*Matchweek 18 fixtures have been split between 12-14 January and 19-21 January and are signified by an asterisk.
F1ngers wrote: » It's the winter break.https://www.premierleague.com/news/1933136?sf241106154=1
Ace2007 wrote: » I thought they scrapped the winter break this season due to the shorten schedule?https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/53767120#:~:text=The%20Premier%20League%20has%20scrapped,late%20end%20to%202019%2D20. It's not a break if it's only affect 10 teams or am i missing something? That's a killer for anyone that used their FH already
Benimar wrote: » Yes, and it creates a BGW and a DGW for FF purposes.
Benimar wrote: » 10 teams get one midweek off, the other 10 get the following midweek off.
Ace2007 wrote: » So take Man City for instance - when is there break?
Benimar wrote: » The midweek of 18th to 22nd Jan. All teams are getting one midweek off.
Ace2007 wrote: » Sorry I understand you now, from a FF point of view they don't have a blank, they just don't have a double. Whereas Man Utd have a blank followed by a double.
Dr. Bre wrote: » Will the wildcard be available by then ?
shmeee wrote: » Why are people so confused? 10 teams will blank in GW18, and then have DGW in GW19?
Shedite27 wrote: » Its a bit different to usual to be fair, and I'm not sure what it achieves. Nobody gets any more time off do they? There's no need to create this DGW. They could have just left everyone have a midweek game on 13th/14th Jan and then give them all the midweek off on 19th/20th. It's the first DGW that's been created that I remember that either cleared a backlog of fixtures, or was created to avoid a cup game. Looks created purely to get more games on TV
Ace2007 wrote: » I agree that it serves no purpose at all, and shows the strength of the TV companies, and the the FA/PL will bow to any pressure. If this was planned, it would have been set in stone from the off, instead of clearing stating there was no winter break. Why not just give everyone the week off. We all plan for busy xmas period, and now we have 4 GW's close together, and then all of a sudden 10 teams are not playing in a GW. For those who have used their FH, TC or BB even, they have been put at a disadvantage with a slight change in the goalposts. As you say Shedite, this DGW is not to clear a backlog of games or to move games because of a cup. It's purely because of TV companies. Whose to say this won't happen again come week 30 for instance? From the FF POV would it not make sense to just move off Games in GW18 to GW19, and have a free week? We've seen from last year that they can change the rules as they like for unexpected events.
Benimar wrote: » In fairness this was flagged at the start of the season. The idea is to have games for the TV companies to have access to games both midweeks. The FPL website made it clear there would be games moved, we just didn’t know which ones until today.
Ace2007 wrote: » The official website calls them 18a and 18b. It doesn’t say anywhere what games would be moved or that there would be a DGW. And why is it not possible given the situation that we don’t just have a blank GW18 for FF and all games in a DGW - would that not make a lot more sense?
Morzadec wrote: » With so many teams having a blank then followed by a double, loading up on DGWers and then using a FH in the BGW probably seems the best play on first view? Currently I have 9 players from the group that blanks/doubles and 6 from the group that doesn't. So think FH to cover the blank GW18 makes most sense... Then again we're all going to want our FH for the blanks/doubles at the end of the season so not really sure if there's another way to navigate this!
Klonker wrote: » I think I'll do like this, Free Hit for the BGW and load up in advance for the DGW and use Bench Boost.
