There’s been a lot of talk in the FPL community about Bench Boost in GW1 and Wildcard in GW2 as a strategy ahead of the new season. I will give you my thoughts on this one, as it’s something I have already done a few times before. And since I have already done this before, you can guess that I am not against the idea.
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Why I like this strategy is because it’s the only GW where you can “wildcard” and bench boost at the same time. You don’t have to plan in advance, you don’t worry about injuries down the line, possible rest for some players, etc.
What makes this strategy even more viable this season is the fact that there won’t be a huge DGW. The ¼ finals of the FA Cup won’t clash with a Premier League matchday like in the past, which means no postponed matches, which means no big DGW.
We could see a couple of small DGWs, one because of the Carabao Cup final and one because of the ½ finals of the FA Cup, but it will be hard to have a bench boost with 15 DGW players as there won’t be many DGW teams. Plus, we still have the Triple Captain chip, the Free Hit chip, and the new Mistery Chip to play in the 2nd half of the season.
Here is an example of what a Bench Boost GW1 team could look like:
15 solid players all around, with Isak as a captain against Southampton or Saka at home against Wolves.
Then you wildcard out the Arsenal players as they have 3 tough away games in the next 4, and you get as many Liverpool and Manchester City players as you can (Haaland captain vs. Ipswich in GW2) who all have 3 home games in the next 4, plus a couple of Chelsea players because their fixtures are great from GW2 up to GW8. Accumulate as many free transfers as possible and get the Arsenal players back in GW6 when the fixtures turn green. Sounds like a good plan to me.
All in all, I think it’s a good strategy, even though I understand why some managers would have reservations going with it. I am at the moment still undecided, we will see where I land come GW1.
Fantasy football selection pro pundit: x: @stevo_v
