Cat amongst the pigeons!
There’ll be no Double Gameweek 33 or Blank Gameweek 34 for Arsenal or Newcastle United after the Gunners exited the FA Cup on Saturday night.
Mikel Arteta’s side were dumped out of the cup by Championship side Southampton, who prevailed 2-1 at St Mary’s.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR BLANK GAMEWEEK 34?
This result means that we’ll only get three blanks in Gameweek 34, the last of which will be confirmed tomorrow:
GW34 Premier League fixtureStatusMatch will be postponed if the following occurs:Brighton v ChelseaBlankBurnley v Man CityBlankWest Ham v EvertonPossible blankIf West Ham beat Leeds in the FA Cup quarter-finalsBournemouth v LeedsPossible blankIf Leeds beat West Ham in the FA Cup quarter-finalsArsenal v NewcastleOnLiverpool v C PalaceOnFulham v Aston VillaOnMan Utd v BrentfordOnSunderland v Nottm ForestOnWolves v SpursOnNumber of postponements: 3WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR DOUBLE GAMEWEEK 33?
And, as a consequence, we’ll now only get six teams doubling (not eight as we thought) in Gameweek 33.
The images below show how Double Gameweek 33 will look, depending on who wins in the final FA Cup quarter-final tie on Sunday: West Ham United v Leeds United.
NO MORE DOUBLE GAMEWEEKS FOR ARSENAL THIS SEASON
Saturday’s result at St Mary’s means that Arsenal will not have another Double Gameweek this season. Newcastle won’t get one, either.
CHANGE IN CHIP STRATEGY?
An Arsenal victory would have surely rubberstamped a Gameweek 32 Wildcard for many FPL managers. Eight teams doubling in Gameweek 33 (including the Premier League’s two best), so a solid Bench Boost in that week. A Free Hit could then have been used to traverse Blank Gameweek 34.
Now, a rocking of the chip strategy boat. Double Gameweek 33 doesn’t look as good, although it’ll still be possible to have 15 ‘doublers’. Probably the biggest change is that many managers will be able to get through Gameweek 34 without a Free Hit, at least with their current squad.
Could a Free Hit in Gameweek 33 now be a viable alternative play? Managers could then Wildcard in Gameweek 35, and Bench Boost in Gameweek 36, when it’s likely that Man City and Crystal Palace will be doubling. There’ll be far fewer ‘doublers’ for a Bench Boost, but it means no selling of Arsenal players on a Gameweek 32 Wildcard now and/or playing them in Gameweek 33 when they only have one fixture (against Man City!).
We’ll be weighing up the pros and cons in a follow-up article over the coming days. A Gameweek 32 Wildcard draft article will also follow.
