Fantasy football tips: Why you should hold on to your free transfer

The big piece of fantasy football advice to bear in mind right now is this: If you possibly can, hold on to your free transfer in gameweek 21.

The gameweek 22 deadline isn't until 18:30 GMT on Friday, 3 February, by which time we'll know which two teams have reached the Carabao Cup final and also who's done what on FA Cup fourth-round weekend.

This will give us a lot more information on the fixture schedule for Fantasy Premier League purposes in terms of blank and double gameweeks, so having two free transfers to adjust your squad accordingly will be hugely beneficial.

So I'll repeat it - if you think you can avoid making a transfer this week, then I'd advise you to do so.

Manchester United and Newcastle will start the EFL Cup semi-finals as favourites against Nottingham Forest and Southampton - but whoever gets through to the final on Sunday, 26 February is likely to blank in gameweek 25.

Manchester United are scheduled to play Brentford that weekend and Newcastle are set to meet Brighton. I currently have three United players in my squad - David de Gea, Luke Shaw, Marcus Rashford - and three Newcastle players in Kieran Trippier, Sven Botman and Miguel Almiron.

I'm quite keen to add a Brighton midfielder in there as well, one of Kaoru Mitoma, Solly March or Alexis Mac Allister, but suddenly that could be seven players in my squad without a fixture in gameweek 25.

That's simply not workable and I don't want to waste my Free Hit chip to cover it, so I'd have to make some changes in the gameweeks leading up to 25 if that situation comes to pass. Manchester United might get a double gameweek 22, though, so don't be too hasty in selling their players.

Nottingham Forest are away to West Ham in gameweek 25 and Southampton go to Leeds but those potential blanks would affect fewer Fantasy Premier League squads if Forest and Southampton get through to the cup final.

Japan international Kaoru Mitoma has scored two goals in his last three appearances for Brighton

Saying that, a Leeds attacker might not be a bad addition to your squad soon - along with Leicester, they are comfortably the highest-scoring team below the top eight clubs, and four of their next five fixtures are against Brentford, Nottingham Forest, Everton and Southampton.

Rodrigo is their top scorer in the league this season with 10 goals - he's classed as a midfielder in Fantasy Premier League and will cost you £6.4m.

I prefer 19-year-old Wilfried Gnonto, though, a £5m striker who has started all of Leeds' games since the World Cup and really made everyone sit up and take notice with his incredible finish in Wednesday's FA Cup victory over Cardiff.

At that price, he's a perfect place-holder in our squads - you can be confident enough to start him in a 3-4-3 or be equally happy to have him as your first sub in a 3-5-2 or 4-4-2.

You can take your pick with those three Brighton midfielders I mentioned earlier but there's so much value to be had with any of them in a team that is playing brilliantly right now. My preferred choice is Mitoma, the regular starter wide on the left with Leandro Trossard joining Arsenal, but March, playing high up on the right, is the man who's racked up 44 points in his past four gameweeks with four goals and two assists.

Mac Allister has the advantage of being on lots of the set-pieces, including the penalties, but I would still go for one of the two wide men first. Mitoma has the lowest ownership at 1.7% but March and Mac Allister are still both differentials at just over 3%.

Trossard's arrival at Arsenal means competition for Gabriel Martinelli, owned by almost half the managers in Fantasy Premier League, but if his minutes became a problem then it's an easy switch to Martin Odegaard if you don't already own him - or you'd need to find just over an extra £1m to get to Bukayo Saka. I think you really want two Arsenal attackers going into gameweek 22, with a trip to Everton and then a double gameweek in 23.

Back to gameweek 21, though, and I'm giving my captain's armband to Erling Haaland again for Manchester City's home game against Wolves on Sunday. That's not quite as clear-cut a decision as it's been for most of this season as he and his team-mates clearly haven't rediscovered their best form since the World Cup. But Pep Guardiola very publicly demanded a lot more from them after their comeback win against Tottenham on Thursday - and I expect a reaction.

Alistair Bruce-Ball presents the Fantasy 606 podcast alongside former Premier League winner Chris Sutton and Statman Dave. The latest episode previewing gameweek 21 is available on the BBC Sounds App.

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