FPL Gameweek 3-5: Best Players and Chip Strategy

Planning ahead is vital in fantasy football, and with FPL Gameweek 3-5: Best Players and Chip Strategy, we can start mapping out the key moves that could shape the early season. Over the next three Gameweeks, fixture swings, captaincy options, and the timing of chips like Wildcard or Free Hit will all come into play.

In this guide, we’ll highlight the standout players to target, the traps to avoid, and how to approach chip strategy for maximum impact.

Gameweek 3-5 Fixtures

Below we can see the Fantasy Football Scout fixture ticker. Teams at the top have the best fixtures, all the way down to teams with the worst fixtures at the bottom.

FPL Gameweek 3-5: Best Players and Chip Strategy

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Who has the best fixtures?

Aston Villa, Newcastle, Brentford, Wolves and Crystal Palace all rank among the top five teams with the best fixtures.

Who has the worst fixtures?

Arsenal, Burnley, Manchester City, Everton, and Brighton all rank among the bottom five sides with the worst fixtures.

Best players to own

Aston Villa – Aston Villa may not have convinced thus far, but their fixtures are still fantastic. In defence, Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) comes back into the fold after his recent suspension. Full-back Lucas Digne (£4.5m) is another cheap way into the backline. Ollie Watkins (£9m) remains one of the best forward options in the game, despite his shortcomings as of late. Similar could be said for midfielder Morgan Rogers (£7m) at his price point. FPL managers could also back midfielder Youri Tielemans who may offer multiple routes to points.

Newcastle – FPL managers should start taking note of Newcastle’ good upcoming schedule. A reliable route into the Newcastle defence is goalkeeper Nick Pope (£5m). Centre-back Fabian Schar (£5.5m) offers more potential via goal threat from set-plays and defcons though. The best of the bunch in attack could be Anthony Gordon (£7.5m) who has seemingly taken over penalty taking duty. Fellow midfielder and new signing Anthony Elanga (£7m) could be a great alternative.

Crystal Palace – Fixtures seem to be easing for Crystal Palace now, which is likely to attract appeal. Marc Guehi (£4.5m) offers both stability of minutes and a cheap way into the back. Flying wing-back Daniel Munoz (£5.5m) offer considerable attacking threat based on the previous campaign. Eberechi Eze’ departure could mean more responsibility for midfielder Ismailia Sarr (£6.5m) who has a nice price-tag. The loss of Eze will also mean less creativity, but ultimately penalty duty for striker Jean Philippe Mateta (£7.5m).

Check out all of our FPL Gameweek 3 articles in our FPL Gameweek 3 Essential Guide!

Who else should we consider?

There are plenty of options we could consider ahead of the upcoming period, including:

Brentford – Dango Ouattara (midfielder – £6m) and Thiago (forward – £6m).
Wolves – Jhon Arias (midfielder – £5.4m) and Strand Larsen (forward – £6.5m).
Tottenham – Van de Ven (defender – £4.5m), Pedro Porro (defender – £5.5m), Mohammed Kudus (midfielder – £6.6m) and Brennan Johnson (midfielder – £7m).
Chelsea – Robert Sanchez (goalkeeper £5m), Tosin (defender – £4.5m), Marc Cucurella (defender – £6.1m), Cole Palmer (midfielder – £10.5m), Pedro Neto (midfielder – £7m) and Joao Pedro (forward – £7.5m).
Nottingham Forest – Matz Sels (goalkeeper – £5m), Murillo (defender – £5.5m) and Chris Wood (forward – £7.6m).
Bournemouth – Marcos Senesi (defender – £4.5m), Adrien Truffert (defender – £4.5m), Antoine Semenyo (midfielder – £7.2m) and forward Evanilson (forward – £7m).

Should we play a chip?

Wildcard – As tempting as it is, playing the Wildcard now without more information could be un-wise. The most experienced managers usually play their wildcards ahead of a bench boost, fixture swings or if they have lots of issues in their squad. FPL managers could decide to play their wildcard ahead of Gameweek 4 though during the international break if they feel the need to.

Free Hit – Gameweek 3 when Liverpool play Arsenal and Gameweek 5 when Arsenal face Manchester City could be good opportunities to use the Free Hit. There are also plenty of teams to target during those rounds.

Bench Boost – If your team looks good for any given week (most or all players have good fixtures), then Bench Boost could be used at any time. Many are waiting to use their Wildcard ahead of Gameweek 13 and to set up for a Bench Boost in Gameweek 15 though, which could be worth considering.

Triple Captain – Gameweek 4 is a prime Gameweek to utilise the Triple Captain chip on Mohamed Salah. Liverpool are one of the best attacking outfits in the league and come up against newly promoted Burnley.