What do Double Gameweeks mean for FPL?
Double Gameweeks are a big part of an FPL season. They are often the difference between winning and losing a head-to-head as well as overall Mini-League and rank position. The Premier League have announced the rescheduling of a number of fixtures which were cancelled in September and October. As a result Official FPL have announced a series of Double Gameweeks.
FPL managers always want to maximise the number of points that they can return in a week. Double Gameweeks are the perfect opportunity for managers to try to increase their points returns. When a team has two matches scheduled in a single week, players have the potential to play 180 minutes rather than the usual 90.
By doubling the number of potential minutes a player can play for the time that they have to score FPL points increases. As a result this should mean that FPL managers can gain an advantage. They can do this by owning more of the players who are playing twice than other managers.
Gameweek 19
Double Gameweek 19 is the first double gameweek of the season. Both Chelsea and Fulham will play twice in this week.
Chelsea will have matches against Man City and Fulham. Whilst Fulham will face Leicester and Man City.
During the Unlimited Transfer Window FPL managers could therefore look to invest in the two London clubs. By owning players like Andreas Pereira (£4.6m), Aleksandar Mitrovic (£6.8m) and if fit Reece James (£5.8m) FPL managers have double the match time for these players to return points.
Even if each player only plays 60 minutes in each of the two matches they would still register two points for each match meaning four in total.
Gameweek 20
In Gameweek 20 Man City and Spurs play twice. Man City face Man United and Spurs, whilst Spurs play Arsenal and Man City.
Both teams have difficult fixtures, with a rescheduled match against each other as well as the Manchester and North London derbies.
Even with difficult fixtures, with the potential for double the minutes FPL managers should still look to invest. Managers should however be cautious of the Pep roulette as Man City’s fixture schedule is extremely crowded until March. They play twice a week every week from Gameweek 19 onwards. This is as a result of other competitions (League Cup, FA Cup, Champions League) as well as rescheduled Premier League fixtures.
Gameweek 23
Arsenal and Man City both play twice this week. Arsenal will face Brentford as well as Man City, meanwhile City will play Arsenal and Aston Villa.
Again Pep’s rotation could be an issue, especially with the Champions League restarting a week later for Man City.
Double Gameweeks and chip strategy
Most FPL managers like to deploy their chips in a Double Gameweek. If you are certain that a player is going to play twice and that they have nice fixtures then the Triple Captain chip works well.
For managers that find a lot of the players that they normally bench, such as Andreas Periera, is playing twice then the bench boost could be useful.
In addition, playing the Wildcard ahead of a Double Gameweek or just after (if you want to remove the doubling players) can allow managers to maximise the number of players they have playing twice.
