Last week this column said to hold every chip unless you had Wildcarded in Gameweek 7, in which case Gameweek 8 was the Bench Boost week. About 158,000 managers played the Bench Boost, 216,000 the Wildcard, 85,000 the Free Hit and 78,000 the Triple Captain. The Bench Boost targets were modest rather than wrong: Fulham won 1-0 at Coventry, while Nottingham Forest and Brentford both drew 1-1 at Ipswich and Hull. The average score fell to 45. For Gameweek 9 the chip question has one new name in it. Joao Pedro, owned by 62 percent of managers, is out for a few weeks, and for a lot of squads that changes the Wildcard arithmetic.
One injured forward is a transfer. Four injured starters is a Wildcard. Count before you press anything.
CHIPS REMAINING, SET ONE
Wildcard: available until the Gameweek 19 deadline
Free Hit: available until the Gameweek 19 deadline
Bench Boost: available until the Gameweek 19 deadline
Triple Captain: available until the Gameweek 19 deadline
The official game lists the Gameweek 19 deadline as 18:30 GMT on Friday, 1 January. Unused first-half chips do not roll over. Only one chip can be played per gameweek, and every gameweek from 9 to 19 still has ten fixtures. The November international break falls between Gameweek 10 and Gameweek 11.
Wildcard: The Pedro Question
Joao Pedro injured his thigh in training before the Tottenham match, and Xabi Alonso has said he will be out for a few weeks. Asked whether that means after the November international break, Alonso said it probably does. That is Gameweeks 9 and 10 at the least, and more than 1.1 million managers have already sold him. He joins a list that has not got shorter: Bukayo Saka has no return date for his thigh, Antoine Semenyo is out until around mid-December, and Dominik Szoboszlai’s hamstring has kept him out again. Riccardo Calafiori, owned by 50.9 percent, picked up a hip problem against Everton and is rated 75 percent for Anfield.
Last week’s test still works, with a new list. A squad carrying three or more of those names, or four starters you would sell anyway, has a Wildcard problem rather than a transfer problem. One or two is a job for free transfers. The timing argument has also changed shape. Gameweek 10 is the last round before the international break, and a Wildcard played then gives you two weeks to watch the injury news before your new squad plays again. Pressing it now buys you Gameweek 9 and Gameweek 10 with a fixed squad. Waiting a week buys you information.
The Wildcard Test
Play it now: three or more of Pedro, Saka, Semenyo and Szoboszlai, or four starters you would sell anyway.
Play it in Gameweek 10: two of them plus a Calafiori who misses Anfield.
Hold it: one or two flags, and free transfers to fix them.
Pedro alone is a sale, not a rebuild. A Wildcard spent on one injured forward is a chip spent on a transfer.
Triple Captain: Not Against Brighton
Haaland is the captain this week, as the Captain Recommendations column explains, and he has scored in seven straight gameweeks. Brighton at home is still not a Triple Captain fixture. Brighton have conceded seven in eight, the third-fewest in the league, and kept five clean sheets. A Triple Captain needs a haul, and this is a fixture that looks more like a goal.
The target named last week still stands. Fulham visit the Etihad in Gameweek 11, the first match after the international break, at 12:30 GMT on Saturday, 21 November. The official game rates it a 2. Fulham have conceded ten, though only four in four away matches, which is the honest weakness in the case. Hull at home in Gameweek 16 remains the fallback. Both depend on Haaland returning from international duty fit, which is the risk that comes with holding.
Bench Boost: No Target This Week
There is nothing in Gameweek 9 that rewards a full bench. The kindest-rated fixtures belong to Aston Villa, Tottenham, Hull, Ipswich and Sunderland, and two of those fixtures are between weak sides: Hull host Ipswich, and Sunderland visit Coventry. A bench built from that list would need four of those players to start and return, which is a lot to ask in a week that also contains Liverpool against Arsenal and Manchester City against Brighton. The 216,000 who Wildcarded last week should wait for a round where their bench has a better case than this one.
Free Hit: Still Nothing to Rescue
Ten fixtures again, and no blank or double scheduled before Gameweek 19. Pedro’s injury is the closest the Free Hit has come to a use, and it is still the wrong tool. A Free Hit fixes one week and hands you back the same squad, and Pedro is out for at least two. Save it for a week when a whole squad breaks at once.
The Call
Conditional: Wildcard, now if three or more long-term injuries are in your squad, otherwise consider Gameweek 10
Hold: Triple Captain, for Haaland vs Fulham in Gameweek 11 or Hull in Gameweek 16
Hold: Bench Boost, no target this week
Don’t touch: Free Hit, Pedro is a two-week problem, not a one-week one
Deadline is 11:00 GMT on Saturday, 31 October, ninety minutes before Chelsea host Manchester United. That is the usual Saturday morning again after last week’s Friday evening. Chips can be cancelled any time before the deadline, and Arsenal’s pre-match press conference is the last word on Calafiori before you decide.
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