We are into double gameweek 25 and many popular picks didn’t fire up to the expectations. There was sheer excitement on the part of fantasy managers, after having two consecutive double gameweeks. However, the flip-side of the coin is also there — blank gameweek 29. It may seem too early, but trust me, in order to stay ahead of your mini-league rivals, you must plan from now.
First things first. Four teams are going to blank in gameweek 29 — Liverpool, Aston Villa, Newcastle, and Crystal Palace. Why? Slot’s Liverpool and Howe’s Newcastle will be vying for silverware at Wembley — the Carabao Cup final. Liverpool was supposed to meet Villa, which has already been shifted to double gameweek 25 and Newcastle was supposed to meet Crystal Palace. Hence, all these four teams will blank in GW29.
Now, if we have a close look at the fixtures, the fortunes will make a huge swing in gameweek 30. Therefore, it would be a good time to play your second wildcard. As popular choices like Salah and Alexander Isak don’t have a match in GW29, you may offload them by GW28. Newcastle plays West Ham in GW28 and it’s a fixture to target.
Mohamed Salah, who completed 250pts in FPL 2024/25 by DGW24, has a plum fixture in GW28. Liverpool will invite Southampton at Anfield and I expect the Egyptian maestro to rake in another big haul in fantasy. Morgan Rogers has also become a popular fantasy asset and he blanks in GW29. Rogers disappointed his owners in the first chapter of DGW25, as he blanked against Ipswich at home. If you have him, you can transfer him out before BGW29.
Daniel Munoz has been providing superb value lately, with a lot of assists, despite blanking this week. You need to have an escape route for the Palace full-back as well. Mateta happens to be another top-performing fantasy player from Oliver Glasner’s side.
Free-hit can be a great chip to play in blank gameweek 29. With Newcastle, Liverpool, Palace, and Villa assets out of the equation, you may find it difficult to field a strong enough playing XI. Playing a free-hit in BGW29 and then using your second wildcard in GW30 seems like a cool idea from a distance.
Top Bournemouth assets like Justin Kluivert or Dango Ouatara can be captain picks for BGW29, as Iraola’s team hosts Brentford. On the other hand, top-four side Forest travels to struggling Ipswich Town. Hence, Chris Wood also qualifies for the armband.
Meanwhile, Bournemouth faces Ipswich and West Ham in the next two. In case you don’t need to play wildcard or free-hit in GW29 or GW30, feel free to use the all-new assistant manager chip on Iraola. He may offer you solid returns.
