What is the best chip to use in Double Gameweek 33?

The Scout provides advice on which chip to use in Double Gameweek 33 (DGW33) of Fantasy Premier League.

Double Gameweek 33 is set to be the biggest Double Gameweek of the season, with six clubs playing twice: AFC Bournemouth, Brighton & Hove Albion, Burnley, Chelsea, Leeds United and Manchester City.

Players from those clubs will get two opportunities to score points, so they are great picks ahead of Saturday's 11:00 BST deadline.

DGW33 schedule

But beware! These same six clubs won't play at all in the following round of matches. They will have a "Blank Gameweek 34" and their players will score zero points.

So, how can you perform well in BOTH Gameweeks? This is where your FPL chips can be particularly useful.

At this point of the season, the best strategy to navigate the run-in will be different for every Fantasy manager, depending on three key factors: 
1) the players you currently have in your 15-man squad
2) the number of free transfers you will have for Blank Gameweek 34
3) the number of chips you have left to play

So, which chip will be most effective for you in Double Gameweek 33 (DGW33), and how would it affect your plans for the troublesome Blank Gameweek 34 (BGW34)? Let's look at each chip in turn.

Bench Boost

Playing the Bench Boost chip in DGW33 gives you the chance to collect points from all 15 of your players.

More than 499,000 managers played their Wildcard in Gameweek 32, selecting a brand new squad with a view to playing their Bench Boost chip in DGW33 - potentially earning points from up to 30 matches (15 players with two matches) - as opposed to the usual 11 in a typical single Gameweek.

Importantly, this strategy also involves playing the Free Hit chip in BGW34, allowing you the chance to temporarily replace your squad for one Gameweek only, and remove the players who won't have a fixture. 

So, if you DON'T have the Free Hit chip remaining, you need to be wary of overloading your squad with players who have a DGW33, because they won't have a match in BGW34.

This ultimately comes down to the number of free transfers you have at your disposal.

For example, if you have five free transfers, you can go bigger on the DGW33 sides before swapping some of them back out for players who have a match in BGW34.

Free Hit

By playing your Free Hit chip in DGW33, you can temporarily bring in players who you may not want as long-term investments and whose only job is to deliver points for you across their matches in DGW33.

This allows you to hold onto a host of hugely popular players across all positions for BGW34 and beyond.

For example, Arsenal’s David Raya (£6.0m) is the most-owned goalkeeper in Fantasy, and the Gunners are unaffected by the Blank and Double Gameweeks - they will play one match each week for the rest of the season.

Three of the four most-owned defenders - Gunners' pair Gabriel (£7.2m) and Jurrien Timber (£6.2m), along with Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk (£6.3m), also have a match in BGW34.

The same applies to five of the six most-owned midfielders - Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes (£10.3m) and Bryan Mbeumo (£8.5m), Arsenal's Declan Rice (£7.3m), Fulham's Harry Wilson (£6.1m) and Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers (£7.4m).

Meanwhile, Brentford's Igor Thiago (£7.3m) and Liverpool's Hugo Ekitike (£9.2m) are the third and fourth most-selected forwards respectively and also have a match in BGW34.

BGW34 schedule

Sunderland v Nott’m Forest
Fulham v Aston Villa
Liverpool v Crystal Palace
West Ham v Everton
Wolves v Spurs
Arsenal v Newcastle
Man Utd v Brentford

By monitoring the injury news later in the week, a Free Hit chip could allow you to temporarily replace Man City's Nico O'Reilly (£5.0m) if he fails to recover from the knock that forced him off against Chelsea last weekend.

Many of the managers who Wildcarded in Gameweek 32 ahead of Bench-Boosting in DGW33 have tripled up on Man City, bringing in O'Reilly along with Erling Haaland (£14.4m) and Antoine Semenyo (£8.2m) for their matches against Arsenal and Burnley.

Should O'Reilly be ruled out of both matches, those managers would have to use a transfer to replace him, with one eye on their Bench-Boost strategy. 

There's also an argument that Rayan Cherki (£6.3m) is now shaping up to be a better pick than Semenyo for DGW33. The Frenchman has started the last four matches across all competitions and is found in only seven per cent of squads, compared with the 56 per cent of Semenyo.

Triple Captain

If you still have your Triple Captain chip left, it's worth holding it until Man City's home match against Crystal Palace, which was postponed due to their EFL Cup final against Arsenal, is rescheduled.

The new date is expected to fall into Gameweek 36, because the midweek slot that week doesn't clash with European competitions. 

If that's the case, Pep Guardiola's side would have two home matches, against Brentford and Palace, in Double Gameweek 36 (DGW36), a scenario which look far more appealing than their DGW33 fixtures due to their opening match being against Arsenal.

Should Man City still be firmly in the title race, backing Haaland for those two home matches will understandably be a popular move and could deliver a monster haul.

It's worth noting that O'Reilly has the slightest of edges over the Norwegian at the Etihad Stadium this season and should not be overlooked if he is fit, averaging 7.7 points per start to Haaland's 7.3.

Wildcard

Whereas all three of the above chips can be used as independent strategies to help you navigate DGW33, playing the Wildcard is an option ONLY if you also have the Free Hit chip remaining.

The idea here is to play your Wildcard in Gameweek 33 to load up on the key players from the clubs who have a DGW33. 

You would then play your Free Hit chip in BGW34 to navigate that reduced round of seven matches.

And if you also still have your Bench Boost chip in hand, the potential DGW36 could be the optimal time to use it.