When to play your FPL chips

Fantasy Football Hub is purpose-built to turn FPL managers into FPL winners. From their industry-leading AI to the experts who reveal their teams every gameweek, it's no surprise tens of thousands of managers gain the edge with the Hub every season. Join the Hub today and, if you don't win your mini-league, you'll get your money back. Terms and Conditions apply.

Traditionally, fantasy managers are given five chips per season: Free Hit, Bench Boost, Triple Captain and two wildcards. There’s temptation to try them out early to discover how they work and steal a march on mini-league rivals, with both Triple Captain and Bench Boost available for Gameweek 1. However, the power of these chips are generally only realised towards the end of the fantasy season, so bide your time.

The early International Breaks are generally a popular time to wildcard and this season's breaks come following Gameweek 4, Gameweek 8 and Gameweek 12. We usually have a good idea of trends by this point in the season and can take advantage of any fixture swings. The first wildcard must be played by the Gameweek 20 deadline. 

We have two blanks in the first half of the season already confirmed. Luton Town and Burnley blank in Gameweek 2: their fixture has been postponed while Luton continue to carry out stadium upgrades. In Gameweek 18, Manchester City and Brentford blank: their game has been postponed due to Manchester City’s involvement in the FIFA Club World Cup.

Looking at the full-season calendar, we already know that if Premier League clubs progress to the League Cup final or FA Cup Quarter-finals, we will have blank gameweeks in Gameweek 26 and Gameweek 29. Gameweek 34 could be a combination of a blank and double gameweek caused by the FA Cup Semi-finals.

CATCH UP ON THE LATEST FPL NEWS, HOT PICKS & TIPS TO WIN YOUR LEAGUE

There’s space in the calendar for these games to be rearranged into the midweeks of Gameweek 34 and 37 to create double gameweeks, where some teams will have more than one fixture. We will need to wait until closer to the time for the exact fixtures to be confirmed. 

We view these blank and double gameweeks as the optimal times to play our chips. Having players with two fixtures gives them a potential 180 minutes to amass large fantasy point totals. The Bench Boost is most effective in a big double gameweek and is traditionally used in conjunction with the second wildcard in a gameweek prior to it, with a view to having a potential squad of 15 players all with two fixtures. Remember only one chip can be used per gameweek. 

The Triple Captain is best to be used on a premium player with two favourable Double Gameweek fixtures. A Free Hit can be useful in either a blank or a double gameweek, particularly if we see a blank gameweek where key highly owned premium players are without a fixture. Gameweek 29 looks likely to be the biggest blank gameweek of the season.

Start optimising your team with Fantasy Football Hub today!