So with another half to go, that includes new players coming and going in the Premier League January transfer window, the extra FPL chips, along with the potential Double Gameweeks to come towards the end of the season, there is all to play for!
Here are some handy and hopefully helpful hints and tips, or reminders, which you may or may not know for the second half of the FPL season. So enjoy your half-time cuppa and biscuit (or fruit!) and hope that this information, or team talk, will have you tactically equipped and ready for what is to come – and not to come – in order to help you claw your way back into the game and finish strong and on the front foot!
Wildcard:
If you still have your first half of the season Wildcard chip (WC) it has to used by this Gameweek (GW) 19 deadline (28th December 2pm UK time). If you don’t use it, you lose it!
Remember this season we do not have a January WC anymore. Instead we have a second half of the season WC, and this can be activated anytime after the GW19 deadline has passed.
I have always said in regarding when is the best or ‘right’ time to play your WC is: ‘to play it when you feel you need to play it’ – such as if you have a lot of out of form players, injuries, suspensions, want to ride the price rises, preparing for a Double GW, or ‘cleaning up’ after a Double GW, or you just want a complete reshuffle of all or most of your team.
However, with having the new second half of the season WC available, along with the new addition of Chips, there could well be an opportunity to set up your team optimum the week before the potential future Double GWs to then help optimise your Chips strategy (see towards end of article for Chip strategy). Or you could utilise the WC in between Double GWs if there is looking like that there could be more than one potential future Double GW. This tactic is particular useful if the Double GWs are back-to-back or very close to each other and where the Double GW teams differ significantly in the two Double GWs.
*Note: WCs played are not active on the transfer page until you confirm the transfers. So don’t forget to press confirm, otherwise you will have many unwanted points hits! This mistake has happened to many FPL players before – including experienced & very successful FPL players. It has nearly happened to me too once or twice in the past few seasons!
Yellow cards:
The cut off date for a one match suspension for earning five yellow cards (YC) is 31st December 2015. If a player receives their fifth YC after 1st January 2016 they will not get a ban.
After the 1st January 2016 the threshold before suspension applies goes up to ten YC. The ten YC threshold then goes up to fifteen YC after the second Sunday in April (10th April, or after GW33) until the end of the season.
*Note: If a player has already served a one match suspension for five YCs before the cut off date on 31st December 2015 and they then go on to get 10 YCs before the next cut off date in April they then receive a two match ban, not a one match ban. Therefore, keep an eye on the player YC situation, especially as they mount up in the second half of the season, as the last thing you want to do is transfer in a player in who could miss one or two games – especially in a Double GW for example.
Transfers:
The Premier League January transfer window opens on Saturday 2nd January 2016 and runs until Monday 1st February – which is only a day before the midweek FPL GW24 starts.
According to the FPL rules, the new players signed to the Premier League will be added to the FPL game within seven days (but it’s usually much quicker than this. It will be interesting to see, and could be important to your FPL team, if a player, or players, that signs late on Monday 1st February will be registered and ready to go in FPL for the their potential appearance in GW24 starting the very next day!).
*Note: According to the FPL rules: ‘If a player is transferred to another team in the Premier League and this takes you over the 3 players per team limit in your FPL team, then you will need to go back under the limit when making your next transfer’.
So effectively you can have more than 3 players from any one team if you don’t make a transfer. This is a handy thing to know and it may come in useful if the situation arises where you find yourself with already 3 good players from a good team that has a good fixture in a single GW – or even in a Double GW – where you can have more than the maximum 3 players per team if needed.
The above situation happened to me in my FPL title winning season where the in-form Demba Ba transferred from Newcastle to Chelsea in January 2013 and I already owned three Chelsea big hitting players. Fortunately too, Chelsea had a Double GW that January, which meant that I had four big hitting Chelsea Double GW players! However, unfortunately I forgot about this rule, or ‘loophole’, at the crucial time, and I mistakenly (yes I made a few mistakes that season!) hit the transfer button and therefore I had to remove my fourth Chelsea player before their Double GW! Doh!
Double Gameweeks:
Double Gameweeks (DGWs) are where teams play two fixtures in one FPL GW instead of their usual one fixture per FPL GW. DGWs usually occur if there are any rearranged Premier League fixtures – such as when fixtures clash with the League Cup final, the latter FA Cup rounds, and when fixtures are cancelled due to bad weather or tube strikes etc.
*Note: DGWs are a great opportunity to gain big GW scores, and therefore, enable you to make up good ground on the overall FPL rankings, and on your Mini League rivals. But you need to plan ahead and be prepared! Therefore, look on the ‘FPL horizon’ to see and anticipate what possibilities and scenarios are likely to may, or may not, occur.
The League Cup final takes place on Sunday 28th February (GW27). Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City, and Stoke City, are all in the Semi-Final, which is to be played over two legs; Week commencing 4th January (1st leg) and week commencing 25th January (2nd leg).
League Cup Semi-Final matches:
Man City v Everton
Liverpool v Stoke
*Note: Although we will most probably not know for sure who will reach the League Cup Final until after the 2nd legs are played, it’s worth anticipating as soon as possible what are the likelihood scenarios, or possibilities.
During the weekend of GW27 Liverpool are due to play Everton at Anfield in the Premier League (if not playing each other at Wembley in the League Cup final that weekend!). Manchester City are to play Newcastle away, while Stoke City are to play Aston Villa at home. Therefore, it is only possible for a maximum of two of these three matches to be rearranged, or if both Liverpool and Everton make the League Cup Final then it will be only their GW27 fixture that will be moved to a DGW.
To add to the above, the FA Cup Semi-Final will be played over the weekend of GW35, which is another full Premier League fixture programme. Therefore, is the potential for maybe at least a further one or two more DGWs, that could also be huge DGWs, to add to the previous smaller DGW. There could even be a Triple GW at some point instead of a DGW – this has happened before in FPL!
Remember that the FPL, like a football match, is a game of two halves…
….So go get ’em!!
Matthew Martyniak 