6.3m) is shaping up to be a great differential instead of Semenyo on a Free Hit chip. The Frenchman has started the last four matches across all competitions and is found in only seven per cent of squads, compared with the 56 per cent of Semenyo.

Triple Captain

If you still have your Triple Captain chip left, it’s worth holding until Man City’s home match against Crystal Palace, which was postponed due to their EFL Cup final against Arsenal, is rescheduled.

The new date is expected to fall into Gameweek 36, as the midweek period doesn’t clash with European competitions. 

If that’s the case, Pep Guardiola’s side would have two home matches, against Brentford and Palace, in Double Gameweek 36 (DGW36), a scenario which look far more appealing than their DGW33 due to their opening fixture being against Arsenal.

Should Man City still be firmly in the title race, backing Haaland for those two home matches will understandably be a popular move and could deliver a monster haul.

It’s worth noting that O’Reilly has the slightest of edges over the Norwegian at the Etihad Stadium this season and should not be overlooked if he is fit, averaging 7.7 points per start to Haaland’s 7.3.

Wildcard

Whereas all three of the above chips can be used as independent strategies to help you navigate DGW33, playing the Wildcard is an option ONLY if you also have the Free Hit chip remaining.

The idea here is to play your Wildcard in Gameweek 33 to load up on the key players from the clubs who have a DGW33. 

You would then play your Free Hit chip in BGW34 to navigate that reduced round of seven matches.

And if you also still have your Bench Boost chip in hand, that potential DGW36 could be the optimal time to use it.