Fantasy Premier League Gameweek 29 represents the first known blank gameweek of the season, with no fixture for Liverpool and Newcastle United due to their involvement in the Carabao Cup final, plus for their originally planned opponents, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace.
Most FPL managers will be prepared for this round of fixtures, with enough free transfers banked to get to a team of 11 starters.
However, for some, including myself, a full starting line-up would require a points hit, so the Free Hit chip comes to the forefront.
Here, we’ll look at the perks and risks of activating your Free Hit this week.
The pros of using your Free Hit chip
Playing the Free Hit this week can quickly turn a position of weakness into a position of strength, allowing you to change your team entirely for the one gameweek, and with depth.
The fixtures lend themself to this, with third-in-the-table Nottingham Forest travelling to Ipswich Town among the standout fixtures.
Activating the Free Hit also allows you to hold those players from the teams that blank for the long term, who all have attractive fixtures in Gameweek 30 and beyond.
Liverpool’s exit from the Champions League means that securing the Premier League title is their only focus across April and May — in a campaign where they have already blown away the opposition.
Their players look to be long-term holds for the remainder of the campaign, with Arne Slot’s team coming out of the international break with games against Everton, Fulham, West Ham United and Leicester City.
Mohamed Salah (£13.8m) has already broken the record for the best FPL season with 306 points and he still has nine league games to play. He will be chasing further records.
Significantly, he has also risen in price more than any other player, with most managers having significant value tied up in the Egyptian. Playing the Free Hit this week means you can retain that accrued value.
Keeping hold of Salah is vital (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Villa’s fixtures are more challenging from Gameweek 30 onwards but, should they continue to progress in the FA Cup and the Champions League, then they’ll probably have a double in Gameweek 33, which isn’t far away.
We know that Newcastle and Palace have a double in Gameweek 32, so holding their assets for this period is wise. Newcastle face Brentford and Leicester after the break, while Palace have Southampton and Brighton.
In addition, using the Free Hit means that you can retain any banked transfers, giving you plenty of flexibility to make wholesale changes going into the final few weeks of the season.
The cons of using your Free Hit chip
On paper, there will be more optimal weeks later in the season — although the situation isn’t fully clear and is team-dependent.
We should get a double in Gameweek 33 and a blank in Gameweek 34, which should involve the same pool of teams, so the smart play would be to use the Free Hit in one of those weeks.
Blank Gameweek 34 looks set to be the trickiest of the season, but the way the FA Cup has played out, we have several attractive FPL teams and assets out of the competition.
In that gameweek, Newcastle will face Ipswich, Wolverhampton Wanderers play Leicester, Chelsea host Everton and Liverpool entertain Tottenham Hotspur, with a maximum of four postponed games.
While those postponed games could be scheduled for Gameweek 33, they could also fall in the remaining four gameweeks of the season, which would negate the power of the Free Hit chip.
Managers will not know the teams in the FA Cup semi-finals until the Gameweek 30 deadline, which means playing blind. Saving the Free Hit looks to be the smart play — but for underprepared managers like myself, using it in Gameweek 29 is worth a gamble.
Who are the essential players for a GW29 Free Hit team?
So with the Free Hit in mind, who are the top players to own this gameweek? Erling Haaland (£14.7m) is the standout captain pick this weekend with a home game against Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Manchester City striker has seen an upturn in form in recent weeks, with two goals and one assist from the last four gameweeks. He has produced an attacking return in all three home games in which he has started in the league in 2025.
Phil Foden (£9.2m) is also an interesting option should he start but he did find himself benched for the trip to Spurs in Gameweek 27. Working out who Pep Guardiola will start is always a challenge for FPL managers.
Foden could be an attractive one-week punt but is a minutes risk (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Josko Gvardiol (£5.9m) is one of the top defensive options, with his five goals the best scoring tally among defenders in the Premier League this season. City have kept two clean sheets in their last four.
Chris Wood (£7.3m) is a must on Free Hit for the trip to Ipswich, having scored the only goal in the reverse fixture. He has a remarkable 18 goals in this campaign, finding the back of the net on seven occasions in 2025.
A triple-up on Nottingham Forest players is highly viable. Matz Sels (£5.1m) has been the best goalkeeper in the game this season, keeping 12 clean sheets, including against Manchester City and Arsenal in the last two gameweeks.
I’d also consider midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White (£6.5m), who has three assists in the last four gameweeks.
Meanwhile, Bournemouth’s home game against Brentford presents some interesting options, including their best FPL asset this season, Justin Kluivert (£6.2m), who has 12 goals and six assists.
Evanilson (£5.6m) scored on his return from injury last time out, with his inclusion tweaking Bournemouth’s formation in attacking areas. The reverse of this fixture ended in a 3-2 win for Brentford but with Evanilson on the scoresheet.
It would be difficult to ignore Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo (£8.1m) on Free Hit, with the 25-year-old the third-highest scoring player in the game this season. He has one goal and two assists in his last four.
Manchester United’s captain Bruno Fernandes (£8.4m) has attracted plenty of attention in the FPL transfer market this week, with two goals and two assists in the last four gameweeks. He is a perfect punt for one gameweek away at Leicester.
The fixtures this weekend look likely to yield goals. With possibly fewer clean sheets on offer, it’s important to pick defenders who also provide an attacking threat.
Wolves wing-back Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.8m) has eight goal involvements this season, with his side travelling to bottom-of-the-table Southampton, having won their previous meeting 2-0.
Arsenal’s Gabriel (£6.3m) is also impossible to ignore as they host Chelsea, with two clean sheets in the last four gameweeks taking Mikel Arteta’s team up to 10 for the season. Gabriel has three goals and two assists this Premier League campaign.
(Top photos: Chris Wood, left, and Bruno Fernandes; Getty Images)
