Planning Ahead – DGW’s, Blanks etc… – Fantasy Premier League 2015/16
“When are the double game-weeks?”
“Who misses GW27?”
“Why is everybody talking about GW30 in terms of some sort of FPL apocalypse?!”
“When is the best time to use my chips?”
“Are there any other ‘GW30’ type surprises on the way?”
These are just some of the more common questions we’ve been asked recently and so we wanted to clear it all up and make it as as easy to understand as possible. It’s dead simple really. When you know the answer. That largely depends on the question though. In this case we know the questions and we know part of the answers. The rest of it is guesswork right now but here’s what we know, what we don’t know and what we will know soon enough.
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“When are the double game-weeks?”
The double game-weeks will be in GW’s 34 & 37. We know this because of the scheduling of other competitions such as the Champions League and the Europa League. You cannot, by UEFA law, have an FPL game on the same midweek as one of their comps, which rules out a good few weeks and pretty much leaves the aforementioned weeks as our only options.
Let’s take the remaining weeks one by one to try and make this as simple as possible…
GW27
The following teams miss this week due to the League Cup Final-
Everton
Liverpool
Man City
Newcastle
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GW28
All teams play
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GW29
All teams play
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GW30
The Apocalypse! All managers panic!
This is the one which could get messy! Who plays in this one depends on which teams progress to the FA Cup 6th round.
As of now only two games are certain to go ahead in GW30 and those are –
Leicester v Newcastle
Stoke v Southampton
The rest depends upon the following teams winning or losing their FA Cup 5th round ties which are –
Shrewsbury vs Man United
Chelsea vs Man City
Reading vs West Brom
Watford vs Leeds
Blackburn vs West Ham
Spurs vs Crystal Palace
Arsenal vs Hull
Bournemouth vs Everton
The rest of the GW30 schedule looks like this as we stand now but could be decimated depending on the results of the FA Cup games. Every game below for GW30 is affected by the results of the games above.
Arsenal vs West Brom – off if either win
Man Utd vs Crystal Palace – off if either win
West Ham vs Watford – off if either win
Aston Villa vs Spurs – off if Spurs win
Liverpool vs Chelsea – off if Chelsea win
Sunderland vs Everton – off if Everton win
Norwich vs Man City – off if Man City win
Bournemouth vs Swansea – off if Bournemouth win
Tick them off as you go next weekend! For info this particular FA Cup round occurs this weekend (ie between GW26 & 27). You will need to plan your GW27 / 28 / 29 transfers accordingly so as to have as many GW30 players as is possible, which still may be less than than preferable, but panic not as many will be in the same boat. And rest assured even more that many won’t be aware of the perils ahead!
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GW31
All teams play
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GW32
All teams play
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GW33
All teams play
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GW34
All teams play and a potential DGW
This is the first of the windows for DGW’s. We don’t know who will feature but given the above information it is highly likely that at the very least Man City will need to get their first DGW out of the way on this week as it’s highly likely that they will have another in GW37.
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GW35
This FPL week clashes with the FA Cup semi-finals and so any teams lucky enough to have progressed that far will miss out this week, and so will their opponents. They will therefore almost certainly fulfil their missed GW35 fixture(s) in GW37. You need to take this weeks blanks into consideration when planning any DGW assault in GW34.
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GW36
All teams play
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GW37
The second potential bumper DGW
This may be a bumper one depending on how many make it through FA Cup R5 and subsequently R6. Certainly we will see the semi-finalists feature twice in this one but also the other teams that have been unable to reschedule previously in GW34.
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GW38
All teams play. Lots of managers have heart attacks!
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“When is the best time to use my remaining chips?”
If you have been prudent enough to save your second wildcard and also the bench boost and the triple captain chips then well done and you may reap the benefits very soon, all being well! The perceived wisdom here is that you will be best served by playing your WC the week before any DGW and then activating your bench boost on the week of it itself to hopefully maximise a full squad of DGW’ers. Which of the DGW’s you do this in will depend largely upon the pool of players available. If GW34 is looking light (4-6 DGW teams or less) then you may be best waiting for GW37. One of them will be busy anyway given how it’s looking so far. Pick the busiest one for this strategy as you need to remember that you will have that squad the week after it has finished too! If it happens to be GW37 then that may be less pertinent given that there is only one week left anyway but if it’s GW34 then it may need more thought and consideration as to what lies beyond.
As for the Triple Captain one then simply use this in the other DGW that you don’t use the Bench Boost for. Remember you can only use one chip per week and the wildcard itself is classed as a chip for this purpose.
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Thanks for reading Planning Ahead – DGW’s, Blanks etc… – Fantasy Premier League 2015/16. This article was written by Inittowinit
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Tnx for this awesome article ”Innit”. Will probably have to bookmark it.
Hmmm, as for my question. It’s about CL. What you guys doing with fantasy champions league? Cookie said this week counts as a game, and next week counts as a gameweek. You’ll just get 1 f-ing ft for that? I mean? How the heck are you able to play 11 both GW’s without taking hits? Doesn’t make sense. Anyway what are you guys gonna do? 11 playing this GW and umm take a hit next GW!? How the fuck does this make sense! SOMEONE! ANYONE!>?
Back in 3 hours. Somebody better have answered by then! And show me yall teams! Tnx in advance. I will just have a few minutes to make mine. Hope the site works when I have to make the changes. SIGHS!
BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Oi you rascal, don’t blame your CL woes on me, I don’t play the game and therefore said no such thing. You been dreaming about me again?
So the first leg (this week AND next week) is combined – i.e. you need to select a squad that covers the entire first leg (this week AND next week). No transfers are allowed, only substitutions within your squad. You do, I believe, get 4 chances to pick a captain, however. If your captain pick didn’t work out today, you can change it to a player from tomorrow’s game or next Tues/Wed’s games, I think. Anyway, it’s all up on the rules webpage on the UCL site and is pretty self-explanatory: (http://en.uclfantasy.uefa.com/championsleague/rules). As for team selection, it is a bit of a headache/crapshoot as compared to the previous group stage due to the fact that predicting the winner, clean sheets, who will play (injuries might occur betw/ the deadline today and the remaining first leg games next week), etc. is much more difficult. Just go w/ your gut and pray you get it right!
Fwds: Messi/Suarez/Neymer/Ronaldo/Benzema/Muller/Lewandoski/Aguero/Costa/Ibrahimovic/Griezmann/Dzyuba/Hulk/Jonas/Mitroglou/Depoitre
Mids: Di Maria/Douglas Costa/Robben/Isco/James/Raktic/Pogba/Gabi/Silva/Gaitan/Shatov/Kums/Milicevic/Pizzi/Willian/Draxler
Dfs: Maxwell/Mitrovic/Carvajal or Danilo/Alaba/Lahm/Bonnuci/Barzaggi/Godin/Jimenez/Juan Fran/Alba/DaniAlvez/Eliseu/Jardel/Lombaerts
etc. are all good shouts. I know, headache! Just go with your gut and hope you’re right. Picking your fwds will prolly shape the rest of your team. Good luck, mate!
FYI, I’m going w/ this lot for now (I know I have a couple of non-playing players so might change expensive Fwd line to fix that):
Oblak (Vandenbussche: n-p but love dude’s name)
Gimenez / Maxwell / Eliseu / Mitrovic / Vida
Di Maria / Shatov / Kums / Gaitan (Ryazantsev np)
Suarez / Messi / Ronnie
Really want Juve and/or Bayern defender but they is expensive (Bernat is cheaper but risky as he might not play).
What are you guys thinking?
Hey Sanchez, great little rundown above. Here’s mine so far.
Nice, Init! It’s great to see that we have very different teams. Really no way of predicting these games (especially the scores) as ‘easily’ as the group stage at least. What do you think of the Arsenal-Barca match up? I’m kind of counting on Barca to cream the Gunners by picking both Messi and Suarez. A bit of a gamble maybe in that it might work superbly or come back to haunt me. I’m also hoping Juventus keep Bayern quiet by not picking any Bayern players.
In any case, team sheets should be out soon. (FYI: you might know this already but I think Naldo might be suspended for the first leg though he was the hero of the group stage).
I’ll check on Naldo then mate, thanks. Wasn’t aware of that. Barca is my main worry with my team. I did have Suarez and switched him for Lewandowski. No real reason. I’ll probably switch one in for the return leg in Barca.
Prolly get similar returns in the end w/ premium fwds like Lewanbrewski / Muller / Suarez / Messi / Ronnie / Benzema. Anyway, good luck!
Raz, it was me. I didn’t actually say that though!
Here’s how it works. I’ll space it out a bit too to make it simpler 😉
This weeks 4 games and next weeks 4 games are all one GW. They’re the 1st legs but spread over 2 weeks. So all the remaining 16 teams are in 1 week.
You then have 1 FT to go at the 2nd legs but it’s the same 16 teams. Again spread over 2 weeks but in 1 GW.
Simples
Why GM31 is ruled out for DGW?
Hi shawn, it’s a designated International break ie same rules apply as to why you cannot play during a Champions League week even if you’re not in it. TV rights etc. I think England play on the 26th and the 29th. There will be games for most other nations starting from the 23rd through to the 30th.
Thanks Init. So no mid week game a week before International break?
Wouldn’t have thought so mate. GW31 ends on Sunday 20th. The rest of that week and the week after are down as International games. The midweek prior is out of it due to Champions League.
You are right, I mix up game week and the calendar week
Great article init!! – well done mate.
Shit is going to get real when I start using my chips!! Fuckers in my ML are going down!
:thumbup: That’s the spirit Mitro! I have the same chips remaining like you: 2ndWC, BB and TC. At 80K you are doing great mate. Keep it up. I’m at 252K but i’m optimistic things will change. I have gotten 6 green arrows over the past 7 gameweeks.
Alright my San!! These chips are really going to make a difference, if everything goes to plan we could end up with some ridiculous points for each of these DGWs. I have already started winding up some of the lads from work who are above me and have used all there chips!
Well done seeing the green arrows mate – as you can see from mine GW scores I have been on the decline for a number of weeks
Mitro – Well that’s the plan in paper. I know it will make a big difference in the DGWs that’s why i’ve held my chips up to this point. The thing is, i’m 2nd in my ML and the leader is 89 pts above me and currently ranks 15K and he also has his chips available. He will be very tough to beat but i’ve been creeping closer to him and at one point he was well over 100 points above me. I think selecting the right captain week in week out will be the difference here.
Haha your co-workers must be afraid of you now, especially since they have used up all their chips. lol.
So if none of the English Teams reach CL QF or SF can we have a potential DGW on 32/33 or 35/36?
Now Big Question is how to get Vardy in? Should Lukaku go or Aguero?
Both have good GW 28 29 Fixtures with Lukaku slightly better. GW 30 is anyways not clear right now.
Hi Avengers, we can’t unfortunately. They won’t allow anyone to play on those weeks regardless of their involvement in it.
Sorry for mixing you up with Cookie, Innit. This is my team. Set to go? And we can change bench after tonight right? Also cappo?
Looks good, Raz. Yup, you should be able to change bench and cappo before every game day. Good luck fellas!
Same to you! I see I doubled up on Benfica defense, I however also have Shatov and the Russian forward. So what do I want? 😉
Sanchez! Do you reckon we can swap between tomorrow and today and then again next week and then likewise then? I seem to remember last season them being unclear on this. It’d effectively be 4 bites at the capo cherry. I’m not convinced you can but likewise not sure you can’t. I just popped it on Ronnie just in case assuming only one switch into next weeks 4 games.
Yeah, I didn’t remember from last year (weird) so I checked w/ the website and it seems you can:
“After all matches on a single day have finished and before the next matches start, you can:
–Replace any player (unless they were sent off) with one from your bench whose team is yet to play
–Change your captain (if he was not sent off) with a player from your squad whose team is yet to play”
Keepers coming up big in both games, though Courtois finally let in one from Cavanni. Chelski were playing well too (including Willian)! Costa should have put his free header away!
My Zenit defender just got sent off
They’re the exact words they used last season too from memory. I recall a right kerfuffle after day 2 though as people couldn’t then switch again, hence me recalling it being ‘unclear’. Just can’t remember whether it was for real in the end or just another glitch. They have so many!
Yeah, I saw that, Init. Criscito :shake: – unlucky you can’t change him either :what:
I kind of remember trying to change players/cappo last year and it not working the night before or just before the match. And kind of remember someone (maybe Raz + a few others) complaining about it also, no? My memory is real hazy these days…
Evening guys. I’m pretty sure i made three capo switches in one round last season, without any hitches. Bloody better still work anyway otherwise Ronaldo is all i’ve got left
Raz complains about everything so that’s no real barometer :hippo:
Haha.True.
ZOMG INNIT! Stop badmouthing me! :rant:
Just noticed that my matchday position is 410 with just 35 points. Crisito gave us 4 points since he was sent off just before the goal? In fpl a player that has been sent off doesn’t keep the CS right? Well, with FCL it does. LOL, 4 points. I have Gaitan sitting on my bench still with 7 points, which is pretty annoying. ^^
That was a compliment
I wouldn’t trust he’d keep those points but not checked the rules yet! They aren’t quite as sharp as FPL with updates let’s put it that way.
Although odd, it doesn’t actually say anywhere that CS points are taken away if you get a red card on the UCL rules page! You guys might be alright… Haha.
Evening everyone! Once again I ask for your wisdom on trying my team for the upcoming week.
My team below. My thoughts are Oxford to Huth as advised last week from a few of yourselves. I’m still not sure with walker. I want a Spurs defender and he’s getting switched around and I don’t think I can settle with this. Only nailed on is alder. But for a random punt I thought Stoke at home next 2 games maybe imbula for wanyama.. But that is a very random punt but you gotta be like that now and then could pay maybe not. But then he will prob be on my bench. Also really considering getting out de gea. United are not playing well so think de gea to Forster or Cech could be good shout.
Advice please thank you
Hi jumpers, what do you have in terms of FT’s and bank for next week please?
Hi init thanks for looking. I have a ft this week and 1.5 mil in the bank.
Just the Huth move for me then. And play Walker also. Spurs very likely to keep a CS in that one, assuming he plays. The games prior may indicate whether he’s in line for a rest. That’s your 11. I like the Imbula one but as it’s for a hit I’m not sure because as you say beyond next week he will most likely just end up on the bench. He is one that is guaranteed a GW30 though so I wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand just yet. See what the weekend brings I suppose.
Thanks init. I might Aswell do the Huth transfer but was just wondering like you said if I should wait just incase any players get injured and I need to make a adjustments.
I’d wait personally. Can’t see myself doing anything other than the norm and waiting until the Friday night before.