How FA Cup ties have caused CARNAGE for FPL managers

There may not have been any Premier League matches over the weekend but there was still widespread misery for Fantasy Premier League managers as the FA Cup fifth-round ties caused CARNAGE for FPL teams.

Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.5m) and Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Matheus Cunha (£7.0m) went into the weekend as the most-bought forwards for Gameweek 28.

But Mateta looks set to miss Palace’s home match against Ipswich Town after being taken off on a stretcher with a head injury. The Eagles also don't have a Premier League fixture in Blank Gameweek 29 (BGW29), which means Mateta would not be back in contention until Gameweek 30.

Cunha’s dismissal for violent conduct against AFC Bournemouth, meanwhile, means he is set to miss Wolves' next three Premier League matches, if the usual three-match ban for such sendings-off is applied by The FA to the Brazilian.

See who's suspended or close to a ban

Elsewhere, managers who are heavily invested in Newcastle United assets face mounting problems ahead of the Magpies’ own BGW29.

Winger Anthony Gordon (£7.4m) faces a three-man ban and would be unavailable until Gameweek 31, following his sending-off against Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday, although head coach Eddie Howe has indicated the club could appeal against the card. 

Lewis Hall (£5.0m), meanwhile, has been ruled out for the rest of the season after sustaining a foot injury.

Alexander Isak (£9.4m) also seemed to limp off for Newcastle, although Howe has suggested the forward was simply fatigued.

With all the problems up front in Fantasy right now, Isak is the most-sold player ahead of Saturday’s 11:00 GMT deadline, with 211,000 transfers out, almost 50,000 more than any other player.

TWO Blank Gameweeks ahead

On top of all the new problems around injuries and suspensions, Fantasy managers must plan ahead for TWO Blank Gameweeks, when some clubs won't have a Premier League fixture and their players will score zero points in FPL.

Liverpool, Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa are all without a match in BGW29 on the weekend of 15 March.

Meanwhile, the weekend's FA Cup results have helped to determine which clubs will have a Premier League fixture in Blank Gameweek 34 (BGW34) and which clubs won't, because the FA Cup semi-finals take place on the same weekend of 26 April.

FPL managers will need to adapt and plan ahead to ensure they are able to pick a competitive line-up in Gameweek 34 when it comes around.

What's the current state of play in FA Cup?

Seven Premier League clubs are through to the quarter-finals.

Any of the Premier League sides who make it through the FA Cup quarter-finals when those ties are played on the weekend of 29 March will have a BGW34 in Fantasy, where they don't have a Premier League fixture.

Significantly, their scheduled Premier League opponents on that weekend would ALSO have a Blank Gameweek. 

As a result, at present there are only FOUR Premier League matches confirmed to be going ahead in BGW34: Chelsea v Everton, Liverpool v Tottenham Hotspur, Wolves v Leicester City and Newcastle v Ipswich.

All of the other scheduled fixtures in Gameweek 34 could be postponed because the clubs in bold below could still reach the FA Cup semi-finals.

GW34 fixtures that could be postponed

FA Cup quarter-final draw

Preston v Aston Villa 
Bournemouth v Manchester City 
Fulham v Crystal Palace 
Brighton v Nottingham Forest

What would happen to postponed matches?

The matches which are postponed from BGW34 will require new dates, which could result in the largest Double Gameweek of the campaign.

A Double Gameweek contains more than the normal 10 fixtures, with at least one club playing two Premier League fixtures in one Gameweek, and players from that club getting two chances to score Fantasy points. 

This would likely be the best time to play your Bench Boost chip if you still it, as you would get the chance to earn points from 30 matches from your 15 players.