Fixtures, Blanks, Doubles & Chips 2017/18

[Ruth_NZ]

This will be a thread to pre-scan the fixture map for 2017/18. Hopefully it will identify when rotation pressures will be higher or lower and it might also lead to some consideration of when may be best to deploy the chips. (Fixtures & Chips ).

1. Schedules to 1/1/18

First up, the fixture map from GW8-GW22.

Xmas Period

The holiday period is GW19-22 this season with 4 games to be played in 9 days (Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Monday). The broadcast plans aren't announced yet so some teams will have it tougher and some easier. Doubtless some GW22 games will go back by a day or 2 days for TV and that may well make things a bit more manageable for those teams.

This holiday schedule is tighter than last season, when there were only 3 games in that period. Even with that, there were huge discrepancies; Southampton had to play 3 times in 5 days whereas Chelsea played 3 times in 10 days. It will be worth checking who the winners and losers are when the TV games are announced. But there will be some concentrated rotation pressure over Xmas, that's for sure, although not all managers react to that in the same way. There are some notes about rotation at the 'big' teams here.

Fixture Compression

The 3rd international break of the season falls between GW11 & GW12 (18th November). From GW12 to GW22 there are 11 PL games to play in 45 days. Teams with European competition will be playing 13 games in 45 days and if they reach the QFs of the League Cup that will be 15 in 45 days. That's a pretty compressed schedule and it perhaps adds to the attractions of the GW12 wildcard in order to set up for it (for those that still have it).

In contrast, teams like Chelsea and City only had 6 games in 36 days at the start of the season compared to the 13 (minimum) in 45 days they are facing from mid-November. I think it is fair to say that we are currently in the calm before the storm where rotation pressure is concerned.

2. January & February 2018

Things really ease up for a while after Xmas. FAC rounds 3, 4 & 5 have designated slots and don't clash with any PL fixtures. There are also free midweek slots for any replays that may be needed. CL and EL don't re-start till mid-February and the schedule is quite spread out for CL teams owing to the R16 being played over 4 weeks rather than 2. There is only one PL midweek fixture scheduled. Taking into account the fact that PL teams will often use the squad for early FAC games the rotation pressure should be pretty low in general (unless a team has to play a few FAC replays). GW23-28 should therefore be fairly stable.

3. March to May 2018

This is the last quarter of the season when we enter the white water of blanks and DGWs. So...

Doubles and Blanks - viewtopic.php?f=18&t=127335

[Sutter Kane]

Maybe the free hit is better used when there's an outstanding captain you'd like one week but don't have (and can't easily get)?

It's a wait and see what fixtures are postponed and which are tantalising. If there are say 4 games available, that's 8 teams, most of which you likely wouldn't want - perhaps 3 or 4 teams to attack the gw with. Last season I felt many of us were able to put out a decent selection of players n the blank week, 9 or 10, with a little preparation. I don't believe that preparation harmed the gameweeks around either but that is pure speculation. I might be wrong there and the value of the chip lies in that as well.

There's bound to be an opportunity to use the free hit around the DGWs. With so many chips to use however, it's fitting them all in!

[Stemania]

MoSe updated his excellent spreadsheet earlier in the season in the DGW Thread:

BUMP for new season updates...
FPL DGW preview 2017_18

Ben Crellin's
https://twitter.com/bencrellin/status/8 ... 3085812739
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... 1586470985

(With a DGW34, BGW35, DGW37, the Free Hit Chip already has a strong major candidate spot in the blank GW35. Or perhaps around GW28-31 time as pointed out by Joccki in the DGW Thread. All Depends on the fixtures that come up, and whether desirable teams have games in both the surrounding DGWs.)

[Ruth_NZ]

Maybe the free hit is better used when there's an outstanding captain you'd like one week but don't have (and can't easily get)?

It's a wait and see what fixtures are postponed and which are tantalising. If there are say 4 games available, that's 8 teams, most of which you likely wouldn't want - perhaps 3 or 4 teams to attack the gw with. Last season I felt many of us were able to put out a decent selection of players n the blank week, 9 or 10, with a little preparation. I don't believe that preparation harmed the gameweeks around either but that is pure speculation. I might be wrong there and the value of the chip lies in that as well. There's bound to be an opportunity to use the free hit around the DGWs. With so many chips to use however, it's fitting them all in!

Yes, well... I think it's quite tricky actually. Maybe there are too many chips that can be useful in the DGW period now?

Personally I am far from convinced that saving the BB for a DGW has any merit. I'd have played mine in GW1 had the fixtures suited but they didn't. I'm still very much on the lookout for an opportunity to play it early but it may have to wait for one of the DGWs. The TC will most certainly occupy the other. Whether there will be a third isn't sure at this stage but even if there is it will be a small one and you'd be somewhat lucky to get a great TC option in it.

So, if the 2 main DGWs already have chips allotted, when do you use the free hit? A short (blank) week is the obvious thought. But I really agree with you, navigating blanks has never been much of a problem for me. I'd expect to use the 2nd wildcard sometime from GW28 onwards and that can help set you up if necessary. And, as you say, do you really want 11 players from 8 teams, even for 1 week? I don't know, what would the free hit give you that week? 8-10 points maybe?

I think the free hit needs to be played in one of two ways to extract the best advantage (this is my thinking thus far anyway):

1. In a main DGW (GW34/37). It could be very powerful used that way. But that probably means getting rid of the BB early.
2. In a normal week when there is a great captain you don't have and can't easily get. An example is Sanchez in GW10, I can't see him as value long-term but he's almost certainly the best captain option that week. In addition the other GW10 fixtures lend themselves to dropping some key expensive players (Lukaku, Kane, Eriksen and so on) and focusing on teams with great fixtures (Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, maybe City). That's something I am looking at right now in fact.

The hidden problem with the free hit is that it loses you a FT (the one that was due for the week where you play the FH). You won't be able to change your underlying team that week and you will arrive in the next GW with only one FT. If you had a FT rolled you'd actually lose 2. This might seem self explanatory but it's trickier than it seems. Wildcard also loses you a FT but you get unlimited changes so it doesn't matter. The FH actually impairs the speed at which you can change your underlying team.

Given that the BGW/DGW period is one where every transfer counts (and most of us take at least a couple of hits anyway), the loss of a FT during that time is a real negative. If you don't plan the way you use the FH very carefully you can reasonably expect a tax of 4 points in effect. This is another reason in favour of deploying it earlier.

In summary, I do believe that one of the BB and FH need using before we get to the DGW period. Or at least can be very happily be used early if you can find the right opportunity.

PS. Of course, there is one week when the FH doesn't cost a FT and that's GW38. I guess that would be the other sensible use of it as GW37 is a DGW and you'll probably have a team focused on the doubles that week.

[baganboy]

Assuming both GW 34 and GW37 are DGWs, I would perhaps plan for the BB on the GW 34 DGW, and play the winter WC to fix the team accordingly for BGW35 and right up to the end of season including GW 38 and completely ignoring the DGW 37 (which might have a very different texture to the GW34 in terms of suitable teams); and play the FH for the DGW 37.

Or something like that....

We shall see.

[Ruth_NZ]

But then when do you play the TC? In my view that's the one that must be played in a DGW. In my personal ranking of the chips, playing the TC in its optimum slot is priority #1.

[baganboy]

Indifferent. I am a bad captain picker, and have been so for 10 years now. Will be happy enough with a triple captain with 8 points from the captain i.e. 24. - Actually I could just play it next week with Kane and get done with it.

[asm_fanz]

Last season I felt many of us were able to put out a decent selection of players n the blank week, 9 or 10, with a little preparation. I don't believe that preparation harmed the gameweeks around either but that is pure speculation. I might be wrong there and the value of the chip lies in that as well.

I think this is a key factor when evaluating the value of the FH chip. It is true that we know about the blank GWs in advance and we have enough time to cope with them and plan efficiently. However, this planning has a cost, which I think is twofold:
- Hits: this cost is manager dependent, as I suppose you can always find a way to prepare for a blank GW without taking hits. They're not uncommon though and people (myself included) use the (valid?) excuse that a hit before a blank GW to replace a non-playing player with a playing player is effectively a -2 instead of a -4.
- Opportunity cost: usually we start planning for a blank GW a few weeks before, by doing that we deny ourselves other transfers that might improve our team in the short to medium term in the GWs leading up to the blank.

Now I think that by its nature the FH chip is designed to cope with blanks, but other uses have been mentioned here (outstanding captain choice being one of them), to which I would add exceptional suspension/injury cases. I guess the fixtures in the blank GWs will be the deciding factor as to whether we use it for them or not

[Turd Ferguson]

So, if the 2 main DGWs already have chips allotted, when do you use the free hit? A short (blank) week is the obvious thought. But I really agree with you, navigating blanks has never been much of a problem for me. I'd expect to use the 2nd wildcard sometime from GW28 onwards and that can help set you up if necessary. And, as you say, do you really want 11 players from 8 teams, even for 1 week? I don't know, what would the free hit give you that week? 8-10 points maybe?

PS. Of course, there is one week when the FH doesn't cost a FT and that's GW38. I guess that would be the other sensible use of it as GW37 is a DGW and you'll probably have a team focused on the doubles that week.

Thanks for starting this discussion. Good points made.

I do think you're underestimating the value during a blank gameweek. I see two things.

One, you can essentially ignore the blank gameweek for planning purposes and you don't have to adulterate your team at all in the two or three weeks leading up to the blank. You simply keep your long-term team intact. Personally, I made a strategic error/had bad luck in that I tripled up on West Brom (McAuley, Brunt, Phillips) before last year's blank. They had a few nice fixtures in the weeks before and a below average but not terrible game at Everton. I think they ended up keeping one clean sheet in the 7 or 8 games that I doubled up on McAuley and Brunt, and Phillips was injured in the 2 weeks leading up to the blank and the blank itself. Plus they got battered 3-0 by Everton in the week of the blank. Non-blankers will have an expected value of ~3-4 points during the blank gameweek, and we don't have to factor that in when we're planning for the long term if we use the free hit that week.

Two, the week itself. Let's say hypothetically you can usually plan well enough that you field 9 players with decent fixtures. You're going to get 4 extra points just by bringing in two players who give you 2-pointers. Additionally, how many of your defenders are going to be odds on for a clean sheet? It's usually tough to field 9, let alone 9 with a good fixture. I'd say usually 1 or 2 of your def/GK will have a good fixture, and you might have two or three attackers who are legitmate threats for a haul. WIth the free hit, you can probably bring in 3 defenders and a GK who are good chances for a clean sheet, and you can bring in every reasonably priced attacker with an attractive fixture. How many people would have gotten Josh King's hat trick last year if they'd used the free hit chip? You're going from a week where you have maybe 4 players with good fixtures and 5 players with bad fixtures (4.5 defenders away, 4th midfielders against a good defence, etc.) to one where you can load up on the 5 or 6 attackers with the best fixtures and swerve any tough away matches in defence.

Let's say the two extra non-blankers you bring in have expected points of 3, and you can improve expected points by 1 for 6 of the 9 players you would have started without the free hit. That gets you to an improvement of 12 expected points, and I think that's a pretty reasonable estimate, maybe even on the low side. And that ignores the fact that it saves you a couple transfers in the lead up by not having to bring in marginally valuable players for the blank.

I think your idea about using it in a one-off gameweek where the fixtures are dramatically different for the top 6 definitely has merit. I haven't thought about the numbers too deeply yet. But one where say, you've loaded up on Chelsea and United for a good fixture run and then they play each other in the midst of it, you can jump off them for one week and hop onto Liverpool and City. I like that because it exposes you to hauls from higher quality players. In a blank gameweek, you're usually hoping for hauls from the likes of Richarlison, Vardy, Chicharito, etc, whereas I think we'd all much rather roll the dice on Mane, Aguero, Sanchez, etc. The question, are the expected points from a premium with a good fixture over a premium with a bad fixture that much greater than a mid-table star player with a good fixture over a mid-table star with a bad fixture? Enough to offset the blanks/horrible fixtures you're stuck with during a blank GW?

GW38 is also a decent thought if the good doublers in GW37 have poor fixtures in GW38. I don't think we would know that by the time the blank comes around in GW31 though.

[Ruth_NZ]

I do think you're underestimating the value during a blank gameweek. I see two things. One, you can essentially ignore the blank gameweek for planning purposes and you don't have to adulterate your team at all in the two or three weeks leading up to the blank. You simply keep your long-term team intact.

Well... let's say you play the FH in GW31, that should be the biggest blank. That would mean you enter GW32 with only the 1FT and have only 3 FTs to use before DGW34. That could be OK, though, because you'll be able to start loading GW31 blankers/GW34 doublers from GW28 because you don't need to worry about GW31. You'd have 6 or 7 FTs to use between knowing the teams affected in GW31/34 and arriving at the DGW.

GW35 is then a problem because your GW34 team is based on doublers, especially so if you play BB in GW34. If you TC that week it's easier because you only need field 11, not 15. But some of those teams you want in GW34 will blank in GW35. Either you compromise in GW34 or you wildcard in GW35. If you wildcard in GW35 you have only 2 transfers to prepare DGW37. That's problematic. So, what then? FH GW35, wildcard GW36? If so you are using the FH simply to put a full team out in GW35 rather than the (perhaps) 8 or 9 you could otherwise manage.

The first route (FH GW31) looks best to me; your point about being able to ignore the blank when planning is good. I reckon that means wildcard GW36, BB37, TC34. It means living with a short team in GW35 but by playing TC in GW34 that becomes easier to manage. It would be unfortunate if the outstanding TC candidate was in GW37 though, as it was last season.

This route needs to be be compared with the next one...

I think your idea about using it in a one-off gameweek where the fixtures are dramatically different for the top 6 definitely has merit. One where say, you've loaded up on Chelsea and United for a good fixture run and then they play each other in the midst of it, you can jump off them for one week and hop onto Liverpool and City. I like that because it exposes you to hauls from higher quality players. Enough to offset the blanks/horrible fixtures you're stuck with during a blank GW?

OK, let's take an example. GW18 City play Spurs. You could see that being fairly tight, not a cricket score anyway. You probably wouldn't want to be captaining Kane that week. Probably not a City player either, although Aguero happens to have a great record against Spurs. But let's just assume that you decide at the time that neither team offers the greatest prospects that week.

The rest of the big 6 have these games: Arsenal v Newcastle, Chelsea v Soton, Bournemouth v Liverpool, WBA v United. Assuming Sanchez is in decent form, he's probably the outstanding captain choice that week. But at 11.9m he's unlikely to be in many people's teams. The week looks good for the Liverpool and Chelsea attack and United, Chelsea and Arsenal have good CS chances. CL/EL is over so the rotation pressure is a bit reduced.

Other teams that have very nice fixtures that week are Everton (SWA), Brighton (BUR), Watford (HUD), Leicester (CRY). You could use those to complete the team, allowing something like this (4-4-2):

Pickford [Elliot]
Valencia Duffy Kolasinac Alonso [3.9]
Sanchez(c) Mkhitariyan Coutinho Richarlison [4.3]
Morata Vardy [Hemed]

That would be affordable at current prices and you'd have a 1st sub (Hemed) that wouldn't be a disgrace should an unexpected injury/benching occur. Top fixtures for all 11, a captain you probably wouldn't otherwise have at all and expensive premium defenders brought in for that one week. I'm not saying that's the XI you would choose, there would be lots of ways to do it. But it's an example. I reckon that you could easily beat your 'normal' GW18 team by 20-30 points with that. The question is whether using it in one of the above DGW sequences is also worth 20-30 points. Or less. Or more.

GW38 is also a decent thought if the good doublers in GW37 have poor fixtures in GW38. I don't think we would know that by the time the blank comes around in GW31 though.

No, the only point there is if you hold it back and don't use it, it could have a benefit in GW38. But GW38 is a bit of a lottery at the best of times so I don't know how much help a FH would be (unless you don't have the players that are going for the golden boot maybe ).

Anyway, that's the best appraisal I can make. Be interested in what others see. But what I'm not especially interested in right now is "wait to see what the fixtures are" because that makes decisions for you by default. If you wait till GW28/29 to decide then your route is already going to be pretty laid out for you, you won't be able to go back to GW18 and re-do it. That's why trying to make sense of it in advance, as much as is possible, is useful. If you wait for full information you will already have missed some of the options.

[FranckKessie]

I'll try to comeback later with my views after having thought more about this.

But my first thought would be that the 20-30 points can happen but it is not the expected difference. Try to put up your/a likely gameweek 18 lineup. And then let us work from there...

[Albert_ini]

Let me add something to this discussion with a practical example.

A manager from one of my mini-leagues (a good manager with a nice record, with two top 1k and several top 10k finishes) decided to play the FH chip in GW7.
He got 98 points with this lot:

De Gea (Elliot)
Bellerín-Davies-Kolasinac-Trippier-Bailly
Coutinho-Choupo (Surman, McArthur, King)
Lukaku (C)-Lacazette-Kane

In the end he got Surman for the Bailly no-show.

Now let's compare with his GW6 team and assume he would have used his FT to change Aguero to Lukaku, which I reckon would be his move had he not played the chip:

Elliot 2 (Foster 1)
Davies 16-Jones 6 -Alonso 2 - Naughton 2 (Cedric 1)
Salah 2-Mkhitaryan 3 -Eriksen 3 -Carroll 2 (RLC 0)
Lukaku(C) 12 -Kane 13 (Hemed 0)

That's 63 points, so he got a 35 points gain from using the FH chip in a GW where he felt his team was not the best to have.
I'd be delighted if I manage to get a similar increment of points by playing the chip in the blank GW.

[FranckKessie]

Yep, we can get all get lucky. He certainly was. Does however Illustrate some points about risk/reward between playing in a blank GW and in a ordinary GW. Playing in a blank will give you more certainty but less reward/risk.

[Ruth_NZ]

Let me add something to this discussion with a practical example...

It's a good example, thanks. And it is arguably not even maximised because he had the same captain in both teams. I think the biggest advantage would be when bringing in a captain you otherwise wouldn't even have in your team. Sanchez is a good example because I think for most people 11.9m is too rich. It is for me, anyway. But there are occasions when you'd really wish you could captain him for that one week, GW10 & GW18 being examples.

...my first thought would be that the 20-30 points can happen but it is not the expected difference. Try to put up your/a likely gameweek 18 lineup. And then let us work from there...

Well, I can make a rough approximation. Players that would likely leave (temporarily) on a GW18 FH: Pope(bha), Walker(TOT) Dann(lei), Ward(bha), Sterling(TOT), Ritchie(ars), Kane(mci). Normally I'd probably be captaining Morata(SOT); my plan around that time is to use Kane and Morata as my captains. So the approximate GW18 team without changes would be:

Pope
Walker Azpi Dann Ward
Mané Sterling Ritchie
Vardy Kane Morata(c)
Elliot, RLC...

Players that would likely arrive (temporarily) on a GW18 FH: Pickford(SWA), Duffy(BUR), Alonso(SOT), Kolasinac(NEW), Sanchez(NEW), Mkhi(wba), Richarlison(HUD). Captain would be Sanchez(NEW); Morata would still be in the FH team but x1 rather than x2. So the GW18 FH team could be:

Pickford
Azpi Duffy Kolasinac Alonso
Mané Sanchez(c) Mkhi Richarlison
Vardy Morata
Elliot, Hemed...

It's only an example and I didn't spend long on the FH team, you could probably tweak it to make it even better. The actual team might also be slightly different by then; I might have already replaced Sterling with Pogba and/or Ritchie with Richarlison. But I think there's potentially a lot of bang for your FH there. A haul from Sanchez (not even a huge one) could deliver +20 points on its own.

PS. What I find ironic is that on FFS there are plenty of managers who will say that those that use the chips early are "casuals". But I don't think many of those that say so have really worked out the pros and cons. In my view, using the BB early and the FH early are very valid tactics actually.

[Rivers]

So really you'd be looking for weeks where Spurs have a poor fixture to play this tactic. Otherwise you'd be happy captaining Kane. I guess that only leaves a few options before we get to the blanks:

GW10 mun
GW12 ars
GW18 mci

I don't think you can count Luverpool as a bad fixture right now. You may not even think that Arsenal away is a terrible game.

After that they have this run up to the potential first blank in GW28:

GW25 MUN
GW26 liv
GW27 ARS

If Spurs were to have blank in GW28 there's a good case for going without their players in that run. So unless I'm simplifying this way too much I'd personally only look at GW10 or 18 as viable options for the early free hit.

GW10 is pretty soon... Other fixtures are Arsenal v Swansea, Liverpool v Huddersfield, West Brom v Man City and Bournemouth v Chelsea

At the moment I'm carrying 6 players from Spurs and United. On the face value it's tempting then but in GW11 we have Man City v Arsenal and Chelsea v Man Utd to consider with only 1 FT.

[Sutter Kane]

Man City Arsenal could be a demolition. Chelsea vs Man U is likely 0-0 or similar.

GW18 does seem to be the stand out but overall, at this moment, I still think it's easier to spend a transfer (or two if one banked) and attack GW18 with the standout captain than try to negotiate the blank week (whether that be GW31 or GW35) and slightly diminish gws that surround it.

As mentioned above it's not a big risk to use it on a blank week whereas it is on another normal week; removing multiple premiums is dangerous at any time as they can do damage anywhere, albeit less likely in a tough game. Though the potential rewards of bringing in premiums are huge. I think trying to work out the average gain for an early FH is folly (to me anyway); so I hope the fixtures/form/luck provides a standout route to take.

[Ruth_NZ]

So really you'd be looking for weeks where Spurs have a poor fixture to play this tactic.

In effect that's probably right (assuming that keeping Kane is a given). And ideally also when your ideal captain that week is difficult to get (or you'd only want them for that week). Most likely that means Sanchez because at 11.9m he's going to be very hard to afford long-term.

GW10 & 18 meet both criteria. In GW10, Kane has mun while Sanchez has SWA and looks the stand-out captain that week. To be honest I am looking very closely at building this into my plan, especially now that Mané will be unavailable in GW10. He was the only other player I'd fancy captaining that week although I guess Coutinho/Salah could also work.

In GW18, Kane has mci while Sanchez has NEW. But perhaps that week is less critical because Morata (SOT) and Vardy (CRY) would also be decent captain picks that weekend.

Obviously it depends on what players you actually have; some managers will doubtless have Sanchez in their team anyway and would be looking at a different combination. I just thought the idea worth exploring, essentially. I'm not wedded to it and I haven't yet come to a conclusion as to whether the FH would be better used in a BGW.

I think trying to work out the average gain for an early FH is folly (to me anyway)...

Totally agreed. But I think looking at the potential gain in a specific week is worthwhile.

[Turd Ferguson]

Let me add something to this discussion with a practical example.

A manager from one of my mini-leagues (a good manager with a nice record, with two top 1k and several top 10k finishes) decided to play the FH chip in GW7.
He got 98 points with this lot:

De Gea (Elliot)
Bellerín-Davies-Kolasinac-Trippier-Bailly
Coutinho-Choupo (Surman, McArthur, King)
Lukaku (C)-Lacazette-Kane

In the end he got Surman for the Bailly no-show.

Now let's compare with his GW6 team and assume he would have used his FT to change Aguero to Lukaku, which I reckon would be his move had he not played the chip:

Elliot 2 (Foster 1)
Davies 16-Jones 6 -Alonso 2 - Naughton 2 (Cedric 1)
Salah 2-Mkhitaryan 3 -Eriksen 3 -Carroll 2 (RLC 0)
Lukaku(C) 12 -Kane 13 (Hemed 0)

That's 63 points, so he got a 35 points gain from using the FH chip in a GW where he felt his team was not the best to have.
I'd be delighted if I manage to get a similar increment of points by playing the chip in the blank GW.

Fair play to him but I think he got quite fortunate. I'd be exasperated if someone in my ML had things fall so nicely. It's interesting that he loaded up on premium defenders against weak opposition. Even top teams aren't a guarantee to keep a clean sheet, so to not have any of them concede a set piece goal or have a shot fly in the top corner was fortunate. If you say that United, Spurs and Arsenal were all 70% chance of a clean sheet, it's .7^3 = 34.3% chance of them all keeping a clean sheet. On top of that, two of the four he brought in (Bellerin, Tripper) got attacking returns for double digit hauls. Meanwhile, he took out 3 premium midfielders, all of whom had good fixtures and all of whom blanked. Play those fixtures out 100 times and Salah, Mkhi and Eriksen would render his free hit worthless on a good number of them. I would personally focus on the best midpriced attacking options, although perhaps with wingbacks so popular this year they'll provide better VFM and your ML competitor is ahead of the curve.

[Turd Ferguson]

So really you'd be looking for weeks where Spurs have a poor fixture to play this tactic.

GW10 & 18 meet both criteria. In GW10, Kane has mun while Sanchez has SWA and looks the stand-out captain that week. To be honest I am looking very closely at building this into my plan, especially now that Mané will be unavailable in GW10. He was the only other player I'd fancy captaining that week although I guess Coutinho/Salah could also work.

In GW18, Kane has mci while Sanchez has NEW. But perhaps that week is less critical because Morata (SOT) and Vardy (CRY) would also be decent captain picks that weekend.

GW18 looks like a good candidate. Spurs have great fixtures on either side of their game against City. We'll have to crunch some numbers based on our squads when we get close.

Personally I have Lacazette in my team right now and will probably hold him until GW10, so I'd be fine captaining him instead of Sanchez.

[Ruth_NZ]

Yeah, TF, with Lacazette you have a good option that week. Chelsea and Liverpool could provide alternatives but you'd have to prefer an Arsenal GW10 captain if possible. Seems so to me anyway.

I know the comments so far have mainly been about the FH chip but I do think the first section of the OP is pretty important. From GW12-22 especially we will see fixture compression and therefore rotation pressure at an unprecedented level compared to recent seasons.

For example, in the period from the 3rd international break (GW12) to the New Year fixtures (GW22), Chelsea must play 11 PL games in 45 days. In the equivalent period of the last 3 seasons they had to play 9, 8 & 9 PL games. This affects every team but the European teams and those continuing in the EFLC have those fixtures to add as well. Chelsea could face 14 games in total in that 45 days compared to 9, 10 & 12 in the previous 3 seasons and it will be similar for teams like Arsenal, City, United and Spurs in all likelihood.

It has often been said in the past that having a strong bench is necessary at Xmas. That hasn't always been the case, in truth. But it more likely will be this season with an extra holiday game to play and it will probably start to be an issue from mid-November. I wouldn't want to be running with a non-player in my squad in that period, that's for sure.

[blahblah]

It maybe vaguely interesting to have a FISO consensus FH Squad each GW so see the potential advantage of the Chip?

I hadn'e really thought of the potential advantage as it seems ripe for a DGW with a GOOD Capt at home* to a couple of pants Clubs....

*or Kane not at Wembley

[Tacalabala]

I just don't know re FH in a SGW, it seems to me that unless you hit jackpot on the captain, you are asking a lot from the other 10 (clean sheets across the board, goals from all three forwards as a minimum). It's not something I can see Ville doing!!

[blahblah]

That's kinda why I suggested the Weekly thread, to find out what can be gained from it.....

[Tacalabala]

That would basically be a FISO GW picks, have we ever done that before?

[Stemania]

That would basically be a FISO GW picks, have we ever done that before?

It was attempted a few years back:

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=88808

but fizzled. Not sure the system for deciding was the best, Spencer4 may have an opinion on why it didn't last.

[Tacalabala]

Maybe it's something worth revisiting? Don't know if Mav/Sharagoz could set up something to enable FISOers to pick a weekly team with a set budget?

[blahblah]

There used to be a season long TFF side, from aged memory.

Maybe a shortlist, then a Poll or 4? (Although with a modicum of thought: one for Gk+Def, then the rest could bring it down to 2.)

[Aldershot Rejects]

The way things are going Man City and Spurs could just about be qualified for the next stage after the 4th round of CL games which may give both sides the opportunity to rest key players in CL games.

[Ruth_NZ]

The way things are going Man City and Spurs could just about be qualified for the next stage after the 4th round of CL games which may give both sides the opportunity to rest key players in CL games.

Yeah, Spurs going great guns in what looked a very tough group.

[Aldershot Rejects]

So no games on Christmas Eve after all but Arsenal v Liverpool moved to the Friday night.

[url]http:https://www.premierleague.com/broadcast-schedules[/url]

Obviously this is only half the picture since the 30 Dec - 1 Jan fixtures still need to be announced but whereas some sides get a 3 day break between fixtures over Christmas, Arsenal get 6 days and Man City and Liverpool get 4 days.

Actually Spurs get a teatime kick-off followed by a lunchtime kick-off 3 days later.