FPL Gameweek 29 preview: News, injuries, suspensions, fixtures, picks and analysis

If the Premier League title race wasn't done before, surely it is now? Liverpool have played a game more than Arsenal but sit 15 points clear of the Gunners after the weekend's league action.

There's a huge headache for all Fantasy Premier League (FPL) on the horizon as Liverpool, Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace all have blank gameweeks next because of the Reds and Magpies meeting in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday.

But do not worry - we've gone through a few different strategies managers can think about if they're stuck on what to do.

Chelsea's Marc Cucurella scored 15 FPL points last time out for his goal and clean sheet at home to Leicester City, as did Liverpool's Mohamed Salah for his double at home to Southampton, and both sat together top of the gameweek point scorers.

Ahead of each FPL Gameweek, we'll be keeping you up-to-date with all the latest that's going on, including transfers while the windows are open, injury news, suspensions, who's playing who and our in-depth analysis of what you need to be thinking about.

Here's indy100's preview for FPL gameweek 29.

Chelsea's Marc Cucurella was the joint top FPL GW28 points scorer alongside Liverpool's Mohamed Salah /

FPL gameweek 29 picks - what to think about

The big thing for this gameweek is that Liverpool, Newcastle United, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa all have blank gameweeks because of Liverpool and Newcastle playing in the Carabao Cup final, which kicks off at 4.30pm on Sunday.

That's had a knock-on effect for Crystal Palace and Aston Villa and causes FPL managers a bit of a headache. Everyone is facing the same problem but there are a few options managers can think about.

The most obvious one is that if the free hit chip has not yet been played, this gameweek could be the one to do it in.

Another option could be to use up saved transfers for this gameweek for those who have kind fixtures before playing a wildcard next time out. If the wildcard chip has not been used yet, this could be a good time to use it in this way with an international break and FA Cup action on the horizon.

If neither of these are options and players only have limited transfers left, the FPL website recommends having a minimum of nine players in action for the gameweek so don't worry too much if you have six players not in action.

Before looking longer term, with this being a blank gameweek and those strategies mentioned above, Nottingham Forest, Manchester United and Wolves are the teams in action against the clubs in the bottom three.

Manchester City host Brighton; Erling Haaland has provided good returns of late - with City having a kind run in, he could even prove an option longer term if players can afford him and get him in.

A reminder the assistant manager chip is available now and managers have a monetary value between £0.5m and £1.5m which players need to budget for.

Running through the teams in the table for longer term planning, Liverpool have a blank gameweek before a run of five games without a red fixture and three of those green.

FPL has four difficulty rankings of fixtures - green (2) is the so-called 'easiest' with this then going through neutral (3), light red (4), and dark red (5), which is what is referred to through this analysis.

Arsenal have no green in their next three but then have two green in a row. Nottingham Forest are through their tough run now still in third and only have one more red fixture all season, which is the last one at home to Chelsea.

The Blues do not have a green gameweek in their next three with Arsenal and Spurs up next. Manchester City have no more red fixtures for the rest of the season so they could be a team to invest in.

Newcastle United have a blank gameweek with no red fixture in their next seven after that. The Magpies have a double gameweek in GW32, as do Crystal Palace, so that could be something to bear in mind.

On that subject, it's not yet known when Liverpool and Aston Villa's game will be rearranged due to Aston Villa's progress to the quarter-finals in the Champions League.

Brighton are in fine form with six wins in a row in all competitions and after visiting Manchester City at the weekend, they have a run of seven games with no red fixture.

Aston Villa have a blank gameweek and only have one green and one red fixture between now and the end of the season - the rest are all neutral.

Bournemouth have struggled of late but have three green gameweeks in a row whereas Fulham have no green gameweeks in the next five with two light red fixtures and a dark red one.

Crystal Palace have a blank gameweek with a green gameweek next but the Eagles then do not have another green one until the penultimate game of the season. However, as previously mentioned, Palace do have a double gameweek in GW32.

Brentford have a really tricky run with no green fixture in their next seven, a run which includes four red fixtures and Spurs have a mixed run but have a number of players returning from injury who are now fully fit.

Manchester United have a green gameweek before a run of three red fixtures in a row and Everton have a green gameweek before a run of five red fixtures.

West Ham United only have one red gameweek left, as do Wolves whose next three games are green.

Ipswich Town have no red fixture in their next three, Leicester City have no green fixture in their next five and Southampton have a run of seven games with no red fixture. Three green games are part of that stretch.

Spurs' Ange Postecoglou will be pleased a number of his players have fully returned from injury / Richard Pelham, Getty Images

FPL injuries

Each gameweek, this is a comprehensive guide to players who are out or are a doubt for each club in the order they appear for their club in FPL.

If they have a knock and a chance of playing, this will be reflected (if they have a 75 per cent chance of playing, the number will be by their name in brackets, the same for 50 per cent chance and so on), otherwise they are ruled out.

This is correct at the time of writing.

• Arsenal - Tomiyasu Takehiro, Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus
• Aston Villa - Ross Barkley (50)
• Bournemouth - Adam Smith, Marcos Sensei, Julian Araujo, Enes Unal
• Brentford - Sepp van den Berg (50), Michael Kayode (75), Rico Henry (25), Aaron Hickey, Fabio Carvalho, Josh Dasilva, Gustavo Nunes, Igor Thiago
• Brighton - Jason Steele, Joel Veltman, Lewis Dunk, Ferdi Kadioglu, Igor Julio, Matt O'Reilly (75), James Milner
• Chelsea - Malo Gusto (50), Noni Madueke, Omari Kellyman (25), Nicolas Jackson, Marc Guiu
• Crystal Palace - Chadi Riad, Joel Ward, Cheick Doucoure, Jean-Philippe Mateta (50)
• Everton - Dwight McNeil, Orel Mangala, Iliman Ndiaye, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Armando Broja
• Fulham - Kenny Tete, Adama Traore (75), Harry Wilson, Reiss Nelson
• Ipswich Town - Arijanet Muric, Axel Tuanzebe, Sam Szmodics, Conor Chaplin (25), Wes Burns, Chiedozie Ogbene
• Leicester City - Abdul Fatawu
• Liverpool - Trent Alexander-Arnold (75), Conor Bradley, Joe Gomez, Tyler Morton
• Manchester City - Manuel Akanji, John Stones, Nathan Ake, Rodri, Oscar Bobb (25)
• Manchester United - Altay Bayindir, Tom Heaton, Lisandro Martinez, Harry Maguire (75), Jonny Evans, Leny Yoro, Luke Shaw, Amad Diallo, Kobbie Mainoo, Mason Mount (25)
• Newcastle United - Lewis Hall, Sven Botman, Jamaal Lascelles
• Nottingham Forest - Carlos Miguel (25)
• Southampton - Jan Bednarek (75), James Bree, Juan Larios (50), Ryan Fraser (50), Ross Stewart (50)
• Spurs - Radu Dragusin, Kevin Danso (25), Dejan Kulusevski (25), Richarlison
• West Ham United - Vladimir Coufal (75), Crysencio Summerville, Michail Antonio, Niclas Fullkrug
• Wolves - Matt Doherty (75), Yerson Mosquera, Marshall Munetsi, Enso Gonzalez, Leon Chiwome, Sasa Kalajdzic

FPL suspensions

Some players have picked up suspensions or are ineligible to face their parent club after joining a different team on loan.

Again, this is correct at the time of writing.

• Arsenal - Raheem Sterling
• Chelsea - Mykhailo Mudryk
• Crystal Palace - Will Hughes
• Fulham - Sasa Lukic
• Manchester United - Patrick Dorgu
• Newcastle United - Anthony Gordon
• Wolves - Matheus Cunha

Chelsea's Enzo Maresca and Arsenal's Mikel Arteta, both of whom worked for Pep Guardiola, do battle at The Emirates Stadium this weekend / Ryan Pierse, Getty Images

FPL gameweek 29 fixtures

These fixtures kick-off on Saturday (March 8) at 3pm GMT unless stated otherwise.

• Arsenal v Chelsea (Sunday, 1.30pm)
• Bournemouth v Brentford (Saturday, 5.30pm)
• Everton v West Ham United
• Fulham v Spurs (Sunday, 1.30pm)
• Ipswich Town v Nottingham Forest
• Leicester City v Manchester United (Sunday, 7pm)
• Manchester City v Brighton
• Southampton v Wolves

When does the next FPL gameweek start?

There's a bit of gap before the next FPL gameweek because of the international break and weekend of FA Cup quarter-finals at the end of March.

The next one gets underway on Tuesday, April 1 with two games kicking off at 7.45pm.

Players can still join in and play and if you've missed it, indy100 has put together some tips and strategies to get you started:

• How to get started in Fantasy Premier League
• The best Fantasy Premier League names and how to change it
• Fantasy Premier League: When is the best time to use chips?

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