Fantasy Premier League gameweek 27 triple-captain, wildcard, bench boost and free-hit tips

With gameweek 27 on the horizon and with the entire community riding high on the spoils of gameweek 26, it becomes all the more important for everyone to focus on their Fantasy Premier League team selection for the upcoming round of Premier League matches..

A very high percentage of managers chose to press the triple captain button before the commencement of gameweek 26, while many others opted for the wildcard.

Despite Salah rewarding his triple captainers with a whopping 84 points alone, there wasn't much of a difference between the triple captain chip users and the wildcard users in comparison.

Yes, the triple captain users got more points, but the variance wasn't as bad for the wildcarders as expected. Moreover, the managers who saw a massive score north of 120 or 130, also did not experience commensurate growth in the rankings.

These factors go on to suggest just how strong the template is at the moment, just how serious the managers are this season, and just how aware we, as a Premier League fantasy football community are.

Talking about gameweek 27, I have first and foremost, compiled a chip strategy for managers to consider:

1) In case you have - 0 Free Hit, 1 Wildcard, 0 Triple Captain, 1 Bench Boost - play wildcard either in gameweek 28 or in gameweek 31, and go for bench boost in gameweek 36.

2) In case you have - 2 Free Hits, 1 Wild Card, 1 Triple Captain, 1 Bench Boost - I would target gameweek 27 and gameweek 30 as the free hit gameweeks, I would suggest you to then play wildcard in gameweek 31, make use of triple captain on Salah in gameweek 29 and use bench boost in gameweek 36.

3) In case you have all chips remaining - play Free Hit in gameweek 30, Wildcard in gameweek 31, Triple captain in gameweek 29 and Bench Boost in gameweek 36.

I realize that many people might have a different permutation and combination of their remaining chips, but since the aforementioned are the most common, I went with them so that you may get an idea of which chip is ideal for which gameweek.

Personally, I have already hit the Free Hit button and I think a very high percentage of the community is going to do the same.

So, in order to help you build a free hit team that you may be proud of, here are my top 5 picks: 

1) Weghorst (6.5) (Burnley)

Will play against Crystal Palace and Leicester. Bear in mind that I am not recommending Weghorst for the non free hitters simply because even though he has been promising, it's still a Burnley side he plays for, a Burnley side whose at the bottom of the barrel, along with Norwich, when it comes to xG (expected goals) this season. On a free hit, however, I would strongly advise you to not go against him and include him in your team.

2) Riyad Mahrez (8.7) (Manchester City)

Mahrez is one of the key players for Pep this season, he is in form and he is also on penalties duty. I don't think I really need to sell this one to anyone looking for a premium midfielder on a free hit. Mahrez does, however, come with the caveat of pep's dreaded rotation.

3) Raheem Sterling (10.7) (Manchester City)

Recently scored a hattrick, and I don't think anyone would dare go against him on a free hit, considering that one needs to go heavy on City mids with at least 2 of them on a free hit in order to get a good score at the end of the gameweek. 

4) Bruno Fernandes (11.7) (Manchester United)

I wouldn't have recommended Bruno to someone using Free Hit in December or January. But, this is a whole different ball game now. He has scored twice and assisted once in his last two Premier League appearances and assisted in the Champions League as well. I wouldn't mind getting some magic from the magnifico himself on my free hit. 

5) Heung-min Son (10.8 million) (Tottenham Hotspur)

Spurs have won just once in their last five games in the Premier League, but that performance against Manchester City reminded us how lethal Spurs' runners can be on the counter against teams who give you spaces to run into and Leeds United, by all accounts, are that team. I would back any of Son, Kane, Moura and Kulusevski (if he plays) to haul in this fixture. I would advise you to get Kane too, if possible in your free hit draft.

Written by – Parth Tiwari, MUSC RDNCR

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