FPL Blank Gameweek 12 Planning | How to Handle Blank GW12?

This season, the BGW (Blank Gameweek) is upon us early. Though only two teams (Man City and Arsenal) have blanks in FPL GW12, the problem is, these two teams are the ones who are on top of the table. Generally, FPL managers have a fair amount of players from these two teams as they’re both in tremendous form right now. FPL Blank Gameweek 12 being a midweek does not help either. There might be surprise rotations too but there’s nothing we can do about it. Nevertheless, in this article, I’m going to discuss how to approach this blank game week situation and plan likewise. 

First of all, there are a few things that need to be considered.

• How many blank GW players do you have?
• How many playing bench players do you have?
• How many FT(Free Transfers) do you have?
• Which players to get rid of and which players to bring in?
• Should you use any chip in GW12?

I will try to offer different scenarios and help the FPL managers to plan accordingly. Let’s dive in. 

Article written by FPL Naked Eye Guy(Do follow him)

Link to all our FPL GW12 blogs including GW12 Blank Planning, Fixtures to target, Predicted GW12 Lineups, Differentials, Captaincy metrics, transfer trends, and more. Completely free to access as well!

Make Peace With Your Bench Players for FPL GW12

Having playing bench players would be handy in GW12. Managers who got up to 3 blank GW players can easily replace them with their playing sub from the bench for that GW. Man City and Arsenal both have reasonably good fixtures after their blank GW, so I would recommend keeping their assets if possible. 

Wildcard ~ The Magic Button’s Still Unused

If you have your first WC (Wildcard) intact, then you can ship out your blank GW players and get them back from GW13 onwards because managers will be given a new WC after GW16. However, keep in mind you will lose value on different players (Martinelli, Haaland) if you got them early in the season. 

Extra Free Transfer Is A Gem

If you have five blank GW players then having an extra Free Transfer (FT) this week could be valuable. Sell two of them who have fewer values tied to (Jesus, Cancelo, Foden, etc. they are team-dependent). Bench the other three in BGW12. 

How many hits are viable? This is team dependent of course. I wouldn’t recommend taking hits if you already got players from the bench who will start the games even with bad fixtures. One suboptimal GW won’t hurt you too badly. However, if you cannot field eleven playing players then you should take hits to do so. Another thing to consider is, if you take a -4 hit for a BGW player then it is technically a -2 hit for that GW because the BGW player would give you 0 anyway. Then again, if you want that player back right after GW12, I doubt if it’s worth it and let you decide. To field eleven players, I think up to -8 hits could be viable if needed. 

To Free Hit or Not to Free Hit That Is the Question Ahead of FPL GW12

Generally, I wouldn’t recommend using Free Hit chip in BGW12 if it’s absolutely not necessary. There will be bigger blanks and double game weeks later in the season when the Free Hit chip could be more helpful. 

*Chuckles* I’m in Danger

6 blank GW players + no playing bench would be the worst possible scenario. In this highly unlikely case, saving your FT in GW11 was a good play. If that’s the case, you have 2 FTs in the bag to use. Even then, you’ll be able to field only 7 players in GW12 without taking any hits. If you have only 1 FT, it is a bit harder to handle the blank gameweek, to be honest. Using the Free Hit chip in this scenario could be an option. Or just take a hit or two (*sigh*). As a matter of fact, for me, taking -8 is a better option than using the Free Hit chip in GW12. Also, going with 10 players is not going to be the end of the world. Hopefully, the ARS and MCI players can cover the points in GW13 onwards for you.

Further Read: Best Blank FPL GW12 Free Hit Drafts to Consider | Free Hit Guide

Injury Crisis – Keep or Sell

Most of the managers are facing a hard time with their team having so many injuries and suspensions to deal with. The best possible replacement for James is Trippier. I think he is a season keeper. If you already own him then Dier/Romero or Doherty (high risk, better upside) from Spurs are decent shouts though they have a tough fixture in GW12. Another option is Van Dijk from Liverpool who has good fixtures.

Trent was thought to be injured for 2 weeks but he was subbed (surprisingly) on against Man City. If you own Trent I’d say to hold him. However, you can also go for cheap options from the bucket list mentioned below. That would free funds to get the likes of Saka/Foden/Bowen later. Despite being a doubt, Mitrovic started against Bournemouth this week. I recommend keeping him.

Teams and Players to target for FPL GW12

Brighton is the team who got the best fixture in GW12 (Nottm Forest at home). Getting Trossard in GW12 for Maddison (who is suspended in GW12) is an easy swap. He offers great value and is one of the best captaincy options in GW12 (if not the best). Also, he is a great placeholder for Foden or Saka later. If you already own Trossard or don’t want him, then Mount (£7.7m), Billing(£5.4m), Rodrigo (£6.3m), Almiron (£5.3m), Bowen (£8.2m) are considerable options.

If you want a defender for GW12, Dunk/Webster is the best option. Bear in mind that, their fixtures get tougher after GW12 so you need to choose a player whom you will bench onward. Crystal Palace should also get a shout for their easy fixtures. Guéhi (£4.3m) is the best option at a cheap price. Kilman (£4.5m) could be another differential option who’s got an okayish fixture from GW12. Some other considerable options are Schär (£4.8m) from Newcastle, Konsa (£4.4m) from Aston Villa, Justin/Castagne from Leicester.

Freeing funds from Trent/James could possibly enable you to play a punt on Liverpool FWDs like Darwin Núñez (£8.8m)/Diogo Jota (£8.9m)/Firmino (£8.0m) if you are looking for a FWD in the coming weeks. Liverpool have great fixtures ahead and getting Salah could be another good strategy now. He’s a decent captaincy shout for BGW12. Especially, NFO and LEE games will be very difficult to watch without having Salah on your team.

Who Gets The Armband in FPL GW12?

It’s time for you to actually put some real thoughts on the captaincy option at last because The Robot (you know who) ain’t gonna save you this time. The best captaincy options for the GW12 goes as follows 

• Trossard v NFO (H)
• Salah v WHU (H)
• Mitrovic v AVL (H)
• Zaha v WOL (H)
• Trippier v EVE (H)
• Kane v MUN (A) 

Further Read: Top FPL Gameweek 12 Captain Picks Based on Analysis & Metrics

Players close to suspension ~ It Was All Yellowww 🎵

Look out for the players who are currently on 4 yellow cards and miss out on the next game (relevant if you want them long-term) if they get another yellow.

• Jesus (ARS)
• Toney (BRE)
• Bruno Fernandes (MUN)
• Dalot (MUN)
• Jacob Ramsey (AVL)
• Reed (FUL)
• Tete (FUL)
• Adam Smith (BOU)
• Steve Cook (NFO) 
• Doucoure (CRY)
• Bobby Reid (FUL)
• McKenna (NFO)

Small Talk 

Well, you can leave if you want now, you got all the information you needed. It’s just a polite conclusion, you don’t have to do this. However, the last thing I want to remind you is that, don’t mess up the shape of your team just to handle the BGW12. Many GW8/9 Wildcarders went without the likes of Martinelli, Foden and suffered big time. And another thing, if you’re having a bad run so far, it isn’t half of the season yet, you can overcome this. Good Luck! Thanks for making it this far. Adios!

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