The Scout on whether managers should use their Bench Boost chip in Double Gameweek 32 (DGW32) or Double Gameweek 33 (DGW33) of Fantasy Premier League.
At this point of the season, many managers will have played their Wildcard or built their squad to cater for the upcoming Double Gameweeks.
Crystal Palace and Newcastle United both have two matches in DGW32, while Palace, along with Arsenal, Aston Villa and Manchester City, have a DGW33.
However, those same four DGW33 clubs are without a fixture in Blank Gameweek 34 (BGW34), which means their players will score zero points in that round of matches.
As a result, many managers are planning to use their Free Hit chip in BGW34, which allows them to load up on players with Double Gameweeks without having to worry about the impact of the reduced round of matches on their plans.
The DGW32 and DGW33 example squads below reflect this popular approach, each containing 10 of the same players who could prove crucial to your success.
Along with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (£13.8m), there are the same four DGW32 players – Newcastle’s Alexander Isak (£9.5m) plus Crystal Palace trio Daniel Munoz (£5.2m), Ismaila Sarr (£5.7m) and Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.7m).
Both squads also contain the same EIGHT DGW33 players - Palace's Munoz, Sarr and Mateta play twice again, along with Arsenal’s David Raya (£5.5m), Villa’s Ezri Konsa (£4.4m) and Morgan Rogers (£5.6m) and Man City’s Josko Gvardiol (£6.1m) and Omar Marmoush (£7.6m).
DGW32 Bench-Boost squad
One of the key differences between the DGW32 and DGW33 squads is that the former has a full quota of three Newcastle assets, with Isak joined by Dan Burn (£4.5m) and Jacob Murphy (£5.2m) for their home encounters with Manchester United and Palace.
Crucially, while a triple-up on the Magpies makes sense for DGW32, if you’re planning to Bench Boost in DGW33 and are not using transfers to replace them, you’d have Isak, Murphy and Burn away to Villa as part of your Bench Boost.
By using the Bench Boost in DGW32 instead, you could earn points from your Villa players away to Southampton.
Similarly, the inclusion of Nikola Milenkovic (£5.1m) is to show that if you own any of Nottingham Forest’s backline, it’s more likely they will reward you with a clean sheet in DGW32, at home to Everton, than in DGW33, when they travel to Tottenham Hotspur.
Chelsea’s Cole Palmer (£10.7m) and Brighton & Hove Albion’s Bart Verbruggen (£4.5m) are both at home to bottom-three opponents Ipswich Town and Leicester City in DGW32, further highlighting the potential for points from players with only one match in Gameweek 32.
DGW33 Bench-Boost squad
The Palace and Man City players remain the same, but there’s a triple-up on both Arsenal and Villa here, giving you 11 players with a DGW33.
Raya is joined by Bukayo Saka (£10.4m) and Jakub Kiwior (£4.8m), with the Gunners visiting Ipswich prior to their home match against Palace.
For Villa, Donyell Malen (£5.3m) comes in alongside Rogers and Konsa. Malen's exclusion from their UEFA Champions League squad hasled to an improvement in his league minutes of late, with goals in each of the last two Gameweeks.
Essentially, this tactic gives you combined 26 matches to profit from and shows why many managers are looking to employ the Bench Boost chip in DGW33.
Isak and Salah remain must-haves as two of the four single-Gameweek assets here and are joined by the latter’s team-mate Ibrahima Konate (£5.3m) for Liverpool’s trip to Leicester, while those holding West Ham United's budget 'keeper Alphonse Areola (£4.2m) will be optimistic of a clean sheet at home to Southampton.
Certainly, a Bench Boost in DGW33 would also be a more effective tactic for those managers who are using their Triple Captain chip on Isak for DGW32. As you can only use ONE chip in any given Gameweek, you’d be unable to also play the Bench Boost in DGW32.
Nonetheless, the absence of all but Isak from the Newcastle contingent shows why having three of them on a DGW33 Bench Boost might not be the best solution.
