FPL Gameweek 34 Free Hit Pros and Cons
Not sure what to do about the blank this week? Don’t worry because millions of managers are in the same position. To help you decide what to do, we take a look at the FPL Gameweek 34 free hit pros on cons.
Knowing the good and bad in playing a free hit this week could help strategize, so without any more fluff, let’s get straight into it.
Pros
Having a full squad
Simply having a starting XI will be a huge advantage. Arsenal, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Manchester City all don’t play this week. This has caused havoc with millions of fantasy teams. This is because all four teams played twice in the previous round, so many are stocked up on their assets.
Having 11 starting players, without having to take hits already puts you ahead of those who do not.
The image above is our best free hit draft, check out the rationale behind our picks.
Targeting the Fixtures
Using the Free hit this week can be crucial to targeting specific fixtures.
Fulham v Southampton, Newcastle v Ipswich, Wolves v Leicester, Chelsea v Everton are fixtures many FPL managers may not be able to fully target by using just transfers and hits.
The teams highlighted above did not have a double Gameweek in the previous round. This means many FPL managers won’t own their assets, but free hitters can!
Bringing back in good assets
Due to Double Gameweek 33, most of the FPL community were fully focused on bringing in players who played twice, largely ignoring good assets with one game.
Players like Brentford midfielder Bryan Mbeumo (£7.9m), Chelsea midfielder Cole Palmer (£10.6m), Wolves striker Matheus Cunha (£6.8m), Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood (£6.9m) and Bournemouth midfielder Justin Kluivert (£6m) have been some of the best assets in FPL this season.
So, having the flexibility to bring them all back in could be hugely beneficial.
Differentials
The recent double also created a very solid template heading into this week. Trying to gain rank with template players can be very difficult. And, for those who want to gain rank towards the end of the season, being able to bring differentials in could be vital.
There are so many great differentials free-hitters could opt for this week. Players like Fulham striker Raul Jimenez (£5.3m), defender Ryan Sessegnon (£4.1m), Newcastle midfielder Harvey Barnes (£6m), Wolves striker Strand Larsen (£5.4m) and many more, may not be as accessible as they will be for free hitters.
There are lots more pros about free-hitting this week, including not having to worry about how many hits is ok, having a guaranteed rank boost, and not having to worry about long term planning.
There are also some cons to using the free hit.
Cons
Your old team returns
Free hitting may be hugely beneficial this week, but those that choose to free hit will have the burden of their old team returning in the next round.
This may well be a pro as well, but those who bring in the likes of Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha, and many more, will have to bring them back in again after this week if they want to keep them.
Unconvincing Investment
Some of the teams that free hitters are targeting just haven’t convinced recently. Free Hitters could be looking at investing in times like Chelsea, Fulham, Wolves and Nottingham Forest, who have all either lacked consistency or have failed to convince as of late.
With that in mind, the chances of a free hit being super successful could be limited. So, using a chip to target un-convincing teams could be a complete waste and backfire when another free hit opportunity arises.
Better time to play the free hit?
There is also the strong possibility that there will be a better time to use free hit. Gameweek 37 could be a better opportunity.
We could well see Aston Villa, Manchester City, Crystal Palace, Tottenham, Bournemouth, Wolves, Nottingham Forest and West Ham without a fixture in Gameweek 37.
The above means that those choosing to free hit now, could mean a much larger issue to deal with ahead.
There are other cons to consider though. Some of them include missing out on price rises and drops, overthinking and missing out on key players and more.
After thoughts
There are plenty of pros and cons to consider this week. Knowing whether use the free hit or not could take a lot of consideration.
A lot of the above is very much team dependent. So some may have just several playing players in the next round. This could force those managers to use the free hit.
However, some may also have 7-8 starting players, so decide to just use transfers and small hits to build a solid team.
Either way, it could be a season defining week for managers, or not!
If you enjoyed our FPL Gameweek 34 Free Hit Pros and Cons article, you should also check out the top 10 most popular picks for Gameweek 34.
