FPL Chip Strategy: How to use your Wildcard, Bench Boost, Triple Captain and Free Hit

 

In a new series of tips ahead of the 2020/21 Fantasy Premier League campaign, we’ve acquired the knowledge of a boss that finished the previous campaign just outside the top 100 players in the world. Not bad considering over 6,000,000 players were involved last season!

 

His first column is here to advise you on how best to utilise the helping hand that FPL offer along the way. Essential reading to get that all important advantage over your mini-league competiton!

 

Managers in Fantasy Premier League are afforded four ‘chips’ during a pandemic-free season – one we’re all hoping for this time out – and there are many ways to use them. Most casual players of the FPL game won’t plan too far ahead when considering a chip strategy, so if you’re looking to get ahead of your mini-league rivals, step this way!

 

 

 

THE WILDCARD

 

First up then; the Wildcard. Well it’s actually two Wildcards – one must be used before 28th December and the other can be used after. This season, due to the late start the first Wildcard must be used before GW16’s deadline.

 

So, when should you pull the trigger? In the 2020/21 season there are options as always. First up, you could use it very early in the season - as early as GW2 or GW3 - and bring in the players that don’t feature in GW1. Because Manchester United and Manchester City got to the latter stages of their respective European campaigns, it’ll mean that in the opening week of the season, they won’t feature and nor will the teams they were due to face, Burnley and Aston Villa.

 

Using the Wildcard as early as this is advantageous twice over because you’d be able to bring in as many United and City assets as you fancy as well as copping a couple of bargains who start the season well, aren’t highly owned yet and whose value is about to rise.

 

The next option is to use it very late, in GW16 no less, to set up your team nicely to negotiate the difficult fixture run beginning in GW18, where we’re likely to see blank and double gameweeks in quick succession. Of course, there’s always a third option and that’s to use it at any point between GW3 and GW16 should your team need a right good shake-up that even a half-time team-talk from John Sitton couldn’t sort out.

 

It should be noted that if you don’t use your first Wildcard you lose it, and after GW16 you get a fresh new shiny one to play with.

 

THE BENCH BOOST

 

The Bench Boost chip is arguably the most valuable in our armoury as fantasy managers but only if it’s properly planned. If you use it in conjunction with a Wildcard (used the week or two before) you can potentially earn yourself 16 extra points as a baseline just from having four extra playing players who are playing twice in the double week. And by the way, that’s 16 points before any actual points returns in the form of assists, clean sheets, goals and bonuses.

 

Sounds like an easy thing to do but in reality, it’s very difficult and often requires chess Grandmaster levels of strategic planning to ensure you’re eeking every last point out of your squad. If you can’t quite plan that effectively (who can?) then I suggest using the Bench Boost in a double game week when more than 50 per cent of your team are playing twice.

 

THE TRIPLE CAPTAIN

 

The next chip to discuss is the Triple Captain and in truth it’s often the least fruitful chip of all. Although it holds all the promise and potential of a Mason Greenwood, it often pans out to be a damp Federico Macheda.

 

Remember Sadio Mane last season and the social media meltdown when he went off injured in the 33rd minute of the first game in a double gameweek for Liverpool? Well that would’ve meant a measly three points gained in a week that would’ve begun full of hope.

 

That’s not to say, though, that activating your Triple Captain on Sadio Mane in a double gameweek is a bad option. That’s exactly the right option. When you boil it down, FPL is a game of chance and probability, with a sprinkling of strategy. By playing your Triple Captain in a double gameweek you’re essentially maximising the chance and the probability that your captain is going to return with the points your heart desires.

 

FPL Chip Strategy: How to use your Wildcard, Bench Boost, Triple Captain and Free Hit

 

THE FREE HIT

 

Finally, we need to discuss the Free Hit; the sexiest and most alluring chip of them all. The Free Hit allows you make unlimited transfers for one gameweek only, with your original squad returning from their holidays the following week.

 

‘When should I use it?’ I hear you bellow at the top of your voice. There are two options and it depends if you’re chasing your rivals and need to attack or you’re ahead of them and need to defend.

 

Attacking? Then wait for a double gameweek, fill your squad up from the large pool of players available and watch the points roll in.

 

Defending? Then wait for a blank game week, fill your squad up from the small pool of players available and watch the points, albeit fewer points, roll in.

 

Of course, you could be in attack mode but want to defend and visa-versa. These are your chips after all.

 

One final thought: The best chip strategy of all in FPL is to acknowledge that your strategy should be more flexible than Stretch Armstrong in the downward dog. Although you do need to plan, plot and strategise like Napoleon to win FPL you shouldn’t live and die by those plans.

 

That’s the real beauty about this game; there’s no hard and fast rules to stick by in order to climb the ranks. After all, Fantasy Premier League has and always will be an easy game to pick up but a difficult one to master.

FPL Chip Strategy: How to use your Wildcard, Bench Boost, Triple Captain and Free Hit