FPL Fixtures Gameweek 18
No sh*t, Sherlock
Writing this so early may yet prove to be folly, and no doubt the second it is published the PL will announce a circuit breaker and B(lank)GW18 will become B(leak)GW18 and we shall be back into the territory of adding ‘+’ symbols to GW’s again. But just in case we somehow avoid the above doomsday scenario we have decided to break the upcoming week’s down into words. You could always just look at the Fixture Tracker but sometimes it also helps to have the lay of the land spelt out in simple terms.*
*On the above, and to confirm what BoJo said on Monday evening, as far as he is concerned he is happy for it to continue. But that does of course depend on Covid cases within clubs not escalating and the players behaving responsibly.**
**Gulp
FPL FIXTURE TRACKER
But first up that all important Fixture Tracker itself…
FIXTURE TRACKER LINK
For those who would like to make their own copy to play with;
Observations on GW’s 18 to 23
We thought we would begin with a quick overview of what lies ahead, as a few obvious things jump out here;
GW Proximity
The first thing which strikes us (other than the obvious blank and double) is that the fixtures pile up pretty quickly after GW18;
GW18
Begins: Tues 12th
Ends: Thurs 14th
GW19
Begins: Fri 15th
Ends: Thurs 21st
GW20
Begins: Tues 26th
Ends: Thurs 28th
GW21
Begins: Sat 30th
Ends: Sun 31st
GW22
Begins: Tues 2nd
Ends: Wed 3rd
GW23
Begins: Sat 6th
Ends: TBC
That’s potentially 7 league games in less than 4 weeks for some teams. Not to mention some FA Cup games and Milk Cup semis too. And you thought rotation at Christmas was bad…
A list of teams
In essence the following is just that. We did say we would keep this simple though! But if you look more closely you will see that it is a list of teams split by how they transverse both BGW18 & DGW19. And hopefully it may be one to refer back to in the next week or so as it splits them all down into who has what over the ‘rather difficult to naviagate’ BGW18 & DGW19.
Teams with 3 games over both
The following play in 18 and then back that up with a double in 19;
ASTON VILLA
BURNLEY
MAN CITY
MAN UNITED
Teams with a Blank 18 then a Double 19
CHELSEA
FULHAM
LEEDS
LEICESTER
LIVERPOOL
SOUTHAMPTON
WEST BROM
WEST HAM
Teams with a game in both (i.e no blank or double)
ARSENAL
BRIGHTON
CRYSTAL PALACE
EVERTON
NEWCASTLE
SHEFFIELD UNITED
SPURS
WOLVES
Blank GW18 Fixture Strategy
The above list(s) should give you a bit of a guide as to whether or not you need to ship or buy a player. And it is very objective. If we are to jump to the exact opposite for a moment then here is quick subjective guide to 18:
Originally it looked very difficult to play both 18 & 19 without using some sort of a Chip. Since the PL added a few loose fixtures to both 18 & 19 it now looks a tad easier, albeit not ideal.
We have had a fair few questions on site in relation to the ‘minimum’ number of players one would dare approach BGW18 with. The consensus seems to be that 7 would be borderline, 8-9 would be more ideal and anything in excess of that would be perfect.
Our answer would be that it depends on your team and who that 7/8/9 actually are. If they are all good players with decent fixtures then crack on. Just bear in mind that most us carry 3, 4 or even 5 players who get us a point or two every week, and we play them knowing they will do just that. Your BGW18 strategy may simply come down to what balance of those you have in relation to the aforementioned point scorers.
Double GW19 Strategy
As we see it you have multiple plays here. If you can build a 15 man squad that you are happy with then a Bench Boost may be in order.
If you have a weak bench then perhaps deploying a Triple Captain could be the way to go, but just bear in mind rotation is very likely.
The alternative is to do neither and wait on future DGW’s, the likelihood of which grows with every Covid postponement.
Free Hit Strategy
If you find yourself with less than desirable numbers / the wrong players in BGW18 or simply fancy chasing DGW19 with similarly more suitable assets then playing the Free Hit could be the ideal solution. It may sound simple but here are the basics once more, just in case you are confused on any aspects of it;
- In essence it simply means that you can change your entire squad for one week and have it restored to its former glory for the beginning of the following GW.
- Any transfers or point hits taken in the same GW that the FH is activated will be cancelled.
- You will emerge with only 1 free transfer the week after playing it, effectively meaning you would lose any previously unused ones that you would ordinarily carry over.
- You cannot gain from price rises whilst using your FH, so in this respect it differs from playing the usual Wildcard when you can play the market a bit.
- You will however lose value on a player if he falls in price.
Postponments
A quick final word on postponments. If, unlikely as it seems, ALL games in a GW are cancelled then any Chips, Wildcards or transfers made will be lost forever. And any hits taken will still be counted. All of which means it may be wise to delay pressing that confirm button on anything until the last possible moment. But obviously don’t forget to actually press it at some point!!!
All of which may leave you simply repeating the title of the article, but I thought it was worth going over again.
Thanks for reading FPL Fixtures Gameweek 18. This article was written by Inittowinit.
VOTE ON THIS WEEK’S CAPTAIN POLL GW18
Please support i have the below squad with 2 FT and 0.3 in bank
Go with Free Hit or what taking into consideration i don’t want to loose any key player with high value
I wouldn’t free hit that team.
Just do Salah to KDB and Justin to Dias…
I’d probably do Chilwell to Dias, then maybe Salah to KDB
Free Hit active!!! Any advice?? Option A or B (343 vs 352)
Or this
My main advice is to have at least 2 players on your bench. We’ve seen on recent weeks how easy it is for games to disappear at the drop of a hat!!
Mitchel at 3.9 and then two other playing bench players will be even better! :good:
A works with Smith-Rowe and Mitchell. That’s your two players on bench
With only 6 players playing in GW18 considering playing the free hit chip based on the below team. Heaton, Mitchell, Webster & Smith Rowe will be on the bench. Captain either Fernandes or De Bruyne. Any thoughts?
I wouldn’t have Kilman in that case, he is unlikely to feature. Downgrade the reserve goalie to a 4.0 to get funds.
+1.
Soucek doesn’t play in the mini game week.
Jamie
Why wouldn’t Soucek start?
He doesn’t have a game
Don’t want to get GW’s 18 & 19 confused. Could lead to remorseful thoughts!
. Careful careful!
Maybe downgrade Tierney to holding and use the money saved to upgrade kilman and Webster. Maybe look at Clark or Fernandes at Newcastle or Shaw at Man U
Decided to use FH chip :yahoo:
FH team in progress
Waddya think Laca or Rashford?
Anything I’m missing?
I have the same dilemma. I’m favoring Laca as something a bit different to the Rashford template I’m seeing a lot of!
It’s all template :hippo:
There’s nothing wrong with template!
You have a FH team you feel is not template?
I suppose it’s all template because of the smaller pool of players to choose from.
I didn’t say there was anything wrong with template. Just I don’t feel the need to comment on all the teams that look identical :popcorn: . I mean if someone is doing something different great
As a disclaimer, I’d like to point out that there is indeed nothing wrong with the template, I didn’t say there was mind, just that I’m doing something different, and that’s ok too! :good:
Good for you and good luck with your FH endeavours. You could play round with Rashford / Grealish alternatives – like the ultra-cheap Arsenal midfielder – and see what that does in terms of the side. Not sure if doing that would enable you to get Martial instead of Brewster and would obviously lead to a 3/4/3.
I think I’d try to squeeze in another City player – like Dias. The City game seems the most likely source of points – or does to me, anyway – so I would target that ahead of all other games.
Thanks Kralin
Will keep on tweaking.
Decided to keep the FH for rainy days. With the way things are going, there will be much bigger BGW later in the season.
2 FT and 0.0 ITB
Salah will become KDB. Any other ideas or should I roll the FT :scratch_one-s_head:
Salah -> KDB and roll the other FT seems pretty solid.
Cheers LRL :good:
Plan after that is to get rid of DCL/Zouma and bring in Antonio and a defender with two games in 19.
Hope Antonio is fit. Need to sell DCL too.
Well, he has been eased into the game gradually since the return from injury. There is a hope that he will play.
I’m thinking a FH is the best option here. Currently I have 5 playing. I have 1 FT and 0.4 ITB. My initial thoughts are Adams>Watkins with the FT. I could now take a PH, get another player and wing it through GW18 with 7 playing. I could potentially take another PH to have 8 playing. Maybe roll the dice on Salah to KdB? My other thought is to still transfer Adams to Watkins as he plays 3 times over the next 2 GW, then activate the FH to fill out the team for a week. With the current team below what do you think is the better path?
If you FH then the watkins transfer will disappear next GW
Even if I make that transfer before I activate the FH?
I see that now. Well that sucks.
Such is life!
Looks like I will wait until the absolute last minute to decide.