For years, the FPL Free Hit chip has been a sacred tool, lovingly protected and saved for one purpose which was navigating the chaos of a massive Blank or Double Gameweek in the season’s second half. This year, that entire playbook has been thrown out the window. With the new use it or lose it rule where FPL managers must use their first set of chips (including one Free Hit) by the Gameweek 19 deadline, the Free Hit has transformed.
It’s no longer just a defensive shield it’s now one of your most powerful attacking weapons for the first half of the season. The question is no longer if you should use it, but when to deploy it for maximum impact. And as we scan the horizon, Gameweek 13 is emerging as arguably the single best opportunity to strike.
Traditionally, a Free Hit is for when your team is decimated by blank fixtures. The new strategy is to use it when your team, full of good players, simply has a terrible week of fixtures. Gameweek 13 presents a perfect storm of fixture swings, pitting many of the most popular and highly owned teams against each other in difficult matchups, while other explosive assets face dream opponents.
Let’s look at the fixture list.
The Bad Fixtures (The Players You Likely Own):
- Chelsea vs. Arsenal
- Crystal Palace vs. Man Utd
- Everton vs. Newcastle
In any normal week, you’d grit your teeth, bench a star player, and hope for the best. You’d never dream of selling your key Arsenal, Liverpool, or Newcastle assets for a one week dip. But with a Free Hit, you don’t have to. You can simply step away from all of them.
The “Good” Fixtures (The Players You’ll Want):
- Man City vs. Leeds
- Spurs vs. Fulham
- Brentford vs. Burnley
- West Ham vs Liverpool
This is the attacking part of the strategy. A Gameweek 13 Free Hit allows you to temporarily purge your squad of players with tough fixtures and load up guilt free on a squad built to exploit the good ones.
While every manager’s team is different, the blueprint for a GW13 Free Hit is clear and powerful. The standout fixture of the week is Man City at home to Leeds. A Free Hit allows you to stack your team with three City players. This would almost certainly include Erling Haaland, who becomes the week’s most explosive captaincy option. The major con is that for players who still have the triple captain chip, you could miss out on a huge haul should Haaland score a hattrick and other City assets on the Free hit blank.
With a home game against Fulham, Spurs attackers could become good options for this one week punt. You can fill out your squad with high-upside picks from other teams with favorable fixtures. The best part is that you’re not worried about the Chelsea vs. Arsenal stalemate, nor are you stressed that about Liverpool assets that you might not own haul against West Ham.
No double gameweek means no gameweek feels clear cut when it comes to free hit. It could be GW13…
— Calle (@FPL_Calle) November 3, 2025
🔸 Avoid the Chelsea vs Arsenal fixture
🔸 Triple Man City vs LEE (H)
🔸 Liverpool players vs WHU (A)
🔸 Thiago vs BUR (H)
I don't know if there will be a better opportunity over…
In this new era of FPL, hoarding your first Free Hit chip past GW13 is a risky strategy. There is no guarantee a better week will come along. Gameweek 13 seems like a golden ticket to attack. It’s a chance to turn a week of tricky fixtures into your season’s highest scoring round.
