Managers in Fantasy Premier League have a challenging Gameweek ahead as four clubs - Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, Liverpool and Newcastle United - are WITHOUT a fixture, and their players will score zero points in FPL. Gameweek 29 is therefore known as "Blank Gameweek 29" (BGW29).
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (£13.8m) and Newcastle’s Alexander Isak (£9.4m) are among the three most-selected players in Fantasy, found in 71 and 56 per cent of squads respectively, but neither of them will play in BGW29.
Overall, 20 players can be found in at least 19 per cent of Fantasy squads right now – and as many as SIX of them won't be playing in BGW29.
Here, The Scout helps Fantasy managers to navigate the reduced round of fixtures.
Think about your chip strategy
Before buying or selling players in BGW29, decide which chips you intend to use over the next few Gameweeks.
That will decide whether you are bringing in a player for just this one Gameweek, or two, or more. In turn, that will decide how far ahead you should be looking at players' fixture schedules.
One option in BGW29 is to use the Free Hit chip, which allows you to temporarily replace your entire squad for a single Gameweek.
If you Free-Hit, you can sell the likes of Salah and Isak and replace them with players who have the best fixtures in BGW29 only. Then in Gameweek 30 your squad will automatically switch back to the one you had in Gameweek 28.
Alternatively, for those who don't want to Free-Hit or no longer have the chip, you could use free transfers to “dead-end” your squad in BGW29, taking punts on players who only have a nice fixture in BGW29, before immediately using your Wildcard chip to pick a new, permanent squad for Gameweek 30 onwards.
A third option to use a similar approach but wait an extra week and Wildcard in Gameweek 31. Anyone adopting this approach should be looking at the next two Gameweeks when bringing players into their squad, assessing the fixtures for both BGW29 and Gameweek 30.
Any managers who have already used the Wildcard chip should be looking even further ahead at the fixtures of the players that they are bringing in.
Prioritise key players
Use the player ownership statistics in conjunction with the BGW29 schedule to help refine your targets.
To find out this information, go to the statistics page on the website or app and click on the drop-down menu on the right-hand side, and sort by "Teams selected by %".
At present, for example, Manchester United star Bruno Fernandes (£8.3m) and Nottingham Forest’s Chris Wood (£7.3m) are the two most-bought players in the Gameweek, brought in by 132,000+ and 128,000+ respectively.
Both visit bottom three opponents, with Fernandes facing Leicester City and Wood playing Ipswich Town.
Although both could deliver big hauls, their contrasting ownerships shows why going without Wood could be far more hurtful to your overall rank than Fernandes.
Wood is found in 46 per cent of squads, second only to the 57 per cent of Cole Palmer (£11.0m) for ownership among BGW29 players.
Fernandes, on the other hand, is owned by just 11 per cent. While that makes him a great differential, it also means that - if he delivers a big haul - going without him won’t be too detrimental to your rank, compared with a huge score from Wood.
Make sure you’ve got a decent captain
It seems very likely that the vast majority of managers who play their Free Hit chip will captain Manchester City's Erling Haaland (£14.7m) at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.
If you plan to go without the Norwegian, it’s essential that you have a strong captain contender to rival him.
Wood’s record against promoted clubs makes him arguably the best alternative. He has amassed 35 points in his four matches with such opponents in 2024/25 Fantasy, thanks to four goals and an assist.
AFC Bournemouth’s Justin Kluivert (£6.1m) is another option, at home to Brentford. The Dutchman – who is owned by 32 per cent of managers – has produced hauls of 13, 22 and 10 points over the last seven Gameweeks alone.
Be careful of selling players who you’ll want to buy back
A large number of managers are choosing to bench Salah and Isak for BGW29 due to the value they have tied up in them.
Because you only get 50 per cent of the profit from player sales, you would need to pay extra in order to buy them back.
For example, as you can see below, if you bought Salah at his initial price of £12.5m (shown as "PP"), you would receive £13.1m for selling him (shown as "SP"). But if you then want to bring him back in next week, for example, you would need to pay his current price (shown as "CP") of £13.8m - another £0.7m on top of the £13.1m that you would have sold him for.
To find this information on the website or app, go to the transfers page and click on "List".
Avoid one-week punts if you’re not on a Free Hit or Wildcarding
If you are planning to get through this period using transfers alone, then you must factor the upcoming Gameweeks into your decision-making.
Although Man Utd’s Fernandes is a strong option for BGW29, he then faces Forest, Man City and Newcastle in his subsequent three matches.
On the other hand, bringing in Haaland also gives you an outstanding captaincy option in Gameweek 30, when Man City are at home to Leicester.
Don’t worry if you only have nine players with a fixture
Although dealing with a Blank Gameweek can be daunting, you have to remember that millions of other managers are in the exact same situation here.
Focus on quality over quantity and don’t fret if you cannot field a full starting XI – aiming for a minimum of nine players should be the target.
In saying that, it’s also worth bearing in mind that a four-point deduction for each additional transfer is essentially reduced to a two-point hit, because you are replacing a player who will score zero points with someone who will get two points just for playing 60 minutes.
