Rate My FPL Team: DGW32 Free Hit Chip Edition

There are ten teams playing double game weeks in FPL’s GW-32. Let me first confess — my carryover team from GW-31 does not feature many of those, so nothing to see here, move along.

If I don’t use a chip this week, I will be stuck with Sergio Aguero, Paul Pogba, David Luiz, Matt Doherty, Rui Patricio, one free transfer, maybe a -4 hit for another, and a steaming pile of single-game bantha poo-doo.

Of course, I strategically held off on using any chips in GW-31, netting me an atrocious 28 point return (32 with a -4 hit for an extra move just to get 11 starters), precisely in order to use my free hit chip in GW-32. Now it’s time to have some fun and blow up my team. It’s only temporary, so anything goes!

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First Draft

My initial thought was that I wanted to prioritize players from Chelsea (Eden Hazard, David Luiz, and Cesar Azpilicueta), Crystal Palace (Luka Milivojevic, Michy Batshuayi, and Jeffrey Schlupp), and Manchester City (Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling, and Ederson) due to their favorable pairs of fixtures. That took up nine of my spots, so I rounded out the field with Manchester United’s Paul Pogba, Victor Lindelof, and Scott McTominay (McTominay being the cheap final player on my bench), Wolves’ Raul Jimenez and Matt Doherty, and Bournemouth’s Artur Boruc.

I’ve got a keeper who can give me clean sheets along with defenders who are double-threat offensive and defensive. I have five primary penalty kick takers in Aguero, Hazard, Jimenez, Milivojevic, and (crossing fingers) Pogba. Otherwise, Sterling is absolutely on fire. So, tell me, how does this team look?

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Second Draft

On second thought, though, what am I doing with Lindelof, Doherty and Boruc if they’re only going to be on the bench? This is just for one week, I only need 11 (active) players, so the four bench warmers should be absolute dirt cheap filler. If I go that route and free up some coin, whom could I squeeze in? Could I fit in someone like Harry Kane as Omar insists is the way to go, or is the Tottenham talisman’s hefty price tag asking too much?

First I start by ditching Azpilicueta for the cheapest defender available. I can replace Azpi in the XI with the cheaper Lindelof or Doherty. Let’s start with Doherty since he costs less than Lindelof; if I can upgrade later, I’ll do that, but for now I’m going bare bones. I sell Azpi, Lindelof and keeper Boruc for the cheapest available options. I also sell Jimenez, and that banks £11.0m. Can I buy Kane? Nope, not yet. Kane costs £12.5. That’s a tall order.

Well, instead of Kane, I could simply go with Romelu Lukaku at £10.8m. The problem there is that the big Belgian is listed as an injury doubt. What about Gonzo Higuain at £9.6m? Like Lukaku, Higgy is not on pens, but he does have two even more appetizing fixtures. Is Higgy better than the Batsman? You know what, I think I prefer Jimenez to Batshuayi. As for my third defender, I’ve precluded another Chelsea player since I maxed at three with Higgy, and I don’t see anybody else jumping out at me, so let’s go with Lindelof.

Hmm..... is this team better than before? Is switching from Batshuayi to Higgy worth the downgrade from Azpi to either Lindelof or Doherty?

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Third Draft

Or, what about if I take Matzy’s advice and go with Gerard Deulofeu, in this case downgrading from Pogba? Then I can get to Kane! Is Kane worth losing Pogba?

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Fourth and Final (at least for now) Draft

I’m just not feeling it on Kane, in terms of needing to sacrifice so much to get him. He’s at Liverpool for a brutally tough first game, and while the second game is at Spurs’ (new) home, Crystal Palace is not exactly a pushover.

I go back to Pogba. I go back to Higuain. Wait a minute, I have some extra money to play around with. I can either upgrade from Lindelof to Young, or from Luiz to Azpilicueta. Tough call. Let’s go with Young and Luiz, I think they both have enough of an offensive upside; with Lindelof and Azpi, I’d almost entirely be relying on Azpi for attacking returns. After making that change, I have £0.3 left in the bank, so I go from Hamer to Guaita as back-up keeper, just in case anything strange happens with Ederson.

Here’s what I end up with (pending any future change of mind):

I daresay, much like Midas looking in the mirror, I think I like it!

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What do you think of my latest squad? Did I get it right, or is there something missing? Do you prefer either of the earlier drafts? For those of you also using the free hit chip (or wildcard), how do your teams look and what choices are you struggling with? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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