FPL Gameweek 32 Preview - Doubles and Blanks Galore

FPL Gameweek 32 is almost upon us. After two poor weeks, we are hoping for a bounceback in gameweek 32! So, join us as we cover:

Our reaction to gameweek 31
Double and blank players
Chip strategy
Fixtures; and,
Captaincy.

Reaction to Gameweek 31

Well fuck. What a week. Another week when the wildcard template failed to deliver anything brilliant.

Let’s start with rotation. Man City and Aston Villa heavily rotated but others did too. Whoever you own for the double, I generally recommend holding them. It is likely they play 90 out of 180 mins for the double at a minimum so try not to stress.

Try not to get too downhearted. After my first wildcard this season my gameweek rank was 8.6 million. Now, my overall rank is around 15k. Wildcards often go wrong in the week you rip them.

It’s Double and Blank Gameweek Time

Palace Double Gameweek THIS WEEK and NEXT WEEK

Priority this week for everyone is probably grabbing Palace players. A triple up is probably a good idea considering they double next week too.

In defence, I like Henderson if you grab Martinez too to guarantee yourself 4 extra games (link). The other option is Munoz who wont get cleans this week but has attacking potential every week.

In attack, you can grab Mateta with confidence in his minutes this week after Nketiah got sent off.

Sarr and Eze are the options in midfield. Sarr has better underlying numbers this season and is cheaper but Eze is on set pieces. Eze would take pens if Mateta was not on the pitch but, as we just discussed, Mateta is nailed. They’re both on the same ownership so it’s not like you can grab one as a differential.

Double Gameweek THIS WEEK for Newcastle and Palace

Grabbing triple Newcastle is also great – particularly if you are without a free hit. And that is because they double this week and play Ipswich in blank gameweek 34. Isak also is the natural captaincy choice for those with the Triple Captain left. And he’s obviously insanely good.

I don’t think you can buy Gordon or Barnes with confidence. I know Barnes is in form and Gordon was a naughty boy but Gordon is so much better as a player. If Gordon is fit I expect him to play more minutes but thats a big if.

So, you are left with Murphy which is how I ended up with him on wildcard… He isn’t setting the world alight on underlyings but is one of the most prolific attackers since January.

Livramento and Trippier are the fun picks at the back because of their attacking threat. But really there is no competition between the two of them – Livramento is so much cheaper. Pope is also a great option in goal.

Double Gameweek NEXT WEEK for Arsenal, Aston Villa and Man City

If you don’t have these guys and you aren’t on wildcard I would generally wait a week and save that transfer in case your pick gets injured or rotated this week. Arsenal and Villa have critical Champions League games and we aren’t going to be sure who starts in the PL ahead of that. City are just a rotation nightmare forever. However, I’ll set out my thoughts anyway.

Arsenal

At Arsenal, I think Saliba is nailed. I assume Arteta wants to start White in the Champions League so will split mins between him and Timber again this week. Kiwior may survive playing in the PL because Timber may be the other centre back in the CL.

With Saka, I think he will continue to get minutes but not 90s. He’s currently in my side for this gameweek but I’m seriously considering switching him for Savinho (more on him below). And as I write this he has just gone off injured against Madrid. Yeah. Don’t start him this week.

Merino is okay as a pick but a but punty – he isn’t a striker so he doesn’t have those skills but he is playing there so he has opportunities. Odegaard hasn’t really been an option all year; Martinelli isn’t very good or very nailed and Trossard’s minutes aren’t consistent enough.

Yeah, I’m not that positive at the moment.

Villa

At Villa, I think Rogers and Watkins are the most nailed attackers. Rashford and Asensio are way more fun though, certainly over Rogers.

Defensively I backed Digne because his attacking threat is so much higher than the others that I can cope with a little rotation. I wasn’t expecting quite this level of rotation though… I’m really not sure who is nailed there.

Man City

And at Man City weirdly I think their situation is clearer than the others.

In my mind, Gvardiol and Marmoush are nailed – the rest is unclear. I think Ruben is also nailed but that’s mainly because of the injury crisis over there. Pep used to rotate these guys all the time.

Midfield is the real problem here. Foden just isn’t nailed. But we have so much money sloshing about that he feels like a good use of that spare cash. And he might be. He has genuine hat-trick potential. But I can’t bring myself to go there. Instead, I have gone for Savinho, who has ludicrous underlying stats considering how many goals he has this season. He obviously also missed out this week but at least he didn’t come off the bench.

Chip Strategy

Most questions we get at the moment are ‘I have x chips, what should I do?’

There are 32 possible chip combinations a manager could have left, from having all five available to having none left:

WC	FH	TC	BB	AM	Interpretation
✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	All chips available
✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	All except Assistant Manager available
✅	✅	✅	❌	✅	Only Bench Boost used
✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	Bench Boost & Assistant Manager used
✅	✅	❌	✅	✅	Only Triple Captain used
✅	✅	❌	✅	❌	Triple Captain & Assistant Manager used
✅	✅	❌	❌	✅	Triple Captain & Bench Boost used
✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	TC, BB & AM used
✅	❌	✅	✅	✅	Only Free Hit used
✅	❌	✅	✅	❌	FH & Assistant Manager used
✅	❌	✅	❌	✅	FH & Bench Boost used
✅	❌	✅	❌	❌	FH, BB & AM used
✅	❌	❌	✅	✅	FH & Triple Captain used
✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	FH, TC & AM used
✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	FH, TC, BB used
✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	FH, TC, BB, AM used
❌	✅	✅	✅	✅	Only Wildcard used
❌	✅	✅	✅	❌	WC & Assistant Manager used
❌	✅	✅	❌	✅	WC & Bench Boost used
❌	✅	✅	❌	❌	WC, BB & AM used
❌	✅	❌	✅	✅	WC & Triple Captain used
❌	✅	❌	✅	❌	WC, TC & AM used
❌	✅	❌	❌	✅	WC, TC, BB used
❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	WC, TC, BB, AM used
❌	❌	✅	✅	✅	Only Wildcard & Free Hit used
❌	❌	✅	✅	❌	WC, FH & AM used
❌	❌	✅	❌	✅	WC, FH & Bench Boost used
❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	WC, FH, BB & AM used
❌	❌	❌	✅	✅	WC, FH & Triple Captain used
❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	WC, FH, TC & AM used
❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	Only Assistant Manager available
❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	All chips used

That’s quite a few combinations so we won’t analyse each one and will instead focus on what we think that most people are on.

What To Do If You Have Bench Boost, Triple Captain and Free Hit:

Let’s start easy. We think this is the template.

Bench Boost GW 32 or GW 33 – more fixtures in these weeks.
Triple Captain GW 32 or GW 36 – an opportunity to TC Isak
Free Hit GW 34 – most number of blanking players.

Both James and Joe are on this strategy:

Triple Captain Isak in 32
Bench Boost in 33
Free Hit in 34

What To Do If You Only Have Bench Boost and Triple Captain:

Firstly, remember this feeling – next year you need to hold your free hit for a blank.

Secondly, I think you triple captain Isak this week or wait for the next double gameweek in 36 and hope that Haaland is fit.

And that leaves bench boost. I wouldn’t prioritise getting doublers in for this because you will be screwed in gameweek 34 when all your doublers blank. So, just play the bench boost when you have a good bench – ignore the doubles.

You probably want to triple up on Palace players who double double. And grab Newcastle players who double this week and play Ipswich in blank 34. And probably grab Gvardiol and Marmoush whilst you’re at it – as you will see, City have some of the best fixtures to end the season with. And someone like Mbeumo is practically fixture proof and great or even excellent value depending on when you bought him.

What To Do If You Have The Assistant Manager Left?

Probably don’t use it this week. The reason is that you cannot use two chips at the same time so it would conflict with a free hit in blank gameweek in 34.

And if you don’t have your free hit left you probably don’t want to add to your difficulty by including something else you need to make a transfer for.

On the other hand, it’s only an extra minus four that you might balance out with Glasner’s two double gameweeks.

The alternative would be to play it in GW 36 when we expect another double gameweek for the FA Cup finalists (two of Forest/Man City and Palace/Villa).

A Word on Head to Head and Playoffs

I love my head-to-head league because it finishes in the playoffs. And the playoffs are an EXCELLENT time to play chips.

The Ass Man chip could be played in GW 36 and last the entire playoffs, and win your league for you. Of course, the others can also make a difference too.

If you are out of your other leagues, but still have a chance at Head-to-Head, then seriously consider wildcarding in GW 35 (or the week before your playoffs begin).

If you are confident you make the playoffs anyway, you could take a million hits in GW 35 to set yourself up for the playoffs and effectively give yourself a free wildcard!

Fixture Tickers

The short-term tickers are effectively broken at the moment – if you look two weeks ahead v.s. three weeks ahead, then you get a completely different result.

Instead, I will just look at the best attacking and defensive fixture runs until the end of the season and trust that you can work out that, in the short-term, the doubling teams are better.

Best Attacking Fixtures

Notts Forest
Wolves
Arsenal
Man United
Man City

Best Defensive Fixtures

Man City
Newcastle
Notts Forest
Brentford
Chelsea

Captaincy Matrix

GW 32	GW 33	GW 34
Isak v.s. Man United and Crystal Palace Salah v.s West Ham Palmer v.s Ipswich Watkins @ Southampton	Salah @ Leicester Saka v.s. Ipswich and Palace Marmoush v.s. Everton and Villa	Salah v.s. Spurs Isak v.s. Ipswich
GW 35	GW 36	GW 37
Salah @ Chelsea Marmoush v.s. Wolves (assuming no Haaland)	Isak v.s. Chelsea Marmoush @ Southampton Wood v.s. Leicester (+ FA Cup Finalist Doublers)	Palmer v.s. Man U Salah @ Brighton
	GW 38
	Salah v.s. Palace Saka @ Southampton

That’s It.

Don’t panic. Probably don’t make transfers.

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FPL Gameweek 32 Preview – Doubles and Blanks Galore