Navigating Blank Gameweek 31: Who to Keep, Who to Sell, and Some Fun Differential Punts

As we approach the chaos of Blank Gameweek 31, it’s time to talk strategy – and some spicy GW31 punts that can give you the edge.

With Arsenal, Man City, Wolves, and Palace blanking, we’ll break down who to hold, who to sell, and where to take your shot.

If you are planning on dead-ending into gameweek 31 and wildcarding in gameweek 32 then this article is for you!

What is Dead-Ending?

But first things first, what is dead-ending?

Dead-ending is a strategy where you stop worrying about your team’s long-term structure and instead focus only on maximising points up to a specific Gameweek, usually before using a major chip like Wildcard, Free Hit, or Bench Boost.

In this case, many FPL managers will deadend into gameweek 31 because it is a small blank and then wildcard in gameweek 32 to get the players back that we sold and double up in preparation for double gameweek 33.

This way, we get to keep our free hit for the bigger blank gameweek in gameweek 34.

To be clear, neither the blank in 33 or the double in 34 are confirmed but we think they are very likely because Ben Crellin says so. And Ben Crellin knows all.

How Many Players Do You Need For Blank Gameweek 31?

Gameweek 31 is going to be a blank for Arsenal, Wolves, Man City, and Palace.

Having three players from those teams in gameweek 31 is fine. They can just sit on your bench. Although, ideally you want at least one bench spot for a player that will get some gametime in gameweek 31 – just as a safety net.

Realistically, putting out 10 guys will be fine too as loads of people won’t be ready for this and won’t have planned.

Who to keep? Who to sell?

Keeping Gabriel and Haaland is just a no-brainer in my opinion.

If you’ve got a bunch of value tied up – like I do, paying 6.3 for Gabriel and now he’s 7.1 – I’m not selling him just to pay more to get him back.

Same with Haaland: I got him at 14, he’s 14.9 now. It’s ridiculous to sell and re-buy.

This could similarly be a problem if you have Guehi and only paid 4.5 for him at the start of the season.

So in my opinion, just hold those three. Everyone else can be shipped out.

The only exception is a keeper – just bench whoever it is and start Dubravka – it’s not worth the transfer.

When to sell?

The question instead becomes when to sell rather than who. If you own Timber or a second piece of Arsenal defence then I think you wait until gameweek 31. Nobody is as good as he is/they are.

I don’t mind selling Rice now. He probably will get steady returns over the next few weeks but if you are looking to spike a big points haul you are better giving yourself a chance at that by getting Wirtz or someone like that.

Palace have good fixtures but you can sell them at anytime – they are not essential.

Man City assets I would prioritise selling because they will inevitably get benched for no reason soon.

And you shouldn’t really have any Wolves players but if you do then sell them sharpish.

Play the Fixtures!

Essentially, the best thing to do is to play the fixtures. And, conveniently, Joe already wrote about that here.

Picking guys with great fixtures is usually a good route to FPL success and now is no different.

Why Play Fun Punts?

In this short run before Gameweek 31, you could play it safe and stick with the usual suspects (like Bruno Fernandes) who are always solid picks.

Or play the fixtures as I say above.

But in this piece, I want to dive into more adventurous territory and look at those under-the-radar players with under 10% ownership, who might just give you that unexpected edge.

This is not without some risk. Picking the obvious guys is often a good strategy and I wouldn’t tell you not to do it. But picking these low-owned guys has a bigger reward to go with that bigger risk.

Forwards

Raul – 1.8% owned

Fulham have lovely fixtures, particularly West Ham and Burnley at home in 29 and 31. He’s nailed on, and at 6.1, he’s great value.

His xG is solid and he is on target for roughly a goal every other game.

There is a small minutes risk because Muniz is fit again. However, Fulham don’t have any other fixtures crowding their schedule so there is no need to rotate and Raul is first choice.

Evanilson – 2.8% owned

Bournemouth also have great fixtures with West Ham away in 27 and Burnley away in 30.

Evanilson’s underlyings are less good than Raul’s with a goal expected every three games and he costs almost 1 million more but he plays for a better more attacking team.

Frustratingly, Evanilson also has a small minutes risk.

Watkins – 9.0% owned

Watkins probably has the best fixtures of these lot with Leeds (H), Wolves (A), Chelsea (H), Man Utd (A) and West Ham (H). Three relegation candidates and two defences that are only okay in United and Chelsea.

His xG is basically the same as Raul’s for a lot more money but he is also a much better player than Raul.

Annoyingly, and again, there’s a whisper of rotation with the newly signed Tammy Abraham.

Are Any Of These Better Than Thiago?

Realistically, I think I would take Thiago (30.1% owned) over any of these guys right now. The fixtures are great and he is on pens and having a great season.

You may think that Thiago is a penalty merchant but only Watkins on this list has better non-penalty xG than Thiago – so it isn’t just pens.

Still, you don’t need any of these guys to be better than Thiago over 38 gameweeks, just five.

And any of them could outscore him. And, maybe you could spend the 0.9 you save by getting Raul on another player – that’s what Joe would do.

Midfielders

Cunha, Casemiro & Amad – 8.6%, 2.3% & 1.8% owned

You’ve probably already got or thought about Fernandes or Mbeumo but what about the rest of these guys?

With Dorgu injured, Cunha’s probably good for 70 minutes per game. He LOOOVES to shoot and plays as a part of a sort of fluid front three. A reasonable number of his shots are low xG bangers from outside the area but more of those are being scored this year (potentially by design and on purpose). He could spike a couple of hauls in the next few weeks and nobody would be surprised.

Casemiro and Amad are much cheaper budget options. Amad you probably already know is a reasonably good cheap pick with some attacking threat.

Casemiro you probably think is shit, but as I said earlier in the season, if he plays 90 he is a good pick – he is good on defcons and he has reasonable attacking threat. I would probably take him over Anderson right now and I LOVE Anderson.

Rayan – 0.8% owned

This is kind of really high risk because we have only seen him start two games but he scored in both of those games and against good defences.

As I said above when covering Evanilson, the Bournemouth fixtures are pretty good and he might be the new Semenyo. It’s just a big risk.

Schade & O. Dango – 1.1% & 0.6% owned

Kevin Schade is probably the standout punt in my opinion. Brentford’s fixtures are fantastic – facing teams that, frankly, all suck at defending. Brighton, Burnley, Wolves, and Leeds. If you want to double up on Brentford attack alongside Thiago I don’t mind that at all.

Joe isn’t a fan of his inconsistency and I understand that. I owned him for something like 7 weeks earlier in the season and only got one week of returns but it was a mega haul – that’s the kind of spike that could make a difference.

Dango is hitting 0.41 xGI per 90 for only 5.8. That’s not as good as Schade’s 0.5 xGI per 90 but he is significantly cheaper so well worth a look.

Does Mo Salah Count?

Technically he is owned by 14.1% of the game but I suspect most of those are dead teams. I wouldn’t go there because I think he is too expensive and I don’t want to lose money transferring Haaland out.

However, if I were something like 3mn OR instead of the 170k I am at the time of writing then I would very much break the Mo Salah glass and get him in my team.

Basically, you need to take a decision on where you are now v.s. where you want to finish the season.

And that is a personal thing. If I was 3mn OR, I would be very unhappy because I spend far too much time on this game. You might have an actual life and be happy with 3mn OR. You need to answer this question for yourself.

Defenders

As I said at the top, I would and will stick with my double Arsenal defence until gameweek 31 itself. I think there are far fewer options to punt back here but a couple of names jump out at me.

Hill & Truffert – 3.2% & 1.8% owned

At 4.5, you can do a lot worse than Truffert a defender with potential attacking output. We are looking to spike a big points haul so an attacking full-back/wing-back could do that for you.

The fixtures are good from a defensive and attacking standpoint but it’s a bit of a long-shot because attacking returns are few and far between for defenders in general.

Hill might be the better pick here.

Quoting Joe: “He’s only 4.0, and has returned four games in a row, with two of those games having xGIs of 0.26 and 0.22 (which is good, for a defender). He’s also hit his DefCons in an incredible seven of his last eight games (he got 20, against Everton!). And, if Bournemouth miraculously do get any cleans, he’s nailed and will get the points for those too.”

Andersen – 4.7% owned

I was surprised he was so low-owned because he seems to be in everyone’s team but mine. Anyway, he is a fine pick with nice fixtures and good at defcons but he isn’t very exciting.