Premier League fantasy football tips: Son Heung-min, James Maddison, Leon Bailey

If you're an engaged FPL manager then it will come as no surprise to you that there are only four fixtures in gameweek 29 and you've probably planned accordingly.

They are Burnley vs Brentford, Fulham vs Tottenham, Luton vs Nottingham Forest and West Ham vs Aston Villa.

If you've only recently twigged that there are just eight teams to choose our players from this weekend then you may be in a spot of bother.

The Free Hit chip is an easy way out of this if it's still available to you and lots of managers will have planned to use it anyway because they like the look of their current squads for gameweek 30 and beyond.

I wouldn't advise using your second wildcard to dig you out of a hole because you're not going to want most of the gameweek 29 players in your squad for the longer term and it will be far more valuable to you later on.

The interesting conundrum though, as discussed on the Fantasy 606 podcast this week, is if you can get seven or eight likely starters out this week, maybe by taking a four or eight-point hit on transfers, and then saving your Free Hit to attack double gameweek 34 or 37.

The six key players which will appear in a lot of Free Hit teams and you probably want to have covered are Pedro Porro, James Maddison, Son Heung-min, Jarrod Bowen, Ollie Watkins - if he is passed fit after picking up an injury on Thursday - and Ivan Toney.

You will note I have only named one defender there in Porro and that's because it's difficult to predict any clean sheets in gameweek 29 which also means there's not necessarily an obvious goalkeeper to choose.

But if you can comfortably get to those six players and add a couple from Alfie Doughty, Carlton Morris, Douglas Luiz, Leon Bailey, Mohammed Kudus, Morgan Gibbs-White, Rodrigo Muniz or David Datro Fofana then you might feel you're in good enough shape to keep your Free Hit in your back pocket.

Just remember to look a little further ahead to work out how many of these players you'll want after gameweek 29, particularly if you don't still have your second wildcard available.

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Captaincy

My first choice this weekend would be Son having watched him rack up 17 points with a goal and two assists in Tottenham's 4-0 win at Aston Villa last Sunday.

Toney, Watkins, Bowen and Maddison are all viable contenders for the armband but Son gets the nod for me.

Fixtures to target

As I said earlier it's hard to see any team keeping a clean sheet this weekend so I would focus my transfers on the attackers and then the defenders who have the greatest potential of attacking returns like Porro, Doughty and Brentford's Sergio Reguilon if he's fit.

Fulham have looked good at home recently and their Brazilian centre-forward Muniz is a tempting choice if you're on a Free Hit after five goals in his last six games. But it depends whether you'll want to go with a 3-4-3 and put him alongside Watkins and Toney or pack the midfield in a 3-5-2 and have him as a bench option if required.

I think I prefer the 3-5-2 as the midfielders get that extra point if they score or if their team does manage to keep a clean sheet and I'm even toying with the idea of leaving Porro out on my Free Hit and going with a triple Tottenham midfield.

It means I'd be forced to find a different defender and it's slim pickings in gameweek 29, but if I think Tottenham are going to concede then why not concentrate on getting three of their players who have the best chance of providing attacking returns for me?

Differentials

Using the Free Hit chip frees you up to have a bit of fun with the differentials because you know the players are only in your team for one week.

For example you could go for Brennan Johnson over Maddison as one of your Tottenham picks or Lucas Paqueta rather than Bowen in the West Ham midfield.

Some would argue that you don't need to take those risks as using the Free Hit chip is a differential in itself against all the managers that won't be using it this week.

I quite fancy Gibbs-White in Nottingham Forest's crunch game away to Luton after the Hatters conceded four second-half goals at Bournemouth on Wednesday night. He looks like the Forest attacker most certain of a start and has also taken their only penalty this season.

Gamble of the week

It's the dilemma I described earlier if you're in a position to possibly save the Free Hit chip by taking a couple of points hits on transfers to get enough players out to cover you for this gameweek.

It might mean a red arrow in the short-term but it could pay off in the long-term by using the Free Hit in a double gameweek.

As ever with FPL we'll only know if that's the right call after the event with that glorious thing called hindsight.