{"id":1193,"date":"2026-03-20T10:57:57","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T10:57:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/osport.com.ng\/?p=1193"},"modified":"2026-03-20T10:57:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T10:57:57","slug":"should-you-free-hit-in-gameweek-31","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/?p=1193","title":{"rendered":"Should you Free Hit in Gameweek 31?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_79\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p><strong>It\u2019s a blank gameweek in Fantasy Premier League, with Arsenal, Manchester City, Crystal Palace and Wolves all not playing.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Carabao Cup final between Arsenal and Manchester City has caused a smaller schedule, with just eight games in the fixture list for FPL Gameweek 31.<\/p>\n<p>Given the popularity of Arsenal and Manchester City assets, it will leave many FPL managers wondering what to do before Friday\u2019s deadline.<\/p>\n<p>Many will be struggling to field a full 11, but it\u2019s important to play the long game when seeking success in FPL.<\/p>\n<p>If still available, there will be a high number of managers who choose to use their Free Hit this week, but there\u2019s a strong argument to suggest that\u2019s the wrong move. That\u2019s because an even bigger blank gameweek lurks further down the line in Gameweek 34.<\/p>\n<p>The FA Cup semi-finals will take place on the same weekend as Gameweek 34, which could see as many as eight teams blank. One each from Manchester City or Liverpool, and Leeds or West Ham, will definitely blank, while the expectation is that Chelsea and Arsenal will progress from quarter-final ties against lower-league teams.<\/p>\n<p>The absences of those teams would leave FPL managers in a pickle without the safety-net of a Free Hit chip.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Fantasy Premier League tip for Gameweek 31<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Don\u2019t panic. FPL is a <em>long<\/em> game, and while we\u2019re reaching the run-in, strategy is always important. Fielding 9 or 10 players you want is probably a better tactic than wasting your Free Hit chip \u2013 or transferring in players with only this weekend in mind.<\/li>\n<li>Furthermore, Manchester City and Crystal Palace players are likely to have at least one double gameweek approaching. Ridding your squad of those assets for the sole purpose of GW31 could backfire down the line.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Read \u2013\u00a0The most assists recorded in a single Premier League season<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>See more \u2013\u00a0&#x1f4c8; Power Rankings: Como climb in, PSG rise<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong>Follow the Football Faithful on Social Media:<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Facebook | Instagram | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FootyFaithful_\">Twitter<\/a> | YouTube<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s a blank gameweek in Fantasy Premier League, with Arsenal, Manchester City, Crystal Palace and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}