<p><em><strong>This is a brand new members series from Richard Clarke, an FPL veteran and all-time great of the game. His full-season history is something to behold and can be view below. </strong></em></p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-10324" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Capture.jpg" alt="Richard Clark FPL Record" width="771" height="489" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Capture.jpg 771w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Capture-300x190.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Capture-768x487.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px" /></p>
<p><em>This series is focused on the strategy of an FPL fantasy manager planning and executing around the use of the Free Hit chip in <u>GW32</u>, Wildcard in <u>GW34</u> and navigating the associated Blanks and Doubles around these chips. Any advice given may be less effective with other strategies!</em></p>
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<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>A quick turn-around this week between the final free-hit games and Blank Gameweek 33 sees my team revert to the players I left behind in Gameweek 31.</p>
<h3><strong>Gameweek 32 Retrospective</strong></h3>
<p>Like many free-hitters, I entered last weekend with high hopes following an unprecedented fortnight of planning, viewing the drafts of others and carefully assembling a squad which I thought had the highest probability of success. The final result was a disappointing 78 points and a 9k drop in rank to 42k.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-10951" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/FH32Final.jpg" alt="" width="667" height="733" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/FH32Final.jpg 667w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/FH32Final-273x300.jpg 273w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/FH32Final-610x670.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 667px) 100vw, 667px" /></p>
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<h3 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading">Game of skill?</h3>
<p class="firstHeading">from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>
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<p>&#8220;A <b>game of skill</b> is a game where the outcome is determined mainly by mental or physical skill, rather than by chance. Some commonly played games of skill include: poker, collectable card games, contract bridge, backgammon and mahjong<sup id="cite_ref-nyti_Poke_2-0" class="reference"></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Carter2010_3-0" class="reference"></sup></p>
<p>However, <strong>most games of skill also involve a degree of chance,</strong> due to natural aspects of the environment, a randomizing device (such as dice, playing cards or a coin flip) or guessing due to incomplete information&#8221;</p>
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<p>When things do not go to plan in FPL, it is easy to become negative, berate the &#8216;casuals&#8217; and start to believe it is purely a random game of chance, rather than a game of skill.  All any player can do is try to learn from the Gameweek just passed, and apply that learning to immediate and future decisions in their teams.  I have always played with a strong sense of &#8216;subjective&#8217; rather than &#8216;statistical&#8217; probability so given the opportunity to set up a squad again for a free-hit, I would likely select players from the same teams given the information that was available. I wanted to minimise the risk of rotation and injury impact and balance this with heavy-hitter returns so I will likely apply a similar approach next week to my wild card squad, albeit with a five-week lens rather than a single-week one.</p>
<p>Some specific learnings I will consider will be to look at the risk of having players from &#8216;Top 6&#8217; teams with large squads. With European quarter and semi-finals coming up, I can foresee heavy rotation continuing with the elite clubs through April and May.  I was also perhaps guilty of being too player price influenced when making my picks. The strong midfield I had on paper simply did not deliver &#8211; either with expected minutes or performance &#8211; so I will look at teams with form and something to play for now as key criteria moving forward. In retrospect, this was a week to have a strong four-man defence; which proved far less susceptible to rotation than the attacks created using the free hit chip. This learning should help with budgeting for the wild-card planning to come!</p>
<h3><strong>Gameweek 33 Options</strong></h3>
<p>My patient strategy going into the blanks and doubles has left me with 13 players to select from this week, where many FPL managers will be short of fielding a full eleven.  With the intention to play the wild-card next week, this makes taking a hit quite expensive and risky, so I am likely to only make one transfer &#8211; hoping to make up ground simply by doing less while rivals take the hits. I have a surplus of 2.1m in the bank to use if I wish.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-10952" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/GW33Draft.jpg" alt="" width="674" height="572" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/GW33Draft.jpg 674w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/GW33Draft-300x255.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/GW33Draft-610x518.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 674px) 100vw, 674px" /></p>
<p>The form and injury doubt over <strong>Felipe Anderson</strong> makes him a prime target to transfer out this week. West Ham have been woeful for some weeks now and I don&#8217;t like their chances away to a Top 4 chasing Chelsea.  I am strongly inclined to go for a player with a home fixture and <strong>Ryan Fraser</strong> looks a strong candidate ahead of the game against Burnley &#8211; whose form has tailed off again recently. I almost doubled up on Fraser and Wilson for GW31 but decided to spread the opportunity with<strong> Jamie Vardy</strong> instead, with one eye on his fixture against now-relegated Huddersfield.  If you already have Fraser and Vardy, then <strong>Tielemans</strong> or <strong>Maddison</strong> look good picks too, but I&#8217;m not sure I fancy triple Leicester (I also own Pereira) in an away game at the weekend. A bolder move might be to give <strong>Richarlison</strong> or <strong>Sigurdsson</strong> a game for a resurgent Everton, but the opposition in Arsenal makes me nervous this could pay off.</p>
<p>My team up front looks OK for this week &#8211; though I could double-up on <strong>Josh King</strong> (for Ashley Barnes) with Wilson instead of making the Felipe Anderson switch, however, a relegation scrapping Burnley may well score at the Vitality despite Bournemouth&#8217;s excellent home attacking style.</p>
<p>I haven&#8217;t mentioned Liverpool players this week as I am assuming most readers will likely have their maximum allocation for the trip to Southampton, but if you do have a spot for a Liverpool player or an extra transfer, this could be the week to have <strong>Trent Alexander-Arnold</strong> and <strong>Andy Robertson</strong>, and captain golden boot chasing <strong>Sadio Mane</strong> against his old club. <strong>Eden Hazard, </strong>with a great fixture against West Ham, is also worth consideration for the armband &#8211; if you are chasing and need a bit of a captaincy differential on rivals.</p>
<p>See you next week for a look at wild card strategy for the remainder of the season.</p>
<p>Cheers</p>
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<p><strong>View all our latest fantasy football tips on our <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/">Homepage</a></strong></p>
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