Playing the WC prior to DGW37
– Your Honour, the Plaintiff would like to change their plea!
– We’re on final allegations, counsel.
– The Plaintiff is well aware of that, but new evidence has just arrived.
– And what’s that?
– Well respectfully your Honour, another double game week has just been announced!
– Which are the teams involved?
– Everton and Crystal Palace your Honour.
– Humm … well, reluctantly, I’ll allow it.
Well, well, another DGW! Just the two teams involved but a DGW nonetheless. So, they still blank on GW35 but hey they play 4 times in two consecutive gws. Can’t ask for much more really and this surely dismisses any plans for a hypothetical WC36/BB37. Or does it?
Well, it does, in all honesty, but let’s give it a go for the sake of it.
Strategies regarding early WC (that is on GW32) or WC33/BB34 have been well documented and what they show is that you either play 15 doublers to take full advantage of the WC/BB or you mix it up a bit in order to keep a few big points hitters such as Mahrez, Kane, Alli and of course that man Vardy. Both options are valid ones but the former offers of course a bigger risk given that those with 15 doublers will be facing the last 6 GWs without several FPL key players.
My initial approach to this was that of building a decent enough DGW34 team with free transfers and play the BB on that DGW but keeping key players with a single game AND keeping my WC for DGW37. The reasoning behind this strategy is that I don’t think GW34 offers great fixtures for the teams with two games, except Arsenal and of course Man Utd, but they blank on GW35, which would lead me to deplete my squad on GW33 which I see as too early if compared to the (slim) returns I expect GW34 to produce.
Now, I’m leading my ML here and with a 40 points cushion, so maybe I can ‘afford’ to not go all in on DGW34 and save the WC for 37. If my opponents endure the WC33/BB34 path they will surely outscore me on GW34, but maybe not in GW33 and surely not enough to actually take the lead; and then I’ll still have my WC to deploy on 37.
And while Everton’s and Palace’s DGW33 must be considered, one can’t also overlook Arsenal’s TC potential in DGW34 which can’t be met by any of the DGW37 teams/players. All in all I still think this could be the best way to go for managers in this situation. Much depends of each manager’s situation and there are no right or wrong approaches here. Well, there are, but we’ll only know that comewhat May. Literally!
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Let’s see, then, what does WC36/BB37 offer in terms of players/teams who could score big.
Firstly, we need to know which teams have a double and they are West Ham, Man Utd, Norwich, Watford, Sunderland, Everton, Liverpool and Chelsea:
One thing that springs to mind is that out of those 8 teams 4 have two home games (Liverpool, Norwich, Sunderland and WestHam) and the other 4 have two away games.
None of the combos is too appealing but maybe West Ham and Liverpool should be favoured here, with Chelsea and Everton also looking good on the attacking front.
Before we enter in any player discussions we need to also assess these teams fixture in GW36 and GW38 given it’s likely we’ll need to use most of them in all those gws:
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Let’s look at these fixtures closely.
West Ham: Good double home fixtures for GW37 with the Swans and Man Utd and in deed decent away games at West Brom (36) and Stoke (38).
Man Utd: Difficult home game in 36 with Leicester, good away game at Norwich for the first game in 37, not so good second 37 game at West Ham and a great final fixture at home to Bournemouth.
Liverpool: Decent enough double home fixtures for GW37 with struggling Watford and Chelsea and decent away games at Swansea (36) and West Brom (38).
Chelsea: Tough home games actually in 36 and 38 with Spurs and Leicester respectively and not the easiest of fixtures in DGW37 itself.
Everton: Excellent home games to Norwich on 36 and Bournemouth on 38 sandwiched with not that good away games at Leicester and Sunderland in gw37 itself.
Watford: As good as it gets for 36 at home to Villa and a half decent game at Sunderland on 38 sandwiched with one tough away game at Liverpool and a decent enough away game at Norwich for DGW37.
Norwich: It’s Norwich, enough said. Oh, and they face Arsenal (away, 36), Man Utd (37) and Everton (away, 38) in the process.
Sunderland: It’s Sunderland, enough said. Ok, not as bad as Norwich given that their 36 and 38 games are against lesser opposition but still Stoke and Watford away don’t offer much.
So, how does that leave us? It leaves us no doubt with going for WC33BB34 I hear? Well, that’s seems sensible enough surely. Then again, if you didn’t chase that with these final games in mind you could do worse with the following:
3 from West Ham, 3 from Liverpool, 3 from Everton, 1 Man Utd, 1 Chelsea, 1 Watford and keep your 3 Arsenal that you’re carrying because they face Villa and Norwich at home in their last 3!
Here’s an example of your team could look like with a late wildcard:
That’s all folks.
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Been watching Narcos – it seems i missed 1966 all over again?
It was better than that Cookie but not as good as the 5-1.
I didn’t see it either but were they actually quite good then?!
I only saw the last 30 mins but they were impressive in those 30 mins. Some great movement and the players looked comfortable doing what they were doing.
Init – looked a top team really. That said , had a German goal ruled out for offside that wasnt
Ah ok cool, hope abounds then! Lost interest in watching friendlies years ago. That said I’ve been too busy doing an Easter Egg hunt for the lads tomorrow because somebody’s wife had 3 glasses of wine, got pissed on it, threw up and went to bed! Bloody lightweight, I call 3 glasses an aperitif
No idea why I shared that little nugget!
Threw up on 3 glasses lol. Poor you, prob thought it was your lucky night. A lucky, if planned, escape for Mrs Init.
Cheap date 😉
Fcks sake, she’s resurfaced to ‘take charge of the egg campaign’
It kills me to say this but Alli is going to be a player
He already is Mitro and to think he should’ve been a Liverpool player!!
Were you in for him? Do you think you will beat spurs next week?
Yeah. The bloody transfer committee didn’t think he was worth £10m! Gobshites.
We’re capable of beating them, but it’s unlikely
£10m looks a bargain!!
I need your lot to smash them! My mate who is a spurs fan is really starting to get on my nerves!!
Top series that Cookie !! What episode are you up to ?
Sorry Brooky fell asleep! Finished Series 1 last night.
anyone looking at Martial two DWG’s and locked on starter weather that be on the wing or upfront.
think I will get him for Vardy now miss out on pool coverage for 34 then go double on Coutinho and Sturridge when they are should be out of the Europa by then so no rotation needed.
Yep. I’m not fully set on the move but he’s being considered. As are Rash and Lingard.
Happy Easter everyone.
And if it’s not a festival you celebrate, have a good day anyway!
Cheer cookie. I second that and celebrating or not do separe a minute to think about dgw37!
Hahaha – eggscellent idea DMC
Anyone fancy bolasie for the DGWs?
Could be worth a shot Mitro yeah. It’s either a feast or a famine with him though. 2 pointer or a 12 +
Might bring him in for GW33 – what’s the worst that can happen
Hello Mitro..I’m planning to get him in myself..But, currently only for GW33. It would be good to have a CP attacker in the squad as I think they’ll go all out for the last of the games. Their recent form has been terrible though. Another consideration would be Wickham, given he’s fit to play. Will have to wait for Cookie’s Team Talk article for the final news.
Butland, Schmeichel both injured. If butland is out for next gw may just keep Siggy for 1 more gw
Schmeichel is not injured
https://twitter.com/kschmeichel1/status/714044401480286208
That’s good news
Come on Leicester 
Happy Easter All:
I play in a league where we draft players, so my options are limited. I was going to pick up Klose for Smith for GW 32, but am looking at strategy for the DGWs. My midfield options are:
A. Henderson
B. Lennon
C. Lanzini
Are any of these better than what I have? Arnie’s fixtures turn difficult so he would be first on the chopping block. I would appreciate any help. Thanks.
Courtois
Bellerin Jagielka Walker
Lingard Ozil Arnautovic Bolasie Payet
Aguero Pelle
Bench: Schmeichel Deeney Taylor Smith
Probably Henderson as he should play GW35 as the other 2 won’t and you will already have your bench filled and will need to transfer 2 of them out to field 11.