FPL Gameweek 28 Preview – Double and Blanks Ahoy

There’s never a dull moment in Fantasy Premier League right now! 

This is always the most challenging and interesting part of the year, with all the doubles and blanks flying in, and we’re currently in the thick of it. Better still, we’ve currently got a relatively (*bashes on nearest piece of wood*) clean bill of health, with most of the stars either fit or returning soon from injury. 

Without further ado, let’s crack on with the FPL Gameweek 28 preview. Which, shockingly, does indeed revolve around doubles and blanks. 

Talking Points

There’s always plenty going on in this action-packed game of ours. If I had to boil it all down to three talking points for Gameweek 28, however, this would be my trio. 

(Pretty Terrible) Double Gameweek

We’ve got a double gameweek. Yay!

It involves Bournemouth and Luton. Boo!

After showing a bit of life a few weeks ago, Luton are pretty rubbish again. They’ve lost four games in a row, including a stunning 3-1 defeat at home to Sheffield United.  

The good news is that they score goals. Nobody’s kept a clean sheet against them since Man U in mid-November. In that time they’ve put three past Arsenal, two past Chelsea, four past Brighton (not really an achievement), four past Newcastle, and recently two each against Man City (in the FA Cup) and Villa. 

Basically, Morris is definitely an option for a double gameweek punt. He’s been in particularly good form, scoring in five of his last seven matches, and – after being benched a couple of months ago – is officially nailed again. He’s only 5.1, so you can get him for basically anyone. 

Without having checked the FPL Hivemind, I’m assuming Haaland → Morris is a trendy move. I quite like it. Haaland has Liverpool then Arsenal, with a blank in between. Luton, meanwhile, are one of the few teams not to blank in Gameweek 29, and have a nice fixture home to Forest. So, you could roll with Morris until at least Gameweek 30, then decide whether to move him back to Haaland.  

(Note: if you’re free hitting in 29 then obviously you can just get Morris for the Forest game anyway).

The Luton defence is awful. Doughty is the 2nd-most bought player in FPL right now regardless. He’s got eight assists, with decent underlying stats, so I somewhat understand it. But you are 100% hoping he gets an assist in these next two gameweeks – the chances of a clean seem remote to say the least. That’s why I’d avoid getting any actual defensive defenders from Luton.

Bournemouth are boring. 

Solanke is obviously a nice pick this week, even if we’re all fuming at him for his blank against Burnley. Sheffield United and Luton, both at home, are basically the best fixtures you could possibly ask for from a forward. He blanks in 29, but then has Everton and Palace at home, then Luton away (and Man U home after that). Basically, get him now and you can hang onto him for a while, especially if you’re free hitting in 29 anyway. 

(Note: Solanke is definitely carrying a knock, and has been for a little while now. It sounds like he will play this week, but definitely can’t be counted on for 180mins).

Unless I had a completely free transfer, with no other problems at all, I wouldn’t bother getting a Bournemouth defender. Congrats on the clean against Burnley, but they haven’t shut anyone else out in 2024. 

Blanks Incoming

Everyone loves doubles. Everyone hates blanks. Unfortunately, we’re getting the latter straight after the former. 

Only eight teams are playing in Gameweek 29:

• Fulham
• Luton
• Burnley
• Forest

(all rubbish)

• Spurs
• West Ham
• Villa
• Brentford

James made an excellent summary of how to navigate the blank gameweek here. Basically nothing has changed since he wrote the piece, except that Mo’s midweek fitness update sounded positive (more below).

Return of the King (?)

Mo’s midweek fitness update sounded positive! 

Of course, it also sounded positive when he returned last time, after AFCON, then he immediately got injured again. So who the hell knows.

He did come on against Slavia Prague on Thursday night… but only played 16 minutes. Is Klopp really going to throw him straight back into the fire, with a start against City? 

I could see it both ways. Since City win basically every game, if Liverpool are going to get the title they really need to win on Sunday… which means starting your best player. 

But he did literally just come back, start quickly, and get injured in-game. Is Klopp really going to risk that happening again?

My guess would be that he starts on the bench, especially with Liverpool’s other forwards playing well, and Liverpool generally in great form. Since Liverpool blank in 29 anyway, I’d therefore be hesitant about getting him right now. I’d rather wait until GW 30, when they have Brighton and Sheffield United at home back to back. Yummy yummy. 

Upcoming FPL Fixtures

Sigh. To be honest, putting together the fixture ticker this week was a struggle. 

The likes of Arsenal, City, and Liverpool are all blanking, and all playing each other, so that’s not very appealing. Two of the league’s worst/most boring teams are doubling. Some of the other sides with reasonable fixtures include Fulham, Burnley, and Forest. Great. 

Below is a list of five teams with solid matchups, put together using some mixture of art and science. 

(Home games in all caps)

• Bournemouth and Luton have already been covered at length. Far too much length
• Fulham are also boring. But they’ve got three decent defensive fixtures, and a game against Sheffield United should basically get you on this list automatically
• After Villa, Spurs have nice defensive matchups in four straight games. None of these defences are scaring you into dropping their excellent attackers, either
• Arsenal is a terrible matchup, but Brentford’s three games after that should suit their counter-attacking style perfectly. Toney (who linked up well with Wissa – in for Maupay – in the Chelsea game), is about to be very tempting

Should I Buy?

In general, this isn’t a great week for buying many players, since over half of them are about to miss a game. Though, of course, this is somewhat negated if you’ve got your free hit. 

Regardless, here’s a quick verdict on the most-bought players ahead of Gameweek 28.

• Solanke – Yes. Doubles, and it’s a great double. Do note the injury question mark, however
• Morris – Yes. In great form, solid double gameweek fixtures, then Forest straight after
• Doughty – Maybe. Luton’s defence is rubbish, but he’s got a good chance of at least one assist
• Bowen – Yes. He broke out of his funk in a big way against Brentford, got a late assist against Everton, and now has a great matchup home to Burnley
• Son – Maybe. In general it’s never a ‘bad’ idea to get Son, but Villa away isn’t the ideal week for it
• Foden – Maybe. He’s in excellent form, and nailed, but Liverpool’s defence has been great recently
• Watkins – Yes. He’s amazing, and Villa will have a ton of opportunities to counter against Spurs
• Neto (GK) – No. I wouldn’t spend a transfer on a keeper anyway, unless I didn’t have a playing keeper myself. This feels like too big of a gamble for a side that doesn’t keep many cleans, despite the nice matchups
• Areola – No. Take Neto if you actually need a keeper right now. West Ham have Villa and Newcastle straight after Burnley, neither of which will be a clean
• Romero – No. Not just before Villa. His matchups are fine after that, but I still wouldn’t spend 5.0 on anything other than an Arsenal/Liverpool-level CB right now
• Douglas Luiz – Maybe. It’s just inherently difficult to recommend a not-super-attacking central midfielder. But he’s a class player, who does keep returning at the moment, and – as noted – I like the Spurs matchup
• Van Dijk – Obviously not, just before they play City. It’s ridiculous he’s so highly-bought

Should I Sell?

Most of the names in the most-bought list are pretty predictable, including a number of doublers. How do we make room for all these newcomers who are definitely going to get us loads of points? By binning our rubbish, of course!

• Trippier – Yes. His renaissance didn’t last that long, he’s an injury question mark, he’s super expensive, he blanks in 29, and Chelsea isn’t a great matchup right now
• Richarlison – Yes. Expected to be out the next couple of games, and there are loads of other good midfield options (Foden, Bowen, Palmer, Gordon, etc.)
• De Bruyne – God. You probably should at this point… but you just know he’s going to put in an incredible performance as soon as you do. He’s been especially good against Arsenal over the years. I’d still bin though, with a straight move to Son being easy, or to Bowen for the Burnley game
• Alvarez – Yes. Lost his starting place, and Liverpool/Arsenal combo is the perfect time to sell
• Toney – No. I’d hold him if you can. Arsenal is a terrible matchup, with Gabriel manhandling basically every centre-forward right now, but he has Burnley, Man U, (Villa), Sheff U, then Luton afterwards, which is a great run
• Haaland – Maybe. I don’t hate moving him to Morris for this gameweek, as noted. But obviously… he’s Haaland, so holding is fine too
• Porro – Maybe. It sounds like he’ll be back soon, and – between fixtures and his quality – should be a good asset when he returns. He’s expensive though, so if you can’t stick three defenders out there, I don’t hate binning him
• Estupinan – Yes. Awful defence, and he’s getting no returns whatsoever
• Hwang – Yes. Injured for a while
• Neto (MID) – Wait for news. If he’s going to be fit this week, then hold for the Fulham game
• Hojlund – Yes – injured for at least a couple of weeks, and there are too many good forward options right now (Solanke, Morris, Toney, etc., plus the usual suspects)
• Salah – No. It seems pretty pointless to sell him just as he’s returning

Captaincy Corner

I’m not giving the armband to Haaland, for once. How exciting!

Solanke seems like the obvious pick ahead of his dream double. Which means he’ll definitely blank in both games and betray us all. Morris is a cheeky differential, but I much prefer Solanke. I like Bowen against Burnley, and he’s currently my VC, while I also think Watkins is a fairly safe choice home to Spurs.

Joe’s Moves

I had planned to get Salah back this week, particularly since he has an excellent record against City. But I think I’m too scared. I’ve only got one transfer right now anyway, so I’ll probably bank this week’s, free hit in 29, then get Salah in 30. 

Final Thoughts

Well, that’ll just about do it for this week. If I could give one parting piece of advice, it would be to remind you that our two doubling teams this week are BOURNEMOUTH and LUTON. Don’t blow up your team just to get their players in. Better opportunities are ahead. 

Right, that really will do it. Best of luck in Gameweek 28, everybody, and if you want loads and loads of amazing luck in FPL, then following us on Reddit and Twitter will definitely, 100% deliver it to you.