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There is always ample discussion about how and when to use our chips in FPL. It is crucial that we understand just how important these chips do become come the end of the season. Timing often becomes as important as anything when it comes to chip strategy, as well as preparing to use them well in advance of when you actually do. So. let's look at them one by one and try to come up with a strategy for their use.
#1 Triple Captain
The first chip is the "Triple Captain". If you use this chip in a gameweek then your captain's points triple for that week instead of just doubling like on a regular week. Personally, I feel like this is the least important of the chips. First of all, it's based on only one player and there's only so much you can gain from one player's performance. One of the biggest reason for chip strategy is how much you'll gain on others who don't use them with much planning. This is where triple captain fails spectacularly. One would imagine that if we triple captain in a double gameweek then he would probably get more points and give us that benefit of planning.
Historically, this hasn't been the case, a lot of the top weekly scores happen in single gameweeks which isn't that surprising because most weeks are single gameweeks, this just means you are not going to gain that much even if you do end up planning for it.
In terms of just points, if you manage to get a triple captain that gives you ten points then that would be classified as a success and this just shows how insignificant it actually comes out to be. So, my advice should be that if you find a player who's in form and has an appealing game then going forward with the triple captain is as good a decision as it would be in a double gameweek. There's not much to this chip in terms of a real advantage.
#2 Free Hit
The second and for me a much more important chip is the recently introduced Free Hit chip. A Free Hit chip if activated in a week allows you to make unlimited transfers for just one week after which your team before that week is restored, effectively a brand new team for just one week. This chip could be used in a few ways, either in a double gameweek or a big blank gameweek. If you decide to use it in a blank gameweek, it enables you to not have to plan your transfers for the blank and get your original team next week.
Essentially, big blanks and double gameweeks happen due to the Premier League fixtures clashing with the latter stages of the FA Cup. Naturally, a lot of the top teams make it to the latter stages and there is normally a gameweek around GW30 where there are 4-5 games and most of the teams playing are mid-table or below, so one reason for this is you don't want to plan ahead and get players from these teams ahead of this week and sell players that would actually get points, then when there's the blank get a one week team and get back to the original team. A solid strategy, and one that you cannot go wrong with.
Another strategy is that you plan for your blanks, then wildcard into the team you want so that you don't have to keep the blank team for longer and use the free hit in one of the double gameweeks thus ensuring 11 double gameweek players, especially cause there are more than one double gameweek during the season and if we use it on any of those we can take advantage. The reason why this is more impactful than the TC is because it helps us to either mitigate adverse circumstances or take advantage of favourable circumstances better, precisely because it impacts the whole team and not one player.
#3 Bench Boost
Often the subject of the most planning is the "Bench Boost" chip. If you play the bench boost then all your four players' points that gameweek are counted in your score. A bench boost wildcard combo is often deadly.
If a wildcard is used in the gameweek before a big double gameweek, then we can get 15 double gameweek players in our side, and for those 4 bench players we'll get eight more performances for the GW, that's almost an entire new team. It is to be remembered that we cannot use more than one chip during a week so we have to use the wildcard the week before.
It's often difficult to plan for the bench boost if you do not have your wildcard and often takes a few hits so you might want to save your wildcard for this purpose. If used effectively, this chip could provide great returns.
That's all from my side. The chips provide something different to think about in the game and if used effectively could be the source of many points. Planning for them will definitely give you the edge and propel your rank upwards. Best of luck with your chip usage and happy FPLing.
